GERMANY’S ARMY

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27912, 8 March 1956, Page 13

GERMANY’S ARMY

Bonn Parliament Passes Bill (Rec. 8 p.m.) BONN, March 8. The West German Bundestag (Lower House) today ended a one-month-old wrangle over the new West German Army. It passed the bill which will enable the Bonn Government to call 750,000 volunteers to the “Bundeswher.” By a show of hands the House defeated an amendment to name the forces “Wehrmacht,” the name they bore in Hitler’s day. “Wehrmacht” can be translated as “defence force.” and “Bundeswehr” is translated as “Federal defence.” Dr. Richard Jaeger, the Christian Democrat Chairman of the Defence Committee. said the the name “Wehrmacht'’ was under a shadow in formerly occuoied countries, now West Germany's allies. The bill now goes to the Bundesrat (Upper House) where it is certain to be passed before the end of the month. The existing law, which empowered the government to recruit the first 6000 volunteers, will expire on March 31. Dr. Jaeger said his committee had made a very large number of changes to the Government’s original draft. “We wanted to put Parliamentary responsibility for defence matters beyond all doubt,” he said. “We held that the position of the soldier in an army should correspond to the position of a free citizen in a law-abiding State. The notion of the citizen in uniform is to be taken seriouslv.” A British embassy spokesman said in Bonn today that seven Bren gun carriers, the first British equipment for the new West German Army, would be delivered to training barracks at Andernach. near Bonn, tomorrow. The vehicles are the first instalment of a total of 100 ordered by the West German Defence Ministry.