1940-05-15 — Page 4

Ubrary, Supreme

Wednesday, MAY 15, 1940.

PAGE 4-HONGKONG TELEGRAPH

Eward Banse

What does Nazi Germany think of France? Why did Hitler invade Belgium and Holland?

Bolow, Professor Eward Banse re- veals the secrets of German thought

to you.

He is one of the Nazi heirachy in Germany, and wrote, in 1933, what was to become the text book of the German' military machine. A copy of the book was received in London and, despite strenuous efforts on the part of the Nazis, was translated into English.

Professor Banse's indiscretions per- mit us to know, in even more astonish- ing detail than does "Mein Kampf", the reasons that have made Germany the most hated and most feared country the world has ever known.

The words below are the words of Germany, as placed on paper by the author of its modern military text-book.

NOW read what he has to

say about his country's neighbours in the west, anl remember that this is the of opinion of all Nazis and many Germans who are not Nazis.

am

We Germans readily admit that the present boundary line s uncommcely advantageous one for France, but no one must take it uniss if we modestly indicate our aspirations for the future,

From our point of view the best frontier would run from thờ, Jura along the ridge to the west of the apper Moselle and the upper Meuse and then, bending westwards and keeping south.of the halk and tertiary regions, to the valley of the Somme and sa to the sea-or at the very fenst along the chalk ridge of Artois..

This frontier. huss, of course, the disadvantage that it takes in a French population, but that could be got over by mak ing a present of these sons and daughters of France to their under-papulated motherland.

On the other hand, it possesses great advantages. It would destroy character of the the fortress-like

Paris basin, deprive the French army of the strategically most important scarps, and ensure that the opening engagements in the war after next shall take place in a reglos which has fewer natural defences and from which Paris can be reached more quickly.

Besides that, the Channel ports of Boulogne and Caluis, which are essential for holding the pistol to England's head as well as most of the goal and lion (Lille, Bricy), will be in our hands, lucidental- of the ly. a considerable portion

involved country

was formerly German speaking and the rest o it is full of old German (Frankish) place names.

The Maginot

Line

¿

THE whole northern and eastern frontler of France has been en- ormously strengthened since the War in particular a new defen- sive scheme, started in 1929, is to it impregnable by 1934. The make main lenture of the scheme is the establishment of

THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME: THE COLDSTREAM GUARDS' SPLENDID CHARGE.

SECRETS

of the

NAZI WAR

MACHINE

tunities to establish their country's nuch discussed "security."

That spir was entirely northern

DE

in character, and emanated from that dominant upper class generals and depitites-embodied In men like Joffre, Nivelle, 'Pelain, Forh and, above all, Clemenceau-

with who, in

ruthless and admir- able energy, never took their eyes their twolold object, which was to maintain France's greatness and their

The preponderance, what it mighl

Paris sits late a spider in the middle of an admirably planned In the and spun web of steel. world war il

brilliant proof gave of its efficiency, especially handling trafle behind the nain curve of the front and between the British and French sections of the line.

Paris Is

Key To France

Without Paris, with all its troops and railway stations, units left

French army

•Bank, the

the race hardly have sea in September 1814.

Toukl to the

One of the most important tasks for the establishment of peace on the earth is the weakening, Нау

thut is extermination, as far as

ponce

in

of the Germanic element

Ruthlessly condarted wars. which will reduce the numbers of this French warrior caste: trans- portation of detachments of them eastern Germany of the future, where they would soon Germanised; cross-breed- become

with that remain and

negroes,

10 ди 'permonent forti- Hed areas, each occupied by two divisions. Such

GICAS are:- 1in the region of the western

le

upper Durance and the

from Nice 10

As of the

which

commands the

ap-

les from Dora

Riparia; and the head of the Valley of the Isere, which secures those from the Dora Ballea;

the Italian river

2-obviously, the opening be- tween the Jura and the Vosges at

Bellosi

3-two in Lorraine; one to the north west of Hagenau and Worth; the other In front of Melz, both

connected by an area all prepared for

flooding in the Saur basin to the south of Saargemund.

Besides these permanent fortified areas, which are located at the natural weak points in the fron- tier, numerous strongly fortified. posts have been planned, if not nt the ulready constructed-one

fort of the Vosges; a couple in front of Saarburg and south east of Metz. which are also escheloned behind two fortified areas; a couple west of Metz and south of Longwy: and completely detached one in the region of the upper Schelde,

plain which has the

of Frenen Flanders directly on Its left; this plain can be flooded by arrange- ment from somewhere west of Doual to the sea near Calais. Thore is yet a third means of de- rence which the French-are-al- ready getting ready in peace time -road barricades.

