Concurrently, Soviet Russia sent threatening notes to the Scandinavian states, and German-Soviet co-opera tion seemed evident.
Reliable information was that Germany massed seventy divisions on} the Dutch and Belgian borders, Of this number, ten were sent to the section of the Dutch frontier between Venloo and Maestricht, which forms a spear-head between Belgium and Germany.
A further eighteen divisions were stationed further north, facing Nijmegen. On January 15, however, the sudden cold wave upset all the carefully-prepared German plans.
It is stressed here that Holland took every precaution and was calmly prepared to face whatever situation might arise, determined not to tolerate any provocations, At the same time, a Dutch military mission was invited to visit a number of arsenals in Italy.
Diplomatic quarters are convinced that the divergencies of opinion between the German leaders which saved Holland from an attack last November remained as sharp as ever, and that the German High Command, however docile, will think twice before launching an attack in the west.—Havas,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.