VON HINDENBURG

New Zealand Times, Volume XL, Issue 9076, 22 June 1915, Page 6

VON HINDENBURG

WILL HE 60 WEST ? RUMOURS OF CHANGES IN COMMANDS. From Our Special Correspondent. LONDON, April 30. Before the fignting in the west assumed the sudden ferocity that has characterised it during the last few days, there were intermittent rumours that von Hindenbiirg was coming to take command there. Tho Germans regard von Hindenburg as a sort of greater Moltke, and believe that he will be able to re-es-tablish a successful German offensive against the Allies in the west. Whether tho hero of Tannenburg is really in charge of the Gorman legions in the west now is not definitely known. It is quite likely that he is. Certainly ,he was in Brussels quite recently, but this might have been purely a consultative visit. Tho energy which the German lines have suddenly developed, however, strongly suggests that von Hindenburg’s influence is making itself felt, and possibly General Joffro has now a new adversary to wrestle with in the realms of grand strategy. The cheerful spirits of the French Command-der-in-Chief are not likely to be depressed by the knowledge. Von Hindenburg failed to achieve miracles against the Russians in the east, and he is not likely to perform very miraculously under the strange conditions and against the more formidable odds confronting him in the west. The only effect of the fierce onslaughts by the Germans during the last few days round Ypres and elsewhere has been to liven up the fighting and cause enormous casualties to the enemy. The Allies will ask nothing better than* that tho Germans should attempt'to keep it up. It will mean that the moment of crucial' decision will arrive the quicker. Because the_ Germans cannot afford to go on throwing men away in tho present reckless fashion very long. They are already outm imbered, > and the Allies' preponderance will increase with every battle fought under the conditions that obtained at Ypres. The Germain use of asphyxiating gases is a novelty quite outside all international convention and perfectly in keeping with German practice. We used to hear a lot about the “shining armour”, from . the Kaiser Wilhelm. Now we know that your true German Sir Galahad up to date wears a mask, like a blackguard with a bludgeon, and fights, not with a puissant swore or a knightly lance, but with test tubes and sewer gas. Already the French ar d • the Belgians have discovered means of rendering this form of warfare of little practical use. It must always depend in any case on the way the wind happens to be blowing and the conformation of, the ground. The lowest down thing in warfare used to be the poisoning of the wells. It has been left for Prussian Kultur to think of actually poisoning the air.