BRUSILOFF

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2860, 26 August 1916, Page 7

BRUSILOFF

RUSSIA'S GREAT GENERAL

(Hamilton Fyfe, in the "Daily Mail.")

General Alexis Brusiloff is sixtythree, only t-tvo years youuger than General Ivnnofr, whom he succeeded recently in the chief command upon Russia's south-western front. In everything but fact there is twenty years' difference between the two men. I vanoft' is big, slow-moving, old-fashioned in his views. Brusiloff is spare, alert, modern. As 1 sat and talked to him in the bare room from which he directs the, operations of one of the three groups .into which the Russian armies are divided, I felt at once that his rnind worked quickly, that he is foi never-ceasing "push and ao," that he is first, last, and all tho time a man of action. His face, tells this. Dark, steady, searching eyes and a, nose with a high commanding, curved bridge givo him the look of an eagle. No pale oast \of thought here. Xo student 01 professor, this. Firm chin, vigorous jaw-line. When this man begins a tnf-'k lie will carry it through to the end, as he carried his Carpathians campaign, it was he who overcame all the difficuk ties of that surprising adventure. Spite of winter, spite of deep snows and terrible cold, he pushed on till he had won the whole ridge of the mountains and was ready to push his troops down into Hungary. 'Sever before, I believe, has an army taken prisoners to the number o[ twice its own strength. General Brusiloff's army averaged about 180,000. It never'exceeded 200,000. At times it dropped as low as 100,000. He captured in. all ."00,000 Germans and Austrians, with 400 guns. "And how many machine gnns?" I asked him. "1 forget. Thousands," ha replied.

"Keep Hitting." His success lie attributes to the courago of liis troops and to the policy which ho followed of never giving the enemy any rest. "The best strategy and the most successful tactics lie in attack," he told me. "Don't let the enemy choose where he will hit you. Hit him first; keep on hitting him. Give him no rest." The general's closecropped, stubbly liair seemed to bristle as lie spoke. His longish but thin and littlc-notiecd grey moustache quivered. "Yes, that is the way. Always attack. Evon if ho, is stronger, attack him. Keep him guessing. Puzzle him. Make him wonder what yon are up to." "Hut that means heavy losses!' "No, no, not if your attack succeeds. Attacks which fail, dike the German attacks at Verdim, aro terribly expensive. But successful attacks cost very little. If.only wo had had munitions this time last year. ..." He shook his head regretfully. Ho halfclosed his eyes.' He could see again the dim vista of the plains of Hungary, upon which he looked down from the Carpathian crests. He was thinking of what might have beon. . . •. But men of action do not give way to futile regret. / "Now it is different," lie Raid briskly. "We havo abundance of everything, as you havo seeu for yourself. Wo aro ready, and we shall be very glad when ire get orders to prove it." General Ivanoff was immensely popular in this south-west command, but General Brusiloff, by his record and hia character, lias already, I think, inspired more confidence. In almost every way the two men are ouriously unlike. They have only one thing in common, that they both belong to the regular Army and not to the General Staff. In Russia, as-in other Continental armies, staff officers are separated, usually from the very start of their career. As a rule they are given the high commands. Both Ivanoff and firusilofi' reached their positions without the aid of this valuable stcpping 7 stone, and both reached them by hard, useful work. In every other respect they are at opposite, poles.

A Contrast. lvanoff, the. sou oi a peaaant-pvoprie* tot-, has remained in essentials a peas-, ant ail his life. He lives in the sim. plest fashion. Prefers soldier':; feud to any'other. Sloeps on a soldier's truckle-bod. When lie was in command at Kicff and had a palace, to live in he furnished very plainly three small rooms and lived in these, leaving tho'rest empty 1 need hardly add, after this, that he is unmarried. He might have advanced himself by marrying a rich wire. He preferred to bo a bachelor and play his oivn hand. Modesty he carries-to an almost morbid length. One of tho censors on his stub' told mo he was quite angry because a newspaper telegram was passed praising his conduct of certain operations! A man accustomed all his lil'o to '..oiking continually, ho liked doing for himself, many things which a commander-in-chief ought to make others do. A self-made man, in short, with very fine qualities and character, but with the defects of his qualities appearing more plainly as age crept upon him. Gloneral ISrusiloi'f's career has been a:i different as possible from that of General lvanoff; therefore, His mind and temperament have developed along different lines. He is of good family, went, to the. Russian Eton (the "Pages' Corps"), and thou began life in a msiiuinnble cavalry regiment. Ability ami influence combined to make liis advancement rapid. He held many good positions, was reckoned a favourite at Court, distinguished himself as a daring, rider, encouraged cavalry officers to go in for polo and cross-country steeplechases, was popular in Petrograd society. Then camo tho war to try out the capacity and characters of men. Most of the "fashionable" soldiers went under very quickly. It was tinstudious, strictly professional type of officer which came to the iront. JJrus.'lofE is almost the only one of tho prominent social figures in the Army who has made good. - He began in 1914 as the commander of an army corps. Soon he had an arm.i under him, and his army did the. most brilliant work that has been dono by any of the combatants. Knw he has been deservedly .promoted to a still higher command, and all who have worked with him aro suro that he will win further fame. "Ho is so straightforward," one of his officers told me, "and so direct. Ho knows what ho wants, and' what he wants ho must have." In his mode of life he follows the habits of Western Europe. His interests are those of cultivated people. He talks French like a .Frenchman, and f.ays ho will learn English after the war.