THE FRENCH ARMY

Otago Witness, Issue 3149, 22 July 1914, Page 27

THE FRENCH ARMY

HIGHLY SENSATIONAL DISCLOSURES. PARIS, July 14. A sensatioa was caused in the Senate to day. M. Charles Humbert, reporter for the Army Committee, surprised the Government by disclosing administrative scandals. He accused the general stall of gross incompetence, and the manufacturers of supplying armoured tui’rets inferior to those furnished to foreign countries; the supply of gun ammunition was insufficient, the shells were old and dangerous to handle, the howitzers old and inferior to Germany’s. French inventors were not, he said, encouraged. The Government had arranged to spend £4,000,000 upon mortars invented in France in 1910, and nothing had yet been done, though it now employed the services of Germany and Russia. Communications between the fortresses on the eastern frontier were hopelessly deficient. The army was short of two million pairs of boots, and in the event of war the soldiers would start to the front with none except those on their feet. The army at present had only sufficient pontoons and other equipment to cross the Moselle and the Rhine. Millions of money voted for defence had been wasted. Parliament would consent to any indispensable sacrifices, but it was essential to reorganise the army. M. Messimy admitted that most of M. Humbert’s facts, taken separately, were correct; if not as presented, yet as exceptions. He promised to rigorously control the execution of the forthcoming programme. M. Clemenceau described the sitting as the most heartrending he remembered since 1870. He exclaimed ; “We neithercovered nor defended the Government, and must uphold the situation and indicate a remedy.” July 15. M. Messimy, replying to M. Humbert’s phillipic, said there had been shortcomings in the past, but the waste was greatly overstated. France in 1917 would have 3020 guns, and Germany 3370. The stocks of ammunition were adequate, and the soldiers had two pairs of boots in the event of war, but six million francs were devoted to the 1915 reserve stock of boots. M. Yiviani deprecated any unwarranted alarm. The Senate instructed the Army Committee to inquire into the strictures and report early next session.