CONTENDING ARMIES

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 135, 5 December 1939, Page 10

CONTENDING ARMIES

SOVIET AND FINLAND

RUSSIAN BLIND SPOTS

The Russian forces which are attacking Finland are of unknown strength, but the cumulative power of the Soviet Union, with its population of 170,000,----000, naturally far exceeds that of the Finns. The average number of Russians called up for training each year (1,200,000) is approximately equal to one-third of the entire population of Finland. The total number of effectives in the Soviet Army was in excess of 1,100,000 last year, and since those figures were published there has been a 65 per cent, increase in the defence budget, and mobilisation of numbers of reserves for the Polish invasion. The Russian Army, in 1938, consisted of 100 infantry divisions, 34 cavalry divisions, 20 to 25 tank brigades, not including tank units attached to infantry commands, about 100 regiments of light artillery, and over 60 regiments of heaVy artillery. The normal provisions for expansion of this force to war footing would mean that the units would be trebled and possibly quadrupled. The size of the force mobilised would largely depend on the out-i put of Soviet industry and the capacity of the S.oviet transport system, con-, cerning which there are many" opinions. The air force is a mystery. No information about the organisational structure of army or air force is ever published in the Russian Press, and foreign estimates of Soviet; air power range all the way from 3000 planes to 17,000 machines. A French estimate, made by General Paul Armengaud, InspectorGeneral of Aviation Schools and of Air Defence, only thfee months ago, was that Russia had 5000 planes in' firstline formations: 1000 bombers, 1500 reconnaissance planes, 1500 pursuit planes, and 1000 "attack" planes (apparently dual-purpose machines). Of these he estimated that 1500 were stationed in the Far East. The Russian Air Force, it will be'recalled, has come under much criticism. The Spanish war showed that the best Russian types were good, but suggested that in the main the air force was not as modern as it might be. The sudden production of five new types of machines at Stalin's birthday parade last year and the purchase of more and more foreign models may not be unconnected with these criticisms. Also, at the time of the Czech crisis last year, Colonel Lindbergh was declared in the Soviet Press to have made a disparaging report.on Red air strength to the British Government, and was violently assailed for this action. General Armengaud also made some damaging criticism of the Soviet air\ force, declaring that deficient alloys were used' in the machines and that skilled workers were short in the factories. The personnel, however, is believed to be good, arid as was shown yesterday, includes women. For some time past women have been training with the Soviet air force. A number were with the armies which invaded Poland. At that time it was stated that they were not piloting war planes, but merely transport machines.