LUDENDORFF ON THE WAR.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue 13907, 7 November 1919, Page 7

LUDENDORFF ON THE WAR.

HIS DOWNFALL. .*■ | Interesting and more complete ex- j tracts from General Ludendorff's me- I moirs which are shortly to appear, are already being published. The memoirs were written during the general's stay in Sweden after the armistice, and were supplemented after his return to Berlin. ' , "At the close of 191b," he writes, "the military situation was uncommonly difficult, and the questions of peace and "U-boat warfare therefore as : sumcd an extraordinary importance.'The "■eneral deals with the peace offer of December 12. 191(5. which he regarded sceptically, and the events leading up to the unrestricted U-boat-warfare and President Wilson's peace mediation, but he only confirms his own utterances and those of German politicians on these subjects, without revealing anything fresh. "Oil January 128, 1917." Ludendorff states, "tlie imperial Chancellor and the Foreign Minister paid a surprise visit to Pless, where a joint discussion in the presence of the Kaiser took place. The subject under discussion was a memorandum to Count Berustorff (German Ambassador in the United States) dealing with the fresh peace mediation proposal of President Wilson-" , , _, General Ludendorff then records that after January 9- there were no military grounds whatever which could have led either Hindenburg or himself to- change 'tljcir attitude regarding the imperative necessity of the U-boat warfare. As regards Count Czernm s declaration in 1918 that he only agreed to the U-boat warfare to avoid a conflict with Germany. Ludendorff says Count Czernin'is here informing lum of something which lie (Ludendorff) was not then aware of. General Ludendorff greatly regretted the internal events in Germany in the spring-and summer of 1917, and savs: "The suffrage decree of April 7 and that of July 11 revealed our weak points to the enemy and showed our fear of a revolution." The Supreme Army Command, he adds, observed with' growing anxiety the sinking of spirits at home. The Imperial Chancellor found no way out and still-less power i«* act. General Ludendorff then depicts the political events of July. 1917, which led to the- Reichstag's Peace Resolution, and the first tendering of his resignation by Herr Bethmann-Hollweg, which was not accepted. He continues : "After what happened T could not longer regard the Chancellor as a fit man. to lead the .German people ou't of the depths of their mental tensions to victory, and I therefore wrote tendering my resignation Hindenburg joined me in doing the same. In the meantime the Crown Prince had a consultation with the Reichstag party leaders, the majority of whom declared for an immediate change of Chancellors or said it- was a matter of indifference whether the Chancellor remained. No one championed the Chancellor, and the Kaiser now decided to accept- Bothmann's renewed tender of his resignation." T/udendorff._savs he had no relations with the Fatherland Party, though its work was highly welcome to him in the interests of jhe conduct of the war. but the hope that something good might be attained by it was only of short duration. He accuses Count Hertling and the opponents of the Fatherland- Party of having drawn it into internal political strife, and says that instead of providing those conducting the war with allies, the Government »,ook them away without itself providing a substitute. The Pope's' peace step was, in General Lud<-ndorff's opinion, hopeless. Neither did f)r MiehachV reply to- the Papal Note correspond with his views. He continues: "At the end of August or at the beeinning of September (1911) it was suddenly said an opportunity was' offered of having discussions with the Entente, as information had come from a neutral country that- England expected of us a declaration regarding Belgium. The peace discussion led to various conversations with the Chancellor on the Belgium question. The economic union of Belgium with Germany was our aim. T expected that- Baron von Kuhhnann would make a. public declaration in this sense regarding Belgium in his speech in the Reichstag at the end of September. On September 20 Colonel Haefton had a long conversation with Baron von Kuhlmann on this subject. In the meantime von Kuhlmann was opposed to this idea, and said. "Who tells von that I am even inclined to sell the horse Belgium? That is for me to decide. For the present this, horse is not for sale." In his speech on October 9 von Kuhlmann did not speak of Belgium but of Alsace Lorraine and the integrity of German territory. There was no longer any question of a prospect of peace. Von Kuhlmanu's statement in the Reichstag that war could not be ended bv a purely military decision was not the only factor in bringing about his retirrnic.nl. according to Ludendorff. Another, and the: filially determining factor, was his personal attitude. In those davs Ludendorff had neither time noi- inclination to mix himself up in these matters. He terms yon Kuhlmann a type of German diplomat of the post-Bismarck period, and says: S-The Bolsheviks' entry into Berlin and the silent -permitting of their propaganda from the "Russian Embassy will Cv-lr remain associated with his name." Ludendorff charges " Admiral von Hintze w-ith having continued m the Bolshevist path of his predecessor,, partly owing to his views on Russia, and. partly also because he could not ma.stei the old tendency of the Foreign Minis--'Ludendorff deals at great length with his own fall. On the arrival ol the second Wilson Note, he says, an important Cabinet meeting took place in Berlin, at which he worked for the organisation of fresh national resistance. For two davs it seemed as if the war would be continued. Hindenburg issued an army order in which he most sharply condemned President Wilson. It. was this army order which, sicco-rd-in<>- to Ludendorff s own account, really in the end brought about his fall. The ex-Kaiser declared against this command on October 19. Ludendorff felt he had lost the Kaiser's confidence, and tendered his resignation, which Wilhelm accepted with the words, "Your departure will make it possible for me to create a new State with the help of the Social Democrats." Thereupon Ludendorff went- to Hindenburg. to whom he remarked. "In a fortnight we shall no longer have a Kaiser,." i