HINDENBURG THE HUN.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 292, 13 July 1917, Page 4 (Supplement)

HINDENBURG THE HUN.

A NEUTRAL DIPLOMATIST REVEALS SOME TRUTHS ABOUT THE

BRUTALITY OF GERMANY'S CHIEF GENERAL.

HINDENBURG hates all Russians, but! do not know the re.saon why. It may have been that lie regarded Russia! as Germany's most powerful potential foe. I think he did. I hdnrd a story to the effect that in his younger days he had been paying a visit to a Russian nobleman, who turned him out of his lionse for insulting a liidy, and that that was the cause of Hindenburg's hatred of Russia and Russians.

in the morning to the station to fetch tho attache-case.

ANGERED THE KAISER

You l will not," said Hindenburg

"You will go ba,ck to the station now and fetch the pipers to-night, and you will have to walk to the station. Tomorrow you will go to the Chief of the War Office to inform him that I have dismissed you from my Staff, and recommend that you shalll be courtmart in lied. You deserve to be shot. Now go!" The Captain was court-martialled afterwards; he was severely reprimanded, and reducod for a year to the rank and pay of a lieutenant. Ever since Hindenburg defeated the Kaiser at manoeuvres the Emperor has disliked him, and he would never hive been given a command in the war only that the Kaiser could not afford to dispense with his services. hi the 1912 manoeuvres Hindenburg declined to have the Prince Aug-v.te Wilhelni, the Kaiser's son, on his staff. Later, when he was told by the Emperor that tiie Prince would serve on the staff of von Kluck a;t manoeuvres, Hindenburg remarked, "lean onlv say, sir. that I am sorry for von Klu.k."

Of Hindenburg's ill treatment of the Russians when he invaded their country there is little doubt. I heard many stories after the outbreak of war to this effect, and may here relate one of them .which was told me 011 good authority. A HORRIBLE DEATH.

During the German invasion of Russia in 1915 a Russian peasant was condemned to death on the charge ol having acted rs a spy. Hindenburg signed the warrant for his execution, remarking 'as he did so : "Shooting is too kind a dentil for spies, they ought to be burned or tortured. That would soon put a stop to spying." "SMI we shoot this one?" asked the provost-marshal, who knew that very often a hint from Hindenburg was as good as a command. "Oh, do what you like with him," was the General's reply. The next morning, when Hindenburg was riding out to inspect some of the German lines, he saw a Russian peasant tied to a post, above which the linn's head just projected. Some German troopers 011 horseback, with swords in their hands, were gathered together about three hunrded yards from the poit. Hindenburg inquired as to the meaning of the spectacle, and was informed that the peasmt tied to the post was the man who had been condemned to deatn. BOOKS DEALING WITH WAR.

"You will Im> more sorry for yourself before long," said the Emperor. He had expected a humble apology from the General for his refusal to accept tho Prince on his staff, and Hindenburg's candid remark made him furious. The next day Hindenburg was informed that he had been relieved of his command at the coming manoeuvres and that it had been given to General von Bissing.

Two days later the Emperor repentj ed of his decision, and the Chief of the i St"ff at the War Office wrote to Hin- { denburg to tell him that he would be i required to take his command at the m manoeuvres. Hindenburg wrote on the back of the Chief's letter, "All right, but I am still sorry for von Kluck," :;nd sent it to the Chief of the Staff, who, 110 doubt, had the tact not to show it to the Kaiser, as it was intended by Hindenburg | 110 should do.

j The troopers were going to charge ! in single file pnist the spot and endeav- ' our to cut off the head of the peasant : :tti they passed. Hi mien burg grinned ; and rode away, and soon a loud cheer ' conveyed the news to him that one of j his troopers had decapitated the pensI iUlt- | lam quite sure that it is not the j worst crime ttait could be laid to the I charge of ti'.e German Field-Ma-rslial ; since the outbreak of the war. Two of the walls of Hindenburg's ; smoking-room were lined 1 with hooki shelves containing about two thousand ' books, *rfnd certainly three-quarters of i the volumes dealt with war. Tiieir j owner had read most of them, and rej inembered tolerably well what he had j read. ; SHOW NO MERCY. Once in discusing how famous gen- ! orals bad achieved their fame, Hiuden- • burg pointed the stem of his pipe at ' a. long row of red-bound volumes. "Do yon see thos'e books?" he a-ked. I nodded. "Well, they contain the life stories of : many soldiers who were failures —who ! never won fame or reputation, and the ! story of each is the story of r. man who | was merciful to his conquered enemies. ' ihe stories of famous soldiers are the ! storiej of the men who were not. 011 the last 'day of my visit to Han- ! heim, a friend of Hindouburg's'. a Heir August Tiiyssen, and one of the richest men in Germany, came to stay with Hindcnbiirg. August Thys.-en is ,t man of seventysix years of age. and out of vairiousi business enterprises, including iron smelting and mining, lias amas'-ed a fortune stated to amount to several milions. He controls' all Ills own enterprises absolutely, and has never converted his business into a company. He is one of the keenest and, at the si une time, one of the most ruthless business men in Germany. In many ways both he and Hindenhurg were like each other in character, and there was undoubted a sort of natural tiflinity between tiie men. Hindenhurg told me that Thy-'sen had all the qualities in him which go to make a good soldier, and wished he had been one. Thyssen declared to 1111' tint if Hindenhurg had not been a soldier lie would have made a fortune in business. " Hindcnbiirg,'' he said, "is the only man I have ever met wliom 1 would have cared to have as partner iu my business." Herr Tiiyssen told me u story of the General which illustrates how ruthics's a dLsciplinarian Hindenhurg was:

Hindenburg has often told this story himself in his club in Berlin, but it was told to me by a Captain Ecken-,-tein, who was a great personal friend cr Hindenburg's.

