4
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THE CHINA MAIL, DECEMBER 11, 1940,
Page, 7
CHINA MAIL Men Behind German
WINDSOR HOUSE
THE NEXT STAGE OF Invasion
DEMOCRACY
Invasion Of Norway
VICE-ĄDMIRAL
WOLF.
By-
DR. HERBERT ROSINSKI,
Former lecturer at the German Naval Academy
von
The plea voiced in the recent Commons debate by several mem-
“It would have been an under-whole reorganisation of German of Edstern Persia; earning thereby bers, that the present British Par- GANG WEGENER.
estimate of the intelligence of the naval thought; took its course.
and the highest Germon order llament should justify the exten-
statemen of these countries to as- But his ideas did not acquire Knighthood, together with the Herr von Ribbentrop has vain-sume that they would not have their full significance until the nickname of."the German Law- sion of its normal five-year life ly attempted to persuade the been able to understand that Ger- advent of the Third Reich and rence." by undertaking an inquiry into world that the invasion of: Nor-many, was pressing certain de the beginning of German rearma-subsequently he opposed Col. T. the whole machinery, and organ-way was a defensive measure, mands upon them for the limited ment brought their realisation E. Lawrence as chief of staff, of isation of government has made forced upon a reluctant Germany duration of the conflict only and within reach. In the absence of the Turkish army operating east a considerable impression,
by the necessity for forestalling merely under the bitter necessity any special ideas of his own on of the Jordan. It needs to be emphasised that an Allied, attack against her with of war; demands which, there- naval warfare, Adolf Hitler eang-
After the war it was, he who, the present war is not fundamen- the connivance of the Norwegian fore, because not advanced in an erly adopted the Admiral's bold as A. D. C. to the minister of war tally between countries and peo- Government.
unfriendly spirit, were well cap- and ruthless conceptions, so much Gessler, went to Moscow to estab- ples, but between parliamentary Imbued with
so that his study became unof-lish the secret German training the now well?
ficially, known, in naval circles. as units within the Red Army and government and democracy on standardised Nazi technique of
"Hitler's naval bible." the one hand, and dictatorship.on("ggression and justification, he
Out of its strategic ideas there eight years, until, in 1932, he came remained in charge of them for the other.
seems completely to have ignor- ed the fact that the idea of an
arose between 1930 and 1938 the to Berlin to undertake the or- And apart from winning the occupation of Denmark and Nor-
new doctrine of the German Navyganisation of the academic side war, democracy has to demons-way had been plainly foresha-
out of its criticism of Germany's of German, rearmament. trate its efficiency more convin-dowed many years before Hitler!
failure to utilise the Danish and A favourito of Marshal cingly than hitherto,
German came to power by the
Norwegian positions during the Blomberg and one of the few of- World War, the ruthless attack Describing as revolutionary the Admiral Wolfgang Wegener, who,
ficers to join the Nazi party in the upon these two countries of which summer of 1933, he quickly real- Government's decision to prolong has done more than anybody else unknown to the world at large,
we were witnesses,
ised the immense opportunities the life of the present British Par-to shape the present policy of the able of being discussed. To offer liament without the sunction of a German Navy..
offered by it to an adventurous themselves of their own account
disposition like his own and threw general election, Mr. Hore-Beli- Admiral Wegener, had already these States in their own inter-
himself with all his energy into sha argued that the exicting truce been on the retired list for a num-est were naturally. not anxious,
the task of championing it both in between the major political par-ber of years, when in 1926, he but that did not imply that they
the ranks of the army and in the ties was causing a decline in par- suddenly electrified. the whole would not have been willing to
academic world, meanwhile de- liamentary vitality. He called German naval world by a enter sympathetically into nego-],
veloping his institute into the for more enlightenment for back-small, but exceedingly
Ten years after their first publi- principal centre of German mili- pun- tiations." benchers and more outspoken cri- gent memorandum of some
cation plans for improving Ger-tary studies. These revolutionary proposals ticism from them in debate.
80 pages. In this he mer-
many's strategic position by the
It was this soldier-scholar-poli- of Admiral Wegener aroused: the occupation of Denmark and Nortician who, in a lecture on the cilessly exposed the fundamental German Navy Prolongation of Parliament, errors of German naval strategy
as no other dis- way were elaborated from a dif-Nord und. Ostsee" delivered in however, offers a real opportun- during the World War and the cussion had done before.
Rit- ferent angle by Colonel Oscar stupidity of the Official History's elder men, they were hailed with of the great Central Institute for of oceans" at the Institut fur terly disputed by many of the Ritter von Niedermayer, the Head March, 1937, in a course of lec- tures on the "strategic geography attempt to obscure the issue, 5.
enthusiasm by practically the Military Studies at Berlin Uni- Mecreskunde at Berlin-publish- as to conceal the complete failure
whole of the younger generation. of Admiral von Tirpitz's policy.
