MILITARY STRENGTH OF GERMANY

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25243, 23 July 1947, Page 9

MILITARY STRENGTH OF GERMANY

| fIELD-MARSHAL MONTGOMERY

Revival Held Unlikely

VIEWS OF FIELD-MARSHAL MONTGOMERY

Field-Marshal Lord Montgomery does not believe that Germany is ever likely to revive her military strength. “No,” he said with an emphatic wave of his hand when he was asked this question at a press conference last evening. . He made the same answer to a suggestion that the remnants of the German General Staff might be a means of reviving this strength. “The German General Staff have been dispensed to the four winds of heaven. They are finished,” he added.

"We want to get Germany back to a reasonable level,” said Lord Montgomery. “We can’t keep 70,000,000 people in the middle of Europe and tramp on them completely. We have got to give them something worthwhile, but as the level of industry in Germany is raised up, we have got to be careful that they can’t turn that over to war purposes. The statesmen' are watching them very carefully.”

Asked how long he thought the occupation of Germany was likely to last, Lord Montgomery said that was entirely a matter for the Big Four. He would say there were no indications at the moment that we could pull out of Germany yet. Anyone who tried to say when that would happen would be drawing a very long bow in the dark. “No effect,” replied Lord Montgomery when he was asked whether the reported move to reduce the strength of the British forces overseas would have any effect on the Dominions’ contribution to Empire defence. Commenting un the instruction by the Minister of Defence (Mr A. V. Alexander) to the defence services in Britain that they should review their manpower requirements thoroughly, Lord Montgomery said he had set the review in motion for the Army before he left London. The Army was not yet down to its peace-time shape or size because of commitments like those in Germany, Palestine, and other parts of the world. When reference was made to some of the reforms Lord Montgomery has introduced in the British Army, he said he had not done away with some of the spit and polish. He had introduced reforms which had made it possible for the soldier to live his own life when he was not on duty. “That is a great thing, that the soldier will be able to live his own life like an ordinary citizen,” said Lord Montgomery. “The citizen can lead his own life when he is not on duty, and so should the soldier. “But I am satisfied that the necessary Army discipline has got to be there. What I have tried to do is make the soldier’s living conditions more comparable with those in civil life. A iot of people think that is making the soldier soft, but his training is hard, and when he has finished his training there is no reason why he should not have a life like that in his own home.”