The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-10-24
Won Tirpitz's U-Boat Bluff

What frivolous gamble the unrestricted
U-boat war was even from the standpoint
Of a PAN German imperlalist, Is thus shown
by Erzberger:
The smaller the numbers Of U-boats Ger
many had, the louder was the CRY of the
pam German press to begin Unrestricted
U-boat warfare. The signal for that cam
paign had been given by Great Admiral Won
Tirpitz at the Great General Headquarters
already at the end of November, 1914 I
had seen to 1t that the well known Ameri-
can journalist. Mr.. Won Wiegand, was re-
ceived by Mr.. Won Tirpitz, who stated:
England wants TO starve us into sub
mission; we can play the same game
namely, blockade England, torpedo any Eng
lish vessel and any ship Of her Allies APP
preaching any English port and thereby cut
her off from the larger part of her food
imports When the astonshed American
journalist asked IL Germany had a sufficlent
number of submarines to accomplish such
a thing, Mr. Won Tirpltz answered: Yes, a.
far as U-boats of a large type are concerned
we are superior to England
by such high sounding statements, not
justified by facts, the German people and
for some time l myself, were induced to
believe that unrestricted submarine warfare
was the best means TO bring the war 70 an
early and victorious end AS matter OF
single U-boat of a cruising radius sufficient
TO circumnavigate England"
While the Chancellor the Secretary OF
Foreign Affairs and the Reichstag were OPP
posed to unrestricted U-boat warfare the
military advisers of the Kaiser left nothing
undone to obtain decision In favor Of un-
restricted submarine war One episode may
here be given. as told by Erzberger:
at that time l received interesting in
ton with which army officers based their de
cisions the expert advice of grain i'm
porters regarding the effect of the U-boat
war. To near relatives Of such an expert
am indebted for the following information:
"Tt Is a scandal that this man is treated
as an expert at General Headquarters, not
so much because he Is not an expert but
because he Is highly recommended as an
expert by officers for the reason that they
wanted to introduce 10 the Kaiser pro-
gressive Jew who hoped for success OF the
U-boat war"
How Germany treated her allies may be
seen from the following quotation:
1.-THE clause (of the Brest-Litovsk peace
treaty. that Germany would undertake 10
assist the Russians so that the Turks would
not advance TO Baku caused Turkey 20
voice her protest in strong words Talaat
Pascha. mad like bull because Germany
concluded a trea. with her enemy of yes
terday and OF tomorrow against her ally
of the past four years went to Berlin after
he had Indignantly said that he would take
appropriate action and consider the alliance
null and void in case the treaty was not
cancelled Vienna did not know anything
Of the contents Of the treaty: the same Is
true Of Bulgaria. Both Governments were
disappointed when they learned that Ger
many was TO receive six billion marks from
Russia"
Erzberger's Observation at Spa.
What Erzberger observed when he re-
turned to Spa after having signed the No
vember, 1914 armistico is thus described:
"On Tuesday. November IL. before . in
the morning I arrived at Spa, where a rep
resentative Of the Foreign Office compii
mented me on the great success Of the me-
gotiations AZ Great General Headquartcrs
they were surprised that such concessions
could be obtained Half an hour later "a
conference took place IN the quarters n
pressed his very great satisfaction at the
results Of the negotiations. saying that all
his hopes had been surpassed"
That he, as official reporter Of the Reichs
tag Committee on Military Affairs, bad
advance knowledge Of Germany's mobniza
ton and war plans. Erzberger admits:
when I had lengthy conversation on
the previous military operations with The
former Chief Of the Great General staff
Count MoltlSe. in January, 1915, / was
amazed when he said that from the outset
he had called It a mistake to concentr e.
the bulk Of the German army on the West
ern theatre Of war. l expressed my sur
prise the more vlvidly because. ~ the
Reichstag reporter on military affairs for
many years. 1 knew very. well that Il had
been the plan for a number of years to
crush France within six weeks and then 70
hurl the whole German army against Rus
ala, even II the Russians were able to ad-
vance to the Vistula in the meantime"