WAR NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 164, 17 December 1914, Page 6

WAR NOTES.

SIK DOUGLAS HAIG. The promotion of Sir Douglas Haig, commanding the First Army Corps of the. j expeditionary force—who lias been made ;J' a General for distinguished service in i' ; the field—has been so rapid that he has J been known in the army as "Lucky Haig" —but that his "luck" has been merely ' the reward for briliant work is acknow- '. ledged. Lord Kitchener once described ' v him as one of the most thoughtful and j best.educated of our cavalry officers in (i their own rank, while General Trench, r commenting on his work in the South African campaign, said, "He has shown c throughout zeal, untiring i nergy, and consummate ability." As a cavalry lead- i . er. he is said to have no equal in Britain, ] unless, perhaps, the present commander- l in-chief. When he was appointed* In-1 - spector-General of Cavalry in India in j j 1903, it was at the direct request of j t Lord Kitchener, who had formed a very j . high opinion of bis capabilities during' , the Soudan campaign. <3eneral Haig at- ( j tributes his success to the fact that early , in his career he commenced to study the ] tactics and strategy of the great German military leaders, and has followed I their teachings ever since, but has grafted on to them the fruits of the experience he gained in Egypt and South Africa. Curiously enough, he is not greatly impressed: with the German cavalry of to-day, and is said to have expressed the opinion before the war that, numbers being equal, the British cavalry, as now organised, were greatly superior to the corresponding arm of the German forces —an opinion which he has had the satisfaction of scei' "mply verified. General Haig himself ha much to do with bringing up our cavalry to the present standard, for during his three years in com. mand at Aldershot, prior to the war. he devoted a .great amount of time to increasing the efficiency of this arm, and tho results he achieved were recog- i niscd on all sides. J G EXERAL VOX HINDENBERG. , Lieutenant-Gcneral von Beneekendorff und von Hindenberg is the full name of the German commander, who has been in conflict with the Russians. As his name indicates, he is one of the aristocratic generals. Von Kluck, who is another general of great reputation, is of plebeian origin. Von Hindenberg was put in com.,,id of the East Prussian (urates when the Russian (Jem-nil Rennenkampf w s making the Kaiser's heart "bleed for his beloved Prussia," so rapidly did lie advance. Rennenkampf retired before the pressure of the German armies, and ' though the statement was made at PetI rograd that the retirement was strategic and voluntary—the purpose of diversion having been accomplished—this did not prevent General von Hindenberg from being proclaimed in Berlin as the "savicur of East Prussia." Universities conferred honoiary degrees .ipou him, He was made a freeman of several cities ; After his success in East Prussia, voii Hindenberg was promoted to the command of the German and Austrian arm. iea near Cracow. He seems to be a. travi oiling general, brought, to command j where the need of a leader with brilliant ! qualities is greatest. like other commanders in the war—Joffre, French, RciiI nenkampf—this elderly German is an ! elderly man. He had his «7th birthday at the beginning of October. At • that time, trains left Berlin loaded with I birthday gifts for him and his troops. ! A marble bust of him was set up in Ber- ' lin, and his name was given to the street, i A German newspaper thus apostrophised i the General on his 67th birthday:—"Not j in contemplative peace and snug liomelil ness, as is appropriate to tl::' birthday 1 of e, general, of his own early morning ! coffee, but outside ir. th:> : :-.-ii fie'd of the new battles, which thumb: ...el iigllt- ' en between the Vistula and the Dneistor j will Hindenberg.Gorman's brilliant champion, celebrate his 67th birthday. And • from. Konigsberg to Strasburg, from Co- ■ logne and Aix to Breslau and I'rzemysl. from the North Sea to the Adriatic, all Germans and all dwellers in the 1 Tapsburg land whom Hindenberg now approaches in the guise of a helper will greet the day with a heartfelt joy." I , LEADER OF THE CONTINGENTS. In Brigadier-General W. R. Tiirchvood, who has sailed for Egypt, the New Zealand and Australian troops, will have a j leader who has seen plenty of fighting. I He took part in the Hazara campaign in " 1891, and the Isazai expedition the following year. He served on the northwest frontier of India in 1897.8, took part in the operations on the Samara, and in Tirah, and was present at the famous Dargai fight, as well as a dozen other actions, and was mentioned in despatches. He served in the South African war as special service officer, and afterwards on the staff; and among the actions at which he was present was Colenso. Spion Koft Vaal Kranz, Tugela Heights, Peiter's Hill, Laing's Nek, Belfast and Lynedberg. He had his horse shot under him, and was severely wounded in a skirmish east of Pretoria in November, 1900. When in South Africa, General Birdwood saw a good deal of the Australians, and formed a very high opinion of their fighting qualities. After the South African war, General Birdwood saw further service on the northwest frontier of India, and he took part in the operations in the Mohmand conn. try, being again mentioned in despatches. EXTRAORDINARY INCIDENTS. Never, surely, was a war waged in which so many unusual and extraordinary incidents have, occurred. Among the capture reported there have been those of an airship by a destroyer, a steamer by a seaplane, and another vessel by a submarine. And now, off the Belgian coast, ships and submarines, aircraft and land artillery have been engaged in fighting one another. Such circumstances must be entirely unprecedented. When the three Brazilian river gunboats were first purchased by the Government the use which might be made of them was the subject of some speculation. They are, however, serving a very useful purpose in operating against, the right flank of the enemy on the sea coast. Their presence must have been known quite early to the enemy, and j this no doubt accounts for the attack upon them by submarines. But with their light draught, they offer a small target under water to the torpedo. It is not often that vessels carry howitzers / in their armament, although the plan has been proposed, and was one time under trial, in the French Navy. But for river work, the value of the modern substitute for a mortar is manifest, and it has been proved on this occasion