NEWS OF THE WEEK
German Security
Debate about " German rearmament " seems to be settling down into more common-sense channels, and it is now apparent that what is under discussion is not the rearmament of Germany in the sense that that phrase was understood by Hitler—or even by Seeckt. There is no question of creating Panzer divisions in Western Germany, by volunteer recruitment or by con- scription, or of asking the over-eager. Wehrmacht generals to command them. What the German Chancellor has asked for, and what at last the Social-Democrats are prepared to concede that Western Germany needs, is an armed internal security force designed to meet disorders fomented and perhaps even actively supported frOM over the East German border. The limiting factor of West German " rearmament " thus becomes not the number of volunteers that can be raised or the number of divisions that the Occupying Powers will allow, but the numbers and equipment of the so-called East German People's Police.
It is because the Russians have built up an armed police force in the East Zone that the German Government and the Occupy- ing Powers are forced to consider creating its counterpart in the West. It is true that the East Zone police are equipped with weapons such as tanks and aircraft, and that by analogy Dr. Adenauer may claim to have such armaments under his command —and not merely in equal strength to those in the East Zone, but in three times greater strength to allow for the difference of population between the two zones.
