EUROPE ARMED

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXII, Issue 4640, 16 May 1938, Page 3

EUROPE ARMED

—o RINGED" WITH FORTS. DEFENCE MEASURES. . Th wide extent of apprehension in Europe which has brought a race to rearm, is indicated in the rush of fortification building (says A. Godfrey Lias, in the Christian Science Monitor.)

News despatches, more often than not, are concerned with aggressive weapons. But the group of nations on the periphery of Germany is engaged in a “defensive” arms race. Little publicity, however, has been given to the erection of rings of steel on a dozen frontiers —emulating in some degree the famous Maginot Line begun by France in 1929. Since Germany reoccupied the Rhineland in 1935, France decided on an important extension to this vast system of forts on the FrancoGerman border. After Belgium withdrew from her Locarno obligations, France decided to extend the chain of fortifications still further, and if present intentions are carried out there will soon be a fortified line running down the Jura to the English Channel. It is estimated that from first to last the Maginot Line will have cost France some £250,000,000, spread over a period of 10 years.

• Details of the fortification system which is going up elsewhere in Europe are not contained in the ordinary statistical sources. Aiding the contemporary investigator, the German Association for League Questions has published in its official journal, Volkerbund, a comprehensive review of the armaments of Europe, exclusive of Germany. The accuracy of the statements appears indicated by tkose instances where confirmation is possible from independent sources.

Belgian Forts Modernised

Belgium has built at proportionate expense what is to all intents and purposes an extension northward of the French Maginot Line. Behind this, the old fortifications at Liege and Namur have been modernised. A “wasps’ nest” of blockhouses has been erected in the Ardennes. The Antwerp zone is receiving additional defence works. A line of blockhouses has even been erected as far west as Ghent. Most of this work, it may be stated, was carried out in the years 1935-36, and all of it is designed to protect the roads leading to, or rather from, Germany. The Netherlands joined in the race to fortify in 1935 —with the object, as Premier Hendrik Colijn declared a few months later, of convincing any belligerent that he has nothing to gain from a violation of Netherland neutrality. A special defence fund of 54,400,000 florins (about £6,000,000) to be expended over a four-year period on special coastal defence and “bridge defence” work was approved. The new fortified line is well to the east —i.e., on the German side of the older system based on Amsterdam, and consists mainly of protective blockhouses and stiong points around the chief crossing-places of the Meuse, Yssel and Waal.

Heavy Budget in Poland

Denmark, Germany’s only neighbour to the northward, has hitherto deliberately refrained from fortifying. Poland, on the other hand, has been very busy . Since 1932, more than 35 per cent, of the Polish Budget has been devoted to national defence purposes, in addition to which Poland, a year ago, obtained a credit of 2,600,000,000 French francs (about £18,000,000) partly for the erection of armament factories in Poland, and partly to enable the Polish Government to finish and extend the railway between Silesia and Gdynia.

Practically no details are available of Polish fortifications. But it is known that important woi'ks have been put in hand along the western frontier—that is to say, opposite Germany. The Hel peninsula at the northern end of the Polish Corridor has been declared a fortified area. It is also significant that the new Polish ai-mament factories are being located, not in the developed industrial area of Upper Silesia near the PolishGerman frontier, but in the hitherto undeveloped centre of the country. Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia is busy on three lines for fortifications pivoting backward from a point not far A’om

where the Czech-German frontier meets that of Poland. The tempo of the work has been considerably increased in the past two years.

Strengthening its borders is a large task because of the long, narrow shape of the country, but authoritative French writers have recently made studies of the military situation in Czechoslovakia, and indicate that the defensive power of the nation has been enormously increased. The Czech Finance Minister, Josef Kalfus, introducing the Budget for 1938 early in November, announced that since 1934 Czechoslovakia had spent 12,500,000,000 crowns (about £88,000,000) on national defence, mainly on frontier fortifications and the improvement of army equipment. He stated that some 4,500,000,000 crowns would be required for national defence in 1938. This is nearly three times as much as in 1933 and represents nearly one-half of the current budget.

Switzerland in 1936 besides authorising the expenditure of a considerable sum on fortifications, saw passage by the Swiss Federal Council of a law completely reorganising the army. The feature of the Neue Truppenordnung, as it is called, is a special Frontier Defence Force.

On Other Frontiers

It is significant that some important new Swiss fortifications are on the St. Gotthard Pass —that is to say, that Switzerland is concerned about the Italian»as well as the German frontier. Extensive defence preparation also is going on ai'ound Basle as well as near the junction of Switzerland, Italy and the French province of High Savoy. Concerning Austria there is little information. But the fact that there is close collaboration between the General Staffs of Vienna and Berlin would seem to indicate a different attitude toward Germany from that of other near neighbours of the Third Reich. (This was before Germany absorbed Austria.) So far as Germany herself is concerned little is known. There is reason to believe, however, that a strong line of fortifications has been built in the Rhineland since Chancellor Hitler threw over the Versailles Treaty in 1935. It is also understood that in spite of the PolishGerman Teraty of Friendship signed in 1934, Germany has recently built another fortified line over against Poland.