A BACKGROUND OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 136, 4 March 1940, Page 6

A BACKGROUND OF THE WAR

Rumania’s Defences 300-MILE MOAT ROUND FRONTIERS fcjiuee the outbreak of the war Rumania has feverishly pushed ahead the work on her frontier defences. From lime to time they have been inspected by King Carol, who is said to have been personally responsible for their design, and latest reports slate that, within two months they will lie completed. Rumania, with 1,609.000 men under arms, has now lhe lnigest army in her history.

In her defences there is one unique feature —an immense moat, 40ft. wide and of the same depth, and running practically the full length of her frontiers with Russia, Poland ami Hungary. This is to be Rumania’s first line ot detente, designed to prevent any lightning invasion with mechanized units.

The moat, in its two parts, is more than 300 miles long. Where it runs along the banks of the Dneister a double barrier is provided, for on the Rumanian side the riverbanks are exceptionally high. The defensive encirclement of the country is completed by the River Danube, which provides a barrier along the southern frontier almost as far as the coast. King Carol referred to the new dyke in a recent speech when he said: “Rumania will fight like a living wall against aggression.”

Waterways Linked The plan for the new moat was conceived by King Carol in September, 1938, at the time of the Munich I act. "The idea is a return to the medieval system, but conceived on a vast scale,” he said. “The moat links rivers and lakes. “When Germany concentrated thousands of tanks and mechanized troops ready to invade Czechoslovakia, it -was realized in Rumania that some form of defence against such an attack must bo constructed without delay. Within a little more than a year the work was completed. “It was not possible to keep such an immense work absolutely seciet, bJ very few people realized its importa nee Digging a ditch, even a big one, does not"excite such interest as the construction of vast concrete fortifications such as the Maginot Line. National Achievement

The work was carried out entirely by Rumanian engineers and with Rumanian labour. The actual line of the moat is from the River Muresh, at the junction ot tiie Jugoslav and Hungarian frontiers, along the Hungarian frontier to the foot of the Carparthian Mountains in the province of Bukovina, ’.the moat continues from the foothills running parallel to the River Dneister Io the Black Sea. In the mountains it. is felt tbjit there is no need for artificial fortifications, for in places the mountains rise to 6000 ft.

Rumania’s Rights The assertion frequently made in articles dealing with Balkan problems that, one of the .major difficulties has been the unwillingness of Rumania to meet the demands of Hungary for the return of Transylvania, of Bulgaria lor the return of Dobrttja, and of Russia for the return of Bessarabia, is placed in a different, light by Mr. C. Costachescu, London correspondent of the “Bucharest. Daily,” in a letter to the English publication, “Railway Review. “Dobruja was awarded to Rumania by the Treaty of Berlin in IS7B, and Southern Dobruja by the Treaty of Bucharest in 1.913. The union of Transylvania and Bukovina with Rumania was agreed on through a treaty signed in August, 1916, between France, Great Britain. Italy and Russia. “But there was no need to apply this treaty as Transylvania, after the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, voted of her own free will for the union with Rumania, as did Bukovina. Bessarabia, at the outbreak of the Russian revolution in 191.7, became an independent republic. She, too, voted freely her union with Rumania in 1918. Needloss to say, the majority of those provinces’ population was Rumanian. “The 1919 I’eace Treaty, after a long and elaborate study of all the historical, ethnographical, and economic claims of those concerned, recognized Greater Rumania as she stands today. We are not asking anything but to preserve what wc have. It. is our interest to preserve peace, not to oppose it.’’ The Magnetic Mine

Several interesting facts arc disclosed in today's cable dealing with tlie magnetic mine. One which is not likely to be overlooked is that the mine casings which have been washed up on English coasts bear tlie date of manufacture. Most of them are stamped 1938. The weight of the explosive charge is 7001 b., and the total weight of the mine is 15001 b. This weight, when considered in terms of the pay load of the Dornier 17’s, which have beeu used to sow them, shows that each plane cannot carry more than two each trip, as tlie pay load is about 30001 b. The magnetic principle on which Ute mine detonates is centred about a pivoted magnet kept, in an upright position by springs. When a steel vessel enters the magnetic minefield, a needle is dellected. One point, moves upward and the other downward, making the contact which explodes the charge. The range of the mine varies according to tlie size of tlie vessel approaching it. “Beer Barre) Polka”

One of tlie luckiest men in the world —you might think, would be the composer of the No. 1 song-hit of the war—- “ Beer Barrel Polka.” It has sold record numbers of copies of sheet, music rind gramophone records. But tlie young man who composed the tune—really three different tunes in one, all fascinating—will not get any of the British royalties till the war is ovei For he is now a German subject— Jaromir Vcjbodn.

When lie wrote the music in 1934 he was it Czech, and tlie song was a ballad called “Skoda Lasky” (“Pity.of Love”). It was -when tlie tune reached the United States that two fresh hands got to work on it, pepped it up into a quickfoxtrot. Waldimir A. Timm invented its new title and Lew Brown replaced (lie old lyric about love with a new one about lieer—“Roll out tlie Barrel. . . .”

Both, unlike poor Vejboda. are drawing huge royalties. And tlie English publishers say that the song has caught on in. till parts of the world.