The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-09-16

l hSShAOn NdS lnduc lHdl SIC WOulQ RNt l the Turcos and Singalese in the front
 trenches and keep her army in the rear.
 The French army was, too, generally I belittled. and the Russians were be- | lieved to be absolutely negligible. The | French army was so poorly equipped, ! it was pointed out that the officers had to go to the field in patent leath- ! CT boots, and on the Russian front,
 only the first line men had guns, the
 others being armed with clubs. 1 All this may have been true, of l course, but the remarkable thing about 1t was that the German government circulated the reports as widely as po9-
 sible, never realizing, apparently, the
 raw inconsistency of enlarging upon the total unpreparedness of the Eng ! lsh, French and Russians to wage war | while they obstinately contended that \ 1t was the allies and not the Germans who started the conflict!
 BROUGHT NEWS OF DEFEAT l Eventually, officers and soldiers re- turning from the western front on
 furlough or passing through the coun. | try en route from one front to the l other brought the report Of the defeat
 before Paris. Soldiers who partict- | pated in this disastrous defeat wrote | iron. the new trenches to their friends
 
 experiences they had undergone. whom they went for days with nothing to eat l but raw potatoes and turnips which I they had picked from the fields. When these reports finally spread through Germany the people began 10 realize that their generals in the west were not meeting with the same suc cess that Won Hindenburg had had in the east and Won Hindenburg became | the idol of the people immediately. a fact that was very distasteful tn tne high command
 The haiser's dislike of Von Him denburg was of long standing. He nad never forgiven the general for The mistake he made during milt- tary maneuvers in peacr ttr,o When by brilliant stroke of stra- teEy he had succeeded in capturfnr the Kaiser's forces, including Inc Kaiser md his whole staff! When war was declared, Hindenburg was retred citizen in Hanover and We would have remained in that ca- pacity if the Kaiser could have bnd his way. The fact that Hindenburw iacked social status and was par- ucuiarly gruff in manner no doubt nao much to do with the disfayor In which the Kaiser held him. III the early days of the war. how sVei' when the Russians were sweeping command 1elt itself compelled to dismiss tbe f,er-
 man general, who was responsible for that defeat, and Hindenburg was hailed py the people as the one man who coI,Id stem the tide. The Kaiser was accord ingly compelled to acuuiesce and Hin oenourg was placed in charge of the army in the east. How completely he vindicated the confidence the German people had in him is already well known lie swept the Russians into the Masu- ran Lakes and snatched victory out of the jaws of defeat.
 His success only increased the Kaiser,s dislike of him and every obstacle was niaced Tn his way. Fo-' nine months the Kaiser withheld sufficient troops to enable Hinderburg to follow up his sue cessfuIcampaign all the available men and supplies being sent to Won Macken- sen and Won Falkenhayn instead to give them an opportunity to distinguish them selves and gain some of the glory and popularity which Won Hindenburg seem- ed to be monopolizing
 OFFERED TO RESIGN It is reported that at this period the
 Kaiser suggested certain tactics to von
 Hindenburg and that the general re- sponded by unbuckling his sword and offering to give up his command. Glad ly would the Kaiser have accepted his resignation but even that imperious monarch dared not so antagonize pub lie opinion. He yielded to his recaIci- trant general and from that time on allowed him to go his own way. Hindenburg's star was now in the ascendancy Won Moltke, the Kaiser's favorite. had popularly dsgraced him. self by the failure of the Germans at the Marne and by the success of the
 Belgian and English armies in escap- ing from Antwerp over a single pom toon bridge. His place as commander
 .n chief was then given to von Falken- hayn, the reason given for Won Moltke's retirement being his failing health"
 Then came the failure of the Ger mans at Verdun and the approaching entry of Roumania into the war on the side of the allies, and Falkenhayn
 in turn fell from grace. The high command at this time tried to prevent the Kaiser from talking to Hinden- burg but he was so worried over the military outlook that he called linden burg and Falkenhayn to him for a con ference It is said that the latter tried to take the center of the floor and do the talking, but although he was higher
 in command, Hindenburg told him to
 'shut his mouth," adding: When | finish talking to His Majesty, you may
 begin" Then he pointed out to the Kaiser some of Falkenhayn's great mis- takes, remarking: "Who ever heard of general attacking his enemy at his strongest point"-referring to the cam paign against yerdun.
 GOT FALKENHAYN'S PLACE The Kaiser was apparently so inn pressed with Hindenburg's arguments
 that, distasteful as it was to him to do so. he appointed the peoples idol as con;mander-in-chief in Falkenhayns place. Jealous as he was of that gen erals popularity, he was alive to his military genius and proud of his suc-
 cess, and now that he was at the head of the army, the Kaiser's spirits ap- preciably revived.
 That the Kaisers jealousy was found- ed on sufficient reason, had convincing evidence shortly before 1 left Berlin. saw the Kaiser driving up Inter der Linden on his way to the palace. He was greeted by respectful salutes from the people he passed but there was nothing in the way of demonstration. few moments later General Won Hind enburg came along. He was evidently on his way to a conference with the Kaiser. As he passed, he was met with
 jubiiant cheers and people threw their for tho hero who had done so much to vindicate Germany's boasted military superiority.
 KAISER'S CONFIDENCE I have referred in previous chapter to the Kaisers unbounded confidence after the Italian collapse in 1917. Nov, we've got the allies!" he exclaimed, with an air of conclusiveness which empha- sized the optimism he displayed
 After the capture of Rumania. he ex-