RUSSIA FREE FROM INVASION

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 May 1937, Page 12

RUSSIA FREE FROM INVASION

■ • <■■■'■ j ' DECISIVE (FACTOR, IN WAR

The opinion that Soviet JElupgla .is nrobably more free from W fafcwp of invasion in Europe country is expresped• by ton Brodrick, ih .a Article vm “G'K.’sWeekly,” fa Lpfidoij. “Germany’s .classical'excuse ?fpr her rearmament 'lb ' that' the ’ Soviets are preparing to shake war on her |m| J ,tb bolphevlse the world,” gays':Jlr^.Broderick.’' ‘-The Germans tell us that the Russian Air Force is the best? in ex-is>ppe|-and that Stalin can 'mobilise 11 ‘'m'inioh trained men. A'' " :• “It-jp difficult to see what the;Soy : iets ' could gain by attacking Germany, or how could set abput it. Germany and Russia have no common frontier; they are separated by all the breadth of ..Poland—and although Germany could be bombed from the air, no one seriously ■ thinks that a war can be won by air action alone. Admittedly the Polish army would be no match for that.: of Germany, but they might be able to liold up the Russians.*’F,’.- . “The Soviet leaders, know that no one can conquer Russia. In fact the US.S.R. is probably: more free from the menace of invasion in Europe than any other, country/ and it is almost certain‘that Stalin is -thinking of no aggressive military?acfion. He knows that ijo'Russian arrnst;' has ever been victorious ..on, a Uurqoean battlefield outside the borders of Russia. “The. Russians are more vulnerable by sea, for they have no navy to speak of and cannot rapidly create one. A German .attack in the Baltic or in the Black Sea .br both might easily be successfuT ih attaining the very limited objectives of such an operatiqn. The Russians; up to now, have concentrated nearly all their attention on the constitution of a large submarine fleet, a parfrbf which arouses such apprehensions .among the Japanese." The Soviets are refortifying Cronstadt as a protection grad and they look.with^ahn^^h <the newly-won rights of the\T ; urks th Control the access to the Black Seal “Dr. .iGoebbqls. states ythat sians have 3,100 heavy and light bombers and 1,500 fighters. No doubt immense strides -have been made in aeroplane production and the country has become very ‘airminded.’ But even if it is true that. the Soviets today dispose of h larger number of .firstrlihe machines than any other Power,' how long will such supremacy last ? The - spectacular tri-motor multiplanes for the" transport ctf troops;'and light guns , are very vulnerable -and would make splendid targets for German fighters armed with machine-guns.-.. ? ' -. . ' - “Dr. .Goebbels- says, that the. Soviets can mobilise-11,000,000, trained men, and that at the beginning of a campaign thev could pufin the field from to 180 infantry rc'giments arid 25 cavalry d i visionshowever, is the real value of the Red Army? There ' would appear J.Q be Some 1,80Q,000 men under arms, well clothed. and well eqiiipped. This standing army is soon to bp raised ; f ftp 2,00q,00 men, but the' output front the arms 'factories - would be quite inadequate in time of war. There are said to be 3000 tanks. ‘‘Observers at last, year’s, mmipeuvres in White Russia were-Struck by the. intelligence and by the hjgh level of education displayed by officers find non-commissioned officers . .with Whom they spoke. Undoubtedly thp Rod Armv .is as good a fighting force as. was''the. old Imperial Army—perhaps even h better one. There ever, any ''higher command ■to / compare. with that of France or Germany. “Modern 'armies, are. motorised. ’The. motorised aryny. will be the decisive factor’ inutile, next war and a motorised army needs above all, two things —good roads and an abundance of fuel. The Russians have petrol in. plenty but no roads at all. Efforts are being made to complete thpi road bet ween Moscow and .Kiev. "When it js finished it will be the only, road in Russia—-the other ‘roads’ are just tracks. The railways are quite insufficient' even for ordinary traffic, and there is A chronic "transport crisis. /

MANCHURIAN FRONTIER “A third of the Russian army—say 700,000 men —must be kept in the Far East, and although it seems that there is no immediate likelihood. of war there, if complications occurred elsewhere the situation on the Manchurian frontier would at. once become dangerous. Soviet apologists tell us that, in the event of war, Eastern Sn beria would be evacuated, but wherecver the front might be established, troops would be needed to man it. “Another third pf the army is needed to keep order in - the interior. There would be trouble at once if all the soldiers were sent .to the front forone of the great weaknesses of the Red force is that it is the army of the Coipmiinist Party. *'At the beginning of operations in (he West, therefore, the-Bolsheviks would not be able to put more than 800,000 men in the field. Anyone who has any knowledge of Russian conditions knows that almost insuperable obstacles would be encountered in the attempt to mobilise and to transport 11,000.000 men in a country of vast distances and no roads. “Of course, these same conditions which make mass mobilisation an almost superhuman task for the Russians. constitute a barrier against any invader. The climate of Russia is the same as when Rostopshin, the Governor of Moscow, wrote to the Emperipr Alexander I on the approach of Napoleon; ‘Your Empire has two powerful defenders —her area and her climate. The Emperor of Russia, will be formidable at Moscow, terrible at Kazan and invincible at Tobolsk.’ “The moral of it all is, perhaps, that Russia is still much the same as ever it was in many essentials. When the commanding officer of one of the Guards Regiments which made the Palace revolution and set the Empress Catherine on the throne of all the Russias called upon his men to give three cheers for their new mistress. they shouted: 'We won’t, serve a “baba',’ —a female.’ “The d.olnnci thereupon nearly foiled the man nearest to him with a formidable clout on the ear. The cheers were then heartily given, for. as the men said, the thing had been properly explained to them.