The biggest are situated: In the Jura: behind the ridge of the Vossos; in front of the middle- Mouse from Verdun to somewhere north of Mezleres.

It must not be forgotten that a well-planned group of similar de- fences in the east of Belgium forma n useful extension of the French line towards the north. When one also considers that the railway. France system of north eastern and Belgium has been developed -can rush an to such a pitch that army of millions into defenceless Gorman territory along thirteen ntralegte main line Fallways Ing in conjunction with motor roads, in a few days, one is bound

work-

of those

southerner"

in miil. which matter the French tary authorities have themselves showa the way progressive incans to the decline and fall of

France.

ilence we approach the problem of our future reluluns with France not merely from a political and military but also from an ethnologi cal

point of view.

the wrongs that the old France did to the western Germanis In her wars of extermination und rapine must be paid back in kind. The bloody de northernising of France must be one of the main items of Germany's defence pro. gramme, for only in tids way can blood. our eternally restless thirsty neighbours be shorn of and Kome of their spiritual physical powers.

A frontier such as the one-ni- ready described, within which the be Ex- French language might

tirpated in balf a century, would, of course, be a great help in this task.

French Strength

Was Surprise

In the War the French soldier-- -I-refer primarily to the northern

himself Frenchman- proved

of plenty skilful fighter with

quite the endurance, even if not Englishman's stubbornness in de- fence

He knew how to conduct him- self In the open, and quickly Belzed any little advantage that cume his way.

numerous

And the rapidity with which he pulled himself together after the

defeats

thin of

Brat month of the War and resolutely turned round in fall retreat to face us at the decisive battle of the Marne on September 8, 1914, caine as a surprise to us.

The artillery on the whole Im pressed; us less than the infantry, In general, It was stot so much the Individual soldier.ng the spirit pervading the whole army that authorities have made a splendid. maintained the honour of France and admirable use of lieir oppor-in: the worki-war-

to admit that the French military

GWD

cost

Nothing could divert these men from their alm; they were pre- pared to strike absolutely any- thing, if only that was achieved.

This ruling class of republican Is-one's-admiration.. France-compels it has no equal in the world for sheer energy; all the more reason

destroyed.. "why it must-be -Men."

Never the past, not even under Napoleon, have the destinies guided by such of France been resolute, such brutally ruthless hands as they are to-day,

"Italy Left

Us In Lurch"

France would ive had her war on two fronts also, had not Italy left us in the lurch.

railway* system behind them, nor the Germens succeeded in out- tanking the enemy; both length- ened

their lines in a series of frontal encounters as far as Flan

advance falled, ders, where our

imperfectly owing to the use of trained, if gallant, new levies and the flooding of the country by the Belgians. By October 18, 1914, the whole western front was esi- tablished.

-All in all, the Franco-Anglo- Belgian army came off better, the race to the sea than the Ger

1.

After the battle of the Mare on the essential, September, 12-13,

Germs, to thing was, for the extend their line along the valley

of the Somme as far as the Chan nel: for the enemy, la bend the Ger- **

line as far back from the ses

is possible at Noyon.

saic

In this the enemy were so far successful that they saved the

secured Channel ports, mungeuvring ground for the com ing British army between Dunkirk and Amiens, at the same time re-

very numerous popul taining

tion, the richest in Germanic

France, and giving the German for Frame, line of Irenches the nost disod- vantageous shape imaginable by the salient at Noyon.

sity for "security" is cunningly disguised aggresalon plus, per- haps, the fear that springs from a bad conscience, seeing how long Frater has been allowed to work herwicked will on our border bands with almost complete - punity.

the

As short a while ago as 1919 French military authorities, prompted by the ambitions 1 have described, demunded the nnnext- tion of the whole left bank of the Rhine, which was only prevented with great difeully by the English and Americans.

What France would really like to see is a small Germany wedged and the between the Rhine Oder and split up into numerous Independent sinn states.

in

All movements calculated to dis- Integrate Germany, whether-tuside or outside its borders, are sure of French

support.