Captain Eckenstein told me another r;'ther amusing story of the General. Hindenburg, when summoned to the Neues Palais or the Imperial Schloss at Berlin, to attend those military parades and ceremonies that the Emperor delights in holding,' would always go to them attired in the shabbiest uniform he had. In his dowdy regimentals he would be a strangely conspicuous object among the brilliant group of officers tlvit gathered altf>ut the Emperor. Hindenburg had unquestionably a profound contempt of the military display that delighted his royal master. PLAYING AT SOLDIERS.

At a military function at the Neues Palais in 1911, the Kaiser, at the end of the ceremony, which lasted some hours, turned to Hindenburg, who was near him, and, noticing the glum look on the General'# face, said to him:

"All. General, you are getting a little hit 100 old tor field days of this sort. You are looking tired." Now, Hindenburg is rather touchy alx»ut his age, for he is, ais a matter of fact, the oldest general on the active list. The Kmperor knew this, and wlwit he said wa» said purposely to annoy llindenburg. The Geineral glanced at the group oi officers .standing about the Emperor and grinned maliciously. "1 am certainly old enough, sir," hj" replied, "and I think your Majesty is also, to have left off playing at soldier*." The Kmperor glared at Hindenburg, but made no reply to him. Ihis wa.,, however, the last occasion Hindenburg was asked to attend a Royal military I unction.

1 was told a rather interesting story about Hindenburg by Herr l'ordorf. the German Assistant-Secretary _nt War.. Hindenburg w:W at the War Oliice in Berlin when the news came that Kngland had de"lared war <<n Germany. The General, when he heard the news exclaimed : " Well, we ought to have some fun with England's pocket army I' It wa.s this utterance that the Kmperor paraphrased when he made his celebrated speech about Kngland's "contemptible little army." A LOSING GAME. (ieneral Otto Schelleiidorf, one of Hindenburg's few intimate friends and one of the greatest admirers ot his military capabilities, frankly confe-.M-d to me that be thought Hindenburgnvould fight a losing oampa>ijMi Indly. " Hindenburg," .said (ieneral Scliellendorf, "has a profound and absolute confidence in niniself when he i. on the w inning .side; at minoeuvres this confidence in himself would lead him to take great risk*, and enabled him t ) carrv out these ri*ky movements successfully. Hut on one occasion the l'i-k went against him. and his side wns then only sajved tram di-aster by slier,- bit of good luck. Hut Hindenburg hiimeli dimply h>-1 his head and went to piece*. I have seen exactly the same thing h.ippeii to him at cards and at chess. He is a good dies* player when he i* winning, but a very ha 1 one w hen lie i- losing. Indeed, at the Rhine Chess Cull Ml Berlin, where Hindenburg impiantfc played. I was told th it the General •< lavonrite method ol ending a. losing game wai to unset the board. But in w ir the game caniml be eiid-d in this f.: • iiivn. It must be fought out I" the end.

KOiIGOT THE PATERS. An officer, a Captain Weis-ener, who bad been attalhed to stiff for manoeuvres, was to join the General at Hanlieini a couple of days before the manoeuvres began. He went from Merlin to Haiiheim, taking some papers and ni;'p.s to llindenburg from tlie Wiir OHiee.

Captain WeNsener had hooii extremely hii y at tile War Office prior to starting out tor Handioini, an I had not heen in hed lor twenty-four lioiirs hot ore lea viug Merlin, lie fell a.deep in the and on arriving at Hanover was awakened hy a ticket inspector. Tiie captain, on learning where ho was. jumped out of the train with his kit ha-LC, hut it was not until the train Ii'(I. -tartoil tliat lie recollected he had left in the carriage an attai-he-ea>e cont i in ins.-' tiie papers iie had tiie ' diiof ow the AVar Office lor 11 bui'tlWHAT lIINDKNBriMi DID. Captain Weissenor told the static. - trailer who he was, and had a telephone luesvijic sent to the next station to stop the train, wliien was a t'nroiljill express to K'hell'eld. Hid Secure tlio atiai-lie-case and then send : t hack hy tiie next train to Hanover. Captain Weis-ener's name wnn on the ca.s;'. so that there should he no <lillicully ahout identifying it. li'e (.-•pt-iiii arranged to i all at Hanover I it i- u to'- the '-aso the next iiio; nin;:'. lie the!) drove oil' to Ik'Ullloilll ill a dog-c >rt t'ui I Hindenhuri; lie! sent to meet him. The rain w.:*s ■ oiuing down in (.• i reuts. end when the c;ipt "in arrived at II: nheim lie ua - <ll. in hed I'liduch. Inr hj" Mas wearing only a li'jht iii-e-l. ilit osh. Inillii diately Oil his arriv; l Cajdain \Vei--einT explained fo the (I'-in "a! -v\ 11 •I! had ha pi eiied ti tie papers and ! at lie iiad done (■) recover theei. 11 iiidciii>ur-r li-d"lied i o tin s| ( - v in si'eiiee. Will i! ihee-ilt 'in h;d tin. 'led K! e !■ ill'.-. : Ted I: i 111 if hj" had a! i> -

I hiii;' flit t her los, v. ('• 11l -.| i:i We'* -ell r -i id he had eot. ley. ud the fi'i t t ha[ lie r.ottlj po cariv