The German Army Challenge— Herr Hitler can no doubt claim
in defence of his decree increasing conscript service in Germany from one year to two years that France has already taken a similar step and that- Russia, with a peace-basis army of 1,300,000, has just decided to increase that total by 700,000 by reducing the recruiting age to 19. But the excuse is unconvincing. France, with her static population, and a reduction of recruits during the " war-birth years," would have seen her army substantially reduced if she had kept to the one-year service, and Russia has a very real possibility of war on her Far Eastern frontiers to provide against. What Herr Hitler's real motive is can only be surmised. In view of the recent outrageous Press campaigns against Russia, inspired- obviously by Dr. Goebbels' Ministry of Propaganda,it seems reasonable to suppose that the decree is a direct answer to the increase in the Russian forces, though no sane German can believe seriously in the danger of a Russian attack on Germany. The actual increase in the strength of the German army will be less than the doubling of the conscription period might suggest, for as things are, a consider- able number of the one-year conscripts stay on for a second year as volunteers. The new system, it is es- timated, will produce a peace-time army of 800,000 instead of 550,000.
