HINDENBURG.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 62, 13 March 1916, Page 7

HINDENBURG.

AN INTIMATE STUDY. HOW THE OLD MAN WENT TO WAR. Frau von Hindenburg, wife "of the most popular of the German Army leaders, recently granted an interview to the Hungarian journalist, Nicholas Mecei. He says: The wife of the great German Field-Marshal is a woman of pronounced German type. She is tall and strong, but not stout, and her natural grace gives her 'an almost youthful appearance. Although she has passed the half-century mark, nobody would take her to be more than 40 years eld. Her rich blond hair is but slightly mixed with grey, her large, blue eyes give her a particular charm, and she moves with the grace and ease of a young girl. Her face has 'a hard and severe expression, but her voice is i soft and her manners are charming. She dresses very plainly, and never wears any jewellery but her wedding ring, and 'a narrow bracelet, a gift cf her famous husband.

The lady received me at her hotel after the unveiling of the giant wooden statue of Field-Marshal von Hindenburg in Berlin. “An hour after mobilisation wtis proclaimed, my husband offered his services to the Minister of War, but he only received a non-committal answer, which stated that he might possibly be called later. Our only son '-nd our two sons-in-law left for the front, but my husband had to stay with me at our residence, 15 Wedekind Street, Hanover. “He became grouchy and melancholy, and would not be humoured At last on August 22 of last year he received 'a telegram, informing him that he had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the German forces in Eastern Prussia, and that General von Ludenderff, his future chief of staff, would meet him at Hanover to accompany him to the front. LEGENDARY STORIES. W T hen I asked whether it was true that the Field-Marshal had been the military instructor of the Emperor, and that he had made a special study of the strategic value of the Mazurian Lake district, Frau von Hindenburg replied, smilingly: “These stories are legends. My husband never was a tutor nor an intimate friend cf the Kaiser. When he was a commander of an army corps he had to report to the Emperor personally once a month, but, further than that, the monarch did not know him. “It is also untrue that he made a ■special study of the Mazurian Lakes. When he was stationed at Koenigsberg as a captain of the General Staff, years ago, he studied the military conditions on the eastern frontier, like every other staff officer, but he paid no special attention to h kes. As- a matter cf fact he made more extensive studies on the western frontier than in the east.

“My husband writes to me almost every day, but he never mentions strategic matters, and he does not report his victories to me. When he destroyed the first Russian army at Tannenberg he did not even send a telegram, and I never learned more about this battle than what the newspapers reported. The Field-Marshal cnly writes about minor incidents at the front, about the thousands of congratulatory /otters he has received from all parts of ihe world, and about the excellent state cf his health. Since he left me to go to the front he has not been sick a single day.”