SENSATIONAL DISCLOSURES

Hokitika Guardian, 7 February 1929, Page 7

SENSATIONAL DISCLOSURES

BY M. POINCARE. the fleeing armies UK 1914. .JOFFRK’S STAFF FAILURE. Remarkable war disclosures nit! made in tin; lilLli volume of the memories ol .M. Poincare, which lias just been published in Pans. Tim volume covers tin* early months ol the war, ami is indispensable for their study and comprehension, whether irom the political or military standpoint, while it is fuli of striking, persona! touches. it explains much that was hitherto obscure in the .'French strategy, and it shows that the President of the (Republic. (which high and responsible position .M.. Poincare then filled) was systematically kept in tile dark by the French staff. The references to Great Britain and the British troops are without exception gem rous and even enthusiastic. It was not with a light heart that M. Poincare found France at war: <s .We lacked heavy artillery; the Chamber’s delay in voting the loan and the special credits for which the Government had asked had retarded the reorganisation of, our military equipment. We had our 4,090 field guns . . . but they had the defect of only firing with a flat trajectory, and could not, like the German howitzers, conceal themselves behind the crest of hills and with their highangle fire search a terrain that was invisible to the gunners. We had only 300 heavy guns. . . The Germans had bOOO field guns, 1/500 light howitzers, and 2000 heavy howitzers, long-range guns, and large mortars.” Tin' French army, in fact, was badly equipped for a great war. FAILURE OF THE STAFF. It is quite clear that AT. Poincare had no faith whatever in the 'French plan of campaign, and that lie deeply regretted the failure of the French staff to give swift aid to Belgium when Liege was attacked: “The staff, he writes, judged that it was impossible to attempt anything. This involuntary descr! ion plunged us—Viviani (Premier), lVP’ssimy (War Minister), and myself—in deep despair. But we did not feei authorised to impose our will upon the command in a question which was strictly military, and we resigned ourselves to the, inevitable.” Joffre, unfortunately, was entirely wrong as to the German plans; and if soon became clear to the French President that things were not going well for France, though he was told litth* or nothing of what was happening. Whatever happened, Joffre we« ready with assurances that it was all for the best. What dreams he entertained are here revealed: “We are accentuating our offensive in the East” (writes M. Poincare on August 17, 1914). “Headquarters are preparing for the investment of Metz which is guarded, so they believe, by only a single army corps. They hope' also to penetrate into Alsace between Sarrobougr and Strasbourg.”

EIGHT CORPS IN FLIGHT. Already the Belgians were complaining bitterly of being left in the lurch: One must admit, says M. Poincare, that appearances give some justification to such reproaches. . . H is regrettable that in presence of the swift invasion of Belgium the exe-u----tion of our concentration kept us so long without our northern frontier. M. Poincare was still waiting for information about this “war in the dark” (as he calls it) from Joil're when Telegrams arrived which stated that, according lo the German Staff communiques, eight French army corps were in flight between Mel'/, and the Vosges, leaving in the hands :>f the Germans 10,000 prisoners and ■'>() , rnnSt . . It is intolerable that we am reduced to ignorance of the actual result of battles on which depends the existence of France. There were other astounding incidents. General <PAmndc and a whole French army of Territorials disappeared, and were afterwards Imind miserable equipped in another part of the country. Lille was evacuated hurriedly and great stores of munitions were' abandoned there. A telephone

measure came in from the great iown of Nancy: “By superior orders, officials are leaving Nancy for Paris’.” Who had given these orders, what did this departure mean I sent to the Ministry of War. They knew nothing there, except that Nancy no longer answered on the telephone. Both from that Ministry and from the 'Ely,see we repeatedly called the place up. In \ain. There was the silence of death. THE ADMIRABLE BRITISH. For the IBritish troops in these dreadful hours of dismay and confusion the author has warm praise: The- British -Army showed admirable military qualities, good d’scipline, courage, physical and ime-al soundness, hut its right was left exposed by the retreat of our oth :\*"nv. It, was perhaps as well for the Allies that the secret report which JolFiv made to the (French Government to explain his defeats was not disclosed at the time. Tie wrote: 1 am compelled to act in the evidence which f have. Our army corps, notwithstanding the numerical superiority which had been assured them, have not shown in open country those offensive qualities which their partial successes at the outset led us to* expect. . . We are, therefore, condemned to a defensive, supported by our fortresses and physical obstacles, yielding as little territory as possible. M. Poincare tells us that most of the Ministers were “filled with consternation” at these disclosures, as well they might he. In this tragic moment that future leader of France. M. Clemenceau, lost all self-control. M. Viviani, the Prime Minister, described an interview with him thus: I found him in a state of furious exasperation. “No, no,” he told me, “don’t count on me. In a fortnight von will he torn to pieces. No, I won’t have any part in it. But you are the victim of the Jesuits. Is that Cnstolnau who is the cause of the defeats in Lorraine. An end must be put to that.” After this outbreak o.f passionate words Clemenceau dissolved into tears, and, suddenly humanised by bis sorrow, flung himself into my arms. But be still refused to ‘promise me bis support. With M. Poincare be bad another scene, in which, after enduring n storm of abuse from him, M. Poincare had to tell him, “You are off your head.” But as the author nol lv adds, M. Clemenceau was the one man who, when all seemed lost, Was capable of saving everything, as his afterhistory proved. SHOUT AGE OF AMMUNITION. We are now informed that the withdrawal of the French Government to Bordeaux was due to Jofi're’s insistence and indeed to his belief that ihc Germans were going to take Paris. The battle of the Marne brought a great improvement in the position, but a now source of alarm arose almost at once: Headquarters continued to issue dailv bulletins of such an extravagant optimism that, if the War Minister bad not very wisely corrected them and toned them down, publci opinion would have been nourished day after day on new illusions. The War Minister was further pro-occupied hy the state of our artillery and munitions. . . . Wo have only (on Sept. 19. 1914) enough field gun ammunition for one month. The effect of this was quickly felt in the check of the Allied offensive: and toned them down, public opinion fon Oct. 1) that the necessity of sparing field gun ammunition lias compelled him to renounce the offensive at several points. The French and British, not the Germans, were being besieged: and the Allies had as yet none of the apparatus I'of a trench war.

THE KING’S ACTION. Among the many interesting facts contained in the later pages is the King’s account to 51. Poincare of his attitude on Hie outbreak of war: 1 was always .of opinion, lie said, that England must act against Germany if Germany declared war on France. But when you wrote to me (on July Jl, 1914) on this matter, I was forced to answer you with rotservo because ,m.v Government had not then made up its mind, and British feeling was not ready lor intervention. I told Grey: “It is uitir business to give the country in! trntation ; you can surely make it understand that England cannot stand aside from the conflict.” In actual fact Grey was able without difficulty t.o open the eyes of the immense majority of the English. There is repealed reference to tin disgraceful outrages committed h\ certain of the German troops, in kill ing French civilians and wantonly d<* stroying private property without military excuse. They fell savagely 0,1 M. Poincare’s belongings. A report from Jotf.ro on October 0, 191-1. states:

Some time ago they violated the family vault of the President at Nubecniirt, and yesterday front near Ri. Mill'd they have oxen ted a s/sl-mi alie long-range fire against the P'r-’ott id nroperty of the President at R.intjnignv. No military treason justified the choice of litis oh : eetiv-e. Tim prod is in be found in Otis, that only He President’s house has suffered. Fads such ns this are of ’inner' mice in view of the latest- Gorman r< nnraiion demands, and should not I" overlooked for a moment.