VON KLUCK ON “WHY I FAILED."

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3545, 5 August 1920, Page 8

VON KLUCK ON “WHY I FAILED."

‘HIIII .\-'L\RN.E IMJBACLE.

(,:-_—~.m-,-41 non Kluck'.< loxyg-oxpectotl

..;;_,_].,;_Jw-i;», \\'.‘:s },ubli.~;lled in May. umler l the title “The .\l:n‘«'*,ll on ,l.’:lriL~‘, HI).-L.” l.:: is :1- aonlp:lu':ll’i\'(-ly slight volume lot’ 174 pug(-.‘~‘ (‘Sflys the Dni-ly Chron[ul\’.)—zl'lnoaxgro allowance for the. mosiz ,dralll:l‘ric. month in mode;-nl_ perlrups in un{V<=x's:ll histol'_V——witill three 21m['rs, of Wllivll only ‘rlxe g'(.‘nor:ll -one slmws Ihe Marne. ‘ The autllur xvrifes like the fol‘tlll'ighf-. :»:ul¢li«*l' he is. FUL‘l'_'y ye:ll's of military life filml .<tu(l_\r _l‘.".lll led him to stress elle*x‘§;\_* u11(l sp<3ed as g<.~v(.=l*ning f:lctol‘s of .<ucce.~:s; and after Lia-go, still moro after M 0115; his worship of? speed Wits like an il‘l:opl'e:<siblc fuv<‘l'. Bul it~he.l-(3 ill'cs‘iiWO other gov:-rning n(*w.l.~i -ot“\\'lni(<h. he does not speak so fl'unkly~——co—opel'ation of the several. army commands and ‘co-ntrol of (In: whole. pr-00055 by gellel'al hea(lquurt.ox's. '

The <',onlmzlmlol' of the Fil'st' Army lever got on with You Buluw, chief of he Secmld; and Von Moltke and the

::~:1:>r:1l s'l‘:l:f‘i? \‘.cl'o never able ‘(LI 0011-11-1;-I Ihelll f'uYly wllell Jofi’l'o had (11100 _.:'l‘:l.<p«.d the 11C\\.' sitll:ltilm in Ihcllol'l,ll. It was as nlllch,t.his .Eailul'e-of c-o—opel“,_ uzrizm -.llll’. collLl'Ol -.15; any re«;klosslless 011. um KlucAk’s part that produced the :?:;':;=:-:1-10 on H 11: ;\lzll'llc. A

Um the eve hf .\l(Jll.\',‘\’nll Kluck \‘.'i.~'.‘md to move in :1 <]il'ecH(’>lx more \\'o:~'terly than he zlctll.".‘.‘.y- took. You Btflnw insisted 'rhur, ‘‘}:o might got too far away and Iwf'7_>c able to support the .'\‘r.*.coll(l Arlx}y 211' ‘rho right monwm "; and This ill.s‘istence “for <lay.§ ¢;nlb:u'r:lss'ed" 'th-2-. plans of van Kluck, w‘xm thinks that had he been “'t'r9v tuul 11n1‘r:1xn1nc1led" he “would probahiy have been in :1 positirm to 011'?rianl-; and crush the British Army by «-(>min_<_»' I'n_ '.1;::1i11st, it from the west, i'.,a;‘;*illg it h21(:1<. on the French F'if'th .-\.v'm_\»'. and then Taking them both in 1-v:lr." If ifs and ‘Ms were pots and ‘pans! " ~ Instead. “the B.E.F. f—ough‘t excell:>:::1_‘."" zln«l——th:lnks, says our author, to the fact fhn/t—he had been mo-m.§3n—-t:':'i?)' <,lepri\'ed of 'M'arwi.‘z’s 'caValry ~~~~«witildrcw to fight: another day. '.l‘h«::— (}9l'nlan Supreme Command. now .~«ho\\'(*d an e>:lrzum‘.in:lry slrmknessor

inabilfiy '.o grasp the sit.uzl‘r'.«m. On .\n_t_j;usl: 28 it r.urdol'e(l Vol] Bulow to .I:2lkg‘ for Paris. and Von Kluck to aim at the Seine. west of the city. Two v|:'_\'>«‘ hter Von .K~1m'1~: rlecidcd to change his di:'ection——’ro sou‘rh—e:lSt———:md this re\'nlllti«.m:zl'_\' ac’ nf «,lis-vbmfliuxlt-v was

2u’:vo]‘»te(l by general -ho:1dq11:1r1m':<, Hln:< g_rivin,<,: 1111'-. French colnlnml<.l the oppol~ tunity of strikfng out nginst rho flank uf thv first Gernxan urzny on the 01.11% :1 fmv days later.

Von K]nck’s'd6Fenoe, ngzlinsf bear} qutwferé. of his headlong advance from thv ;\l:ll'ne 10 near EllO Seine. and his claim. to have -been at the point of victory over Maunowry wfien the genorzfl l‘(?1'I‘(‘:Lt to the .:\isue> was «nl'dared, will be 1'(-ad with no "small €~njoymonl' by Brih'.<h zmdv Frcm:.h readers.

Thib voluxne is not ‘the le:.xs{ Striking '.ri:-Ilia-rtfion of our “Old Confemp—'=!._»lz:-." and their part in th(: first pli:l.~'(> of the war. It‘ :1I;<o l‘('V'Pfl‘]‘-S c-loarly the sll}_t9!'i(>l‘il‘_\;‘ cf the .‘Uli(-J f‘onunl:lmls. hath High and lower. wh\en unvo the nrlnies had bmn ro.<cue(l from We initial Nl!rldf.‘.'!'s of‘ "hr campaign.