SHOW OF POWER

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 49, 26 August 1938, Page 9

SHOW OF POWER

GERMAN PARADE

BIGGEST SINCE WAR

NEW WEAPONS

United Press Association—By Electric Tele-

graph—Copyright. (Received August 26, 11.10 a.m.)

LONDON, August 25.

The Berlin correspondent of the British United Press reports that Admiral Horthy, Regent of Hungary, who is on an official visit to Germany, accompanied by Herr Hitler, in the historic Tiergarten today witnessed the biggest military parade held in Germany since the war, transcending even those staged for Signor Mussolini's visit and for Herr Hitler's birthday.

Sixty-one thousand ' troops participated and the 308 guns included some which were seen for the first time in public and whose size visibly surprised foreign military attaches. Foulhundred and twelve tanks, 700 motorised vehicles, 318 motor-cycles, and 72 horse-drawn vehicles passed by the saluting base. A high wind prevented war planes from participating.

New weapons which were paraded for the first time included doublebarrelled machine-guns, 8-inch mortars, an extra-heavy tank equipped with a grating on the top to assist it in bursting through obstructions, and a dozen long-barrelled seige guns of unknown calibre, with portable platforms from where they are fired. Other equipment, all drawn by tractors, occupied half a mile of the procession. The Berlin correspondents of "The Times" and the "Daily Telegraph" agree upon the extraordinary efficiency of the German army as revealed by the parade before Admiral Horthy. The "Daily Telegraph" says that military observers were astonished.

"The Times" regards the steadiness and smartness of the troops as being equal to the old Imperial army, this being especially remarkable as none of .the men served for more than two years.