The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 63

Thurs March 30 1972 THE MIAMI HERALD 15-D Young Germans Rebelling Against Liberalized Postwar Army behest during the Cold War the founders firmly rejected the iron discipline as it had existed since Frederick the days Henceforth soldiers were to be in Discipline as Count Wolf von Baudissin one of the first organizers of the new army put it was to be demanded of them only in battle and when they used their weapons Gen Ulrich de Maiziere revolt for tougher discipline complains that field exercises are too short and do not test the troops If the weather is bad and food supplies are inadequate he says recruits pack and want to return to their barracks Traditionalists believe that Defense Minister Helmut decision last year that long hair could be tolerated in the armed forces caused discipline to become battalion commander who will be responsible for transport at the Olympic Games in Munich this summ The traditionalists in the German army must gnash their teeth that the days of Prussian drill are over But what is significant is that the armed forces have become the most striking illustration of the sweeping changes West Germany has experienced since World War II West highest ranking officer for the past six years took the view that the senseless drill of the past must be replaced by "functional Today one top German admiral remarked recently some officers no longer insist on the execution of their orders because they want to avoid trouble with their men Capt Helge Schulenburg who last year lead a junior even more lax Officers are convinced that many soldiers merely wear long hair as a protest against conscription ORIGINALLY Schmidt ruled that hair-nets would have to be worn in situations where long hair could provoke accidents Eight weeks later he ordered that men with long hair would have to wear hair-nets whenever on duty Hair-nets now are part and goose-stepping German soldier belongs to the past Today the news-magazine Der Spiegel said recently German citizens see drunken soldiers with shoulder-length hair generally looking slo- venly making a nuisance of themselves in trains and at railway stations at weekends WHEN THE new German army was created at Allied come save me I of West German army equipment However soldiers complain that the army-issue hair-nets are uncomfortable and cause headaches In some cases there have been so many complaints that medical officers authorized men to buy more elegant civilian models With their hair-nets German soldiers will become the lauglimf stock of the world says the tor ft' each By BORIS KIDEL Th London Observer BONN West army heir to a tradition of blind obedience and Prussian drill is in the throes of a major crisis In their anti-authoritarian mood young Germans are not only reluctant to perform their military service but they even rebel against the greatly liberalized army discipline of the postwar era "Discipline and order have deteriorated widely in the army during the past says Fritz-Rudolf Schultz the parliamentary delegate for the armed forces in his annual report In the past In Imperial Germany and under Hitler young Germans went into the army with ardent enthusiasm It was regarded a great honor to serve the country as a soldier Today Schultz notes in his report the "reluctance to renounce professional progress and material gain while serving the community in the armed forces for 18 months is more pronounced than ever WITHIN ONE year the number of conscientious objectors has risen from 19363 to 27657 One of the chief reasons for this growing anti-army attitude Schultz says is that in the present climate of global dentente young Germans no longer believe that their country is exposed to an external threat New Face dissatisfied Minimizing the strength of the Warsaw Pact nations they do not believe in the likelihood of Communist aggression Their feeling the report says is that the Communist and Western blocs are destined to overcome their conflicts by drawing into closer relations As the result of these attitudes they doubt whether West Germany really needs conscription or even an army today This frame of mind the report says leads to negligent execution of orders and frequent breaches of discipline Schultz cites the case of an Alpine unit in Bavaria where soldiers attacked the duty officer with ice picks when he tried to detain one of their drunken comrades Another unit wrecked a provincial railway station because their commanding officer failed to provide buses to take them back to their barracks after carnival celebrations In his somber 1971 balance-sheet Schultz remarks that absence without leave desertion acts of violence perpetrated against superiors and thefts of army equipment increased considerably during the past year The image of the heel-clicking Champion Chess Site Rejected BELGRADE Yugoslavia (AP) American chess wizard Bobby Fischer has rejected Belgrade as one of the two sites in which he is willing to the Soviet Boris Spassky for the world chess championship The Yugoslav organizers said they received a telegram from the challenger saying he no longer intended to play in the June 22-July 19 Belgrade matches The Yugoslav capital and Reykjavik Iceland were selected by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) as locations for the two-city meeting after months of negotiations INFORMATION PLEASE fit 1 iii! 1 i in i Jit 0 vf kJ'Vi f' HI' ikm if K' 3 ft '( good-looking new sport and aress shirt sP'ee wear Permanent press Ps Easy-car aVonte fashion- yester-cot on ealures the styles' pointed collar ds blue salmon Sizes 8 Store to St it' 1 v- nicooot The COCONUT GROVE PALM BEACH SOUTH DADE POMPANO CENTRAL HOLLYWOOD NORTH DADE NO MIAMI BEACH MAY'S advertising: WESTCHESTER HIALEAH FT LAUDERDALE HOMESTEAD (BROWARD BLVD) PALM BEACH OPEN SUNDAYS 11 am to 6 pm HALLANDALE FT LAUDERDALE (OAKLAND PARK) OPEN MONDAY THRU SATURDAY 10 am to 10 pm SUNDAY 10am to 6pm'.