army reserve to be strengthened . statement to M.P.s this week : B.A.O.R will get key men . small call-up possible . by our military reporter . plans for strengthening Britain &apos;s strategic reserve division will be announced by Mr Watkinson , Minister of defence , in the Commons this week . some units have been recently redeployed to form a division for service in Germany should the situation there continue to deteriorate . no indication has been given of what this increase will be , or where the troops will be found . while conscription can be ruled out , it may be that some limited numbers of reserve units may be affected . steps have been taken to meet some key deficiencies in B.A.O.R by transferring about 100 ancillary troops from overseas . as B.A.O.R is short of specialists it is likely that the strategic reserve division in Britain is also deficient , and to bring it to full strength it is unlikely that further depletion of overseas garrisons can be countenanced . American criticism . how far Britain &apos;s moves to strengthen her reserves will meet American criticism remains to be seen . but it is unlikely that America &apos;s plan for a three-stage defence structure will be followed . under this plan Washington aims to meet an initial enemy conventional onslaught with conventional weapons . if these fail tactical nuclear weapons will be used , and finally strategic nuclear weapons . but the British defence policy , as laid down in the 1957 Sandys plan , is showing signs of wobbling . defence spokesmen now qualify the statement that nuclear retaliation would be used in any major Russian aggression by saying that the use of nuclear weapons would depend on the circumstances , strength and area of the attack . privately , some defence officials go even further and say that the original Sandys policy is dead as a dodo . de Gaulle will see Premier on Berlin . by Gordon Brook-Shepherd . Sunday telegraph diplomatic correspondent . President and Madame de Gaulle will pay a private visit to Britain from Nov 24 to 26 as guests of Mr Macmillan and his wife . a French statement on the visit said both leaders felt the time had come for a frank exchange of views on the international situation and especially about the tactics to be adopted towards easing tension with Russia . it is believed in London that nearly all the weekend visit will be devoted to what one British official described as quiet and intense business talks . I understand the main purpose of the meeting will be to plot an agreed western approach to the Berlin and German issues . at present the west is moving forward in a sort of ragged Indian file with the French almost out of contact in the rear . concession made . in the last few days General de Gaulle is reported to have won what amounts to an important concession from his allies . a major policy switch has been tentatively agreed between the British , Americans and West Germans which partly reflects the French line of remaining tough with Mr Khruschev . it is understood that the British and American envoys in Moscow have been empowered if necessary to seek an emergency standstill agreement with the Russians on the Berlin situation alone as a first step to broader negotiations . this could be informal in the sense that no document need be signed . short-term basis . it could be reached at ambassadorial level , taking the form of an east-west declaration re-affirming allied rights and responsibilities in Berlin , if only on a short-term basis . the purpose would be to remove the fuse from the Berlin bomb . this approach would represent a complete change of strategy from that favoured in the talks with the Soviet foreign Minister , Mr Gromyko , less than a month ago . then the Anglo-American emphasis was on seeking a broader agenda to avoid a debate on the vulnerable question of Berlin alone . French and West German fears that such a broader agenda would involve the west in dangerous concessions have contributed to the latest change . so has the mounting tension in Berlin . the west now seems to have adopted Mr Khruschev &apos;s famous salami tactics in trying to solve the problem slice by slice . if a short term stabilisation agreement can be reached on Berlin in the next few weeks the problem of increasing contacts between East and West Germany could be tackled as a separate step . the final phase would be a formal top level agreement . the possibility is not ruled out in London that Mr Khruschev may try to exploit President Kennedy &apos;s impatience with western differences of opinion . this he would do by trying to bargain direct with Washington . private contacts . as part of this campaign an invitation may well be sent to the American Secretary of state , Mr Dean Rusk , to visit Moscow . the Russians are thought to have been encouraged along these lines by the progress made in New York towards solving the united nations crisis through repeated private contacts between the Soviet and American chief delegates there , Mr Zorin and Mr Stevenson . Russia and China in struggle for Africa . by our diplomatic correspondent . new evidence has reached London of the struggle between the Russians and the Chinese to dominate the mind of Africa . it illustrates that global rivalry between Peking and Moscow , of which the current dispute over Albania is only the symbol . in at least one of the new African states , Somalia , the two communist powers have begun to clash head-on . the Russians , who have built up a huge embassy with a staff of nearly 300 in Mogadishu , the capital , support the established government . the Chinese operate through a smaller mission , but have a new China news agency in addition , whereas the Russians have no Tass representation . the Chinese policy is one of outright support for the dissident opposition groups , including the extremist Pan-Somali movement . this aims at uniting all Somalis , including those in neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia , under one rule . Chinese support takes the form of secret money subsidies , and the inviting of Somali dissidents to Peking . here some