Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-03-01
KAISER'S PART
'~~IN DIRECTING
WAR SMALL
Kept Isolated Lest He 'Blab'
Secrets, Says Staff
Officer.
EAT. BE MERRY POLICY

LONDON, March An interesting pic
ture Of the former kaisers life at German
general headquarters is drawn by for
mer staff officer, who is contributing
series of articles on the old army to Die
weItbuehne of Berlin, and which are re-
produced in the Berlin correspondence Of
the Daily Telegraph.
He says the immediate encourage Of
the kaiser consisted Of the adtutant gen
.snaI. three chiefs of cabinet and aides des
camp, among whom there was perpetual
intrigue, as was natural under monarch
SO capricious and of so little tact.
Valentine chief of the civil cabinet,
and Admiral Won Mueller, chief of the
naval cabinet, were adherents of Chan-
cellor Won Bethmenn- Hollweg, and thus
in opposition to the chief or the gen
eral staff and his party Bethmann
spokesmen, like their principal, were re-
rarded as half hearted, and there was
no rest until the others were rid Of them
Gen. Plessen, commandant at general
headquarters, a narrow minded courtIer
long out of touch with the world, took
the view that it was his duty to Keep
everything unpleasant away from the
kaiser So the exalted satellites, filled
with mutual distrust, reyOlved around
received precious little light or warmth.
KAISER LIVED
IN PRESENT.
The kaiser himself, like all shallow
man, chung to the impressions OF the
moment. GraveIy anxious people, who
saw disaster coming, found him bolster
nus and jolly, cracking jokes, without
suspicion of the real situation. When
ne was at KreuZnach he seized every
opportunity to motor to the kaiserin at
Hamburg and those with reports to
submit had as great difficulty in getting
20 him to obtain the necessary signatures
as in time Of peace.
War did not imply lack Of amusement
for him. Now and then a hostile av-
iator brought life into the show. After
the visit of the first of the airmen over
Charleville no one laughed louder than
the crown prince.
When the kaiser took meals with the
staff officers, the officers were surprised
that he was so merry-almOst abnormally
SO-and they were amazed to find how
war pictured itself in his head.
The writer supplies no corrOboration
Of the popular idea that the kaiser took
M2y initiative in drifting military plans
or in the conduct Of operations. On the
contrary, his daily round at general head
quarters was ordered as at Potsdam or
IN Berlin; only the populace was alb
sent
He listened to reports. took his meals,
gave audiences, had the military sit
uation briefly explained TO him and had
his house guarded by selected companies.
The kaiser's position at the time Of the
revolution is described as follows:
DECLARES THRONE
COLLAPSED INGLORrOUSLY.
''Never did a throne collapse more in
gloriously. Chief war lord Of the German
army and navy, admiral Of the Atlantic,
the kaiser cut a sorry figure. In con-
sequence of his perilous propensity for
blabbing state secrets to persons quite
unknown, as. for example, to neutral
Journalists, his suite had isolated him
as far as possible.
He had a way of giving clumsy and
offensive orders without consulting those
whose departments were concerned. No
one on the general staff could ever count
on what he might do
"His erratic course of untimely inter
ference naturally cIogged operations. and
prevented either Hindenburg or Luden-
dorR from freedom of action in any OF
the departments whose heads had the
right of direct report to him, like the
chief of the military cabinet and the wal
minister. The navy intrenched Itself be
hind the kaiser and allowed the army
chiefs no say in its affairs.
Thus, even the chief of the gen
eral staff had to fnesse and burrov
in order to get rid Of persons who wer'
uncomfortable to him.
KEPT IGNORANT
OF CONDITION.
Gradual disintegration OF the officers
corps, unspeakable conditions among tbs
lighting force and bad spirit in the hom'
srmy-au of these escaped the notice Of
the supreme command, for the kaiser was
officially responsible for them all, and
von Plessen kept from him knowledge OF
al unpleasant things, and got In return
the decoration of the Order Pour Il
Merite.
I'm reality groups of influential per
sons intrigued against each other fol
she favor of the supreme war lord
whose character all Of them understood
perfectly. In short, life at general head
quarters was court life of the wors
kind
The general staff stood in the back
ground of this condition, the writer says
Even Ludendorf, however, had too muet
RI the green tables about him, witt
he result that although his orders were
Iiainly good, they were acted upon not
mt all or only half carried out, and three
ourths of the army positions existed
only on paper. The spirited front re
sembIed in many places the stage villages
erected by Prince Potemkin TO receive
Catherine the Great.