Germany's Forbidden Zones What are we to make of Germany's
sudden action in temporarily declaring wide belts round her frontiers to be Sperrgebiete, where no foreign officer may enter or remain ? The prohibition presumably conceals mobilisations of troops, accompanied, probably enough, by the rapid digging of trenches by conscripted workers and by youths doing their Labour service. Why is Germany taking these steps now ? An explanation too sinister to be insisted on, but too plausible to be passed over, is that when once a modern land-war begins, both sides must start digging a multitude of extra trenches, which could not be maintained permanently in peace-time, because of their interference with traffic or agriculture or industry. If either side knew beforehand when war would start, it would be an enormous gain to get this work done in the few weeks before that date. Does Germany once more stand before a premeditated and dated war ? That would be too much to say. But it may well be that she half wishes to appear as if she did, and at any rate, as the crisis in her anti-Czech policy approaches, to impress all other Governments with an extra sense of her preparedness. The last is the least sinister explanation that suggests itself. At best the phenomenon to be explained is not easy to reconcile with the notion of a present relaxation in Europe's danger.
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