NAZIS HAVE A PLAN

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 17, 20 July 1939, Page 9

NAZIS HAVE A PLAN

DANZIG WITHOUT WAR

PREPARATIONS FOR A COUP

BEING PUSHED AHEAD

(By "Senex.")

Despite the soft words of the German leaders the preparations for a Stroke at the democracies, which were sketched in an article lasi; week, continue to be made by the Axis Powers, and the impression is gained that the next few months may be decisive in

In Libya, for instance, the Italians are pushing ahead their military preparations far ahead of their defensive needs. Construction of great military depots is proceeding, especially around Tripoli, which would be the chief point of debarkation of Italian troops in a new war. The air force in Libya exceeds those of Egypt and Tunisia combined. The amount of artillery there exceeds the needs of the artillery regiments stationed in the colony. The road system along the frontier has been improved. The garrison itself, according to a recent observer, is about 50 per cent, larger than that needed to defend the place against attack, and it is perhaps significant that when General von Brauschitsch, the German Commander-in-Chief, visited Africa he spent his time on the Tunisian border in examining defences, while his visit to the Egyptian border was marked by military exercises—exercises performed by troops which the Italians have been training in mobility. WORK ON LIMES LINE. 11l Germany the large-scale work on the Limes (previously the Siegfried) Line continues; pill-boxes fifty yards i apart have been constructed on some] roads, women and young men wearing the dress of the Labour Service have been helping the farmers to gather the harvest, and the fields are strewn with! cycles, suggesting that these helpers! have travelled some distance to their! work. The iron sleepers in the railway along the Rhine are being replaced with wood because of the shortage of metal. The present improvement and extension of the defences reaches along the whole length of the Franco-German frontier. In Danzig military activity is openly in progress. All young men between the ages of 16 and 25 have received orders to join the Nazi "Free Corps." Many young men of that age have been trained in East Prussia in the past, and the order called up the rest. These men have been allotted to garrison duty at known points. For instance, they are housed at Langfuhr, about two miles from the centre of the city, and at Mackau. Guns which were brought from Gumbinnen were mounted at Bischhofsberg, access to which place has been denied to the public. Tailors and bootmakers have been so busy with military orders that private civilians have been able to have orders accepted only with difficulty. Herr Greiser, the President of the Danzig Senate, is now on leave in the Reich, where he is doing his period of service as a German naval officer, and today the direction of the Free City is in the hands of Herr Foerster, the Nazi leader. And the German "tourists" continue to arrive. After their arrival they go about with their sleeves marked "Heimwehr" (Home Guard). The smuggling of arms reached such dimensions that the Poles determined to stop it, and while the method to be employed was not disclosed, it is believed the Poles meant to attempt persuasion before resorting to stronger measures. CONTRAST IN STATEMENTS. Meantime the sweet reasonableness^ of the Axis Press has been in strong contrast to the downright statements of their leaders. The German Press campaign against Britain has waned and mention of Danzig has been infrequent. The key to the situation is perhaps to be found in Dr. Goebbels's statement in Danzig that "the Leader watches you and your future, and in his hands we are all in good protection." Rumours of early action in Danzig have been ridiculed in. Berlin. The "Frankfurter Zeitung" declared at the end of last month that though Germany's weapons are stronger than those of any other nation she does not want to use them; it added, however, that "she probably will not have to, because the existence of those armaments is .sufficient.". The Italian Press has accused the "demoplutocracies" of having lost their nerve, of embittering the whole international situation, and of creating artificial anxiety. Against these things, however, must be set the utterances of prominent Nazis. Dr. Goebbels said to Danzigers last month that "you Danzigers wish to return home; be assured that everybody in Germany knows your wishes, shares them, and has the same unconditional loyalty to you as you have to the Reich." Herr Foerster said on July 2: "We want to return to Germany, and we are going to return to Germany. . . . No menaces by Poland can frighten Danzig. If the Fuhrer brings freedom to Danzig this German population will stand together as one man." The Nazi "Danziger Verposten" declared on July 2: "Hitler will decide on the day of Danzig's liberation." THE GERMAN WAY OUT. \ Does Herr Hitler mean to provoke a war? Is he convinced that another show of force will bring Mr. Chamberlain to Germany three times again to smGGih out the situation?. Or is there another plan? It is clear that, whatever Herr Hitler thinks, and some are convinced that he now believes Britain and France will not oppose him and that he can crush them if they do, any overt act at Danzig will mean war. But the German tactics being to put their opponents in the wrong, it is suspected that the Reich means to promote a revolt within the city against the "oppression" of the Poles, so that it may summon Germans to arms to "liberate" their oppressed countrymen. Britain and France have been attempting to convince the Nazis that one more crisis will be the last one, and there has been considerable diplomatic activity. Beside these facts must be placed the persistent Berlin report repeated in "The Times" on July 1, that "Danzig will return to the Reich in a manner as unexpected as it is innocuous." Germany has a plan, it seems, to solve the problem "from inside." It is alleged that after all the preparations are completed Herr Hitler will pay a visit to the city, receive the freedom of the city, and later it will profess its "Germandom." A few days later Danzig will formally return to the Reich, a procedure which will lead, at the utmost, the Nazis believe, to proposals by Britain and France for negotiations between Germany and Poland, ■ for the return of the city will have been due to the free will of the German population. The one thing which I this plan overlooks is what may happen in Poland after Danzig professes itself a German city.