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Use of Technical Emergency Corps.
6
22. It appears that henceforth this corps may be used in the front line for repair and maintenance of electric light, water and road services, thereby relieving Army engineers. Previously, the Corps has been used for the maintenance of essential services in the interior of Germany.
Hungary.
23. Apart from road blocks the only other obstacle in the vicinity of the Ruthenian-Soviet frontier is stated to be a single line of barbed wire. In Eastern Ruthenia the intention, apparently, is to offer resistance to a possible Russian invasion at some distance from the frontier, to the south of Koromezo (5 miles south-west of the Jablonica Pass on the main road from Kolomea to Trebusany). The works here are reported to take the form of a series of under- ground galleries in the hills, with exits at intervals of some fifty yards up the hillside on either side of the road.
Italian military engineers are believed to have assisted the Hungarians in the preparation of their defence works in Ruthenia.
Soviet Russia.
24. The general impression of competent observers is that economic conditions have been slowly deteriorating for some months, and that the Finnish war has accelerated the process. Heavy industry has always been supported at the expense of industries producing goods for consumption, but even so production of coal, steel and oil was considerably below the forecast for 1939. Food are now normal in the principal cities, and the greatest economy is being enforced queues in the use of fuel. Casualties infected with spotted typhus are said to have been arriving in the interior which may prove significant, as the population in its present under-nourished condition must be peculiarly subject to infectious disease.
The impression produced by a study of Soviet economy is that it is constantly being strained to its utmost, and the strain of the Finnish war has been felt throughout the whole country owing to the dislocation of transport and the withdrawal of skilled operatives from the factories. The Russians cannot, however, be judged by European standards and seem able to produce some results out of apparent chaos.
Italy.
25. Men of the 1911, 1912, 1913 and 1914 classes, who previously obtained exemption from military service, are being called up in addition to recruits of the remainder of the 1919 class and the 1920 class. It is impossible to estimate accurately the numbers effected in the 1911-1914 classes, but it seems likely that the strength of the Italian Army by the end of March may be about 1,000,000 men. About half these men will be new recruits.
26. During the past week another 9,000 personnel have arrived in Libya, bringing the total of white troops to about 169,000, which is close to the estimated total war establishment. Reinforcements estimated at about 8,000 men proceeded to Albania during the second half of February, bringing the garrison up to approximately 60,000. It seems that the garrison in the Dodecanese Islands may also have been increased by 5,000 men.
Turkey.
In
It
27. The recent troop movements in Thrace are still somewhat obscure. December 1939 it was officially stated that the three army corps had been sufficiently strengthened to produce a third division, each at short notice. was anticipated at the time that two new divisions would be formed in the spring of 1940. Up to date it seems that the garrison has been increased by only one infantry division transferred to Istanbul from Anatolia. The divisions previously
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