LUDENDORFF, DESTROYER.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 August 1922, Page 5

LUDENDORFF, DESTROYER.

VAIN FOOL WHO BROUGHT GERMANY , _ RUIN. The popular German legend of Ludendorff as a man and a Jiero is mercilessly slain by Professor Hans Delbrueck, the famous military historian, on whose “History of Strategy” the original plan of the invasion of France was founded, in “Ludendorff on Himself,” just published. Professor Delbrueck describes the former leader of ten million German as “ignorant, a liar, and a madman.” Ludendorff, he says was a superficial theoretician, and his ignorance was only equalled by his lack of critical power. Ludendorff, lacking in general knowledge, involved ; himself in politics, economics, and social ! problems which he did not understand. I Professor Delbrueck also assails Luden- ■ dorff’s integrity, asserting that his accusations of weakness against the German people were lies. The professor describes Ludendorff as a remarkable soldier, but declares that he was not a great general. He never knew what he wanted. He was an occasional, and not a born strategist. Ludendorff’s resignation after the German collapse is described as simple mutiny. A tribute is paid to Mr. Lloyd George. “As a civilian,” writes Professor Delbrueck, “the British Premier had a clearer insight than Ludendorff, who behaved like a military cadet gone mad.” The references to Admiral von Tirpitz are equally condemnatory: “Tirpitz caused the war by a naval policy which prevented naval agreements and by building Dreadnoughts, which increased Great Britain’s suspicions.” Two great men, Bismarck and Moltke, built the German Empire. Two others, Ludendorff and Tirpitz, destroyed it.