Washington Journal., 1942-05-08

nick OF time. lnOugn IHe OeluldlS WeIe
heavily outnumbered, they won the battle by
greater mobility and more effective artillery
and rifle fire. Their higher command was
OPPORTUNITY aided by the early capture of a
wounded Russian staff officer, whose brief
case contained an outline of the Russian plan
of battle, which theoretically was sound and
might have succeeded, had the Russians not
lost time at the beginning.
The Germans furthermore were saved from
almost sure disaster by the failure of another
huge Russian army under General Rennen-
kampf to take the Germans In flank and rear.
Rennenkampf might have done this, had he
not DETECTED his march in the direction OF
the German fortress Koenigsberg, then all
but denuded Of troops. OF this welcome move
ment of Rennenkampf i'll the wrong direction
Hindenburg and Ludendorff were appraised
betimes by one of the few German fliers then
lowering over the eastern front.
Thus their forces were able first to destroy
one huge Russian army and then to beat oil
the other, which should have joined forces
with the first before or during the first battle.
When the commander OF the first Russian
army realized that all was lost, he blew out
his brains. His two subcommanders surrend-
cred as prisoners, together with nearly
100,00 0 Of their men.
Of all this | grasped but little at the time,
but later it was all explained to ne in time
to dispatch the first neutral report OF the
battle to America. Before | returned to Ber-
lin | witnessed the bringing in OF an army OF
Russian prisoners and no end OF loot III the
shape Of horses and field guns, more than |
ever had seen gathered at one time. Later
| saw some of them brought into Berlin.
Early Battle Disastrous
Not in accordance with fact is the legend
a. --1 .--. Js-o1 80 ,,rcr hommnH h1C KIM
peror to name the battle after Tannenberg
because in olden times one Of Hindenburg's
ancestors is said to have fought there against
heather Lithuanians. That earlier battle OF
Tannenberg ended in d bloody massacre for
the Germanic knights, so that their later-day
descendants had little reason for wishing to
revive the name Of so sad an event for Ger
many.
Among Hindenburg's forebears there were
several who served in that ancient order OF
knighthood. whose archives are kept at Ma
rienburg near Tannenberg. They were
Beneckendorffs from the borderland of Bran
denburg, known as the Old March. The
earliest authentic record Of one Of them dates
back to 1880 A. M. Quite absurd is the story
that the early Hindenburgs claimed descent
from the Frankish Emperor Charlemagne.
They were simple country squires from the
eastern Marches, where there were no Franks
Even if they had made so preposterous a
claim, this would have left no trace Of Carlo
vingian blood in Paul Won Hindenburg or his
children. since his direct forebears, the Be
neckendorffs, only took on the added name of
Hindenburg in 1879, when the two families
were united by a marriage. An unmarried
squire Of H~indenburg, who served as a colonel
under Frederick the Great in the Seven
Years War, left his two estates OF Neudeck
and Limbsee to a grandson of his sister (nee
Beneckendorff) on condition that he unite the
names Of the two families. Permission for
this was granted by King Frederick William
III Of Prussia.
During the hard days Of the Napoleonic
wars the estate of Limbsee had to be sold
for debt, but Neudeck has remained the fam
ily seat of the Observation-Disclosures
and now has passed into the hands OF the
late field marshal's son, Col. Otto Won linden
burg. Previously it was improved in recent
years by a popular subscription from HIN
denburg's admirers in Germany, Neudeck
was a simple country house with a small tract
of land. There Paul as a little boy used to
spend the summer months with his grand
parents, listening to their tales OF Napoleon's
first Russian campaign in that region in 1907.
In an upper story of that house a French
officer was killed by a Russian bullet coming
through the window. A bridge, visible from
that gable window, was won and lost by a
Russian %storming party. In the early days
of the World War, when H%indenburg was in
command in East Prussia, the Russians again
came near crossing that bridge and taking
Neudeck.
He Knew the Old Battle6elds
While those old battlefelds near the family
home were familiar ground to Paul Won Hin
denburg, who some years before the World
War commanded the Eighth Prussian Army
Corps. stationed in East Prussia, there is
- &C., tl.a., foot 70 tho lnnand of Hindan-