GENERAL JOFFRE'S OPINION.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 November 1916, Page 3

GENERAL JOFFRE'S OPINION.

DECISIVE PHASE OF WAR. MESSAGE TO AUSTRALIA ftn interview with General Joil're has been cabled to the Sydney Sun by its special representative. "His oilice is a pleasant room, 30ft by 20ft, in a small chateau some miles behind the line," the correspondent wrote. f 'He sat St a small table, with a few typewritten reports before him. Another large table was covered with maps, whilst closely detailed maps were on the walls. Easy chairs were noticeably absent, yet the room, though simple, was not severe. General Joffrc's chairs commanded a view of a peaceful little wood. The General's mood was one of quiet meditation. He had been caught between two of his rapid visits to widelyseparated parts of the front. He relaxed his rule never to grant interviews or to make statements, only after I had urged that Australia's mind was at present concentrated upon the western front . He protested that he never had granted an interview, but this, he said, perhaps might be done as it was for Australia, and Australians had won his heart.

"Say," he said ,"that we are in the decisive phase of the war. This phase will continue for some time, and its duration can. be shortened only by bringing into MT motion the whole resources of the Allied nations. "British troops have played ah important role in all theatres where they have been engaged, and amongst them the Australian divisions have taken in all combats of the last 18 months a glorious part. Their splendid devotion in Gallipoli had won them renown, and caused them to be welcomed in France with the sympathy and admiration of all the French. I have taken every opportunity of seeing them, and each time I have been struck by the magnificent bearing of your soldiers, winch shows their martial spirit and the confidence which animates them. Moreover, since their arrival on our front the enemy has learned to dread their valor, their'keen spirit of enterprise, and their contempt of danger. Their entry into the great Franco-British offensive on the Somme was marked by successes as swift as they were extensive. These young divisions have from the very first ranked themselves as equate with their glorious elders, both French and British. Good blood cannot lie.

"We've fought for more than two years," said Joffre. "May I then say that these magnificent soldiers of Anzac can become an important factor in the final victory and the hastening of its arrival if Australia, whence they spring, works without delay to ensure the keeping up of their effectives and increase their units. "France has borne from the outset a great part of the weight of the common war. She has willingly endured great sacrifices. She is resolved to consecrate to the very end all her living and material forces to the great task. "I am convinced, for my part, that your fellow-countrymen will follow her example without hesitation; that they will not like to leave to others the task, and glory of avenging their dead, and that they will be eager to take every part that belongs to them in the final] triumph." Jofi're had spoken deliberately, with serious face, and cool, courteous voice, like an earnest soldier, commanding a situation. It was to-day's mood of the serious resolution of France.