GOD OF THE BRITISH WAR MACHINE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2945, 4 December 1916, Page 5

GOD OF THE BRITISH WAR MACHINE

SIR WILLIAM ROBERTSON

1 A MAN FROM THE RANKS

i Associated with Sir Douglas Haig.in |«o many ways, Sir. AVilliam Robertson, his junior in age by one year--he is fifty-six years of age—has yet another, and earlier link with the Commander-in-Chief : they aro bracketed 'as two of the ablest graduates of the Staff College. The discovery of Sir William Robertson is one of the great and outstanding romances of the war. And yet he is not really a "war" discovery. Before the war came the present Chief of the Imperial General Staff—) "Wully," as the Scots soldiers call him—was already marked down in military circles as a rnan predestined for high office and great' responsibilities. His associates knew him for ono of the .most earnest and advanced students of the problems of modern warfare in tho whole of the British Army. This fact, indeed, 'had official recognition in 1910, when he was appointed.. Head of the Staff College, through which he had passed in 1898, That was indeed a dramatis, advancement for the man who had entered the British Army as a private soldier in its ranks. At the Staff College Sir William Robertson's lectures wero regarded as models of soldierly precision and simplicity of thought. Study for the moro acquisition of information, indulgence in hair-splitting dialectics—these things he swept aside as so much waste of time for men concerned with the serious business of killing, and concentrated on the teaching of war rather than on its theory. He was an ideal teacher for the officers of that old 'Army whoso traditions are being so brilliantly carried on to-day by the not less gallant officers of the nower organisations. Probably never in the whole of our history has there been a soldier of equal eminence to Sir William Robertson who is so little known to the mass of his fellow-countrymen. "Who's Who" gives him a quarter of a column of small type, but that is all compact of details of service and achievement. Reams have been written' about lesser men; but, notwithstanding this lack of publicity, tho publio has long been aware; in a sub-conscious sort-of way, of the enormous influence of this untiring worker, well out of the range of the limelight, in securing the welfare and assuring tho victory' of our forces in the field. ] Genius for Organisation. . Organisation is a passion with.Sir Wiliam Robertson. Ho has a genius for 'it. He knows- the Army in all its branches, because he has served in tho Army in. all its branches. Transport he knows, and Intelligence. He understands tho men in the lanks because he started his military career as ono of them. He knows the commissioned officers equally well, because he has trained them at the Staff College and watched their work while tbey were Under his command in other 6pheres. Thero is ono thing that may be said of Sir AVilliam Robertson, that whoever else tho war found unprepared ho was ready. The task of organising and equipping the vast armies that sprang so magically into being left him undismayed. _ Even in thoso days his was the brain that planned, the hand that tashioned, many of the influences which are now giving us success. Red tape for him existed only to be cut. Efficiency was his watchword. Many great things are due to him to-day, and not tho least of these is the fact that our armies are bettor fed ancrtefcter looked after thain any other Army that has ever taken tho field. To-day Sir William Robertson, who 'during the earlier period of tho war waß Chief of Staff in Franco, sits in his room at tho 'War Office directing tho work of five million British soldiers on all. our battlefields and in grounds at homo: His is the intelligence that foresees, tho mind that plans, the hand that controls. It is a tremendous responsibility—a position calling for a higher talent of organisation, a more scientific knowledge of the art of warfare, than has ever previously been demanded of any soldier in a like case. Questioned as to the nationality of tho Chief of the Imperial General Staff, the man in tho street would probably hazard a lucky shot with "Scottish." This, however, is not tho case. Sir AVilliam Robertson, of Scottish extraction, is a native of tho Lincdlhshiro village of AVelbourn. His education in its early stages was acquired at a private school.' Study was a passion with him, and in his early days in the 'Army practically the whole of his scant pay was expended upon the purchase of books. Gifted with a remarkable memory, the acquisition of languages was to him a matter of comparative ease. India afforded him' his first opportunity in this regard. To acquire a knowledge of the .languages of the north-west tribes' ho engaged a teacher to instruct him at so much a lesson. Thus when the Afridis rebelled his knowledge of the Afridi language mado him invaluable in a Staff position. His interest in tho study of languages, however, did not cease with tho close of his career in India. It is said—one does not know with what amount of truth—that when lie wanted to learn French he had a list of a thousand words made out and memorised them when he was walking, riding, or dressing—this, of course, merely as a groundwork on which to enable a teacher to begin his instruction. "No Nonsense About Him." _ In tho South African War Sir AVilliam Robertson had a brilliant career. In a Staff position of great importance he won new distinctions in a campaign which was notoriously the gravo of established reputations. Upon his shoulders most of the work of organisation devolved in that land, of vast distances, j So far as the public was concerned it ! was work that went unrecognised; so far as tho Army was concerned it was work which helped in no small measure to make victory secure. All through his career there has been no looking back for Sir William Robertson. He has gone steadily on from success to success. A Spartan simplicity characterises the office in which to-day he is directing tho operations of our vast and victorious armies. The most comploto sympathy and confidence exist between Sir AVilliam Robertson and the Com-mander-in-Chief in the Field. Both will withstand the politicians whose interference has caused the loss of thousands of British lives in France, in tho Dardanelles, and in Mesopotamia. The problems of one man are thoroughly understood by the other. For our successes they are jointly responsible. Like Sir Douglas Haig, the Chief of the General Staff is also sparing with words. Like him again, his working dav goes all round the clock. His personality is an attractive ono, Mid for tho highest tributes to his efficiency one has to go to those with whomho is in close and immediate association. "There is," says one, "no nonsense about him; he will not bo drawn off into immaterial or irrelevant discussions." Another associate gives his distinguishing characteristic in two words—"Common-sense."