Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 83, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 April 1919 — Von Mackensen Planned Escape [ARTICLE]

Von Mackensen Planned Escape

Interned in Hungary Upon Allies’ Demands, His Guards Were Friendly. FOILED BY ALERT OFFICER French Lieutenant Cuts Wires and Entertains Guard Officer Until Cavalry Arrive*—Marshal is Furious at Being Balked. Paris. —From one of the French offi■cers concerned in the affair a New York World correspondent obtained the hitherto unpublished story of the extraordinary capture of the German Yield Marshal von Mackensen, at present a prisoner in a chateau near Temesvar, Hungary, belonging to Count Chotek. Under the terms of the armistice signed with Austria-Hungary the allies insisted that Mackensen and his entire army, which had fled from Roumanla to Hungary In a vain effort to reach Germany, should be interned by the Hungarians. The marshal himself was quartered In the castle of Foth. Toward the end of December, learning that Mackensen was planning to escape to Germany. Colonel Vlx, commanding the French mission In Budapest. applied to French headquarters In Belgrade for permission to place him under arrest and for the force necessary to accomplish this end. Meanwhile he surrounded the castle of Foth with French secret agents. From the latter came reports that Mackensen *s baggage had already been sent off and that the marshal himself Intended to get away in an automobile at five o’clock the next afternoon, December 31. Cuts Telephone Wire*. Colonel Vlx immediately dispatched Lieutenant Genevrler, an exceptionally able intelligence officer, to Foth by motor. The lieutenant reached his destination in the night and immediately cut all the telephone wires connecting the castle with the outside world. Thus Mackensen was unable to communicate with his general staff and the other elements of his army. Mis isolation, however, was not discovered until qp hour or so before the time set for his departure next day. Mackensen wanted to send a final message to his staff. When he found the telephone “out of order” he decided to wait in the chateau until communication could be re-established. This was extremely fortunate for Lieutenant Genevrler, for the reenforcements, without which the arrest could not be carried out, had not yet arrived. Four squadrons of Spahl cavalry were on their way by train from Belgrade, but there were unforeseen delays, and at five o’clock in the afternoon —the hour of Mackensen’s intended flight—the lieutenant had no news of them. Moreover, the cutting of the telephone wires might be de-

tected at any moment, and such a discovery would impel Mackensen ’ to leave at once. The marshal was nominally In the custody of. Hungary, but the Hungarian guards posted at the chateau were favorably disposed toward him and quite ready to see him get away. Genevrler knew’ that the officer commanding these guards suspected the presence In the vicinity of French agents, and that if he heard of Mackensen’s trouble with the telephone he would Immediately deduce that the Frenchmen were the cause of It. The lieutenant therefore determined to entice the Hungarian commander away from the guardroom on the outskirts of the chateau. Marshal I* Peeved. While he was regaling Mackensen’s jatler-ally in the village inn with tales of that dear Paree which In bygone years the latter had known and adored, Lieutenant Genevrier heard the sound of galloping hoofs. He went to the door and saw the Spahis charging up to the chateau of Foth. Point-

Ing them out to his chagrined companion, he exclaimed. "My job is done r and hurried out to join the trooper*. Colonel Guespereau, who commanded the cavalry forces, entered the chateau and demanded to see Mackensen. The marshal, furious at having been outmaneuvered, sent back a flat refusal. A Guespereau satd quietly: “Tell him unless he consents to see me immediately I shall have my Spahis break down the door of his room." Mackensen gave In and received the colonel forthwith. The Frenchman saluted him and said: “Sir, you are my prisoner. I have called on you merely to asanre myself that you were here. That 18 all.” “I understand,” the Field Marshal replied in low tones. A week later he was removed in a special train to the Chotek chateau, where he will remain interned until the conclusion of peace.