Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-01-08
, ths Wheeler Syndicate, Incl

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incessant chess player. Heeringen
using every one of his spare moments
to play with lead soldiers. He Is re-
puted Il have an army of 10000 lead
soldiers with which he plays the mo-
ment he opens his eyes-much in the
same manner as Moltke. who used to
request his chessboard the first thing
in the morning. In military circles
Heeringen is looked upon with the
same respect and accredited with
quite as much strategical knowledge
as Moltke was.
1t is a significant fact that, when
aver there has been any tension in
Europe, especially between Germany
and France, General Won Heeringen or
his comrade in arms, General 0 Hull
sen-Haeseler-also a great strategist
and an iron Observation-Disclosures
ately has taken command of Metz, the
most important base and military post
in the emperor's domain.
There is no man alive who knows
one-half as much about the strategical
position of Metz and the surrounding
country as General Won Heeringen.
Often on stormy, bitter cold winter
nights, sentries on outposts stationed
at and guarding the approaches of
Metz have been startled to find a
gaunt, limping figure, covered by a
gray army greatcoat with no distin-
gushing marks, stalking along. Ac-
companied by orderlies carrying camp
stools and table, night glasses and
electric torches, hating repeatedly,
his men taking down in writing the
short, croaking sentences escaping be-
tween the thin, compressed lips, the
"Geist of Metz" has prowled round,
measuring every foot of ground fifty
miles east, west, north and south of
his beloved Metz.
The visible head of this vast organi-
cation is called Der Crosse General
Stab, with headquarters in Berlin.
Each army corps has a "Kleine Gen
eral Stab" which sends its most able
officers to Berlin. These officers. in
conjunction with the most able sci
e~ntists. engineers and architects the
empire can produce, compose the
great general staff. The virtual head
is the German emperor. The actual
executive is called "Chef des Grossen
General Stabs.'
The Maker of War.
There is a small, dingy, unpreten-
tious room in the General Slabs Ge-
baude where, at moments of stress
and tension or international complica-
tions, assemble five men-his majesty,
at the head of the table; to the right
the chef des Grossen General Slabs;
to the left his minister of war; then
the minister of railways and the chief
of the naval staff. q You will notice
the total absence of the ministers of
finance and diplomacy. When these
five 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 hat room
means war, the setting in motion of a
fighting force of 4,500,0 900 men.
Here is another instance:
When the feeling and stress over
the Moroccan question, in 1911, was
at its height General Won Heeringen
on leaving his quarters for his usual
drive in the T~hiergarten was eagerly
questioned by a score of officers await
ing his exit.
"Excellency! Gents los?" ("Do we
begin?")
Grimly smiling. returning their ga.
lutes and without pause, limping to
his waiting carriage, he gave the an.
swer:
"Sieben B~uchstaben. meme Her
reni" ("Seven letters, gentlemen!D
In German military parlance this
means the emperor's signature, VIII.
helm II, to the mobilization orders.
In order to give the reader a fairly
correct view of this mighty organiza-
tion | have to explain each group sep
arately. The whole system rests on
the question of mobilization, meaning
the ability to arm, transport, clothe
and feed a fighting force of $500, 900
men in the shortest possible time at
any given point in either eastern or
western Europe. For let 1t be clearly
understood that the main point of the
training of the German armies is the
readiness to launch the entire fighting
force like a thunderbolt to any given
point of the compass. Germany knows
through past experience the advisable
ity and necessity of conducting war
in an enemy's country. The German
army is built for aggression. There
are four main groups:
1. Organization.
2. transportation.
8. naturalization.
4. Intelligence.
Each of these groups is, Of course.
subdivided into numerous branches,
which we shall go into under each In
dividual head.
First comes organization. The Ger
man army is composed of three dis
ffnct narts-tha standing army, the