DISORDERS IN GERMANY

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 36, 12 February 1938, Page 9

DISORDERS IN GERMANY

SAFEGUARD AGAINST CRISIS

ARMY DISUNITY.

LONDON. February 11. The Berlin correspondent of "The Times" says that the Foreign Office regards reports of disturbances in Germany as "so ridiculous as not to require public denial." Nazi Party circles admit difficulties with the army, especially among officers of corps in East Prussia and Ppmerania. It is not known what means have been taken to cope with the trouble, but it is firmly denied there has been mutiny or disorders. Many officers, it is believed, have been arrested. A large section of the officers are clearly smarting under last Saturday's decisions, in which they saw at least the thin end of the : wecfge of Nazification, which the army has resisted since 1933. It was a tremendous shock to all monarchist, conservative, and aristocratic elements, who. had regarded. the army as for the present the only remaining moderating influence, and, in the future, as the maker of an. alternative government. It is not unreasonable to suppose, therefore, that many conservative officers thought a stand should be made now, but, in considering their course of action, they will have to take into consideration the fact that the decisions have been accepted by Generals Kietel and Brauchitsch, two officers the army highly respects. Disunity in the army should accordingly effectively safeguard the Government against a serious crisis, even if the discontent in the officers' corps goes deeper than is supposed. With so much tension in the air, it is not surprising that Berlin is full of rumours, some of them more sensational than any printed abroad.