The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-10-10
VON TIRPTZ STORY
OF GERMAN DEFEAT
lcontInued From Previous Issues

Continued From Previous Issued
In spite OF the inexplicable and baf-
Hing attitude OF Chancellor Won Beth
mann Hollweg and his colleagues, in
abandoning the naval policies for which
! stood sponsor, ] was not altogether
without friends in high station during
he troublesome days In the latter part
Of 1915. The crown prince was one Of
the staunchest supporters Of subina-
rine warfare, and frequently told me
30.
While lacking the attributes Of real
leadership and %partaRing In a great de-
gree Of some of the traits Of his i'm
perial father, with which / knew how
to deal through long association, never
theless the crown prince was a keen
observer; though at times he was alb
sent from great headquarters and busy
With hts own command. he kept we'll In
touch with Developments, He was moi
the politician nor the friend Of politi-
clans that his father was.
In fact, the crown prince was for d.
rect action. He regarded the subma-
rines, and tightly so, as a great bull
wark in our war Of resistance against
the baTbarous blockade Of England. We
we're building bigger and better subma-
rines, and, what was more important,
we were learning how to use them more
effectively. SO that when my optimism
and my convictions would not always
III Allli hul NaaoN Will ~ NVuIHN VI Ltid
Wilhelmstrssse / cherished the aid and
comfort that the crown prince always
showed.
sept. 25 the crown prince called me
on the field telephone which connected
great headquarters in Luxembourg with
his " army command. He had Just
heard of some good work by our brave
fellows on the U-boats, and he wished
to congratulate me personally for II.
He went on to converse about other az
fairs, mostly state matters,
He asked me about reports that were
appearing throughout Europe Of friction
between me and the chancellor, and
from this we naturally talked about the
state of t~hings-affairs In general, of
Bethmann and Won Jagow. The crown
prince was always fearful that Germany
would be blamed unjustly for causing
the war, and he was always ready with
a defense Of Germany's course. He full
filled the true concepts Of loyalty to his
house and TO his fatherland,
| reserved some OF my opinions In
this conversation, but did tell him This
much: That we had the strength to hold
out, and must do so. one other thing
! brought up, which ! was always con-
sidering; The danger Of a rising in Ger
many, ] was quite frank with Freder-
lex William. There was good hope,
n revolt would not go against the goN
eminent, He received my f~orebodings
with surprise,
Troops Heard of Unrest.
| heard that day from a gentleman
who had just come from the battli
lines there was apprehension In certain
quarters; that IN the army, even at the
front lines. the idea had leaked out that
the high command was beginning to
throw up the sponge. No matter wheth-
er there was basis for this belief or not,
| could not help but note that our first
wonderful morale was failing. But
nothing was known OF this In he Ia
ton at large, thank God.
Perhaps | was too conservative. Per-
haps ] wasted my fears. But | doubt
this, for taken as a whole the best
opinion in Germany was that we could,
and would, end the war before the first
Of the year, 1915. SO fatuous was the
belief that | Justify my course and in
sistence on stern and vigilant measures
In the light OF events.
II Others raised doubts at great head
quarters. 1t would be in such language
as unless WI do thus and so" we might
not win quickly or 1T would be too bad
II the great military decision should not
come, now that the supreme struggle
Is imminent"
But was there ever to be a decision?
Preparations belied II, Here we were
fighting the kind Of war that Downing
street would have prayed for; there
| was w NilaAlNt v uR ~ NihIAANNi IA0
or a Metz. Our brilliant drive had not
met the success that was desired for II,
And, worst Of all, failure was due 10
mistakes-all or our own side.
There was q period Of pause on I'll
fronts, The impact OF the chancelloras
opinion may ave caused X. Even in
the east the big guns ceased thunder
ing. That was a mistake, for the Rus
slams Mt that time were In such terror
Of Hindenburg that II amounted post
lively to a superstition. They endowed
him veritably with the supernatural. |
was thankful, indeed, that in these
times the submarine successes counted
for much, and counteracted the worst
elsewhere.
In my diary | find this entry:
THANK Cod We have more subma-
rines for offensive purposes than Eng
land. II Is TO be hoped that they VIII
meet with still greater success than
they have so far" With our high hopes
Il still was curious how we had come to
be the least beloved people on the face
of the earth. Everyone wanted Ger
many, | judged, to be laid low.
The uneasy folk In Luxembourg showed
this attitude. They first viewed our
advent rs the vanguard OF a triumphal
procession, which was always to be IN
motlon-stopping only at the English
channel, and then going on to victory.
When 1t halted they were always await
ing the hour when the panoply OF val
would move on again. But, when II
failed to move, the Luxemburgers got
FESTIVE, It was plain, In October, 1915,
that we had worn our welcome out
with them, They could not help but
imagine things must be getting bal at
the front,
The attitude Of Italy and Rumanta
continued to bother us. Those jackals
OF nationsl They had to wait n zee
how the cat jumped before coming ~
on either side. Then, too, our hopes OF
Turkey were coming to nothing, This
was contained In private advioes 70 me
from Admiral Won Usedom, my friend,
even In advance of he kaiser himself
knowing II. The old admiral, then long
In retirement, was doing what he could
to keep the Turkish supremacy intact
around the Bosporus, He was earning
once more the order Pour lie Merlte
which | shared with him alone OF all tho
ndmirals OF the German navy.
When ] thought, too, In those depress-
ing hours, Of Italy, Of the lazy Aus
trians for whom staunch Germans were
shedding their blood, II was not pleas
ant. But the whole business. told
myself, wal inevitable, How could an
expanding Germany suit ev~erybody's
gamer
stupidity In high quarters was pro-
Niding a riddle for us, How could peace
possibly end with dignity for Germany
Our statesmen were SO blind they let
themselves be driven into war when the
s-r La H. - "a lpa xaA sVa rpkR Tia