FALL OF GENERAL VON MOLTKE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2293, 29 October 1914, Page 5

FALL OF GENERAL VON MOLTKE

NEW CHIEF OF STAFF APPOINTED. . Amsterdam, Oetobor 27. Lieutenant-General von Fnlk'enhayn (Minister of War) lias succeeded General von Moitko as Chief of Stall. ' • v London, Oetobor 27. • According to German prisoners, General von Kluck directed the German Ri®llt durin" the lattlo of the Maine, but siuoo has remained at tho Aisno. At" present- the Germans between the Oifco and the sea, commencing from the south are led by General Count von Billow, the Crown Prince, tlio Prince of Bavaria, and the Duke of AYurtcmburg, tlio latter's troops being iu Belgium. • ' , The chief of the, German Military Staff, Lieutcnnnt-General Helmuth von Moltke, is a nephew' of that von Moltke who -10 years ago led the German Armv from Gr.ivebtte to Sedan. Eo succeeded Count von Schlieflen at the General Staff in 1800. The young Von Moltko won his lieutenancy and the troll Ovom 'iurim; Uw campaign of 1870, and acquitted himself jjxedit&blj in yarious grades of th« gorvioe, reaeliiMfi tha r#ak of lieutenant-

—. , — J general ill 1902. Men inside and outside the army looked askance oir-hfa .1 elevation to the post previously hold by Sohlioffen. , They declared that he , owed his promotion primarily to tho Emperor's gnawing passion for the pic- 5 turosque and a desire once again to have the magio name of Moltke at tiio ; head of tho Gorman forces. Mr. Frederick W. Wile, Berlin correspondent ; of the "Daily Mail," says that the detractors of the new chief were destined ; to have their scepticism dramatically undermined. Having scoffed at \on j Moltko as a merely decorative lay figure, they nibbed their eyes over tho ■ j first manoeuvres held under his direction after he had been at the General Staff scarcely 10 months. Born at Mecldonburg-Schwerin, he was 66 years 1 of age in May last. General von Moltko's qualities are cf the thorough, ; workmanlike order. Stocky of build, with the ungainly outlines of a Bis-. • ? marck, blue-eyed and grey-haired, the German Commander Iβ generally re- J yarded in Europe as a man of unusual mental capacity. A message from New York, published on October 8, stated- Advices from German sources state J that dissatisfaction with Count von Moltke, Chief cf Staff of the German \ Army, has accumulated to euch a degree that, -while not formally ousted as •• ■•»_ Chief of Staff, 'he has been deprived of much executive authority, which has j uow been vested in a commission composed of tho Kaiser and his most trust- ; oi soldiers. . >