GENERAL GOURAUD

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 77, 24 December 1919, Page 7

GENERAL GOURAUD

FRENCH AND BRITISH IN SYRIA TRIBUTE TO THE BRITISH General Gouraud, who recently left for Syria as coniinandcr-in-chief of the French forces, and High Commissioner of the French Republic, rave a special interview to tho Paris correspondent of the "Observer." AlrhmiiMi he is now fifty-two, and bears tho marks of hw terrible wounds received in Gallinoli (liia ri(;ht arm had to bo cut off and he is slightly lame), he still looks as fresh anil young as he did when lie left Paris for Fez in 1912 before his fine yictorv over I lie Afoors. Still, his record is already a long one, for, like many officers of ihe Anglo-Indian Army, ho has iifivor coasod sin<?o he left the military school to combine war with administrative activities. ft was in 1808 tli.it his nnmo was first hwd of, when he succeeded, as a captain, in capturing the famous SudaiiMn Sultan Samory. Two vcars later ho woe in command of the district of Zinder, north of British Niceria. From 1904 to 1008 he fought in the recion of Lako Tchad. Then, in 1008. and 1309, owne his campaign in Mauritania, whon be managed with a handful of men to clear the north of I'Vench f'ndan from the Mauritanian raiders.

Tt was in 1912 tnat ho first went to Morocco. w)iaT6' he was promoted to tho rank of ffenoml after his victory ncaT Fez. Ho administered tho region of Fez. under th* leadership of Gencrnl Lvautez, l.ntil the Great War His achievements since 111-t ere better known to the public. With the exception of a few month'; in l'ie winter of 1010-17, when ho replaced Tivn'itei! in Morocco while the latter was Minister of War, he wns conKnnnJly on the Fjurnnenu front, either in Ffunce or in the Dardanelles. He eopimimdc'l the army in Champagne which broke tbo last fierman offensive on ,Tulv 15. ''HIS. unci be took a prominent pnrt in Fn"h'a offensive in Senlemb"r. When Ihe French .troops entered Strasbnre Gencrnl flouraud their head. There lie remainH until h? ( was sud'letilv i\<km\ bv M.. fllemoneoiiu I tn pecopt a now mission in tho Ee*r.

■Tie is p nraotical pnldler to the verv Hns of hi« (in"«•''. At tho same time. Hie 'pxcerHonal vn v ietv of hi' experiences hi? nrovWrt him w'th thnt snip" of rolitieil nroWems which, in the best cast*, myites a Lynulra, a Kitchener, or an Allenbv. ' The Mission to Syria. "You nro jiTOTfc" he said, "that my nrcsent mission te a vpht definite one. T am not croin? to Svriji in order to trv, to creatn in the Middle Rast a kind of French Pomininn or to establish a French liroieefnrato. Mv duty is merely to relieve the British troops in_ a certain aren, iust us wo did occasionally during the w,ir on certain parts of the front, and lo maintain order in flint area until the Peace Conference shall have settled the nolHicnl status of tho various parts of the Turkish Empire. "At the samp liin» T quite realise that puch n mission rannot. go without i>. weal: deal of nnlilieal responsibility. It is verv important, in tho first place, I'lil: the of• French forces in Oilici.a or Pvrin should not he interrupted as <i (l'p«rrHi so fl attempt to dpnrivo Hi" native nopnlatious of their viffht to eniov a' full an nntonnmv as nos.'ihlc Such "lisundorsbndinss would 1'" more •weinllv regrettable as rpsrnnle the j\folvimmedans. I know something about Tfilam. anil hone to succeed in convincing tho Mohammpdans nf fVria that Fnncp has .only one wish, n-lrch is to help them to govern themselves.

Comrades in Gallipoli. "It Is enually important thnt our relations with onV Hritish friend.-t in that nart of the world should be as nlosn and .hearty ns they wore on all the fronts flrmm? the war. As far as I (vn concerned T enn onlv pay that not only nm T confident that such a complete undcrstandinT will he easy, but that T feel personally verv pleased to again come in touch with our friends of the BnH=h Army. "I knew the English very litlle before the war. T had come acinss some fine men of Hiwrs out in Africa; for inskincp. GoP'linir ard Tioyl'l Alexander while I was at tho Tchad, i-nt thnt was not enough. Where I rcallv began to know and like them was nt the Ihrclantllps. I lwul the mo<=t nlearant reM'ons with my British colleagues oi't there, more especially with Svr-lan Hamilton, with General TTunter-AVeston. who commanded the three British divisions in Ciallipoli. and with. C.eneral Eirdwood. who commnndoil the Anraes. I found them all thorough gentlemen and fine men (the general used the; word Ires chics). Wo were nil. so to sneak, in f'P same boat, and soon learned to he , " each other in evpry po c s ; ble way. J lent them mv 75' pin return for their howitzers. They provided »s with in" , ; we gave them our ninnrd (wine). We fought hand in hand, and T eimo semi M liuve the ETcat.-'st rego.rd for the British rank am? file as well as for their commanding officers.

On the Western Front. "Later on the Western front, I had the same pleasure each tirao I hf.d an opportunity of tiiccting them ami seeing what they wero doing. I hope you will not consider it .1 weakness when I say that 1 was proud to receive the Granu Cross of St. Michael and St. George at tho hands of Princo Arthur of Connauriit in litlG. That samo year Sir Douglas Ilaig was kind enough' to invite me to spend a few days at the British front; I was entertained by General Uawlinson, and ju-,1 missed General Allen by, who was away in England, \\ihen I was given a most hearty reception at his headquarters. I saw the Soniinc, and, had I failed to realise then tvltnt. the British Army wore doing, 1 would have scon it with my own eyes when 1 fcvd to fijrht side by sido with some British divisions during tho summer of last year. Not only have I a warm admiration for their achievements, but my experience lias always been that you only need to look an Englishman straight in the face to ..find ihim the truest of men.

"Twenty years of colonial warfare {jive mo more especially tho right to say that their campaign in Palestine last year was one of tho finest pieces of work I ever heard of. I hope I shall soon have an opportunity of meeting Field-Marshal Allenby, whom I do not yet know personally. 1 fool oouvinced that wo will establish between ourselves tho most hearty co-operation, for thn interests of both countries in tho Middle Kast are to my mind entirely common, and there, more than anywhere else, we must both behavo as if wo still flood shoulder to shoulder on tho rock of Gallipoli.