GENERAL JOFFRE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2340, 23 December 1914, Page 6

GENERAL JOFFRE

STUDY OF THE SCIENTIFIC SOLDIER CHANGED ART OF WARFARE Someone declared that Joffre, is of tile school of Napoleon. It is. in tho °Puiion of the Bordeaux correspondent of "The Times," a generalisation no more accurate than other generalisations. Nothing, he' adds, could be further from the- wars of Napoleon than the great battles on the Marne, on the Aisne, and now in the North. In themselves they do not present anything like the tactical interest of those examples of military skill of a hundred years ago. And the aeroplane is responsible. It sees everything from its elevated vantage point; from it nothing is hidden. It looks behind the screen of cavalry masking tho enemy's front; it sees troops on the march or being carried in trains; it notes the numbers of Army Corps, tho proportion of the different arms, and all tho details of a vast.machine.

Thus the art of war has been robbed of that element of surprise which aft'orded Napoleon dramatic 1 opportunity for the display of his genius. His object was to discover the weak spot jn the enemy's lines, and, having discovered it, to hurl upon it, all the forces at his command. His success depended upon the speed and sureuess with which the great blow coula be struck. A premature revelation would havo spoiled 1 all. But a coup of the sort is no longer possible, for a manoeuvre on the one side is met, instantly, by a manoeuvre on the other. War now consists in a series of parallel movements; its art has changed. It would be scarcely an exaggeration to say t hat it does not exist The two armies turn about cach other like boxers in the preliminary phase 3 of a fight. They pivot clumsily to catch each other at a disadvantage, and that is practically all tho art of it.

_ The' rest is a ding-dong battle of resistance, of marching and countermarching. Anything less like Napoleon's way of making war it would bo difficult to imagine. It is like playing bridge witli your opponent looking over your shoulder. Ho knows when you are'finessing and when you are playing for an opening. In those conditions, how is it possible to gain a brilliant victory by , great crushing blows, a having calculated tho . "psychological moment"? This is as far from present realities as Napoleon's canter on his white horse along the line on the eve of battle on a visit to the outposts. You could not imagino Joffre cantering from Dunkirk to Belfort before breakfast at the moment of beginning the battle ylich lasts weeks and not merely a single.day.

Thus all the conditions of warfare have ohanged, and with them the mentality . and methods of commanders. Joffre is rarely seen on horseback'; but he has much 1 the figure of the Corsican— short and stout, and giving the impression of power. He spends a. part of each day in a long, low, rapid motorcar visiting tho lines. It is impossible to visit all the points—much' must bo left to tho corps commander after the general plan is settled; this robs a generalissimo of porsonal contact with his troops; he is more er less unknown to them,, and Joffre probably has to show papers to his sentries. He wears out two' chauffeurs a day in his rush from point to point. Horror of "Reclame." But beyond that Joffre must hold the wires in. this tremendous system. You have to imagine him passing long hours in an unpretentious room with a receiver to his ear. His assistant generals bend over maps and examine attentively tho lie of the country; but Joffre has no neoH of that: rivers, mountains, valleys 'are engraved deeply in his brain. His chief characteristic is calmness. He is as calm in war as in peace. And that quality has bred confidence. He has confidence in himself, and has given confidence to others. His staff never for a moment doubts his capacity to win, and that conviction has percolated through to the masses of the troops. It has made • him popular, though he has done nothing to engender that; on the contrary, ho eschews popularity. He lives apart from Press "reclame"; he does not seek it, and dislikes it. To those who attack him and to those who defend him lie shows an equal indifference. Junior officers sometimes take up the cudgels for him in a newspaper—for Joffre has made enemies like most strong men—but he disregards their good offices just as he disregards criticism. _ None can say that he owes his promotion to having defended Joffre. Military merit is the only quality lecognised by the generalissimo. But if he appears to take no notice of. attacks, _ particularly in the popular Press, he ,s nono tho less very open to jdeisj and .listens attentively when a likely plan is presented to him. He knows how to combine t'he best in his own and other people's projects. He is modest as he is unassuming. His readiness to accept suggestion has fostered the belief that he is an adapter and organiser rather than strategist. Ho is both. His campaigns show the soldier as well as the engineer and organiser. But his great maxim is that in war nothiug cau be improvised. Every detail must be thought out; that marks his superiority over other modern commanders. A long preparation has gono to each success. He succeeds because he takes the infinite trouble necesary to secure it. His achievement' is the formation of the General Staff. He has broughttogether the best military brains in France and co-ordinated and controlled their efforts. Ho had exorcised politics, that bane of the French Army.' It is the moro to his credit, for his own political opinions are opposed to those of his chief coadjutors. A Republican and Freemason, he is surrounded by men who are Catholic and disposed to cavil at the present Constitution ; but it makes no difference to his appreciation of them. His chief confidence is given to Generals Pan and de Castlcnau, neither of whom belongs to his school of politics; and when he arrived at power—on Pail's recommendation to the War Council—iip soon showed that politics meant nothing to him ; his advent as Commander-in-Chief was followed by the departure of the "Parliamentary soldiers," who should liover have been drawn from their natural obsetorky.