'ed in the following year under the A searchlight on events leading in this study-three years
The German Navy, he affirnied To these young men groping des
Colonel von Niedermayer owes title of "Kleine Wehrgeographle later perately for a light to guide them his exceptional position amongst de Weltmeeres"--adopted Admiral up to the French collapse has made generally accessible by
in the bitter task. of, the recon- the leaders of the present German Wegener's ideas. greatly encouraged this cry; as leading German Naval and Mili-struction of German Sea Power, Army to a unique combination of have the revelations of British po-tary publishing house, under the Wegener's criticism
as a scholarship, daring and political clear, in carefully veiled yet ut- litical manoeuvring which led to title "Seestrategie des Weltkrie- clarion call to another and better ability. A. Bavarian staff officer, terly' unmistakable language, Britain entering the war inadeges"-had utterly. failed to:
directed effort, while his emphasis he first sprang, into the public
Germany's interests in and de- quately prepared.
derstand the true nature of naval upon the true nature of naval limelight in 1915 when he led the mands upon her northern neigh- the German Diplomatic Mission to bours and her determination to But close questioning of those war. Misled by the German tra- warfare struck them with who cry "no more party politics" ditions of land warfare, it had force of revelation. From his! Afghanistan,” destined to incite take them under her protection in often discloses that they have no seen in war at sea merely a mili- study, as an ardent, young admire that country against India, through time of war, constitutes a master- the deserts piece of tongue-in-the-cheek dip- practical alternative to the party tary clash between the two op- er testified a few years later, the the Allied lines and system. In fact, what they.
posing navies and not, as it should are
ity.
The popular cry has been heard. "We must have no more party
politics after the war,"
exists in the Nation."
in
the outbreak of this war.
Their real place appeared to be rather in some "Liberal" or Cen- tre Party, but none existed,
a
u1-
command of vital sea communica have done, a struggle for the
tions.
an
came
11 COLONEL RITTER VON NIEDERMAYER
versity:
Surrey Hide-out
By Peter Lyne
¤
颇
The manner in which he made
lomacy.
"If," he said "during the World War the possibilities of, an attack carried over sea against Germany were small; in the present era of air warfare this northern front
northern seas, the free use of their territorial waters for her mer- chant shipping and the prevention of an extension of her defensive fronts in this direction. These states have been so, long immune from attack that they do not con- stitute themselves a danger for us or allow somebody else to threaten us across them.
opponent
usually attacking is the condition ΟΣ party politics, or, as Canon Roger Lloyd summed it up in an
The result had been that article in the "Spectator"; "Party throughout the war the German politics are necessary to a true Navy had concentrated, as though democracy provided they
The countryside round, London Wapshott, dashing about on a bi- gains additional importance, Ger- healthy, and they can only be bringing the Grand Fleet. to: bat-it used to be.
are hypnotised, upon the one idea of isn't the haven of rest and quiet cycle, without any illumination many has therefore a vivid inter- healthy when they express a true tle under
But at least we and balancing a fire extinguisherest in the maintenance of the full favourable circum can offer harassed: Londoners on his handlebars, was voted and equal neutrality of the minor cleavage of principle which really stances, in the North Sea, without more space in which to dodge the afterwards to have been almost powers bordering upon these two
realising that the latter, from the bombs.. An opportunity to esas terrifying as the bombs. This view is endorsed by poli-point-of-view of control of com-cape for, a few hours from that Around 6:30 we have to admit tical observers, who point out munications, was a "strategically feeling of being shut up in the enemy 'planes are usually pass that the fundamental views of dead area.
metropolis with bombers over-ing over our house in more or different politicians are often The proper strategy of the Ger- head, brings pisitors for the less constant succession and there only vaguely represented by the man Navy would have been to
may be a good deal of noise from gunfire and bombs. Ten o'clock programme of the parties to which utilise the second exit available they belong--in fact there is often rak for a flanking advance against through the Kattegat and Skager-
ought to be the visitor's bedtime, since he needs a good night's much more similarity between the the British position at Scapa Flow night to our Surrey cottage even rest, but that's the time the head เ views of certain small groups instead of rushing the Danes in a though, judging by past experi- warden usually telephones me to "They must however, realise within one party and those of pol-sudden panic to close and neuence, we are just as likely to be look around! for unexploded that questions of national exis- iticians in other parties than with trálise it.
bombed as they are in Kensing- bombs..
tence have in the last resort to be those members of their own party. "The German strategic offen, ton or Maida Vale.
solved by force. There is a series This was illustrated in the case sive that should have liberated When we show a visitor, the At 11 o'clock the police have of strategically important posi- of many "young Conservatives" our fleet from painful captivity. la spare room; instead: of pointing a habit of phoning to ask if any. tions in their possession, which in years immediately preceding the Heligoland Bight had there- proudly to the dahlia bed, we bombs have been located. Also, a war would constitute Import- fore to be the reopening of the now draw attention to the copse my wife may be called out at any ant objectives for a belligerent Belts, understanding with up the lane. "There's a batch of time, complete with tin hat and wishing to attack his Denmark about the use of her unexploded bombs behind it," we A.R.P. regalia, to act as mes- across them, but equally so for "So don't be alarmed senger, using our car. territorial waters and control of explain.
one merely wishing to defend him- the Scandinavian trade. route,'
if there's a big bang in that If bombs drop while she is self against such an attack, Such a situation should not be
direction. wrote the Admiral.
