The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-09-05


American correspondents in Berlin.
brought them in an unusually large
gathering In the Hotel Adlon and
loosened their tongues to an unusua,
interchange Of information and ideas
which under more ordinary circum-
stances they were inclined to keen to
themselves.
The jig was up, the correspondents
declared. There would be no backing
down now. Wilson or no Wilson. The
military party had triumphcd over
the moderate. But what chance did
they have in the face of Hinden.
burg-and Ludendorff?" Mencken
quotes the general trend of comment
as running: "Ludendorff is worth
six Bethmann-Hollweg's, or ten kai-
sers, or forty kaiser karls (of AUS
tria): Once his mind is made up. he
gets into business at once. Hinden-
burg is the idol Of the populace. but
Ludendorff has the brains. Hinden-
burg is an old man, and a profes.
sional soldier by nature and a junker
to boot-he despises politics and all
that sort Of thing. All he asks for
Is an army and an enemy. But Iu-
dendorff has what you may call a ca
pacious mind. He has imagination
He grasps inner significance. He
can sec around corners. Moreover
he enjoys planning, plotting, figuring
things. Yet more, he is free of ro-
nance. Have you ever heard of him
sobbing about the fatherland? Or
letting off pious platitudes. like Hin
denburg? OF course you haven't. He
plays the game for it's own sake
and he plays it damnably we'll. Lu-
dendorff Is the neglected factor of
this war-the forgotten great man
The world hears nothing about him.
and yet he has the world by the ear
If the thinks Germany can get away
with this U-boat war. and he un
doubtedly does-well. don't put me
down for any bets against it,"
| Such was the kind of talk heard
February 1. "Al that day and the
next" continues Mencken, "the name
of Ludendorff kept bobbing up. And
the next. and the next, and the next.
zimmerman and Gerard were the
leading actors in the weeks comedy.
Apparently unaided they fought the
memorable battle of Wilhelmstrasse,
but behind these scenes there was al
ways Ludendorff, and now and then
his hand would steal out through
rent in the backdrop. and the traffic
Of the stage would be jerked into
some new posture"
To the populace, of course, Hin
denburg remains the national hero
and beau ideal; nay almost the ma
tional Messiah" continues Mencken
in the article published two months
ngo. His popularity. indeed. it
would be impossible to exaggerate.
Nothing Of the sort has been seen in
the United States since the days OF
Washington. He not only stands side
by side with the kaiser-he stands far
above the kaiser; ten of his portraits
are sold to one Of the kaiser's; 100
to that of any other general
But the farther one gets from the
people and the nearer one approach
es the inner circle Of German opinion,
the less one hears Of Hindenburg and
the more one hears of Ludendorff
Two years ago Hindenburg was CIV
en- all the credit for the astounding
feat of arms at Tannenberg-the most
extra ordinary victory, surely of this
war. and perhaps one Of the greatest
Of all time. Legends began to spring
up on the day following the news;
they made the battle no more than
the delayed performance of a play
long rehearsed; Hindenburg was said
to have planned it back in the nine
ties.
But now one hears that Luden-
dOrff. too, had hand in 1t; that he
knew the ground quite as we'll as his
chief; that it was he who swung a
whole corps-by motor car. a la Gal.
lieni-around the Russian right at
Bischofsburg. and so cut off Samson's
retreat. One hears again that it was
Ludendorff who planned the Battle Of
the SnOw-anOther gigantic affair,
seldom heard Of outside Of Germany.
but even more costly to the Russians
than Tannenberg. One hears, yet
again, that 1t was Ludendorff who
devised the advance upon Lodz,
which wiped out three whole Russian