"THE HERO HINDENBURG."

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16665, 10 April 1916, Page 4

"THE HERO HINDENBURG."

As a nation by no means blessed with a liberal allowance of the saving grace of humour the Germans can always be relied upon to give the rest of the world something to laugh at. To the grandiloquence and pomposity of utterances on the part of their statesmen, their authors, and theiT journalists, in which they seem to find infinite satisfaction, there is no limit. When Germany discovers a national hero she makes no mistake about the pedestal. She may even make of him a gigantic effigy into which a reverent populace may, as a; token of its adoration, drive nails— for a small consideration. So it has been with that most super of all German supermen, Field-marshal von Hindenburg. It is probably not at' all his fault that he has been the subject of so much absurd German adulation. If he can survive the ordeal he will be rather fortunate, since his pedestal is so particularly lofty. It appeared recently, indeed, as if he had had something of a fall. The world will be the more reassured, therefore, to see him re-emerging in all his terrible splendour on the occasion of the celebration of his jubilee of military service. The German press has embraced the opportunity of hailing " the saviour of his country and the greatest German of modem times." This is a little severe, perhaps, oil the Kaiser and even on the Crown Prince, but it is von HindenEurg's jubilee, and such a pretext for a diversion that is calculated to stimulate the German nation is doubtless very wcleome. A German victory at Verdun would, of course, have been even better as an occasion for modest reflections on the gloTy of German arms, but that is another story. Von Hindenburg serves in the meantime to distract German eyes from that scene of carnage. The Kaiser himself has led the national eulogy, and the blushing hero has been tho recipient of the portrait of his

Imperial Majesty in oils. Whether there is any reproachful look in the counterfeit of the All-llighcst's eyes wo are not told. To "what new deeds of 'valour that superb gift will spur him remains yet to he seen. For all the acclamation, von Hindenburg, bo it remembered, has not yet accomplished quite all tho ordinary German people have been led to expect of him. One of the most popular war-books recently issued in Germany bears the interesting title " Jlindenburg's March Into London." The German public, judged by its purchase of millions of copies of this volume, has actually contemplated its lurid contents as offering a picture by no means altogether fantastical. The inspired author gets von Hindenburg across the Channel without much difficulty. "A giant swarm of Zeppelins travelled one foggy morning to the west coast of England and sought out the British navy. With a thousand bombs fifty full hits were made. Explosions completed the work of destruction. Almost at the same time a gigantic fleet of submarines broke into the British naval harbour and completed the work." Perhaps carping German critics have found the book least satisfactory in its details of the invasion of England, but they will have agreed that it was a great thing to get yon HindenbuTg there—even on paper. They would also agree that as a visitor to perfidious England his deportment, as depicted by the author, is most godlike and perfect. Thus we read: "Hindenburg is riding slowly' on, and thoughtfully he glances at the Canaan, of the German dreams of conquest. At last! At last! he has succeeded in subduing that English commander reputed far more mighty, far more skilful, more experienced, and more successful than he. Hindenburg has conquered the lie. ... As the great German war-hero, whose ruthless, hard ' must' on the battlefields extracted from the last man . the last atom of strength, now rides, once more through the ranks of his battalions many eyes fill with tears." Strange it must seem to the Germans that their military idol has not . yet received the keys of the Mansion House from a quaking Lord Mayor of London. A nation which has swallowed German war literature from von Bernhardi downwards has proved its digestive powers, and has "probably found a quite acceptable morceau in the assurance : " The God Who has stood at our side during this severe war of liberation and given us a Hindenburg will also lead us over the Channel. Who would then not irresistibly follow to the banks of the Thames Hindenburg's flags, those' flags accustomed to victory? Who would not be then full of joyous pride?" . The Germans are really very hard upon Marshal von Hindenburg in their hero-worship., It must be difficult to live up to it.