Arizona republican., 1919-04-05
LUDEND0RFF'S $ NARRATION OF
 THE LAST GASP
It Became Evident on Aug ust s that German Victory Was Impossible and Then the Leaders Began Seek ing Peace

BERLIN, April 4.-(By the Associat- ed Press).-One of the Berlin newspa- pers today prints extracts from the forthcoming book written by General Ludendorff, former first quarternlaster general of the German armies.
 General Ludendorff says the defeat of the Germans on August Gin the Franco British offensive near Albert and north of Montdidier) finally re- suited in the Germans losing hope of a military victory. Conferences were held with Chancellor von Hertling, Ad- miral von Hintze, the foreign minister. and Field Marshal von Hindenburg on August IA, b and 16 and there also was a meeting of the crown council 'at which I clearly stated that the war could no longer be won militarily,' says Ludendorff. T opposed Baron Burians step for peace on account of it's vagueness, but favored an imme
 diate peace step in some other form Ludendorff says, (Burian was the Aus 1 tro-Hungarian foreign minister, and constantly was sending out peace feel l ers).
 ''The supreme command Luden- l dorff continues, had an idea of media i tion by Holland. On September Sre- newed discussions between von Hintze,
 von Hindenburg and myself were fol- lowed by a report to the kaiser. Won ! Hintze was the first to allude to a ! change on international grounds. 1 T then spoke as follows:
 l "'We must now act energetcally on 1 the armistice and peace questions. The
 entire situation in Europe may undergo l a change to our disadvantage The
 western front may at any time have to
 withdraw further, and the worse our
 military situation becomes. the harder
 will be the conditions
 "On the arrival of President Wilson's
 note I came to Berlin and submitted
 the following questions to von Hert-
 ling:
 willing to fight on? secondly, What is the German governments estimate Of
 the bolsheviki doing, which take very seriously? Thirdly, Is the Ukraine nec- , essary for our provisioning" ''The second note to President Vii son was also sent in agreement with l the supreme army command. The an swer to is clearly showed that Presi- dent Wilson no longer had the power ! to oppose the entente's demands. For . the reply to the note the chancellor 3 again invited me to Berlin. ', The military situation was un- , changed In the west, however, there I was consolidation and this circum-
 stance in conjunction with the declara- ton made by the war minister that he could within a easurable period give / the supreme command 600000 men, made the situation appear that we
 need not surrender internationally to
 President Wilson.
 q enphasized the necessity of re- plying to the note in dignified tone, j with due regard to the empires inter-
 ests. An abandonment of the U-boat
 war could not be considered. Admiral
 | Scheer tforTner chief of the German = admiralty staff) spoke in the same
 sense. This conception also continued V to be held for some days in the wal
 cable. Dr. Solf (former foreign min :. ister) however. requested Count Wolff = Metternich and others to create more . yielding atmosphere. success 1eii te Q Solf. The U-boat war ceased and tho It path to equalization was trodden- Nor :, Hindenburg immediately protested n against this and proposed an appeal tt 'A the nation
 Tt was clear from President VII h sons third answer that our opponents g wanted to destroy us. Won Hlnden j. burg and myself had no doubt that !
 we must fight we could still contlnu'
 the war for some months. "The utmost exertion of strengti = might, DcTHapS nave listo 1 SODOi ms - feet on the enemy peoples and brough
 us a bearable peace. On October 7
 von Hindenburg. and I submitted thi y idea to the kaiser and later to VIC "a Chancellor von Payer. We gained tn , impression that the imperial govern I ment no longer was willing to flgnt ou s' was ready to accept the hardest con ,+ ditionS.
 u .'On the 21sth. wrote my resignation > but at von Hindenburg's request. l di' :. not dispatch it. Immediately alter U. wards. learned that the supreme com ie mand had been violently attacked Il IS the reichstag on account of its orde lp relative to the third Wilson note. Thi o- order had been rejected by me wit e' the injunction let the matter becon
 clear only as the result of clumsInes :, did the order get placed before vo ' Hindenburg. and then it went ou
 without my knowledge