HUMAN METEORS.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 January 1920, Page 12

HUMAN METEORS.

NOTED FIGURES. HIGH PvlsE, SWIFT EXTINCTION. the Russian kaleidoscope.

One of the striking memories of the great war is the meteoric rise and fall of some of its leading figures, men who dashed into prominence, only to sink as suddenly into oblivion. Take, first, the career of General Alexis A. Brusiloff, brilliant Russian General. For a time he was hailed everywhere as the saviour of • Russia, the mainstay of the Allied cause, the Nemesis of Germany; now nobody can say with certainty whether is is alive or dead.

Brusiloff leaped to prominence at the beginning of the war, when Russky audi he, commanding the left wing of the huge Russian armies under the command of Grand Duke Nicholas, swung forward against the Austrians in August, 1914. The Austrians, under Auffenberg and Danhl, had planned an offensive of their own; the two great hosts met in mid-strike. The result of the impact; was a sweeping Russian victory, which hurled the Austrians back into their own territory. They tried to reorganise and stop the Russian invasion, but Brusiloff and Russky,i following close on their heels, won another tremendous victory, which gave them possession ot Lemberg, capital of Austrian Galicia. Still moving forward, the Russians invested the Galician stronghold of Przemysl; their advance guards made forays to the very outskirts of Cracow. Przemysl fell in March, 1015, and Brusiloff pushed to the crest of the Carpathians. Below him lay the plains of Hungary; it looked as if he were about to strike a fatal blow at the Hapsburg monarchy. But the Germans' rushed to the aid of the demoralised Austrians. Mackensen struck on the Dunajec, the Russian arm of Dimitrieff was annihilated; Austrians and Germans, in their turn, moved forward. In this serious crisis the star of Brusiloff again burned brightly; as the enemy moved eastward, the rear of his army in the Carpathians was menaced. Only his prompt action in ordering ft general retreat, the celerity with which he safeguarded his line of retirement, saved his. army from disaster. He emerged from the retreat with his military reputation brighter than ever. But it was later, in lfllO, that he astonished the world with his military jenius. While the German were pounding at Verdun and the main Austrian forces were striking hard at the Italians in the Trentino, a tremendous Russian attack was launched on a wide front from the vicinity of Czernovitz. in the Bukovina, to near Kovel. The Austrians were struck down; everywhere the armies of Brusiloff advanced, gathering prisoners and war material in quantities that seemed incredible. The Austrians abandoned their Trentino operations and hurried their best divisions to grapple with the new peril. But again the Germans rushed to their aid, strip- I ping even the Verdun front to meet the crisis created by Brusiloff. Outside of Lemberg and along the Stochod further j north his armies were at last brought to a halt by the armies of BoehmErmolli, Bothmer, Linsingen, and others, but not before Brusiloff and his cnief lieutenants—Sakaroff, Leehitsky, Kaledin, Seherhnchoff—had inflicted appalling losses on the enemy. One estimate of the number of prisoners taken by Brusiloff's armies was 4R0.000. And then Brusiloff vanished. In March, 1017, the Russian revolution dethroned the Czar. Other Russian Generals figured in the news of the next few dark months; Aloxieff. KornilolT. JOUedin, Denikin, Gonrkn. Of Brusiloff there was next to nothing. It was said once that he was wounded; another time that revolutionists had, searched bis house in Moscow, causing him to protest to the revolutionary authorities; more than once there were rumors of his death. But those who held the belief, created by Brnsiloff's splendid victories, that he was destined to lead Russia out of chaos into light, were doomed to disappointment.

The Russian revolution produced many meteors, among whom the best known were Kcren=ky and KornilofT. The former, hailed as the saviour of Russia during his brief tenure of office in U)l7, is now discredited and a fugitive. KornilofT, the Cossack General, was set no against. Iveronsky in the summer of 1017. and for a while it looked as if he would rally around him the better elements believing in action, oust, Kerensky, and save the Russian revolution from being debauched by the Bolsheviks. But the IvornilofT revolt collapsed, and its leaders, after several attempts to overthrow the Tlolshevik regime that succeeded i Kerensky, perished, according to reliable j evidence, in a battle against the Reds. WESTERN HEROES. The first few months of the war brought forward a number of meteors oil the Western front. When the Hermans violated Belgium, in August, 1014, and smashed towards Paris, the name that came to typify their ruthless onslaught was that of von Kluck, leader of the German right, who drove his troops almost to the French capital. It was Alexander von Kluck. who had been chosen t,o make good the Kaisers boast that he would dine in Paris. Everybody Temembers how the Huns were turned back at the eleventh hour, in the first battle of the 'Mnrne. Some say von Khick showed himself an admirable ceneral, tooth in advance and retreat. Others—among them Viscount' French, in his book "lf)14" —declared his leadership was faulty and irI resolute. Whatever the truth may be. he vanished as ,1 leading figure of the war. After weeks of oblivion he was reported wounded in the fighting along the Aisne. about Poisons. Later he gave out an interview at his home near Berlin; and once he was said to lie in command 011 a sector of the Eastern front. Another meteoric fi<rure was- von Moltke. Germany's first Chief of Staff-in the war. This General, a iicnhew of the i great Prussian strategist of IS7O. directI cd the opening operations of the Germans against France. After the warne it was obvious that he had failed, and Falkenhayn took his place, FALKENHAY'N'R "TWO FLASHES."

