Hindenburg and I talked for about twenty minutes on various
subjects--Holland, Italy, America, and, of course, the campaign.
When he tried to point out to me how all-important it was for Holland
that Germany should crush England's "world-domination," I mentioned
the Dutch Colonies. That really set him going. "Colonies," he shouted.
"Pah! I am sick of all this talk about colonies. It would be better
for people, and I am not referring to our enemies alone, to pay more
attention to events in Europe. I say 'to the devil' (_zum Teufel_) with
the colonies. Let us first safeguard our own country; the colonies will
follow. It is here," and he went up to a large map of Poland hanging on
the wall, and laid a hand almost as large as a medium-sized breakfast
tray over the center of it--"It is here," he continued, "that European
and colonial affairs will be settled and nowhere else. As far as the
colonies are concerned, it will be a matter of a foot for a mile, as
long as we hold large slices of enemy territory."
He spoke with great respect of the Russian soldier, but maintained that
they lacked proper leaders. "It takes more than ten years to reform
the morale of an officers' corps. From what I have learned, the morale
of the Russian officer is to this day much the same as it was in the
Russo-Japanese war. We will show you one of their ambulance trains
captured near Kirbaty. It is the last word in luxury. By all means
give your wounded all the comfort, all the attention you can; but I
do not think that car-loads of champagne, oysters, caviare and the
finest French liqueurs are necessary adjuncts to an ambulance train.
The Russian soldier is splendid, but his discipline is not of the same
quality as that of our men. In our armies discipline is the result of
spiritual and moral training; in the Russian armies discipline stands
for dumb obedience. The Russian soldier remains at his post because he
has been ordered to stay there, and he stands as if nailed to the spot.
What Napoleon I. said still applies to-day: 'It is not sufficient to
kill a Russian, you have to throw him over as well.'
"It is absurd," the General continued, "for the enemy Press to compare
this campaign with that of Napoleon in 1812." Again he got up, and
pointing to another map, he said: "This is what will win the war for
us." The map showed the close railroad net of Eastern Germany and the
paucity of permanent roads in Russia. Hindenburg is almost a crank on
the subject of railroads in connection with strategy. In the early days
of the war he shuffled his army corps about from one corner of Poland
to the other. It is said that he transferred four army corps (160,000
men--about 600 trains) in two days from Kalish, in Western Poland, to
Tannenberg, a distance of nearly two hundred miles. On some tracks the
trains followed each other at intervals of six minutes.
"Our enemies reckon without two great factors unknown in Napoleon's
time: railroads and German organization. Next to artillery this war
means railroads, railroads, and then still more railroads. The Russians
built forts; we built railroads. They would have spent their millions
better if they had emulated our policy instead of spending millions
on forts. For the present fortresses are of no value against modern
siege guns--at least, not until another military genius such as Vauban,
Brialmont, Montalembert, Coehoorn, springs up, who will be able to
invent proper defensive measures against heavy howitzers.
"Another delusion under which our enemies are laboring is that of
Russia's colossal supply of men. He who fights with Russia must always
expect superiority in numbers; but in this age of science, strategy
and organization, numbers are only decisive, 'all else being equal.'
The Russian forces opposed to us on this front have always been far
superior in numbers to ours, but we are not afraid of that. A crowd of
men fully armed and equipped does not make an army in these days."
This brought him to the subject of the British forces, more especially
to Kitchener's army. "It is a great mistake to underestimate your
enemy," said Hindenburg, referring to the continual slights and
attacks appearing in the German Press. "I by no means underrate the
thoroughness, the fighting qualities of the British soldier. England
is a fighting nation, and has won her spurs on many battlefields. But
to-day they are up against a different problem. Even supposing that
Kitchener should be able to raise his army of several millions, where
is he going to get his officers and his non-commissioned officers from?
How is he going to train them, so to speak, overnight, when it has
taken us several generations of uninterrupted instruction, study and
work to create an efficient staff? Let me emphasize, and with all the
force I can: 'Efficiency and training are everything.' There lies their
difficulty. I have many officers here with me who have fought opposite
the English, and all are united in their opinion that they are brave
and worthy opponents; but one criticism was also unanimously made:
'Their officers often lead their men needlessly to death, either from
sheer foolhardiness, but more often through inefficiency.'"