The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-06-16

man has ever had legend so fam tastically thrust upon him as has President Hindenberg of Ger many, says Harold Nicolson, the former counsellor to the British em- bassy in Berlin, in an article on the German president which will ap- pear in the summer issue of The Yale Review, to be published to- morrow. MT Nicolson, who is the author of Some People" and of s.Portait of a Diplomatist," which is biography of his father, Lord Carnock, and study of the origins of the World war, pays high tribute to President Hindenburg's probity and his genius for sincerity" but says that he is one of the 'mytho- logical figures" the German people Hove to create to personlfy their own virtues"
 MT Nicolson points out that Him. denburg's grandfather had served in the Napoleonic wars, that his father, Robert von Hindenburg, was also an officer, and the president of the German republic became sol dier, according to his memoirs 'as a matter of course" At the age of eighteen he was given a commission in the German army, and particl- pated in the Austro-Prussian and the Franco -Prussian wars. Passing from rank to rank, he became a general after forty years service and retired from the army in 1911.
 ''Now, if in July, 1914, you had asked a German if he ever had heard of General won Hindenburg, he would have answered that he had never heard of him." MT Nicol- son says. ''His name figured in the army list and was known to few colonels. To the great public this retired soldier of nearly seventy was completely unknown. Within nine weeks he was an almost mythical figure from the Vistula to the Rhine. Let me explain how this old officer became so famous.
 @In August, 1914, Germany was threatened on two fronts. There were the French and English in the west and the Russians in the east. The general staff were not very afraid of the Russians, and their whole plan was to allow the Rus slams to do what they liked, and to throw the full weight of the Ger man army against Paris. Unfor- tunately. the Russians advanced faster and further than was ex- pected. The experts knew that 1t would not matter very much even if they reached the outskirts or Berlin. Public opinion, however, was not so well informed. The people felt that it was alarming to have the Russians in East Prussia and that something must be done. The high command decided, against their better judgment, that the Rus sians must be stopped at once. They were told that an old dugout was living at Hanover who knew all about the eastern front.
 At 3 p. m. on August 22, 1914, Von Hindenburg received telegram from the emperor. asking if he were ready for immediate service. He replied Am ready and hurried into his dressing room to put on his uni form. He was told that General Luaendorff had been appointed his chief of staff, that he was coming to Hanover by special train arriv- ing the next afternoon, that linden burg must board that train, and that Ludendorff would explain every thing on the journey. He did. Four days later began the battle of Tan- nenberg. The Russians were sur- rounded and lost 350,000 men. The German losses were only 37,OOO. The Russian menace had been crushed. And from that moment, Hindenburg became the idol of his country. ssAs a matter of fact, he himself knew very little about it. The vic- tory of Tannenberg, one of the greatest victories in history, had been prepared by von Prittwitz., elaborated by General Hoffman, im-
 
 ried out by General von Francois. But Hindenberg, as commander of the eighth army, as the man who signed the telegrams got all the credit. Germany was so hysterically relieved that it forgot all about the battle of the Marne. It suited the German government to boom the victories in the east in order to con- ceal the fact that in the west their whole plan had miscarried. The victory of Tannenberg was followed by the two astounding but less lm- portant victories at the Masurian lakes.
 "Within a few weeks Hindenberg emerged as the hero of Germany. His portrait was in every home. A battleship was christened in his name He was invincible, majestic, infallible. Huge wooden statutes Of Hindenburg, impenetrable and vast, were erected in the larger towns. Millions fiocked to pay them hom- age. He became commander-in- chief. Ludendorff remained his right-hand man. The Hindenberg legend grew to the proportions of an epic. And Paul von Hindenburg was immensely embarrassed by all this adulation.
 .Without desiring such eminence, haca the dannina mt