Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-12-19
As ONE WOMAN SEES 1T
Recent German Books Dealing with
the War, including hindenbura's
"out Of My Life" Indicate
Leaders Were Fooled by
Subordl mates
BY SARAH ID. LOWRIE

A PUBLISHER told me last year that
"A he had refused to publish two German
war generals nutobiographic accounts OF the
whr because he realized on looking them
over that they were written for home con.
sumption. not for the foreign reader. and
were, therefore, in the nature of German
propaganda.
lie went on to shy that quite apart from
INC very biased explanations OF questionable
poIicies and the RlossCd over accounts OF
dctents and retreats. there was n great deal
OF misinformntion that was due to real
misrepresentation Of the facts, and in some
cases totnl ignorance Of what had
occurred both within tho German lines and
within those Of the Allies. I thought that
hc was overstating thnt last cause for the
dctrcts because Il Is difficult to rid oneself
nt the chin, IRA Of German efficiency. IL the
hnlson of the Allies was good, It IL hard
to believe that that of the Germans was not
hrttcr. and II the information Of the encmy's
plans reached the French md English
hcadquarters in surprisingly short order. 1t
is difficult not to tnkc It for granted that
with the German ''supcrb spy system -
the theme OF n thousand Pre-. war novels
thc All Highest and his staff could ever
be taken by surprise
But after reading lliudcnburg's apologize,
out of my Iife.' one realizes TINT not only
was the German Army frequently surprised
ny what hit 1t, It was also ignorant Of what
~ ~ unu is 10 some extent 10 tnlS nny.
FOR 1t would be very poor policy and
short sighted subtcrfugc to publish inten-
tlohal falsehoodS concerning the enemy
tnlsehoods any student of the times can
detect at n glance. Neither is II wise to
save ones face by bClittlIng an enemy that
AM bound to realize. therefore, that the
L editor was right when he said that the
German r,ic inf fIon
TO degree TINT throws Il curious light on
the subordinntcs whose business It was to
gather information and on the type OF mind
that most evidently preferred to live on
nnttering rumors rather thnn face the very
sinister truth.
We were interested as n nation looking
on and listening In when Brand in his
momentous speech Mt tho Disarmament Con-
ference pointed warning finger to two
quotations from liindcnburg's war book and
stayed his cloQuCncc long enough to read
them. ! had never thought Of reading the
nook before. but picked up the last volume
the other day and rcnd it through.
hrst became aware with what curious
SkctChincSS the account was being written
nnd how unSCicntifc-to say the least--was
the jotting down of statements by the fol-
lowing paragraph which wnS n comment
on the italian prisoners after the betrayal
and the defeat of the IsOnzo Of the divisions
OF the Italian Army in October Of 1017.
"IN TIE campaign of the previous
L autumn" IIindenburg writes, "many
thousands Of Italian soldiers had laid down
their arms without any urgent military
necessity. not from lack of courage, but
from disgust of whnt seemed to them sense
less slaughter. They looked happy enough
on their journey into our country and
greeted the familiar workshops with Ger
innn songs"
Now this picture of war disgustcd Italians
marching into Germany singing German
songs and greeting the workshops by the
way Is such sentimental drive TINT it is
almost funny If the realities Of that dreadful
march had not been so awful
The mon who had been betrayed by their
officers or some one officer higher up. taken
by surprise dumfound"d by the unbcllevnble-
ness OF the German and Austrian Armies
In their midst. were herded in groups of
thousands for nearly week, during which
time they were stripped Of nccoutcrmpnts
clothes and, of course, food; then they
were driven in long files without rest With
out food, bnrcfoot and sick with fatigue and
hunger into Germany, dragging By bare
hands the artillery guns that had been cap.
tured from them past 'the workshops of
Germany"
Did they sing German songs? Hardly
Many hundreds died by the way many thou
sands died in the camps where they were
concentrated. They had no rations ali along
thnt journey except what the dead mules
and horses and the waysidc pickinKs In the
fields supplied and if they paused they were
shot down. At night they were hcrded so
close that only hnlf could lie down at IL
time. and always. always there were many
dend ones by morning that could not get up
md drag on even AT the point of n German
pistol. These men felt bitter shame at their
betrayal and implacabe anger ut their
defeat. And those that survived that march
n ln righ S,,,h If,,l,
Of Germany and the Germans ihnt the cy
p"ricnces of future lifetime WIN scarcely
turn that hate to Indifference
Nov it is not to be supposed that
~ IIindcnburg saw these men on their
march, but he must have got that scnti-
mental and ahsurdly lying picture Of them
from some hrndQuartclS report that fixed
vision in his memory. II gave him n very
crroncous idea of Italy's readiness TO ca
pitulatr. an error upon which he was later
10 base certain false hopes that came tum-
bling about his ears
] was generally amused at his dismissal
Of Chateau Thicrry-hiS sole nllus!on and
dismissal:
"Now another factor was at work--thc
help of America. We had made tho no.
Quaintancc Of her first trained trOops ot
Chateau Thicrry. They had attacked ms
there and had proved themselves cInmsiIv
uhN hiihH 1Fh, AH'N hH'I luhNIl our wpnk
units by surprise, thanks to their numerical
SupcriOr!ty.'
TTIERE is something pathetic in his at
l. titudc toward the 'Gcntem0n Of the DYED
Mustarhc. whom he speaks Of always as
Ills Majesty. my Emperor, King and
Master" the capitals are his, or as "All
Highest War Lord. ="
In his farewell he says:
"Itkc Sicgfricd stricken down by the
trcnchcrous spcnr of savage Hagen our
weary front collapscd 1t was in vain TINT
it tried to drink in new vitality from the
fountain In our homeland that had run dry
1t IS now our task to save what wRs left
Of our army for the subsequent revival Of
nur fntherland. The present was lost. We