OCR Text |
Show INVASION FEAR MAKES POLAND : AUGMENT ARMY swaaxsssssssssaaaa. Country Said to Bo Afraid to Raduco Arm Bscausa of Neighbors Editor's note: Tha following article la the fourth of a series on "Why Doesnt Europe Disarm." By RICHARD D. af'af ILLAW Vailed Preas I tail Correspondent WARSAW, Jan. It This la the capital capi-tal of tha land of fear and arvied force. ; I hava walked through tha streets and aaen soldiers everywhere, not ao many as in tha time of the sovlet-PolUh sovlet-PolUh war 12 years ago, but the country has today more than a quarter quar-ter of a million men under arms and could put an army of 1,000,000 or more in the field in a few weeks. Along the frontiers are mighty chains of forts, built under supervision super-vision of French military engineers. Behind this ring of steel, behind the battalions of bristling bayonets, the Polish people are restless and fearful. strong seized tha city of Vilna and' some (0.000 square miles. Polsnd ssys this belongs to her elh-1 nographlcally; Lithuania puta forward the same argument in aupport of her claim. A feeble country in military strength, which did not become a nation na-tion until after the war, Lithuania appealed ap-pealed to the league, but tha dispute never has been settled. Tha powder magazine In astern Europe, In tha eyes of politicians. Is, however, not the. Polish-Lithuanian frontier, but the Polish corridor. The firm conviction in tha hearts of every Pole la that Germany will not rest until she has wrested tha "corridor" from Poland and thus reunite East Prussia to Germany. Germany aays she wishes to do so by peaceful means, by revision of the Versailles treaty, but Poland maintains If her army were cut Germany would use force. The Germane say that In 10 years Poland will hava 60 000.000 Inhabitants Inhabit-ants and In U she will ba mightier than Germany. If the present aitua-tion aitua-tion la consolidated by allowing Poland Po-land to retain har might and territory; she will become tha dictatorial nation of central and eastern Europe, On every side they hsva potentlsl enemiefrGermsny, Lithuania, the mighty masses of soviet Russia. Poland Po-land needs her arms and her army,' she saya. until her frontier neighbors can ba subdued. Poland la France's mllltsry "yea man." Tha Pqjish army is lsrgely French' trained. Just aa her bastions, as I hsva aaid, were built with France's flnsnclsl and engineering aid. Tha Polea are France's most powerful ally and. In tha event of war, each would rush to tha other's aid, with Jugoslavia and Rumania alao flinging themselves Into the strife to maintain the status quo. FRANCO-POLfflal PACT Tha Franco-Polish pact of mutual assistance brought Into being the strongest military alliance In Europe. At long as it exists, Poland will feel comparatively safe. If It wsrs broken. bro-ken. If Versailles were revised. Poland Po-land would ba prepared to fight for her life. A wave of fear ran through tha country when the radicals and socialists In Franca won the last elections. elec-tions. "It then was whispered." a Polish statesman told ma, "that M. Harriot, tha French premier, would denounce tha Polish alliance. It waa a false alarm, happily tor us." Poland s mode of thinking In relation rela-tion to disarmament Is much the sams aa that of France. But Poland's geographic geo-graphic situation gives her a mors potent argument for security before disarmament than France. The 0, 000.000 Inhabitants of this republic, recreated and enlarged under ths peace treaties, believe they are ths bulwark in Europe against bolshe-vism. bolshe-vism. POLAND SEEN AS TTBANT In the eyea of Germany and Lltu-anla, Lltu-anla, Poland la the tyrant of eastern Europe. Under force of her arms, they accuse, Poland hat increased her size far beyond tha limits laid down by the allies. Llthusnia Is particularly bitter against Polsnd because of ths Polish filibustering expedition shortly after IMP, when Polish troops IS .000 |