France invented separatism on the Rhine and lents every sort of aid, facial and otherwise, to the German Marxists of Whatever Shade of opinion; she

planted Poland

and Czecho-Slovakia our eastern frontier and anned them, and it was she who pre- vented the union between us and Austrin, for the Intimidation of whom she

also supported the south-

Wherever

ver we turn in ern Slavs. Europe France stands in the way. ready to humiliate and dainage us. But these dragon's teeth which one day France has sown will surely proxluce their terrible crop

Belgium In

German Eyes

All that the Germans could sel

that was,

the occupation of against the cool mining and industrial area of northern France; the rich mines Brley; and the mere fact of possessing a scrap of French ter- ritory, a triumph which was not sufficient, as the course of the War intimidate the proved, either to enemy or attract the neutrals.

Passing over France's slinre in the emfiscation of the German (the Camerooss und Togo- colonies

disgraceful and landy also her

towards behaviour Bloodthirsty

ans in her colonies, and having already discussed else. where her military activities in the Dardanelles, Macedonia, and northem Italy, we will proceed-to-object a few anal observations on the nature of Fronco-

German elv

civilians

funditions.

German rela

Belgium is one of those miser- able states who have been crented on the outer hem of German national territory, in defence of all the facts of nationality, under French, and in this case perhaps also English, influence, with the

the

Making the numbers of

by

in

race less formidable them politically and

Gosh! Old boy You need- KEATING'S

Agents: Muller, &'Phipps (China) Ltd,

.22 Queen's Rd., C.

KEATINGS KILLS

ANTS MOTHS, BEETLES, FLEAS etc, even Bugs

Brussels und Paris, which slips in between the south eastern tip of Holland and the Venn ineuntains, was blocked by Liege.

on

this The assault delivered

and. strong

uncx- exceedingly

fortress well-defended pectedly from the directions of Alx-Ja- Chapelle (Aachen), Eupen and Malmedy was not entirely success"- ful. the last fort only falling ten advance of days later; still, the our right tank had really only just begun, and Belgium, In so far as we needed it to get to France, now lay open before us.

Overrunning

out

Of Belgium

The overrunning of Belgium by (the First, Second, troops Third and Fourth armies) had the following results: (1) the advance- of the Third, Fourth and Fifth French armies across the southern frontier of Belgium; and (2)-the-

army withdrawal of the Belgium

fortress of from Lege to the thus weakening them as a whole, The territory of Belgium was in Antwerp, which thus became a tuched from Holland in 1630 by

of hostile activity in the rear of our right wing as it har of the July revolution; emissaries

Antwerp 1830

ried south westwards. Was declared an inde- it

the powers by unlily

therefore had to be invested by a small force specially detailed for given "perpetual neutrality,

the purpose and wa

was captured, which having performed its anti-

though also a very strong fortress. German function-was abolished

1919. Belglum in only 12 duyê; unfortunately, the at Versailles in that since then For the fact

the meantime been

to Anglo-Belgian uriny was able having in no stule which there has existed

get away towards the west and openly Incorporated as an import- included all Germans we have

establish itself behind the Yser ant member of the league of

and the dykes of Nieuport which to thank France and her

Germany's enemies.. prinston

the Belgians pierced, where ingrained

formed the exceedingly important supremacy. at least in the Con- tinent.

left wing of the future permanent front.

Sluce her political consolida- tion in the middle of the 181h France has been the century, arch-enems of our people and our

a nation. All existence as this ime she has been the con- tinual aggressor, her goal being the thine frontier.

All the thoughts and all the actions of the French nation are subordinated to that one great end, and is whole Intellectual achieve ment is but a means to the allain- ment of the Rhine and the dis- German ot The memberment people,

This removed hostile pressure from the French Alps, and enabled her to use the troops assigned to the defence оп the decisive northern front, where their num→ bers, in conjunction with the sud- the German of clon weakening

the withdrawal of two line by the urmy corps, tipped the scale at the battle of the Marne, France was whole her pul thus able

north-eastern the strength inte

which to front, in addition British expeditionary forre teft flank. over the

the French which The luck higher command had at the Marne deserved; for its than ft plan of campaign was a notably poorer one than the German, and Its execution left so much to be desired that it degenerated-into-a-ruling headlong retreat.

was more

the look

The execution of the German not first rate either. plan was but it only came to grief through one of the muddeti, purely per- sonal mistakes in the whole of milliary

History.. This mistake, and this alone, rescued

France from destruction the French army and presented with its "victory" of the Marne, a

which

It had so little victory In belief itself that it only followed. It up tardly and did not begin to feel that had won a victory tili September 12.

Even the most essential thing- namely, to outflank the exposed right wing of the Germans, who

the Verdun retired on had Rheims-Noyon line anew-was not done; all the French accomplished was to push back the German line northwards from Noyon.

