The Dominion WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1917. MARSHAL JOFFRE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2966, 3 January 1917, Page 4

The Dominion WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1917. MARSHAL JOFFRE

Tee announcement, which was made yesterday that. Marshal Joitke is to start immediately on a long vacation possibly means that he will not henceforth take any leading part in the conduct of. the war, and that in fact he is relieved of the heavy responsibilities he has carried with' so much honour and distinction since hostilities opened. In some respects the circumstances under which tho Frenchhigh command has been reorganised are a matter-of conjecture. Important readjustments have, been , made, involving perhaps some transfer of 1 authority from soldiers to politi- : ciins, but we know comparatively little about the precise nature and scope of the changes that have been carried out. There is, however, not the slightest room for doubt or uncertainty as to the services Marshal Jofpre has rendered to France and the Entente, or as to. the debb of gratitude he has laid upon every Entente country. It 'is possible that at the stage now reached France has commanders even better able than Marshal Jotfeb to make effective use of the gigantic forces the war has called into being, but if this be so it would-be blacfc ingratitude not to recognise that ho is the man of all men who made it possible to bring these forces into play. When the history of this war comes to be written, many honourable pages will be devoted to the men who met its first , and all but impossible demands. Tens o£. thousands of these men are nameless heroes who-played a-private soldier's part, or something little more distinguished, in stemming the initial onset of the German legions. Others are known and individually honoured, and of them all Marshal JoFifRE is unquestionably first and chief. He bore without failing the greatest burden of all in the days wheu tho Allied armies fought at desperate odds on stricken fields, sustained only by their valour and sense of duty. General Joffre, as he was then,' took up tho burden of command at a time when, failure would have connoted irretrievable disaster .— disaster involving the destruction of all that is best iu civilisation and the substitution in its place of tho barbarous domination of Jhe modern Huns. He was handicapped by a poverty of material resources in comparison with the enemy which now in. retrospect makes it seem almost miraculous that he did not fail. Yet, witn a better knowledge and realisation of hie handicap than any other living man, he did not fail. Instead, he achieved the apparently impossible, and to him above all others it is due that the men who died in the dark days when victory was very far away did not die in vain. Later times must determine how near the Allies approached, under Marshal Jofkre's leadership, to complete and final victory, but we know already thai his retirement..if he has finally retired, occurs at a time whon the Allies have loug passed tho turning point in the war and Germany is .definitely and assuredly on the road to defeat. Possibly the ultimate verdict of history will be that the war was lost and won at the Battle of tho Marno, when Joefre's well-planned stroke sent the Germans reeling back in a. defeat which they have never retrieved. At all events ho did not lay down his supreme command untii tho Germans had made and lost their last desperate throw, at Verdun, and had been taught,, on the Sommc and at Verdun, dfcit safety is no longer to be found in the most elaborate defences. Undoubtedly the greatest achievement of the war is that of the Western Allies in first stemming the German invasion, then continuously holding the better half of tho German army, and latterly much more than half its total strength, and in recent times subjecting it to such defeats as make its ultimate fate certain. It is an achievement which has mado it pos•siblo for Eussia also to pass through defeat to victory, and created a future for thoso smaller States whose lot is cast with the Entente which will recompense their sacrifices and privations. To the extent that a supreme commander is responsible for military achievement, fame and credit for this achievement belong to Marshal Joffre. He was the leader and representative of the heroic legions who triumphed over all that seemed hopeless in the critical early days of the war and set tho Entente on tho certain road to victory. There are.military reputations in history which glitter moro showily than that of Marshal Joi'fre, and possibly such reputations may be born in this war before it ends. But, looking uJ. i.hc {acts of the war, it seems impossible to believe that any soldier has over carried a heavier burden or more absolutely justified the* trust that was reposed in him' by his own country and its Allies. No. man with a sense of justice will seek do diminish the credit of tho commanders who are carrying on with' bril-

liiint promise the work that Marshal Jom:B has laid down. But it must be recognised also that Joffub's sure and steadfast genius did much to creato tho conditions which enabled these later leaders to develop and display their gifts. A war like the present is bound to produce brilliant graduates in the military art, and not a' few of tho men wlio have lately come into merited prominence in the Allied higher commands were of comparatively humble rank when the war began. But these developments enhance, in stead of impairing, the reputation of the great commander who averted disaster and pioneered and broke the road to victory. If Jora'Uß and his colleagues who met with him the first and most onerous demands of the war had failed, not only would the brilliant commanders who .ire now coming to the fore have been denied their but tho wonderful riso in tho military power of the Entente which is still proceeding apace would never have been witnessed. On theso facts and ou tho achievements which have mado them facts Marshal, Jofehe's fame and reputation have a rockfirm foundation. The deep regard earned in his own and Alhed_ countries by his unexampled scrvices as a military leador is intensified by tho knowledge that with his greatness he mingles amiable human qualities in which men-of note are often lacking. The unassuming simplicity of his family life and his kindly relations with his soldiers, who have gifen him the affectionate sobriquet of "Papa" JoraiE, constitute a noble background to the great work ho has done for France and for humanity. Hβ is of a typo much rarer in modern times than it was in Rome in its days of republican grandeur. France has already conTerrecr .signal (honours upon her great commander, and no doubt further honours from Franco and from fcho Allies are in store. But such a. inan as Marshal Joffre ' stands in little need of formal honours and deHis greatness is fully evident in his character and achievements. •