We've been assured away complications are such, we "I would like to mention here deplored, but rather welcomed,
visitor, he might be merely the South West: Coast; of "The next stage in the progress we are out of range of damage warn our. slace it shows that British politi- of our offensive would have been bunch of time bornbs about the dogs must be stopped barking, a Narrows, Gotland and the Aaland We add there was another called on for assistance, The Norway, the Danish-Swedish dians themselves realise that far- the occupation of the southern reaching changes are going on to- part of Norway, which, it is true, side of the house, but they went to wake the four children and protect their neutrality effectively same distance away on the other quick decision made. on whether Islands, If these states wish to day, extending far beyond party we should first have had to liber- limits.
We then acquaint marshal them in the supposedly, they must take care that its in- ate from British oppression. The
off yesterday.
the hall. Watch tringement should appear as a Political circles in Britain gen- argument that such a war policy line of a rural air raid warden's must be
our visitor with the nightly rou-safest room -
kept ousido for "in-real risk to an aggressor. That, erally tend to support the view carrying our. Beets through the
however, to-day, is the case only post, and try to give him a rough cidents." that democracy must be based on Belts into the. Kattegat would idea of what he may hear so that Midnight dog-exercise is an with a few amongst them and the party system. What alterna- have been impracticable does not even if he is awakened, his, rest opportunity for a good look only with great qualifications. tive is there to party politics other hold water.. . One should not shall be as little disturbed as round, for another view of: Lon- Their: measures of const defence
fall into the error of believing possible.
don, fireworks, a. thought for the are largely wholly inadequate. mostly ready to admit that there of their geographical position, awkward hour Enemy planes casionally & reassuring chat with tical attitude of the governments that States which, by the accident We describe how twilight is an Londoners themselves, and oc- "And one more points the poll- is ample opportunity for im- have got mixed up in a world war try to sneak round to an arma-nearby cottage folk anxiously, and peoples concerned is of vital Frovements in the existing sys-between great powers would not ment factory about five miles staying up long past their nor importance in determining a truly tem:
of themselves have felt the most away before searchlight beams mal: bed-time, Going to bed neutral attitude. That National- "Within a nation there are of urgent necessity for negotiations become effective, It was In ourselves is a lingering process, Socialist Germany has reason for ways dozens of cleavages," says as well as the desire to keep on this; between-light that several protracted by a sense of duty serious misgivings in this respect Ganon Lloyd. "The problem is to friendly terms with so powerful machines, attacked our little vil- Thereafter our head warden calls anybody who reads the Baltle and find that cleavage which reaches a factor as Germany; was at that lage recently, dropping twelve up by phone only, in an emer Nordle Press will realise. As for right down to something very time.
bombs, demolishing a number of gency. Mostly we sleep though the Importance of Holland's post- deep, and divides the people into
workmen's cottages, but miracul- the drone of planes, the thrump tion, in aerial strategy, so much two approximately equal: groups.
'ously causing. only one minor of guns, and the crash of bombs has been written upon it that it is
continues. Then you have a party which es will be on international issues in casualty.
merely necessary to touch upon it Our visitors usually sleep, too, here pouses dach side and then the stead of domestic, parliamentary system has a chance. And this surely will be appro
In this
his attack, incendiary especially if they pro imed to her then, three years beföre to work creatively,"
priate in the task of building a bombs were also scattered in the up boom of the London barrage. Ribbentrop's White Book, we find * Clearly the old party cleavage | new European or even world or-folds and I had my first ex- We can't any longer, offer, quiet the whole case for the occupation of greater social equality will der, when it is hoped lessons of perience of putting them out, Jim, broken only by song of the of these countries on the plea of cease to be a sufficiently effective the past: will be applied chicfy farmhand from up the road, was nightingales, but we can offer their connivanco with an enemy spur to parliamentary virility, the need for the abolition of eco-so excited he couldn't work the bed in a cottage, a hide-out in a of Germany developed in advance Surrey lane far from the giant by one of the officers in the closest since virtually all those elements nomle frontier limitations, and for stirrup pump handlo now constituting Britain's war some system of collective securityTry a bit of dirt," he said as metropolis
contact with the heads of the Ger time government are agreed on which will supersede the bla nothing but alr, came out of the Most of all, we half,ume Lon- min War Machine, with a subtlety nozzle So we ped-earth doners, can pay unbounded tri- of implication that shows clearly the absolute necesi
conception of state, novéreignty over the sput ing umps of bute to the wonderful courage of how far the German Defence which has proved so ineffective white-hot mag
they thoid who are Londonera by Forces had travelled from tho blunt frankness of the World Wär, Qgainst":"Oggressions.
went out, quifa quickly:-/ George-night as well as by day,
thinn dictatorship? But they are
chaps,