Falkenhayn's war career may be divided into two flashy manifestations. After succeeding Moltke lie planned the German coup ajiainst Verdun. Failing, he was removed from the chief command and superseded by the Damon and Pythias team of Hindenhun* and Ludendorff. It looked as if there was nothin? more for him except a chair in the German Down and Out Club beside von Kluck,. von Moltke, and the rest- But Falkenbayn was not "thro' l ?' l " yet. He was placed in charge of the German-Austrian

forces operating in Transylvania against the Roumanians, and rose once more when he defeated them at Hermannstadt and Kronstadt, broke through the barrier of the Carpathians, and after another victory at Tirgu Jui (November, 1916), effected a junction with Mackensen, who had crossed the Danube rrom the Dobrudja, helped beat the Roumanians again on the Arresh, and entered Bucharest with Mackensen on December 6, 1916.

Having thus partially restored liis prestige, Falkenhayn received the command of the forces of the Central Powers operating in the Near East against the British, and went to Palestine, whore he organised defensive measures against the impending invasion of the British under Allenby. But Allenby overrode all opposition. Falkenhayn's chief lieutenant, Liman von Sanders, and his Turkish coadjutors were ignominiously defeated and the second star of Falkenbayn faded. SIR JOHN FRENCH.

A brief career in the Allied armies was that of Sir John French —now Viscount French of Ypres—commander of the "Old Contemptib'es," the original British array which fought so magnificently in endeavoring to stem the German onslaught through Belgium, and contributed materially to the winning of the first battle of the Marne. After that French covered himself with glory at the first battle of Ypres, finally completely frustrating the supreme attempt of the Prussian Guard to back its way through to the Channel ports. Soon afterwards he engaged in an acrimonious dispute with the British authorities as (o the supply of ammunition in the field and was soon shelved, taking charge of the home defence of Britain, and subsequently becoming Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, while the chief command of the British forces in France went to Sir Douglas Haig.

SIR H. SMITH-DORRIEK And there was Sir Horace Smith-Dor-rien, who, commanding one of the corps forming French's little army, found himself, after days of retreat and constant battling against the Germans, almost hemmed in near the town of Le CateauHe decided, despite the peril involved, to make a stand, believing ho could make his further retreat safer. The result of his decision was the desperate battle o£ Le Cateau. Smith-Dorrien succeeded in fending off the Germans and continuing his retreat, and was extolled to the skies. It was said that Le Cateau saved the British Army from annihilation and made possible the victory of the' Jlarne. But criticism soon took the place of praise. Sir Horace was deprived of his command and relegated to Africa. Though much continued to be said in approval of his stand, the latest voice in the controversy —that of French, Smith-Dorrien's chief —is unsparing in criticism of the decision to make a fight at Le Cateau. Far from saying the B"i----.tish, says French, it almost brought about their destruction.

NIVELLE'S ECLIPSE. The French produced a meteor in Nivelle. who succeeded Petain at Verdun, and became famous for his recovery of the ground won by the Germans in tl'eir first onslaughts asainst the Mouse stronghold. As a result of ihls he was placed in command of the French armies and set to work planning a great offensive movement to sweep the Germans out of their positions along the Aisnc in Champagne. This offensive, launched in the spring of 1917, netted 30,001 prisoners, but was not pushed. A controversy arose, Ihe adherents of Nivolle alleging that he had actually broken the German line when he was ordered to stor> by the politicians controlling the French onerat.ions, who were unnecessarily scared by the French losses, while (hose against him declared that the advantages won by him were nowhere near a compensation for the appalling cost in French lives which they entailed. He was removed from the chief command and did not thereafter figure prominently in the war.

THE FALTj OF OADORXA. Italy's flashest f'cncral was f'ndorna — that is, his fall was meteoric, his rise having been slow and sure. Oadorua was Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Armies from May, 1015, to the f'aporetto debacle in October. 1017. Among all the Allied commanding none seemed ; surer of his position, more strongly entrenched* in public favor. But, in fight-' ing towards Trieste he had greatly extended his left wing of his armies, and neglected the safeguarding of his right, around Caporetto and Tolmino. on the upper Tsonzo. A brcal;-through by the enemv hereabout would completely nullify all C'adorna's gains further south, since it would menace his line of retreat, and necessitate the hasty evacuation of all the positions won in the advance toward Trieste. Yet he allowed such a break-through to occur. After a campaign of propaganda among the Italian soldiery calculated to undermine their morale, three German divisions and strong forces of Austrians smashed the Italian lines around Caporetto, strangled all resistance, and were soon pouring down upon the rear of Cadorna's centre anil right, on the Carso and further south. The fruits of two years of hitter warfare were lost in a fortnight. Eventually the Piave became the tomb of Austrian and German hopes of confjuest in Ttalv. but Diaz, not Cadorna. was destined to garner the laurels of victory there. The veteran Italian commander, relieved of his command after Hie retreat from the Tsonzo line, was tried by a court-martial, which found him principally responsible for the disaster. He may appeal, he may he exonerated, history may deal wit.li him more leniently than his contemporaries. TSut. iust now. he can be ranked only as one of the meteors of the Avar.