of them are said to have been given guerrilla training , on the pattern recently reported for candidates from the Cameroun republic . Moscow concern . Russian disavowal of the Pan-Somalis is partly based on Moscow &apos;s concern for good relations with Ethiopia , where a major Soviet effort is being made . but the issue is also a basic ideological one . throughout Africa , the Chinese are putting forward their militant brand of communism as the true model for the new black states and are openly decrying the more moderate Soviet line . to support this campaign , the Chinese have developed a radio propaganda barrage nearly twice as heavy as the Russian effort . Peking radio now has a total output of 91 hours a week broadcasting to Africa . this is far more than any other station in the world and compares with the Soviet Union &apos;s tally of 54 1/2 hours a week . seven different Chinese agencies have been identified running operations inside Africa itself . all have been founded in the last 18 months and three sprang into life this year . the difference . they operate along unorthodox but highly effective lines . whereas the Russians keep mainly to standard cultural missions and student training schemes , the Chinese get down to jungle roots . they are covering the dark continent with troupes of acrobats , dancers and jugglers who travel from village to village . needless to say the jugglers start spinning Marxist slogans as soon as they have finished their advertised act . the Somali pattern of more or less open conflict is repeated in Guinea . the other main centres of Chinese penetration are the Cote d&apos;Ivoire , Zanzibar and Mozambique . a major Chinese agitation is predicted by western observers soon among the black population of South Africa . this would give Peking a hold on the tip of the continent , as well as at strategic points up both the east and the west coasts . Soviet tanks out-faced by Americans . from Reginald Peck . Sunday telegraph special correspondent . Berlin , Saturday . the withdrawal of Russian and American tanks from the Friedrichstrasse crossing point today brought some relaxation of tension in Berlin . but the opposing tanks remained within a mile of each other . first to back down in the war of nerves were the Russians , and as their T-34 tanks rumbled away an American official was heard to say : we seem to have faced the Russian Ivan . about 90 minutes later the 10 American tanks retired . the Americans have now stated that they intend for the time being to give up their practice of enforcing their right of uncontrolled access to east Berlin by sending officials through the Friedrichstrasse checkpoint with armed escorts . they say , our point has now been made . U.S plane &apos;s defiance . less than half an hour after the American tanks had withdrawn , a United States air force C-47 defied a Russian protest against overflying east Berlin . it circled for about ten minutes at about 600 feet over an area where 40 Russian tanks were parked . Col Soloviev , the Russian Commandant in Berlin last night sent two letters to the American Commandant , one of which protested against United States helicopters flying over east Berlin . the American mission in Berlin today said their planes have every right to fly over all of the city . up to this morning it had seemed that the dangerous situation that built up suddenly at dusk last night when the Russian tanks arrived might continue indefinitely . angry west Berliners twice mobbed Russian cars , booing and kicking the vehicles . before the departure of the Russian tanks the East German communists staged a propaganda demonstration by sending youths and girls to present the crews with flowers and chocolates . earlier , west Berlin civilians had taken flowers to the crews of the two foremost American tanks . it had been reported that more Russian tanks have reached east Berlin . I drove through the eastern sector but saw nothing more than military jeeps outside the ruins of the Prinzenpalais in Unter den Linden , where the first Russian tanks were based 48 hours ago . at checkpoint Charlie my passport was examined by communist guards and I was asked if I was carrying East German money , coffee or cocoa . the only civilian in sight was a grey-haired woman who said she had lost her way but gave the impression she had hoped to slip through to the west . Mr Brown worried by B.A.O.R . Sunday telegraph reporter . Mr George Brown , the labour party &apos;s spokesman on defence , arrived at London Airport yesterday after a four-day inspection of the British army of the Rhine . he said he was more worried after his visit than before . although no units were dangerously undermanned , the army was a few thousand short of its peacetime establishment and well below the strength that would be needed in war . there was a particular shortage of men in medical units . in equipment there was a shortage of radios , some arms and armoured personnel carriers . Britain &apos;s commitment in Europe should be given top priority . other overseas commitments , particularly in the far east , should be re-examined to see if such large numbers of men need be tied down . conscription was not the answer to the need for men . asked if Britain was capable of fulfilling its role in the north Atlantic treaty organisation , he replied : we are as well able to do it as anyone else . the men are well trained and well deployed . but it is the role of the whole N.A.T.O army that worries me and our role in that . while I am clear myself on what that role is , I am not sure whether the politicians &apos; statements are clear to the military generals and to air force chiefs . Dorniers for new Katanga air force . from a special correspondent . Elizabethville , Saturday . five twin-engined German Dorniers for the new air force which President Tshombe is forming , have been delivered to Elizabethville . they are the first of nearly 50 planes which have been ordered to strengthen Katanga &apos;s defences . I flew here from Munich in one of the planes after meeting the pilots , two British , one Belgian and two French . 