PASSING HENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 307, 29 December 1930, Page 7

PASSING HENCE.

MARSHAL JOFFRE ILL.

Gangrene Set in After Leg Was

Amputated.

SHOCK FOR TRENCH PEOPLE.

(United P.A.-Electric Telegraph—Copyright)

, PARIS, December 28.

The people of France were shocked to learn that the condition of Marshal Joffre. was desperate and that, death -was only, a matter of' days. >

Marsha] Joffre forbade until now the disclosure that he ,ii . suffering from arthritis of the legs. An operation effected a temporary improvement. Five specialists. state ; _ that gangrene supervened after his right leg was. amputated.

The name of Marshal Joffre will ever be associated : with the stand made by France and her Allies against the invading German armies in the early days of the Great War, and in particular with the "miracle of the Marne." From 1911 he; had ■ held the post of Chief of the Frenqh General Staff, an appointment which implied supreme command in time of war. —■ a ■<• ' •

Distinguished for simplicity of character and remarkable for sound common sense, the marshal was known by his soldiers as : "Grand-pere Joffre." He was. Com-mander-in-chief of the French armies through the black period of the war, which began with ' the terrible defeat of the French at Charleroi, and which was followed by' the long retreat- through Mons to beyond the Marhe.

While France and Europe seemed to be in direst peril, it is said of Marshal Joffre, that he was the one man who remained cool and unflurried, and he quietly organised the "miracle of the Marne." His name will ever be enshrined in imperishable glory as "the man of the Marne."

In his. earlier years Marshal Joffre served France with distinction in China. Formosa and Madagascar - . He ranks with the. most brilliant of French soldiers.