NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 71, 21 September 1939, Page 12

NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

The reports of a revolt in Bohemia and Moravia, with heavy casualties among the Czechs and also among the Nazis come a sthe latest of a long I series of bulletins on the difficulties which the Reich has been experiencing with its new subjects there. In the immediate post-Munich period of disillusionment the Nazis might easily have won. the co-operation of the Czechs, the Prague correspondent of "The Times" declared not long ago. Instead, the customary German blundering, the failure to appreciate the importance of symbolism and of the forms of liberty to the citizens of the new empire, created what was approaching a deadlock even before tha war broke out. The Nazis seem to I have made the mistake of framing their estimate of the Czechs on the reports given them by the Sudetenlanders, and these proved thoroughly unreliable. The way the new frontiers were established after Munich, the ruthless methods by which tha extinction of the nation was set about, and the tales of terrorism brought by refugees from the Sudetenland began to create a new spirit in the Czechs, and the work was carried on most effectively by the German Government. * * * mAfter the occupation of Bohemia and Moravia in March last because, as Herr Hitler claimed, the Czechs were reverting to "their old ways," thj two territories were created a sealed compartment of the Reich. There was virtually no free contact between Bohemia and Moravia and the outside world, or even with the rest of Germany. The Protector, Constantine Freiherr yon Neurath, and a series of shadow departments, stood behind the Czech Government and held the real power. The German idea of running the protectorate ignored the most elemenary rules uf preventing discontent. Statues of Czech national heroes were removed. Towns and railway stations were renamed in German instead of Czech. Streets which had borne the names of Czech statesmen were retitled after the leaders of the Third Reich or after the Habsburgs, from whose rule the Czechs escaped twenty years ago. These things were succeeded by more serious blows. The Czechs were told that their immunity ; from German national service laws had been ended. They were told that they must "conform to German ways of living and working," which meant they must toil harder for their new masters, and "improve quality arid quantity." Five strategically placed cities lost their Governments, not officially, because they were strategically placed, but because they were "old German foundations." All- held Czech majorities. Democratic local government was abandoned wherever possible, and replaced by German commissioners. ; i • *- » . '. But despite these things the Czechs were not won over to the German idea' of their destiny. They were so recalitrant that Herr yon Neurath warned them in June that there would be more changes in government unless they were willing to co-operate. The later moves of the policy of Germanising the Czechs included the demand that their officials should use the German language, the refusal to allow their organisations (including women's athletic organisations) to wear uniforms and salute each otherwith their fraternity greeting, the installation of Nazi commissars in Czech, business houses, the sealing of threshing machines so that peasants could not sell their own crops, and the imposition of a stream of "requisitions. 1? All war materials, all stocks of grain, petrol, tinned food, and leather were seized in preparation for the Polish offensive. The Germanising of factories, and farms was undertaken. Germans staffed the police force, and numbers of Black Guards were sent from Berlin some months ago because of the fear of the Czechs. > Through all these developments the Czechs appear to have controlled themselves very well, and to have carried out a campaign of non-co-operation and of going slow. They also united within a single political body, scorning the substitute organisations to which they were invited by the Nazis. Two months ago the "New York Times" correspondent in Prague rei ported that Herr Himmler, head' of the German police, had declared that he would deal with the people with the utmost ruthlessness, if necessary, in order to impose order in the territory. One .of the things which followed this morning was a broadcast,by the Acting Prime Minister in which he begged the Czechs to cease from political discussions and to have confidence in their Government. NothV ing, he said, would be gained by war. But despite this, according to a variety of observers, the Czechs have continued to hope for war. At the same time the Germans have regarded the Czechs, with their many highly-skilled workers, as valuable property for the Reich, and have been handicapped in their dealings with them by that fact. In other words, ill-treatment probably would have been greater if the Nazis had not feared to damage their own possessions. All the time the possibility of revolt has beenx there, and at the time of the occupation last March it was reported that rifles, revolvers, and ammunition disappeared in great quantities, so the people may be reasonably well armed. . » * • * Mr. Chamberlain's statement that tha anti-submarine campaign is proceeding better.than it did in the last war is not surprising in view of the fact that for a long period in the last struggle the only real weapon against the submarine was the gun, which was useless when the boat was submerged. Explosive charges towed by patrol vessels were used at first, but it was soon seen that they were useless, because it was easy to avoid them, and experiments were then made with bombs which could be heaved overboard. By the middle of 1916 the depth charge had been evolved, and much., was hoped from it, but it soon became apparent that unless a bomb exploded within 30 feet or so of a submarine it would not damage the under-sea boat sufficiently to bring it" to the surface. It was only in 1917 that the depth charge, fired from a sort of howitzer, became a really formidable | weapon in the hands of the anti-sub- ! marine forces, which at the end of 1916 were still relying on the ram, the towed charge,,the'net, the mine, and the gun. The last-mentioned was used by Q-ships with some effect. An increasingly good anti-submarine tech--nique raised the German losses enormously at the end of the war. In 1914-15 24 submarines had been destroyed, in 1916 25 more U-boats were sunk, in 1917 the submarine casualties rose to 66, and in 1918, for ten months, they were 88. An analysis of the methods of sinking the submarine, made after the Armistice, shewed that destroyers and patrol vessels, with their guns, depth charges, and rams, accounted for 64, mines and nets for 43, British submarines torpedoed 18, and Q-ships sank 11. The causes of the loss of 19 ar« unknown. At the end of the war Gejb many* had 138 submarines*,