"IF WAR HAD COME."

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 15, 28 October 1938, Page 5

"IF WAR HAD COME."

GERMANY’S PLANS IN CRISIS. LAND AND ATR FORCES. (United Press Association —Copyrignt.) (Received This Day, 9.5 *a.m.) BERLIN, October 27. Major Von AVedel (head of the German AVar pffice Press Department) in an article appearing in a number of German provincial newspapers, for the first time reveals the number of German troops employed in the occupation of Sudetenland, namely 30 divisions (about 450,000 men), of which half were attached to motorised divisions. Considerable forces were also held in reserve, in case the occupation did not proceed peacefully. Five hundred military aircraft actually participated in the occupation, hut this was “only a fraction of the machines held ready and which could immediately have* been brought into action if war had developed.” Hundreds ol antiaircraft batteries were posted around the whole frontier so that “the Soviet and, Czech bombers could hardly have succeeded in penetrating Germany.” Precautions were also taken against Anglo-French attacks. The article further states that the new western fortification was capable of protecting Germany from any land attack, and the necessary measures were also taken" against air attack.