HINDERSIN, GUSTAV EDUARD VON Prussian general, was born at Wernigerode near Halberstadt on July 18, 1804. He entered the Prussian artillery in 182o, and in 1841, while still a subaltern, he was posted to the great general staff, in which he afterwards directed the topographical section. He served in the suppression of the Baden insurrection (1849), and was ennobled for his services in the Danish war of 1864, where he directed the artillery operations against the lines of Diippel. Soon afterwards he became inspector-general of artillery. His ex perience at Diippel had convinced him that the days of the smooth-bore gun were past, and he now rearmed and reorganized the Prussian artillery. The available funds were small, and grudgingly voted by the parliament. There was a strong feeling moreover that the smooth-bore was still tactically superior to its rival. Under Hindersin manoeuvres were instituted, and the smooth-bores were, except for ditch defence, eliminated from the armament of the Prussian fortresses. But far more important was his work in connection with the field and horse batteries. In 1864 only one battery in four had rifled guns, but the outbreak of war with Austria one and a half years later found the Prussians with ten in every sixteen batteries armed with the new weapon. But the battles of 1866 revealed a lack of tactical efficiency in the Prussian artillery, and Hindersin was now able to secure the establishment of a school of gunnery. The consequent improve ment in the Prussian field artillery between 1866 and 1870 was extraordinary; indeed, the German artillery played the most important part in the victories of the Franco-German war. Hinder sin accompanied the king's headquarters as chief of artillery, as he had done in 1866, and was present at Gravelotte, Sedan and the siege of Paris. He died on Jan. 23, 1872, at Berlin.
See Bartholomaus, Der General der Infanterie, von Hindersin (1895) and Prince Kraft zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen, Letters on Artillery (translated by Major Walford, R.A.), No. xi.