HINDENBURG, Paul von Benecken dorff and von; German Field-Marshal: b. Posen, 1847; cadet, 1864; lieutenant, 1860; wounded at served in the Franco Prussian War of 1870-71 • present at Sedan and the siege of Paris. In 1873 he mitered the War Academy at Berlin, and it may be said that he was a ((military student') for the next 38 years. As division staff officer at Konigsberg in the early 80's he commenced that profound study of the Masurian Lakes districts which was destined many years later to bring him fame; to make him, in fact, the only really successful general (with the exception of von Mackensen), that Germany produced during the first three years of the great war. He was appointed to the general staff in 1886 and lec tured on applied tactics at the War Academy till 1893, making the Masurian Lakes region an important item in his lectures. In 1903 he at tained the rank of general; spent considerable time in East Prussia, and commanded in sue Cession the two army corps stationed at Koenigs berg and Allenstein. In every annual manoeuvre he regularly rehearsed the defense of the lake region against a Russian invasion. He often used his intimate knowledge to drive his top ponentss into some marshy spots and kept them • for hours up to their waists in mud. He resigned in 1911 the age of 64; but retire ment to him meant only more time to be de voted to his all-absorbing hobby of defending East Prussia. He haunted the wilderness on foot, on horseback, in automobile and even with a field gun borrowed from a local garrison. There was the most serious method in his apparent obsession; by his practical tests he found out where a horse or a gun could stand or be driven through; where mud or water was deep or shallow, etc. Year after year his investigations were pursued, • and every spot was duly and precisely charted. The
crisis of his life came about three years before the war, when a business syndicate proposed to reclaim the Masurian Lakes region. The forests were to be cleared and • drainage canals cut through. With furious energy von Hinden burg opposed the scheme, went straight to Ber lin, interviewed the emperor, and told him that this eastern wilderness was worth a dozen fort resses and many army corps. He carried his point, and the project was abandoned. On the outbreak of the war in 1914 he volunteered his services, though 67 years old. His offer was at first ignored, and it was not till the Russians had overrun East Prussia, shut up the German troops under General von Francois inside the Kiirugsberg lines, and were throwing advance cavalry in the direction of Danzig, that von Hindenburg was placed in command. With about 150,000 to 160,000 men he inflicted a ter rific, crushing defeat upon the Russians under Generals Rennenkampf and Samsonoff at the battle of Tannenberg. He extended his left in a great curve round the Russian right flank and swept southward; performing the same evolu tion on the Russian left, he drew two-thirds of a circle around the Russians. The retiring Russian batteries sank into the bogs; horses struggled in vain, add as the iron circle dosed in whole regiments were driven into the lakes and drowned in the water or choked in the bottomless mires. Von Hindenburg took some 90,000 prisoners and enormous quantities of stores. The kaiser made him a field-marshal and placed him in command of the eastern armies. Ile led the great drive into Russia and conquered Poland. See WAR, EUROPEAN; TANNENBERG.