CONSCRIPTS IN GERMANY
Sut,—Many will share Dr. Bardsley's anxiety about conscripts in Germany, but they will surely also recognise the basic fact that, if we are to maintain our garrisons abroad, we must perforce accept the situation, however unsatisfactory. The very fact that conscription has been reduced to twelve months means that conscripts can be sent no further afield than Germany ; and the small number of formations in the United Kingdom itself limits the numbers of conscripts who can be trained here. The answer surely is to accept the fact that conscripts must be trained in Germany, and to work from there. Personally I consider that the case of the broken marriage which Dr. Bardsley quotes—sad though it is— might have happened anywhere, and the fact that it happened in Germany is largely incidental. The sort of man who is prepared to leave his wife in those circumstances will, I submit, find an excuse for doing so wherever he is.
The problem of V.D. is admittedly a thorny one, but I speak from personal experience (though not in Germany) when I say that it can be greatly reduced in a well disciplined unit. This surely is the line on which the whole problem should be tackled. To withdraw the conscripts from Germany, as Dr. Bardsley advocates, cannot be argued to be the best course for the country as a whole, and the problems which go with this occupation must surely be tackled in Germany itself.—! am, Sir, yours, &c., W. R. VAN STRAUBENZEE. Bag Park, Widecombe, Newton Abbot.
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