Goltz Pasha II.

This is coolbert:

Colmar von der Goltz had an established reputation even prior to World War One [WW1].

A significant military writer of repute:

"Writing career"

"From the 1870s till World War I, Baron von der Goltz was more widely read by British and American military leaders than Clausewitz. In addition to many contributions to military periodicals, he wrote . . . (The Conduct of War - - 1901); (The War in Greece - - 1898); (A Journey through Macedonia - - 1894); (Anatolian Travels - - 1896); . . . (From Jena to Eylau - - 1907)."

From Trevor Dupuy on the writings of von der Goltz:

"von der Goltz was one of a number of German military thinkers who emerged from that institution of genius - - the German General Staff - - during its heyday, under Moltke and Schlieffen. In his best known works, The Nation in Arms and The Conduct of War, he refers frequently - - if somwhat vaguely, to the theory of war and its principles."

And, had solidified his reputation as a hard-nose military governor of occupied Belgium during the early days of WW1. Authorizing "atrocity". Harsh punitive measures taken by German forces in response to the actions of franc-de-tireurs.

[see here and here for my previous blog entries on the franc-de-tireur and the German aversion to same!!]

"he [von der Goltz] dealt ruthlessly with what remained of Belgian resistance to German occupation, mostly sniper-fire [franc-de-tireurs ] and damaging rail and telegraph lines . . . in early September 1914, the newly appointed Goltz proclaimed: 'It is the stern necessity of war that the punishment for hostile acts falls not only on the guilty, but on the innocent as well.' . . . 'In the future, villages in the vicinity of places where railway and telegraph lines are destroyed will be punished without pity (whether they are guilty or not of the acts in question) . . . hostages have been taken in all villages near the railway lines which are threatened by such attacks. Upon the first attempt to destroy lines of railway, telegraph or telephone, they will immediately be shot.'"

"The old Reich knew already how to act with firmness in the occupied areas. That’s how attempts at sabotage to the railways in Belgium were punished by Count von der Goltz. He had all the villages burnt within a radius of several kilometres, after having had all the mayors shot, the men imprisoned and the women and children evacuated." - - A. Hitler.

Hitler was an admirer of von der Goltz!!?? More later on that!

coolbert.