Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-06-25
GENERAL MACKENSEN
German Commander Who Drove Russians
From Galicia.


glory of Won Hindenburg. victor o.
Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes
a new star has flashed forth on the
German war Observation-Disclosures
Mackensen il was who, at the head OF
German and Austrian armies, smash
ed through the Russian lines on the
Danajec last month, crumpled them
up and sent them headlong backward
driving with them the armies which
had been surging victoriously ovel
the Carpathians. Mackensen 1t was
who pursued them relentlessly to the
San, crossed it in a red tempest OF
artillery fire, wrested the fortress OF
Prezemysl from the Russians a bare
two months after they had snatcheo
II from Austria, and is now pounding
away at what is left Of the cars ar
mics, threatening Lemberg, the first
fruit Of their successful onslaught OF
last year, seeking to jam over the Ga
lician border into their own land.
Looked at from any angle, Macken'
sens achievement is tremendous; II
will live alongside the most audacious
and brilliantly successful Of military
feats. And just as the sudden rise OF
other luminaries in the last few
months has made people eagerly ask
each other "Who is Joffre? What is
the record of Grand Duke Nicholas
Who is Hindenburg?" They are now
asking, who is this man Macken-
sen? What has he ever done before? p
Old Like Most Leaders.
Well, first, he Is an old man, like
most leaders in this war-Joffre is 20,
his trusted lieutenants-Foch, Castle
nau, Galliani-are over 60, so is Kitch-
ener, so is French. Iron-jawed Hin
denburg is 50, the man in whose
hands lies Italy's fate-Count Cador-
na-is 20. And Mackensen, the bull
dog of Galicia, waited 81 long years
for the crown of military glory. 1t is
an old mans war.
But long before now he has heard
the shells scream and the bullets
whistle. Like Hindenburg, like Joffre,
Mackensen saw the bloody days of
the Franco German war. Moreover,
he can say what mighty few other Of
ficers in the German army can. He
rose from the ranks. When France
and Germany went at each other As
years ago, Mackensen, stripping of
21, had never been in one of the aris-
uhinh
nearly all Of his comrades had come.
He had simply been with the colors
as a "one-year volunteer"-meaning
that. being a youth Of a certain
schooling, he was not required to
serve the regular three years term.
He went out to fight the French as a
"vice Wachtmeister," something like
what a corporal is with us.
Also, there was no "von," that badge
of German nobility. tackled to his
name. Vice Wachtmeister Macken-
sen: that's all he was. At the end Of
the war he was Second Lieutenant
Mackensen-no won" yet. Only in
after years when his superiors recog-
nized the stuff he was made Of and
promoted him steadily, did he become
won Mackensen."
Though nothing that he has done
before in this war is comparable to his
terrific smash across Galicia, there
are those in Germany and elsewhere
who have known since last August
that he was a man worth watching
One was Won Hindenburg. When that
granite-faced old warrior hurled his
legions upon the Russians covering
year, Mackensen was at his right
hand.
Took the Russian Trap.
Mackensen drove into the heart Of
the fight, got surrounded by huge
bodies Of Russians, was whirled close
to annihilation. But he rallied his
men again, and they cut a pathway
through their enemy with their bayo-
but seriously shattered those who had
almost destroyed them.
They escaped from the Russian
trap and took the trap with them,"
said somebody. That was one thing
which Mackensen did in the. bloody
battle of Lodz. The lions share of the
glory for that bloody set-to has gone
to Won Hindenburg; but there was
plenty of it left for Mackensen and
some call him the hero of Lodz as well
as of Galicia.
Last March General Won Mackensen
said some bitter things about Ameri-
cans. 1t was when a correspondent
for the New Yorker Staatszeitung paid
visit to his headquarters in Poland
The general was polite enough so far
as his manner went, but his words
were not.
He said them surrounded by his Of
ficers, to the correspondent. and to
another American, who couldn't un-
derstand and simply grinned pleasant
ly while his country was being hauled
over the Goals.
Angry at Americans.
1t was the shipping of arms and
ammunition from the United States to
the allies that aroused Mackensen's
anger. He said to the correspondent:
And even If the Americans send
more and ever more munitions, and
more cannon and aeroplanes and
horses and barbed wire and God
knows what else-we Germans are
going to win anyway, believe me-"
The square jaws snapped shut at the
words, says the reporter. like a steel
trap" and the blue eyes of the gen.
eral pierced into his. flashing light
ming" Mackensen continued:
Perhaps it will last longer-yes, |
can say that it will-than it would
have otherwise, but we will not lei
ourselves be beaten. No. not by Eng
lish weapons, nor Russian, nor French
nor American. If you people over
there wish, as you say you do, to
shorten the war, then stop shipping