GERMANY'S MAN OF MYSTERY.
GENERAL LUDENDORFF. THE BRAINS OF THE KAISER'S J ARMY. General T-udenflorff, Germany's "man , of mystery," is the "brains" of Hinden- i bnrg and of the Fatherland's army, ac- ( cording to a remarkable article by Mr. Herbert Bayard Swope, the New York Worlds special correspondent, who has recently returned from a vißit to the / German Empire. ' "Hindenburg and Ludendorff." Never . .the one name without the other; never' ,the one mail without the other, writes , Mr. Swope in a fascinating pen-picture of the mystery man's career. The two ] are unified in action. Hindenburg's dynamics are animated by'Ludendorff's ' thought current. Hindenburg's executions are largely Ludendorff's concep- ' tions. *' , All the world knows Hindenburg, Ger- ( .maity's iron man. But who is Ludendorff? . ■ i Ludendorff is Germany's man of mystery—the grim, inscrutable, silent Man, \ whose picture is on sale in every shop, whose name is in every mouth, but whose ( re&l personality i§ hidden even from his i own countrymen. \ Ludendoi'll' is Hindenburg's indispensable right-hand man. When Hindenburg 'took command on the east front in midAugust, 1914, Ludendorff was rushed •from Liege in a special train across Luxembourg and the Rhineland, across Hanover and the Mark of Brandenburg, to Hindenburg's headquarters on the eastern frontier. He became Hindenburg's Chief of Staff. Since then the two have been insepar-,, able. When Hindenburg became Chief of the Great General Staff, commanding all the armies of Germany—and as things stand to-day that comes near to meaning commanding all the combined German, Austro-Hungarian, Bulgarian, and Turkish armies—in September, Ludendorff went with him. He succeeded General von Greytag-Loringhoven as First Quar-termaster-General. HINDENBURG'S BRAINS. There are those who say that Ludendorff is Hindenburg's brain, and that Hindenburg's greatest successes have been planned by his silent, retiring as-' sistant. Hindenburg, when in the mood, becomes very talkative anu chatty, and at 3uch times, he often attributes his success to his assistant. There is a perfect harmony between the two—Ludendorff plans and Hindenburg decides, and it is Ludendorff who prepares the official army announcements. No newspaper man has ever interviewed Ludendorff. Sometimes when Hinden- , bnrg is being interviewed he sits beside , his chief and occasionally interjects, a ! remark. They aie the remarks of a sol- ; dier—short, crisp, determined, and to the* ! point. "There is no blind fate," he says. . "Numerical superiority and danger exist , only for the weak. A firm will com- ; mands fate." , ■ Yet, despite his reticence, this man, , oven in liis own country, almost un- [ known wlien the war fjegan, whose name ,is just becoming familiar to American [ ears, is the recipient of extraordinary , honors in Germany to-day. In the Grand J Hall of Ivonigsberg, the capital of East Prussia, stands a full-length marble , statue of Ludendorff. He is an honorary j citizen of two towns in East Pmssia. I The Universities of Breslau and Konigs- , berg have conferred honorary doctor's , '.degrees on him. After the winter Battle \ of the Masurian swamps the Kaiser per- \ sonally decorated him with the Order pour le Merite. 1 Ludendorff comes of a very simple * North German merchant family. On his mother's side he traces his descent to , Frederick the 'Great's royal apothecary. When he entered the military cadet school at the age of 12 he passed the 1 examination and entered a class two 0 years ahead of that of most boys of his 0 age. In 1879 he shifted to the academy at Gross-Lichterfelde, a suburb of Bera lin, and three years lateK, just six years * past his 17th birthday, he entered the army as an "offlzer-aspirant." His ad- '■ vanco was rapid. When, on August 4, 1914, the German Army crossed the Belgian frontier, Ludendorff was in its foremost ranks. On the night of August 0 all the forts were still holding out. Through the cold e night of the Oth Ludendorff's brigade \ huddled together on the hillside, every Jj minute half-expecting an attack. The next morning a decision had to be made, Ludendorff,-had received no orders. He ' ordered his troops to advance, and led them into the city. The citadel was still J in the hands of the Belgians. To General von Emmieh, Ludendorff's superior
officer, fell the credit of taking Liege. But Ludendorff'a troops were the first to enter the city. He had been with the first brigade under fire for three days. Ludendorlf as a strategist was a disciple( of Count Schlioffen, whose motto always was "annihilate the enemy," and he also sympathises with his chief, Hindenburg. "You can't make war sentimentally,' says Hindenburg. "The mort mercilessly you make war, the more merciful von are in reality, for so yon end the war the sooner. The most humane 'method of waging war is and remains that which brings peace most quickly."
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Taranaki Daily News, 12 March 1917, Page 7
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784GERMANY'S MAN OF MYSTERY. Taranaki Daily News, 12 March 1917, Page 7
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