HITLER'S COUP.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 80, 5 April 1939, Page 7

HITLER'S COUP.

FRENCH COMMENT.

CZECH ARMY NOW GONE.

WHAT OF THE FUTURE ?

(By PERTINAX.)

PARIS, March 15.

For the second time, Czechoslovakia has been placed upon the surgical table, and the brutal annexation of the country will no doubt be complete within the next few weeks.

It is not easy to explain why the I German Government should have I gathered such powerful military forces • against the Czechoslovak rulers, who, no doubt, were ready quietly to comply i with all the most drastic terms drawn up by Herr Hitler and his advisers, and would not have refused full independence to Slovakia. To that question a doublefold answer can be returned. Firstly, the Nazi Government is determined to do away once and for all with the Czechoslovak army, to enforce anti- ! Jewish legislation, and to transfer to the JReiehsbank one-fourth, if not more, of the gold reserve of the Central Bank in Prague. The Fuehrer and those near him had suspected for some time that the Czechoslovak governments were little by little getting over the feeling of helplessness which oppressed them last autumn, that they were setting new hopes upon the firmer attitude of the Western Powers, and that they sedulously endeavoured to elude Germany's requests and gain time. Now, at one single stroke, the renascent spirit of the country is being crushed. To Encourage the Others. Secondly, the Berlin Government'* purpose is obviously to give Hungary. Poland, Yugoslavia. Rumania and behind them Soviet Russia, a practical demonstration of what is in store for any State in Central and Eastern Kurope which does not thoroughly conform to all the requirements of German policy. Whether in particular Herr Hitler, through rushing bodies of the Reichswehr into Bohemia, did not intend to warn Hungary not to eeize eub-Carpathic Russia is a moot point, and various opinions are being expressed about it. Anyhow, if the Budapest Government has succeeded in forestalling the German move and invading the Czechoslovakian eastern province against the German will, it will not really benefit by that territorial aggrandisement. It is to be compared to the crab wKieh devours a shrimp at the very moment it is caught in the fisher's net.

Hitherto the French and British Governments, faced by Germany's initiative, have remained quite passive. On Monday a brief exchange of views took place between the Quai d'Orsay and the British Foreign Office, and in compliance with Mr. Chamberlain's strongly expressed opinion, they reached the conclusion th'at they had better refrain from raising any protest. However, to-day the brutal method** resorted to on the Herman side have brought about in both j capitals a slight change of attitude. The French and British Ambassadors in i Berlin are being instructed to visit Herr von Ribbentrop and ask for an explanation about the new turn taken by o!erman policy towards Czechoslovakia. Hae Germany "made up her mind to depart I from the letter and the spirit of the Munich settlement ? What kind of con-1 etruction can he placed upon her moves? No practical result of course can be expected from such a demarche, but Paris and London seem to have come to the view that to do something futile was a lesser evil than not to take any notice of what was happening. The Guarantee. As to the guarantee of territorial integrity promised to Czechoslovakia on September 20 by the four signatories of the Munich settlement (Mr. Chamberlain and M. Dnladier had assented to that settlement subject to that condition) it is explained in diplomatic quarters that it has not become effective because according to the judgment of the German Government, as latelyexpressed to the French Ambassador, the whole problem of frontiers was still in suspense. Barely a fortnight ago, the Hungarian Government was actually retro-ceding a few villages to Prague. Therefore Germany's contention could not be challenged. In the light of present developments, such a thesis can only be called farcical, i but neither Paris nor London did otherwise than blindly accept it. The main result of the deadly blow struck at Czechoslovakia will be to discourage numerous and active elements which during the last three months have overwhelmed M. Stoyadinovich in Yugoslavia, strengthened the hands of King Carol in Rumania, and compelled Colonel Beck not to promote his pro-German policy with the same determination as in the past and even to reconsider it afresh. Therefore, the natural course for the French and British Cabinets to follow would be to assert their solidarity with Poland. Soviet Russia. Yugoslavia and Rumania, and to infuse fresh life into France's treaties with those nations. But it is doubtful whether MM. Daladier and Bonnet and Mr. Chamberlain will gather enough courage to do «o. They are more likely, at any rate for a while, to indulge in the easy-going calculation that as Germany's commitments in Central and Eastern Europe become more extensive, she will be more inclined to spare the interests of the Western Powers and to exert a moderating influence upon Italy. Optimism Unjustified. Personally, I do not believe that Herr Hitler will give up the idea deeplyseated in hie heart that NationalSocialism and Fascism are bound to stand or fall together and that he will leave Signor Mussolini in the lurch, hut the near future will settle the question and bring full enlightenment. Whatever be the case, Mr. Chamberlain's recent optimistic outburst is now deprived of the verv justification he himself had found for it when addressing the London Press last Thursday. He had ventured to eay that some preponderance could safely" be left to Germany at the other end of the Continent, provided she did not abuse it and allowed some elbow room to British trade. Obviously Mr. Chamberlain hae never understood what Pan-Germanism means. Henceforward will he be wiser? The answer must.be reserved, but in the new circumstances of to-day, what can be the use of sending to Berlin Mr. Oliver Stanley president of the Board of Trade, and Mr. Hudson, of the Department of Overseas Tradtt (To-be concluded.)