THE KAISER'S "MAILED FIST."

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 47, 18 June 1915, Page 6

THE KAISER'S "MAILED FIST."

THE ROMANTIC STORY OF FIELDMARSHAL VON HINDENBURG.

If you had wandered into the Linden <'afe in Hanover any afternoon a year Of so ago, you could not have failed to notice a solitary old man sitting at a corner-table, diligently reading a newspaper, or intent on a game of chess with a friend —a grim-looking man (.f few words, his face half-hidden by the clouds of smoke which poured from a vigorously-puffed pipe or cigar. A lonely old man, evidently; for of all who came and went, few took any notice of him; and, apart from a very rare nod, or bow of recognition, none seemed to know hini. . If you had asked the proprietor who this solitary one was, ne would perhaps have told you, "he is on Hindenburg, a retired general, who has made his homo in Hanover, and conies here every afternoon. No; he is not verv sociable; he knows few people here and does not give them much encouragement, He has a few cronies, however, with whom he loves to have a smoke and to talk over the day s news —mostlv old soldiers like himself, lie has been a great soldier in his time; i>:it, of course, his fighting days are ' Indeed there are few in Hanover who could tell you any more of the general who had come to make his home among them ten years earlier, and who attracted little, if any, attention, as he took his stroll along the streets with two or three dogs for companions. And to-day Hanover can scarcely believe that the man whose name is spoken throughout the world, and who is hsilod by th 6 Kniser as saviour of his country, is the same retiring obscure general who has lived so long with them without his greatness being, even suspected. How has this marvellous transformation happened, they ask one another in amazement; for although von Hindeuburg had risen to general's rank, he had done nothing to distinguish himself in all his army career. He was a good soldier of the plodding type —but to prove himself so dramatically a second Moltkc why, it was incredible!

A RELIABLE MAN

Von Hindenbtirg was born sixty-four vears aco, the son of an East Prussian father of good family, but very limited purse: and after an obscure youth and an undistinguished school career, entered an infantry regiment, the poorest among its subalterns. Even when )>e became a lieutenant, we are told, he not only lived on his paltry pay of half-a-crown a day, but from this pittance had to contribute towards the support of his mother, who, on her husband s death, was left almost penniless. Such was the hard school in which the Field-Marshal-to-be began his army life. But, although he had no friend in high places and was handicapped by poverty, he had no lack of grit, and applied himself so zealously to his soldiering that he passed the General Staff examination at the top of the list when he graduated as captain. His zeal had already marked him out as a good man—by no means brilliant, but highly reliable; and, as captain, he won the confidence of his v.iperiors to such an extent that he was kept, employed on the most responsible duties. Among his fellow-officers, al- , though he was respected, he was never popular. His grimness and silence repelled them; he took no part in their dissipations and amusements. But his men, it is said, loved him; for they recognised a good heart beneath his hard exterior. . ~ •'He was a stern disciplinarian, one of them has said. "What he said he meant; and woe to the man who failed to obey him promptly. But no man could have been kinder in quiet, unobtrusive ways. He was always considering our comfort; and I have known him sit all night by the liedside of a sick private, and to give up his own tent to another who was seriously ill. We used to call him 'Papa Hindenburg' l>ehind his back; but I should have liked to see the man who would call him that to his face!"

TITS SERVICES DI'XTJXEIX.

Thus, step by stop, Von Hindenburg mounted the ladder of promotion, always doing good work, but never distinguishing himself from his fellow-offi-cers, until, at fifty-four, lie had risen in l>e Commander of an Army Corps Then, his eareer ended, he retired oil a pension to spend his later days in oh icuritv at Hanover—a man who had served his country to the best of his ■ hillties and had nothing more to expect from it. When the present war broke nut he was still in Hanover, strolling with his dogs, reading his paper at the ,-afe, and hobnodding with his few cronies. Although Germany wanted her most capable leaders, no one seems to have thought of the retired General, whose name and services were almost forgotten. He applied for a command, but his offer was declined; and it only remained for him to be an idle onlooker at the great conflict which was to shake Europe to its foundations. At the Linden Cafe he read the stories r.f the capture of Liege and Namur, of :he onward sweep of the German army uto France, of the terrible fighting at Mons; he discussed the campaign and ius strategy with his friends, as a veter:in whose days of battle were a memory never to be revived. Then came a dramatic change. Someone—his old comrade in arms, General Von Ludendorf, he afterwards learned—had spoken of him to the Emperor as a man who might i>c ii—of ill; and one day came the despair-•d-of summon.-, to rejoin the army. That day the corner-table of the Linden Cafe was occupied by .mother; Von Hindeniiurg had no further use for his newspaper. He had g-.ne to fight Germany's '•allies again. GERMANY'S I DOT,. A few week* la vr lie was commanding ,i Ke>erve Army Corps and was driving

he Russians bad; at Augerburg. One

.-•ic-' ess followed swiftly on another until, v..;bin a f.-w weeks more the forgotten '■ei..-ral found him.seif in supreme com-

mand of the \iinv in Mast Prussia, ae.laimed as i heaven-born Oeneral 'broughout Germany, and dublwd FieldMarshal by ii:.-. ee-,t.(t.ie Kmperor. 11l ■wk montii,, and after lie bad resigned himself to nil olwiiiv and inactive old 'ge, " Papa' Hmdenburg bad blossom-r-d nit i "a second M-iltke, the saviour of Father!.)iel 1 "

And what he v < , in lii.s <];iof eapI.i'n, lie is to ,i iv I„ (.ermanyV idol - a ' 'litred, gnm Tihii-'r. a man of few «"ids. with ies or cigar a, bis fave.ir.ie companion and bis best iiispira":or. " 11 e siiaci -- ini-essantly." we are Old, "e.pet illy v. 1:ell be is sleepless. !le'chen smek. -, <»-;{. hi., plans, and when ••e' iris leal-rt the I; ;>,iiiiis in thought, be dozes oil. !,'.••[) in the distractions of war he lin.i- t.:: : ,. >.» indulge his hive tor dogs; an i sn ii as take his fancy lie dispatches to Hano'. er, under escort of • n orderly, with a ,peei;:l passport, signed by himself. That, he can enjoy a joke, f<vo. is proved br the following ntory : - Lntelv two ("nder-Serretaries arrived from Berlin,

and after giving them an icy reception, he invited them i'or a drive in his motorcar. lie drove them right into the line of Russian fire. As they drew near, the secretaries did not dare protest; but as the bullets began to whistle round them they begged the General to stop the car. ''Quite impossible," .said Von Hindenburg, and imperturbably drove on. In a little while, though, the situation became so extremely perilous that he had pity on his guests and returned to camp.—Sheffield Weekly Telegraph.