REARMING OF GERMANY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 28, 30 December 1932, Page 3

REARMING OF GERMANY

It will be only a matter of time before Gernfhny rearms, declares the Berlin correspondent of the Manchester Guardian. The new Chancellor, General von Schleicher, lias abolished Herr von Papon’s emergency Courts, granted an amnesty applying to hundreds of prisoners, and retained his predecessor’s military schemes. The leaders of tho Reichsbanncr have agreed to join the new militia formed to maintain internal order, which can thus be used to suppress strikes and uprisings. The Government contemplates banning all uniforms except the “venerable field grey,” thus obliging the Reiclisbanner and Nazis to wear tho Stamlhehn dress, which will bo tho first step towards converting the private armies into the homogeneous militia under Government control.

The National Athletic Board, officered by war generals and trusted supporters of the militarist regime, will train the instructors of the new militia. The slightest reference to military preparations will lead to long imprisonment under tho Official Secrets Act. The Government Press abuses France, and declares that the demilitarisation of the Rhineland menaces German security. General von Stulpnagel, head of the National Athletic Board, has denounced tho demilitarisation as dishonouring.