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Show HI Mil CHIEF IKESfEISE Ludendorff Recites Causes Leading Up to Germany's Military Collapse. By GENERAL ERICH LUDENDORFF, Chief of the German General Staff During the Great War. j By Universal. 'Service. , - (While staying at t lie. borne of his brotlier-ln-' law iii Stockholm, General Ludendorff has been : writing a book iu which be gives account of his ' participation In the itar. Via seeks to Justify bia conduct. Ia tb Id article the general forecasts fore-casts tuo spirit of bia book.) STOCKHOLM, March 8. Since I was called to the supreme army command, August, l?lfi, there never was any chance of a peace by conciliation or negotiation, so far as I know. The possibility of any such peace was never shown to me. There are elements among the people of Germany who have been incited to believe be-lieve that I had been an obstacle to peace Vkhen peacd by negotiation was possible. These people do not know what they are talking about. I am ready at any time to give a full account of my actions and can justify everything I luwo dono. Today I accept tho present political situation and am wilting to serve my country. Had to Obey Orders. Tho supremo army command knew nothing of Prosident Wilson's intention of proposing pcaco negotiations. The German emperor on January . 1IUT, made his decision, which meant ruthless submarino war, and the supreme army command had to obey orders. Any subsequent sub-sequent action on the part of President Wilson could not change the policy designated desig-nated by tho emperor. I have never been opposed to peace. As early as In tho spring of 19 IS, when we were still victoriously invading Franco and the British were being pushed back to the channel const, fighting "villi their backs to tho wall," as they said, I confided con-fided to party leaders who were close to nie that in my opinion it vould bo best to make peace us quickly as possible. I repeated this advice to party loaders in a more formal manner on Juno T, V.MS that is. at a time v hen there was no thought, of German reverses. Hopes Dashed to Earth. However, early in July. I still hoped it would bo possible to force a peace by continuous attack upon the enemy lines. These hopo-t were dashed to earth on July K, vheu the tables were turned and tho German reverses bgan. .After the severe- defeat of August 5, I gave up the !nsf vest ige of hon Tiio morale ot" our armies wnt vanishing vanish-ing and 1 her'' whs no longer a ny pro-poft pro-poft of brim' tip about a imkiary decision sufficiently favorable to us which would compel a pence. In tho middle of Aucust I advised the German government there was no more chance of a military victory. counselled coun-selled the opening of peace negotiations right ihm and there, but nothing was dour. The i:o crnni-'iH did not even not if y the p;n y leaders and my advice as kept a ; ccrei . v Ueadiness for Peace. K;irly m Svpt .-inhrr j )u- snpren .e rn; I'oiiiMnini . ga in mpha sized i is roadine to ;icvp; i;nmediM pi-:i.-c. Any sort of ptM.-o wo N- w e loo m ,-d was t he decision. de-cision. Tho mtvtrn'iH'iu sf.'nud to be for po:u" loo, but d'd nothing In tn n-tddlo oi SiM't rMv.h.-r o ropo ,-d (Continued on P'ifr :t f'obr"" ' Hi II CHIEF IKES DEFENSE (Continued from Pag One.) our request for some step for an immediate im-mediate beginning of peace pourparlers, and made it "very urgent. After Bulgaria had deserted un I made it plain to ali -who came In contact with me that continuance of fighting was use-lean use-lean and every day added to the agony that would only mean bo much more life and blood needlessly wasted. The situation situa-tion was so bad, I told them, that the enemy even had a chance to break through our lines. When Mr. Wilson's second answer arrived ar-rived it became evident that the entente was determined to humiliate and destroy Germany. Then I began to prepare for a continuation of defensive fighting. Under No Delusion. Prince Max of Baden, then chancellor of Germany, is quoted as saying the military authorities had been under a delusion de-lusion up to October 1, but if he included includ-ed me in the term of "military authorities" authori-ties" he is mistaken. I was never under a delusion and am quite able to prove that? much. But I confess I was in favor of fighting to the bitter end when Mr. Wilson's third not arrived ancr showed that we were expected ex-pected to consent to an unconditional i surrender. In my opinion we could have held out a ' few months longer and by that might I have been able to get a more profitable : and . a more honorable peace. At any rate the conditions rould not posnibly be worse than those which our government accepted. If our army had .been totally defeated and routed our condition could not have been worse. |