King Country Chronicle. Tuesday, November 12, 1935. GERMAN REARMAMENT.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXIX, Issue 4771, 12 November 1935, Page 4

King Country Chronicle. Tuesday, November 12, 1935. GERMAN REARMAMENT.

Thousands of Germany's first postwar conscripts assembled at Potsdam last week and the scene, stated one writer, "recalled the grim military spectacles of Imperial Germany." Germany after rearming in secret is now coming out into the open with her forces, and the attitude which she takes up with their backing will be probably the most vital factor in European and world politics in the future. Again and again during the past few weeks Mr. Winston Churchill has considered it necessary to remind the British people of the extent of the German armament, going much beyond the condemnation of the breach of treaties involved in it. Despite the assertions of Herr Hitler that Germany desires peace, the present regime seems bent on creating the nation as a unit of force, and Mr. Churchill's warnings are based on solid grounds, even if the belligerency of his tone has robbed them of some of their force and given needless offence in Berlin circles. Recognising that a nation such as Germany could not for ever remain unarmed in an armed Europe, and that already secret arming has necessarily taken place, England was the first to recognise Germany's arming as official by concluding a naval agreement with her. By this treaty Germany was allowed a navy 35 per cent, of the total British naval forces scattered

throughout the world. With the modern design of Germany's vessels the comparative strength of her naval forces will probably be greater than that indicated in the percentage. The power of Germany in the air is undoubted; it is some time since Herr Hitler announced that this country's first line air strength was almost equal to that of Great Britain's, and further efforts in this direction have been increased rather than slackened. Speculation as to the size of the German army has been rife, and competent observers have considered Germay's peace-time military establishment superior to that of France and second only to that of Russia. The chief feature of the -history of Germany is that diplomacy and liberalism have been almost uniformly unsuccessful in coping with vital questions, whereas force applied ruthlessly was almost uniformly successful from 1860 up to the Great War. There Germany met her Waterloo, but now once more it appears that the nation is being taught to observe the doctrine of the worship of force. Of course, that may be merely to assert her position in Europe, and Germany may yet cooperate either with the League of Nations or with Great Britain in the interests of peace. England and France are endeavouring to reintroduce her into the League, though they may find Germany's price of reentry is too high. A significant despatch was one last week quoting an article in the newspaper "Allgemaine Zeitung" in high praise of Britains' policy in the name of col-" lectivism, but foreseeing an AngloGerman agreement "of much wider scope than the naval agreement," after the failure of the long distance blockade and a short sharp war between Britain and Italy.