Great Falls daily tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1895-1921, 1920-12-24
TAKEPETROGRAD
THEN MARCH On
MOSCOW: PLAN
General Hoffman Would
Send Pershing, Joffre
or Foch in Command
Man Who Started Lenine
on Career Now Tells of
Menace HeHas Become

Berlin, Dec. 23.-(By The Associated
Press. General Wilhelm Hoffman,,
former chief of staff of the German
east army, who played an important part
in the Brest- -Litvosk negotiations, de-
clares in an interview published in the
Berlin Russian Daily Rul, that bolshe
vism, having ceased to be regional, is
a world problem now, which can be
solved only by armed intervention by the
great powers acting in concert. An in
ternational army under the leadership
of Pershing, Joffre or Foch should oc-
cupy Petrograd, General Hoffman, says
then march on Moscow, which he assert
ed is bound to fall before any well
equipped and properly differed force.
With occupation of Moscow, Trotzky
and Lenine would be unhorsed and their
1900 commissaires overthrown, and the
members of the whole regime, General
Hoffman, predicts, would ask safe con-
duct to pass the shortest way to OBJ
livion." He feels certain that the Rus
sian workmen would be glad to desert
their present leaders at the first indica-
tion that their overthrow was imminent
Cannot Remodel 1t.
Moscow must be spoken to in the
language Of Brest-L -Litvosk, n6t III The
language Of Lloyd George in London"
the general continues. 'To remodel
bolshevism is impossible. Any attempt
to incorporate bolshevism in the Euro
pean concert would be wrong. Any
trade relations with Russia would only
furnish cloak for red propaganda for
bolshevik aims will ever be world revo-
/, luton.
'.Trotzky has studied the history of
the French revolution and knows the use
of the scourge Under his system no
man can rise to power from the army.
( The appearance of New Napoleon in
Russia is out of the question.
'The crash of the soviet regime would
inevitably be followed by a reign of I'M
paralleled anarchy. The only thing that
remains is armed intervention by the
great powers. As chief Of staff Of the
east army during the war; I directed the
propaganda against the Russian army.
Used Every Means.
1.-THE general staff naturally made use
of every possible means to break through
the Russian front. One Of these means
was poison gas Another was Lenine.
'1rhe imperial regime despatched
Lenine to Russia from the Swiss from
tier in sealed car for definite pnr-
pose With our consent, Lenine and his
friends disorganized the Russian army.
Won Kuehlmann (former German secre-
tary for foreign affairs), Count Czern:n
(Austro- Hungarian foreign minister1
and I then closed the BrestLitovsk
treaty 50 that we would throw our army
against the west front. While in Brest
We were convinced that the bolshoviki
could not hold power more than three
weeks.
'On nv word of honor as German
general, in spite Of the valuable service
Trotzkv and Lenine rendered, we neither
knew nor forsaw the danger to humanity
from the consequences of this journey
Of bolshevists to Russia. At that time
we weighed the matter with as little
consideration as the entente does now.
Overthrow Plans Fail
"Would the allies, and especially
Llovd George. carry on negotiations and
make concessions f they fully reckoned
the frightful danger which bolshegism
representsw
General Won Hoffman, says that the
army command later realized the danger,
and plan was laid before the supreme
command Of the eastern army for the
overthrow Of bolshevism. But events
develored so rapidly. following upon the
assassination Of Count Won Mirbach. the
German ambassador to Russia, in Mos
COW, and the situation on the west front
had become so critical that it was I'M
possible to force the issue.