WHAT CAN HINDENBURG DO?

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 223, 3 November 1916, Page 5 (Supplement)

WHAT CAN HINDENBURG DO?

Hindenburg is the only great soldier produced by the Central Powers during the~war.

Tannenbcrg made his fame. It was a masterpiece, k was a Sedan. But Hindenburg had odds in Irs favoui. lie know Ins swamps TTy Ik art. He. had a crushing superiority of heavy guns. And be took Samsoiioff by surprise.

These, odds are not now in his favoui-. He is interior in numbers and in gun?, ifter two years surprises are almost, impossible. What can he do?

He may mass a. great army and hint it at one sector of the iron circle which is crushing the besieged Er-.pircs anj tlier Bulgarian and Turkish dupes. Uuniania is a bait that he mav bite a'. A Rumanian Tannenberg wi uld give Hinuenbiirg brcatling time. So oth»r blow would l» so fruitful. The centre of gravity for the moment is in the liarkans. X.ipoleon would strike there with all his might. But the tune is short. Hindenburg may not have the men. no matter how quickly he scrapes his reserves togethe:. He cannot hold Joffre and Haig with a thin anaemic line. He cannot hold tho lnn g eastern front with a thin anaemic line. He cannot shcrten it bv retreat.

The only lino that is shortened by retreat is the western line. He may retreat to the Scheldt and the Mouse, but the political as well as the militry risks would he enormous. Nevertheless, ilindonburg is the only commander who could' tako those risks without shattering the German morale. Ho may have been called in to steady German nerves during the retreat towards the Rhine.

Tiiere are four blows »r despair which he might launch against Britain in order to shake her national will. Ho might gamble for a gigantic stake b, simultaneously flinging the High Sea's Fleet against Jellicoe and under eov?r of the sacrifice attempting to invade England. Ho might at the. same time hurl all his Zeppelins at our cities and all his submarines at our sea communications.

It would be a fourfold gambler's throw. It would, in the language if poker, he a titanic bluff put up against a cool player who stands on a royal fhisli. The bluff would be cabled.