Dear Hans,
R.T.Jones, in his introduction to the Wordsworth Poetry Library edition of the Collected Poems of Rudyard Kipling, rev. ed. 2001, p. xxxiii, observes "It is also possible that it was Kipling who first let loose the use of the word 'Huns' for Germans; at any rate he began using it as soon as the guns opened fire in 1914". He gives no reference for this remark, but it is clear that he is referring to the poem on p. 341 of that edition: 'For all we have and are', the third and fourth lines of which are: "Stand up and take the war. /The Hun is at the gate." The poem is from 1914, but I don't know about its publication history or currency.
Best wishes,
Ray
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