Germany and the Baltic The announcement, reported in the Danziger
Vorposten last week, that Memel is immediately to be fortified as a naval base emphasises the strategic value of Herr Hitler's latest acquisition. Memel, in the centre of the Baltic, com- mands the approaches to the coast of all the Baltic States, and to Leningrad and Kronstadt ; at present its harbour is too shallow for use by the largest vessels, but the statement that it will be converted into one of the strongest naval fortresses in the Baltic probably means that the work of dredging and deepening will be undertaken immediately. Memel's chief function, however, will be as a submarine and destroyer base, If its return to the Reich is followed by that of Danzig, the Reich's command of the Baltic will threaten all the Baltic Powers, and especially Poland; and it might well be further strengthened by an attack on the neutralised Aaland Islands. To ensure this command is probably the limit of German naval aspirations at the present moment. The veiled threats of denouncing the Anglo-German naval agreement have little force, as even if they were carried out Germany could not enter on effective naval competition with Great Britain.
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