The Bay of Plenty Times MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1949. East German Communist Army

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 15161, 19 December 1949, Page 2

The Bay of Plenty Times MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1949. East German Communist Army

While the Western powers have made it very clear that they have not the least intention of allowing Western Germany to rearm. e\en as part of the forces of the Atlantic Treaty powers, reports reaching London from Berlin show t hat Soviet plans for building' up a power till German armed militia in the Eastern Zone, are proceeding at full

pressure. _ _ . This militia, which consists of special units, or bereitschatten, is being’ organised within the framework of the Eastern Zone people s police”. Its formation began in September, 1048. By the exclusive nature of its recruitment, training’, arming and control the militia stands in a class by itself. The Soviet aim is reported to be to bring the strength of the militia up to 60,000 within the total People Police Force of 200,000, other branches of which carry out normal duties of frontier police and criminal traffic police. At present the militia consists of some :k5 hereitschaften of 1,200 men each. This is a fivefold increase compared with last summer when each bcrcitsehaften comprised 250 men. The reported intention is to raise the number of hereitschaften from 35 to 50. Recruits for the ranks of the militia are either genuine volunteers or young unemployed men who prefer to join up rather than to accept the alternative of working in the-Saxony uranium mines. The militia officers are drawn from the Communist Youths Organisation and from former members of the AVehrmacht. A Political Commissar is attached to each hereitschaften to report to the Training Department on the political reliability oT the officers and men. There is reported to have been a recent severe purge of men hailing from former German territories east of the Oder Neiss line and those with family connections with Germans in the AVestern Zones. The militia is armed with rifles, submachine guns, machine guns, mortars and anti-tank guns. Training in the use of these weapons is vigorous, the standard set being that of an instructor. At present the militia appears, to be entirely engaged in training. It performs no regular police duties. It is thus clear that the new force is being intensively trained as a potential military nucleus of high efficiency. It is "instructive bv wav of comparison with police force of 200,000 in the Soviet Zone of 18,000,000 inhabitants to note that the three AAYstern Zones with a population of 45,000,000 have a total police force of 100,000 who are unarmed except that they can draw on a small supply of revolvers or rifles in case of an emergenev. Such a peace-loving nation as the Soviet to be would have no need of such a force if the effective policing of Eastern Germany were the only point at issue.