VON HINDENBURG.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VI, Issue 285, 17 November 1916, Page 7

VON HINDENBURG.

j FAVOURED BY FORTUNE. HIS CLASH WITH FALKENHAYN. i A FEW IMPRESSIONS. Major-General Sir Alfred Turner, K.C.8., writing in the ”Daily Chron- : icle” says that it must have been a ; bitter piil for the arrogant All-Highest ’ to swallow when he iiad to yield to public opinion, which he has always held in supreme contempt, and discharge his ! ame damnee von Fa.kenhayn from his post of Chief of the Staff, to which he had appointed him in place of the discredited von Moltke. The latter, to use ' tho Kaiser’s own words, had worked to ; make all things ready for this war with | unremitting zeal ; his plans were based on the felonious breaking of the treaty i of 1839, by which Germany, France, and ! Great Britain were pledged to maintain ! the integrity of Belgium. His strategy was thwarted by the heroism of our tiny I Expeditionary Force, and Paris was saved, but von Moltke was undone, and i von Falkenhayn reigned in his stead, Ito be replaced by von Hindenburg i when it became apparent, even to I swelled Huns, that he had made vici tory all but hopeless by sacrificing i whole holocausts in vain attempts to ! take Verdun, which the Germans could certainly have done in the first few j weeks of or, had they concentrated their enormous forces against it, instead of carrying out their criminal undertaking of violating Belgium.

I ONE OF THE MURDERERS OF | FRYATT. ■ Von Falkenhayn, moreover, by withdrawing a large amount of con Hindenburg’s legions from the eastern front, rendered the farter’s difficult task an impossible one for he no longer fought against ill-armed, ill-equipped armies, but with troops thoroughly well armed, and with a splendid artillery with ample munitions, owing to the loyal and de- : voted work of our Japanese Allies, who ' have set every factory in their country at work to supply Russia with all she needs, and with whom she is now allied for offence and defence for all time. No wonder Hindenburg protested and ; raged against von Falkenhayn; but for a long time in vain, for the latter is : essentiaLy a courtier, and wished to ■ give the egregious Crown Prince all he asked for to enable him to secure victory at Verdun, and be proclaimed a conqueror. The Chief of the Staff doubtless looks forward to favours to come from the future Emperor. He has been a ready tool in the hands of the AllHighest in carrying .out his commands to exercise frightfulness, and more ' especially is he responsible for the murder of Captain Fryatt; for he was a member of the council which decided to carry out the crime. He is doubtless a brilliant, well-read soldier, but one who has by no means the brains of the great von Moltke, who could at once modify the theories of war, where practice called for such modification.

i NOT AN ENGAGING PERSONALITY J Nothing could differ more than von ■ Falkenhayn and Hindenburg. I was i twice present at Army manoeuvres in i the Grand Duchy of Baden, at which ; the latter commanded the 28th Infantry • Division, the headquarters of which are at Warlsruhe. He is not an engaging personality, and contrasted very unfavourably in manners with his predecessors, General von Grone and General von Bulow, late brother of the exChancellor. He is a man of large stature and ample frame; his coarse features, square box-like head, high cheek-bones, and little steely grey eyes, impress one with a sense of ruthlessness, cruelty, and determination, all of which attributes he undoubtedly is master of. He is not without ability and perseverance ; he passed through Kriegsacademic Staff College some 40 years ago, and has held a number of staff appointments and has commanded an Infantry Brigade, an Infantry Division, and tin ! Army Corps, from the latter of which ; he retired in 191.1, in consequence, it ' in stated, of a difference, of opinion w itb ' the All-Highest, for Hindenburg is a '■ man of great independence of spirit, 1 and did not hesitate to te.l the Kaiser he was wrong if he thought so; while the All-Highest, in his arrogance, will brook no contradiction—for, in his eyes, he is the anointed of the Lord, and can do no wrong. From .1911 to the outbreak of the war he dwelt at Hanover, leading a retired and, it is said, a self-> indulgent life. . , j i He was not considered a brilliant or 1 ■ specially capable commander in the German army, and was far behind von Bissing, who commanded the 29th Division of the same corps, and who shared the same fate as Hindenburg for * oincing out the flagrant absurdities of which the Kaiser was guilty at manoeuvres. When the war broke out, HinJenourg was “’dug out” of his retirement, ana appointed to the Eastern command because of his intimate knowledge of the Masurian lake and swamp district in East Prussia. Here astounding good fortline followed him, for a weak Russian army, in its eagerness to take Berlin in August, 1914, literally’ threw itself into the jaws of destruction at Tannenburg, where they were surrounded ana almost annihilated by von Hindenburg’s vastly superior forces, with an enormous preponderance of artillery. After this he constantly pushed back the Russians, till his advance was stopped, first by the winter, secondly by. the marvellous recovery of the Russians, and thirdly by the weakening of his own force, owing to the withdrawal of much of it by Falkenhayn for the Crown Prince’s army. j HIDENBURG ANECDOTES

The following anecdotes will illustrate the character of this doughty chief. On one occasion some of his officers were talking about poetry, and discussing the comparative merits of Shakespeare, Schiller, Goethe, etc Hindenburg, who was present, listened with signs of contempt and impatience for a time; at last he could stand it no more, and said: “Gentlemen, I have been careful throughout my life not to risk making myself soft by reading poetry, and I strongly advise you all to follow my example!” <SSP*«-' ___ -

At the battle of Tannenburg a large body of Russians were driven on to the Masurian swamps, in which they began to sink. Their cries for help were piteous and the German soldiers aU tempted to have them; from this thej were prevented by their brutal officers and Hindenbufg, who w r as looking on, is reported to have said: ‘‘Let the swine drown; .'this will be a lesson to the Russians not to defiie East Prussia with their presence again!” Such is the man whom public opinion has forced the All-Highest to put at the head of the army, in order to attempt to rescue Germany from falling unwept and unhonoured info the pit ol destruction, which she has so long, so cunningly and so secretly prepared foi others. Not Hindenburg, not even miracles, could now save her from the fate which she so richly deserves. As for the Kaiser, who has killed the soul of Germany, and who is alone, in the first place responsible for the war and the savage ferocity with which it has been waged,, we may read the moral in the words of Claudion : Jam non ad cuhnina rerum Injustos crevisse queror: tolluntur in altum Ut lapsu graviore ruant. —Claudian in Ruflnum.