GENERAL ALEXEIEFF

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2664, 8 January 1916, Page 3

GENERAL ALEXEIEFF

■ 1 9 ". . SKETCH OF THE RUSSIAN CHIEF OF.STAFF MISTAKEN POLICY OF ANONYMITY Travelling between Headquarters and the armies in the field, writes the Petro- . grad correspondent- of "The-Time's," ono , meets many officers fresh from the trenches and with months of active service at various points of the front. At Headquarters one : obtains . a concentrated impressitfc "of what: ; the - Army .thinks. A /comparison 1 of tlio :Hea'dquarters version'with individual conversations enables one , within a tew days to,obtain a. fairly accurate notion ..of how tho Army looks on the events occurring, within and without the sphere of military operations. , The most importantpoint is what the Army thinks about its new chiefs, and particularly about tho' soldier who is at present the now Chief of Staff to the supreme Generalissimo. Without a single dissentient voice the Tsar's Army acclaims tho choice' which ; fell upon General, Alexeieff. It could-noli well bo otherwise. He is a soldier iii the-fullest and-truest sense of tho word. The son of a humble sergeant, lie has risen by sheer merit to the, highest postin tho. Tsar's armies. .General' Alexeieff shows his greatness not only' by his general grasp 'in matters of statecraft a. : well as strategy, but' also by 'tho immutable calm and simplicity which never forsake him. » [The severest ordeals that have befallen any during the war have been bom by him unflinchingly. As oniflf or Stall iu Ueneral Ivanoff's group, and then as Commander-in-Chief (if tho north-western group, where ho had /under his direct command nine out of twelve ol the Russian armies, ho was directly concerned in the carrying out .of the invasion of Galicia, and afterwards in the'retreat from Warsaw, which (in Ms own words) was "tho most sanguinary episode in this, war." , .Lastly, as chief of the Headquarters Staff, lie led the armies to safety.'from Vilna. Despite" his heavj responsibilities and the exalted rank that has-fallen to his lot, General Alexeielf remains absolutely unchanged I had not seem Fim for over 11 years, and was delighted to find chat he had not aged end that he retained all the simplicity and charm of manner- which distinguished hiin when he was a professor of the Russian Staff Academy. My conversations with officers on thu journey had suggested several topics which, proved to-he. touchstones of the ontire unity of thought between tho combatants and the Chief of Staff. Nothing has been so much deplored by the Army and the nation as the impenetrable veil of mystery that prevents all knowledge of what the indindals composing the _ Army hav& done or are doing. This is to bo changed., "You are quite • right," lie told me. j "This policy of anonymity is to a large extent unjustifiablo. A hundred and 0110 things could be safely disclosed without giving the enemy any information that they do not already possess. We aro unnecessarily deprived in .the Army of a precious bond of union with the nation/' The feeling towards the Allies was never warmer than at present. Some of tho younger officers who were, formerly deceived by. German legends had displayed some dissatisfaction, but even they have now been taught by experience to bo careful about accepting tales spread by German agents with the purpose of' sowing suspicion between the Allies. I- happened to be tlip only civilian among a largo company wlion tho news camo that Lord Kitchener was going to the Eastern front. Tho exclamation of approval from officers of all ranks indicated their high estoem of the British Minister and of our Army. I have every reason to believe thai this incident reflects the profound confidence of the Russians m their Allies.