GERMAN ARMS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 18991, 16 April 1936, Page 12

GERMAN ARMS

REVERT TO PRE-WAR FORR. PROBLEMS OF EXPANSION LONDON, March 21. Altliough Germany's celebration tJiis vveolt of the first anniversary o. Herr Hitler's denunciation ui' tin military clauses pi' the Versailles Treat}' and the restoration of her defence freedom provided the occasion for many article*; in the German press on the significance and building up oJ tin? new army, air force, and navy, no details were published which were not already know."..

The difficulties are mentioned o expanding- the army of 100,00 into on< of 12 army corps and ,'!b* division:: comprising 550,00 men in all. It if believed that the I>6 divisions will not Bn complete before tho end of this year. Much time and effort will still be needed, it is stated, before the building up of the armed forces can be regarded as complete, and decades must elapse until all in tho nation capable of bearing arms are included. The difficulty of obtaining the number of officers required is also men-' tioned. It has not. been thought advisable to bring many of the officers of the old army back in.to active posts owing to tho changes in military conditions since 1018, but rliey are be-

ing employed in administrative posts. The army, it is pointed out, is not being built for adventures, but to be the permanent, shield ,of Germany's security. In the post-war period ihe military doctrine of Germany, as laid down by General von Seeckt, the creator of the Reiphswohr, envisaged tho use of a small bnl highly trained mobile, professional force, capable of striking sudden "blows, to be backed up by a huge militia army to occupy, consolidate, and hold any territory gained. The peacetime Roichswehr was ' to undertake the first role, and formations largely raised after the outbreak of war the second. These ideas have now, it seems, been abandoned, and the German army has reverted to its pre-war form and strategic doctrines. ,