To be sure, even this turned out the well for them, for it gave German line, which became per- manently established here, an ex- tremely unhealthy sallent and kept It from the Channel ports, which were of capital importance for the tanding of English troops.

Race To

The Coast

In the race to the coast' neither the French, in spite of the bettor

are of equal In- Both nations tellectual rank, bol are highly gifted with creative genius; but in all matters of politics the French are superior to the Germans, owing solidurity, their national to their more pronounced corporate sense, their greater devotion to the no- tional ambitions, and their superior along with the willingness to G

cips in this direction. Alsace And

Lorraine

Hence France is a much more dangerous, because more resolute and aggressive, enemy to Germany than Germany, is to: France, And the extraordinary things's that the sees nothing aniss whole

single nation its head if France declared the whole

Hardly her worry would to-morrow

д

Belgian

"Atrocities"

The region between Liege and Mons, right on the Paris-Berlin rallway line, is the region whose mining and manufacturing popu lation, Incited by Catholic priests and Latin nationalists. Infflcted so much damage by their guerilla methods on our troops marching rough; the atrocities of the sharp-shooters of Dinant and Liege are notorious enough.

Obviously a population of this sort, with a Francophille ruling class and Indifferent masses, looked on the outbreak of war between

and France

chielly Germany through French-eyes; and the mo *ment their neutrality was violated by Germany, they took the French side, some with passionate

ardour others through sheer stupidily.

As we have seen above, Belgium had no Independent strategic simply & fac significance, it was tor in both the German and the the French plan of campaign! Germans looked upon it as the way through for their right wing. the French regarded it, or at least its southern portion, as the place. where, the German right wing was to be annihilated.

are

an

Rhine to be her eastern frontier (did a single nation do so when the Black pesulence was raging on the Rhine?), but there

to get on their plenty of them hind legs the moment Germany fetch her German wants to brethren in Alsace and Lorraine back Into the Reich!

With such a restless, ambitious, and brutal nation as the resolute French, obviously there can be no of peaceful, neighbourly question relations so much should be clear from history of the last four hun-

dred years.

It is question of eat or be calen. But for the prace of the world it is undoubtedly, far bet ter that the final viciory, should rest with a peace loving nation like, the Germans, mi with a restless and perpetually covetous one like the French."

All French talk aboul-Use-ECOS“.

na

"

A

Apart from that, Belgium played Important part in the politics of the War, inasmuch as the Eng- knew of the in- lish

government tended Gennon violation of Bel- xinn neutrally in ease of a war at least as far back as 1911, and was H. because welcomed the only thing that would reconelle English public opinion to a war with Get world.

and rouse the fec)-- To the passage of the Germans (who incidentally offered to re- after rtore Belkiant neutrally the wart Belgiam was able to CpDorn this fortresses of Licze And Antwerp, which were ad- mirably constructed and protect-. ed by a ring of forts, as well sa her army, which took up l position atar. Louvain.."

The best toute from Germany to

ings of the

WO

In the further course of the War 30 ob- the Flanders front was stinately defended by Belgian and never English troops that succeeded in pushing it in.

KED via From Nieuport on the Ypres and Armentieres to Lens And the foot of the chalk hills of Artois lhe

through the line ran Finnders plain, where the high water made level of the ground the construction of trenches ex- ceptionally difficult and that of outs practically impossible dug aux

weather produced a und in

ralny great quagmire where every man, and beast and vehicle sank in mud-choked rifles only too often failed to function.

become

Qalle apart from bullets, Flan. ders was the soldier's hell.

has To-day Belgium purely a French dependency; in- deed, from the military point of view

it is simply a part of France. Therewith Llege has become a Jumping off ground into Germany instead of a barricade against her. and the function of Antwerp is no longer, to threaten our right flank but perhaps to provide a take off into Holland.

The only

arrangement that would satisfy us Is that we wo should elther have Flemish Del rium, which is obviously the right thing on grounds of, r tionality: or

alternatively, the whole of Belgium, considered as the hinterland of north eastern France, the possession of which I also necessary to our security,

pre- The latter alternative ferable, because the tinuistic which runs from Calais

Omer

and Roubaix to Liege, gives a bad line for military put only hold Flan-

Our army can

Awards via

St.

ders

ters along the line of its natural the hills. of southern frontier,

or better still in the valley -Artou ...of the Somme at their foot; from which the natural extension. to the Argone and the upper Meuses follow as a matter of course.

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