MILITARY MIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 149, 21 December 1936, Page 22

MILITARY MIGHT

REVEALED BY RUSSIA

MECHANISED UNITS

New types of mechanised military equipment, putting all arms on wheels . and caterpillar treads, apparently solving the bafTling problem of how to build units Having extreme mobility, and heavy striking power, were disclosed, by the Red Army in the Red Square parade celebrating the nine-. tcenth anniversary of the Bolshevist revolution, says the "New York

'irTlhe opinion of at least some foreign military observers who interestedly watched the parade the Soviet Union has put itself in the front rank from the standpoint'of mobility, which | is one of the most important develop- | nients of post-war military technique. So thoroughly is the Red Army mobilising its forces that everything from the advance guard to eight-inch field guns, and perhaps even, larger pieces, may now ride swiftly to battle, taking with it anti-aircraft batteries to ward off hostile aviation. Two of the most striking novelties shown were motor-cycle machine-gun-ners and artillery units made up of caterpillar trucks carrying artillerymen armed with rifles and towing guns of varying calibre up to eight inches, including light howitzers suitable for trench use. FAST OVER ROUGH GROUND. Semi-armoured caterpillar trucks drew smaller guns, each truck carrying seven to nine men. The larger guns were drawn by trucks carrying fifteen men besides the gunners. Such units are capable of moving at high speed over rough .ground. The motor-cycle machine-gun troops apparently are intended to fulfil some of the functions of old-style cavalry where there are even moderately good roads and it is no longer a military secret that the Soviet is building an extensive network of hard-surfaced roads along the western borders as part of its high-powered military preparation. An asphalt highway between Mqscow and Minsk, now being rushed to completion, will be the finest highway in the Soviet Union. Each motor-cycle carried. a light machine-gun or an automatic rifle clamped to a swivel in front of the handlebars.! They can be fired from that position if the unit encounters a foe on the road or can be instantly detached for use in the ordinary manner. Such a unit could travel a long distance and swiftly dismount into1 action at a point where a sudden superiority of arms was needed. Much interest was evidenced when a whole regiment of these motor-cycles sped in even ranks through Red Square without a hitch. More than 100 of the new artillery units also cruised > by. One, slowed down >by motor , trouble,. was shunted off ignominious- ! ly to. clear the way for big tanks, ■■ which came racing across the square a moment later. ' .

Soviet infantry now travels across the country in tanks carrying twenty men. Thus,1 military experts believe, the Red Army has worked out at least the, principle of powerful, highly mobile brigades, including all essential branches of land forces capable of operating independently.

The Soviet paraded nearly 300 ranks, fewer than wa"s done on previous occasions. One huge, black tank, bearing the name Stalin, thundered past at thirty miles an hour, indicating that, a higher speed has been developed by this type.

No new aeroplanes were shown. The air show was curtailed because of the low ceiling, but nevertheless nearly 300 aeroplanes flew ove"r, including 107 four-motored bombers and six light, fast, highly manoeuvreable two-motor-ed bombers.

During the military parade Joseph Stalin, Secretary General of the Communist Party, stood at his accustomed place on the tribune at the top of Nikolai' Lenin's tomb, accompanied by the chief figures of the Soviet regime, including Maxim Litvinov, Foreign Commissar., Near the end of the twohour review he withdraw from the parapet to sit' down and smoke his pipe and joke with intinfates. Then he resumed his place. He left shortly after columns of workers' delegations began streaming through, one of his last gestures being to wave at a child who waved to him from its mother's arms.