MODERN WARFARE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 196, 20 August 1934, Page 8

MODERN WARFARE

MEANT FOR PROFESSIONALS FRENCH DISCUSSION. Will France have a Reichswehr—that is, a professional long-service army? The Army Committee of the Chamber of Deputies has just drawn up a report approving Marshal Petain’s and General Gamclin’s proposals concerning the reinforcement of the “covering,” says the Manchester Guardian. The proposed reinforcement implies the formation of highly organised and mechanised units capable of quick manoeuvring and able in the event of an attack on the French frontier to offer in the words of an expert, “something more than mere passive resistance.” As Germany is numerically stronger than France, especially during the “lean” recruiting years (1935 to 1939), there has been a growing tendency among French military authorities to abandon the “democratic army” in favour of a professional army and to concentrate on quality rather than on numbers. The reorganisation of the French army, which has already been begun, will result in the formation of a certain number of “shock units” which may eventually become the nucleus of a French profcssiosal army. A Soldier’s Arguments. Tn a newly-published book entitled “Towards a Professional Army”—a book which has received the greatest attention in military quarters —Lieuten-ant-Colonel de Gaulle argues that a conscript is of little use in modern warfare, which has become a highly specialised art. Moreover, the French conscript regards his military service merely as a nuisance. It is necessary, the author says, to form an army of experts who would be proud of their profession aid of their technical skill. There is io reason, he says, why the army should not, like the Navy and the Air Force, be composed of specialists. One of his arguments is that wth professional armies the waste of human life is far smaller than with conscript armies. The author says that neaily all wars in the past were won by professionals. Napoleon’s army was invincible so long as it was largely com posed of professionals. Its decline began when it started drawing on raw' re cruits. The term of service for the pro fessional army, he says, should be six years. Closing the “Gap.” The Army Committee of the Chamber also discussed the plans for completing the fortifications on the eastern frontier, particularly in the “gap” between Longuyon and Margut and along the Saar frontier. The estimates under consideration amount to 1,175,000,000 firancs, of which 800,000,000 francs have, indeed, already been spent. The The committee gave its unanimous approval to the Government Bill. The Government must also have been seriously thinking of raising the term of military service for the Radical Parliamentary group discussed the matter, and, while all the Radicals opposed the extension of the service from one year to two years, a certain number of them

declared themselves in favour of 18 months. As regards fortifications, som® anxiety was caused in France some time ago by the rumour that shortly after King Albert’s death Belgium had stopped work on her frontier fortifications. This has now been denied, but the uneasiness created by the report has not been completely dispelled. It is also believed that King Leopold does not attach as much value as his father did to the military alliance with France and that Belgian diplomacy is looking for safety in London rather than in. Paris; in other words, it places a higher value on a British guarantee of Belgian neutrality than on the help of the French army.