Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1914-11-12
tcogflahs. aDI.. 81 he whsslsf syndicate. Incl
BY Dr.. Armgaard Karl CraOes

r.
using syery one Of his spare. moments
to play with lead soldIers. He 10 re-
puted to have an army OF $4,000 lead
soldiers with which he plays the mo-
ment he opens hts eyes much In the
Same manner az Moltke, who used TO
request his chessboard the first thing
In the morning. I'M military circles
Heeringen to locked upon with the
same respect and accredited with
quite az much strAtegicai knowledge
as MoEtke was.
II In d significant fact that. when
ever there has been any tension In
Europe. especially between Germany
and France. General Won Heeringen or
his comrade In arms, General Won HUI.
sen-TIaeseierais d great strategist
and nm iron dlsciplinarian- -immedi-
atsly has taken command Of Metz. the
most important base and military poet
In the amperor's domain.
There is no man alive who knows
one.haif as much about the strategical
position OF Metz and the surrounding
country as General Won Heerlngen.
Often on stormy, bitter cold winter
nights. sentTies on outposts stationed
ut and guarding the approaches Of
Metz have been startled to md o
gaunt. limping figure, covered BY
gray army greatc0at with no dlstin-
gushing marks, stalking along. 40
conpanied by orderIies carrying camp
stools and table, night glasses and
electric torches, haiting repeatedly.
his men takiag down tn writing the
short, croakinR sentences escaping be-.
tween the thin, compressed lips, the
"Gelst of Metz has prowled round,
measuring every foot Of ground nifty
miles east. west. north and south of
his beloved Metz.
The visible head Of this vast organi-
zatlon Is called Der Crosse General
Stab, with headquarters In Berlin.
Zach army corps has q "Kleine Cen.
erai stab" which sends les most able
officers 20 Berlin. These officers, In
eaa3aaetion with the most able sci.
entists. engineers and architects the
empire can produce, compose the
great general stan. The virtual head
LII the German emperor The actual
executive II called "chef des Grossan
General stabs.
Tho Maker cf War.
There Ia a small, dingy. unpraten.
tious room In the General stabs Ge-
baude where. Ut moments OF stress
and tension or international compllca-
TONS. assemble ave men his majesty,
at the head of the table; To the right
the chef des GFossen General Slabs;
to the left bis minister OF war; then
the minister Of railways and the chief
of the naval staff You win notice
the total absence Of the ministers or
finance and diplomacy. When these
Ave men meet the influence Of diplo-
matte and financial affairs has ceased.
They are there to act. The scratch.
Ing OF the emperor's pen In that room
means war, the astting I'M motion OF q
| fighting force OF 100000 men.
In order to give the reader fairly
correct view of this mighty organixa.
ton have 10 explain each group sep
arately. The whole system rests on
the question Of mobilization. meaning
the ability TO arm, transport. ciothe
and feed a lighting force of 4.50o. 900
men In the shortest possible time at
any given point In either eastern or
western Europe, For let II be clearly
understood that the main point OF the
training Or the German armies Ii the
readiness TO launch the entire lighting
force like thunderholt TO any given
point on the compass. Germany knows
through past experience the advisable
ity and necessity or conducting war
In an enemy.s country, The German
army Is built for aggression. There
are four main groups
1, Organization.
Z. Transportation.
8. Naturalization.
q. Intelligence.
Each Of these groups Ia, of course,
snbdividsd into numerous DFaaaaes,
which we shall go Into under each In
| diyidual head.
First comes organization. The Ger.
man army In composed OF three dis
tlnct parts the standing army. the
reserves and Landwehr. or militia.
/ The standing army comprises rec.
600 officers and men. This body OF
men Ia ready at an instant. Il ID the
reserves who need m elaborate sys.
4 tenn of mobilization. The reserves are
divided into two classes. lrst and sec
end reserves. Sc IL the Landwehr.
having two levies--the tirst and sec.
on Aufgebot.
Every ahlesbodied man on reaching
the age Of twenty-one may be called
i upon 10 serve the eolors. One In ave
only Ii taken. as there 10 mere ma.
tarial than the country needs---the
! ffth being selected for one Of ave
branches infantry. cavalry. artillery.
Genie eorps or the navy. The time 81
service In the infantry Ii two years;
IN the cavalry three. In the artillery
three, Ia the GeRie corps two, and In
the navy three
i The real backbone and stisfening al
the German army and navy are the
noncommiasioned officers recruited
from the rank and fila. In fact. this
IA hs.r&x RS xx.nx. gs NAp ~. a.. .