PREPARED FOR WAR

Taranaki Daily News, 17 September 1934, Page 5

PREPARED FOR WAR

GERMANY’S MUNITIONS.

DISCLOSURES BY GENERAL.

London, Sept. 3.

A tank armed with big guns and capable of attaining a speed of 59 miles an hour; a gas 40 times as deadly as any known destructive agent; and aeroplanes able to carry enough gas to kill 1,500,000 persons are all possessed by Germany, declares an anonymous German general, whose journals are published by Jarrold’s, under the title of “Berlin Diaries.” The work was edited by Dr. Klotz, Its author, who was clearly in the confidence of the highest personages until Herr Hitler became Chancellor, describes the late President von Hindenburg as a man who let everybody down, adducing instances of his faithlessness. He says that Dr. Goebbels is a Mephistopheles who is able to twist anything to mean its opposite, and that General Goering is a disgusting swaggerer. Countless entries show the author’s supreme contempt for Herr Hitler. He declares that the accession of Herr Hitler to power means that “we have gone off our heads.”

There are astonishing revelations of Germany’s preparations for gas and bacteria bombardment from the air, confirming Mr. Wickham Steed’s published charges of June 27. There are records of visits to chemical factories, where the writer witnessed the production of a gas called “Red Cross/’ 40 times more deadly than “Yellow Cross,” “which, God knows, is powerful enough,’’ remarks the general. After inspecting a gas factory at Bitterfield, he was of the opinion that 10 passenger aeroplanes could carry sufficient gas to kill 1,500,000 persons. At Duisberg the managing director of the German Chemical Trust introduced him to a colleague doing research work on bacterial warfare, who was convinced that Germany could risk war to-mor-r;w. The general expresses the opinion that, compared with the next war, the World Wai- will seem a honeymoon. The author also is satisfied that Germany already possesses sufficient mach-ine-guns. He tested the tank to which he refers.

An entry of January 11, 1933, asks: “Who is the traitor who is informing England of Germany’s secret arms? England is inconveniently well-inform-ed.”

The general also discloses the existence of a plan to invade Holland in the event of war, and mentions that the ex-Kaiser sent an emissary to General von Schleicher to say he considered the time had come when he (the ex-Kasier) should return to Germany. General Schleicher was murdered in the Nazi putsch of June 30, together with 76 others.