WesWorld

March 20th, 1936:

Field Marshal Silvestras Žukauskas sighed and rubbed his eyes, it was getting late, it felt like he'd only made a slight dent in the paperwork that cluttered his desk. Too much to due, and not enough people to do it, or rather not enough qualified people. The various expansions to the Lithuanian army, navy and air force, had left the administrative apparatus of the ministry of defense hard pressed to keep up. The problem was made worse by the fact that the Lithuanian armed forces only had a limited number of experienced personal, and they had already been used up: the staff and service schools were now taxed to the breaking point, trying to train the new people to help run both the administrative structure of the armed forces, and provide the command staffs, unit commanders, etc. for the new units.

Enlarging the establishments of the existing training schools was one way to tackle the problem, but that would only help in the long term, and in the short term it would only make the dreath of qualified personel worse. The Field Marshal leafed through the documents on his desk, although a solution had been suggested by several of the staffs, although it would require some diplomatic foot work by the Foreign Affairs office to make work, assuming the President agreed to the idea of course.

Ah, found it. Žukauskas, thought triamphiantly, as he shifted some of the clutter and found the combined staffs report under his coffee cup. Let's see... . He quickly read through the document again, murmuring the most important conclusion aloud.

"The armed services staffs are of the opinion that existing staff and command personel even argumented with reservists nor existing training establishments will not be able to supply the numbers required. It is recommended, that we seek foreign sources of training or practical experience, via either active recruitment of foreign officers without commands, having Lithuanian cantidates apply to foreign academies or officer/non-commissioned officer transfer training programs..."

The French military academies would of course be more than willing to assist the Lithuanian military on that count.

Germany is also willing to offer training opportunities for Lithuanian military personnel, either at military schools for officers or NCOs in Germany, or through the despatch of a training mission to conduct training on the national territory.

March 22nd, 1936:

Following discussions with the Russian Military Attache to the Lithuanian government, a provisional agreement to allow Lithuanian Armed Forces personel to train with Russian Federation units has been enacted. The following has been agreed to by the Lithuanian and Russian governments.

1) The transfer of one-hundred and sixty Lithuanian Army junior officers and warrant officers and selected non-commissioned officers to service in selected Russian units to aquire experience with more modern equipment - with particularly emphasis artillery and armour units.

2) The transfer of sixty Lithuanian Air Force officers, warrant officers and non-commissioned officers to do the same with units of the Russian Federation Air Force.

3) The transfer of sixty Lithuanian Navy officers, warrant officers and non-commissioned officers to do the same with seagoing units of the Russian Federation Navy.

Similar military missions with regards to military training with France and Germany for Lithuanians are under consideration, following diplomatic discussions with the respective governments.

March 24th, 1936:

Field Marshal Zukauskas, has formally requested a meeting with the military attaches of the German and French governments. The meeting is to discuss the exchange of Lithuanian personel for attachment to German and French military schools and field or experimental tactical units. The purpose of the attachment is to aid in the modernizing of the Lithuanian Republican Armed Services, which are seen to be lagging behind in many areas with regards to contemporay military trends. A further request for the assistance by Franco-German officers and military specialists in the founding of a Lithuanian "Combined Services" Academy, is also being considered.

The Lithuanian detachments to both France and Germany are planned to be similar to those being detailed to the Russian Federation. The hope being of that the detached soldiers will be able to acquire a broad assesment of foreign military techniques and weaponry, suitable for formulating a more effective Lithuanian military. Currently, the Lithuanian military is plagued with logistical nightmare of assorted small-arms: with for example no less then three different rifles/carbines types using 7.92-mm, 7.62-mm and .303 cartridges in use. Infantry support weapons, suffer from a similar diversity of types and ammunition types while armoured vehicles and artillery are often obsolete or at least suffering from a lack of modern sights and carriages. The Lithuanian Navy and Air Service have taken some encouraging steps to modernize both their equipement and installations. The Seimas Special Committee on Military Affairs is reportedly putting together a special report with recommendations for addressing the Lithuanian Armed Forces needs.

Germany would be quite willing and happy to assist its neighbor in recovering from the effects of the recently concluded conflict and in the reformation of its armed forces.