MOST FAMOUS FRENCH COMMANDER

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3047, 7 April 1917, Page 14

MOST FAMOUS FRENCH COMMANDER

HERO OF THE SUPREME MILITARY

"TRIUMPH

JOFFRE'S SUCCESSOR -,

.i I '--Fewpe rsonalities have been'subjected to so keen a scrutiny by. the Press J>( "'Europe .."as that to which Nivelle, -the hero of Verdun,:has been,subjected. r .The great war found him an ob-

\Y.i -soure colonel in the artillery and he is ■-riViiow'the mosti famous of the "great" .■.■-commanders.., In.'.France, the features >, ':-of Nivelle confronts -everyone in busts (■■■ ;,:•»; photographs;-;in line drawings. The SS 1 all.this glory'reflects, as the -j-aulois" observes, the flame of Ver- : ;:i.;dun, where Nivelle said of the Ger■V.,;: Lilians: "They/shall not pass I" and , v good his word; ■ '.-,■■'- Like all the French soldiers who :;-';. "have emerged to renown and high com- ; :,;-:-mand, Nivelle: is nearing - his • sixtieth - He is not racially French at all, ■'■■,".'C^SP}*?.his.-birth at Tulle-in the very .■; : ::;s(ialho department of Correze. His -y!,mother was an English woman, Louisa vsviheodora Sparrow-Penhington,- of Deal, i ; ;;v,whose father and -grandfather fought ::;■;;> -on land and sea for the British kings. , -Her Jather fought under- Wellington .;■,-; and her grandfather fell in one of, our -~;,! owni colonial, wars, having been presentS&Q % defeat of.Braddock. \ General ~', -?<i -to the London .;:;;,..; Post, has also a link,with the liter/,:::,aryv world, as 'Elizabeth Carter, the and friend of "Dr. Johnqi.son, waslis grandaunt. ~on the north •V .'!J d 6 <#'■ St ; 9 len >eiit Dane's .church in - ~;. .-the Strand is a "window placed there .-,,-. -by the -late rector in memory of Gen- , j&sl Nivelle's mother, and thither the r . ; , are now flocking to inspect 8 . register where the name ;: ; ,u tfthe grandmother of the hero of Ver- ;■;,- dun is inscribed.. , '■..'"•. i- \?;\ ~...- French, Italian, English. .•'-.., "I ] .^% t ?^ ha *-# B ' Kalians Ivfc with the ftv in -■ claiming Nivelle for their "- ??%• I s e ra »dfather soldier of First Empire, being made an of- -., .hcer and decorated - with :'■ Napoleon's -;; ,owu hand. .During the:CorsicanVltal-:-';!vian campaign, the grandfather" of. Ni-t'-s'yy™*. fe h madly in love with an ex-:',"-if,;.quisite young.girl in: Naples: Thev' : vljvere married and their first son'fell in i ':>'- ,n. V6 w . lth * llat y° m S lady in Deal. : V ?™s ,- is explained, notes:•' -. the Paris "\;K "H^ 1 '' 6 '" that -combination, of traits :;:.?:which affords a key,to the display of v^;: genius at; Verdun. His coolness, his •: -reserve, his reluctance to be bound by ,: r a_ out-and-dried "plan" of campaign, ,{,,, his spirit of; adventure, these traits ;:•■:,i are from that young lady, of : ' : 'i-!Jeal, who brought him up with sever-■i-H-A^ :a ? d taught him to'speak English. x ■ ° fle . also s a w to it that' he. avoide'd the -..-.;,; habit of. smoking and acquired the :;; -practice of bathing incold;water. From ■ -£ ' 2£ r > :to ?> derives _his large.grey eyes. -:.;; :The regularity of his features, the fer- - ■'■ P±? 1 hls . intelJe ct in "conceptions"- ■■:*•,? and the swiftness with which he de- -)-,.; vises..expedients, these, the . French S;..paper.admits, are Italian., He has V;.; likewise the Italian facility in convey-, :.:;r,ing-intimations and orders with a mere ,:-;: Vgesture." ~-:-: ; W^'.. : -.His Training./.:' " :--■;'.-'■ ':'■: A\ tne technical 1 training -of Nivelle 5,.! : -; has been m the artillery, and he was ; : ,i, .educated at the famous "Polyteohi-:>:. n W. e > where,, as a young man, acy.- cording to the character: sketches iii ;, .thei French Press, he manifested his ~. ; -mathematical mind, his reserve, his in- :: ca.pacity : to mingle on: term 6' of : ordin-

ary comradeship with/ the men about him,' A certain slowness of perception in regard! to the theoretical side of his arm of the service made liini the butt of his brethren of the corps, who facetiously ascribed this mental awkwardlue'sa to his British blood. "Ah, Nivelle.suesl" became a class joke, followed by the chorus: "At lastl" The jest followed him to Algeria, where iiis practical-.experience as-an artillery ofhcor was cnielly gained. Nivelle iniibibed at this: period a contempt for the theorising.of the hooki6h pedants in his profession-which he still reveals. "Theory ?"" he cried impatiently to tue newspaper .correspondents after Verdun. -Tvegot no theory." He felt miserably again, according to the sketch in the Manchester "thiardian," for he wag reminded of the mockery he had to endure back in tne days of the Polytechuique. All he knew about military science, according to himself,, is to. tight. '. ' . The Man's Temperament. One of the anecdotes illustrating the Nivelle temperament characteristically has to do with the agony of the retreat to the lUarne. ine great captain of, France was then but. a regimental commander, in charge of the pieces of artillery moving painfully away from the advancing Liennans. 'The FVench rank .and hie could make nothing of .these manoeuvres. The strategical conception underlying the whole movement was a secret at headquarters. The fury of the retreating French, as they lied, fled, lied, before the invader vented itself upon the commanders in their vicinity, taking the form of hisses, catcalls, whistles. Nivelle had his full shar of these. All a Septeember day he marched afoot stolidly, his hand, upon a piece of artillery, ignoring a display of this spirit of insubordination.. He did not even enter, a complaint. "When the oifensive was renewed!,' the whole regiment under his command' roared out his name in wild enthusiasm. The General ignored the applause as completely as he had overlooked the'hisses; but the story had preceded him to Verdun and accounted! for the devotion of the men there who rushed into living flame when he said simply: "They shall.not pass." "Us he passerOrit pas!" became the watchword, at Verdun.

;,Nivelle is credited with a melancholy .disposition by the writers who' seem closest to him. AVhether it be due to .domestic,sorrows, to a career .that'allowed him to stagnate in the African deserts and Algerian wilds until his hair turned gray, or the accidents of his birth and training, Nivelle is said to avoid society in general and to prefer the company of a few army friends. One of his Relaxations is a game of piquet cr vingt-et-un. He is not : witty like the clever Eoch, nor is he jovial after the fashion of Joffre, and-he has never enjoyed! the robust health of Sarrail. His reluctance to unbosom himself, to display'his character : in human terms,_ is ascribed to the solitude of his Algerian, life. There is an Orientalism of attitude which strikes the_ French journalists as unusual even in one who has mingled much with Mohammedans. 1 . His fatalism may explain the reckless disregard of his own life against which some of his .staff are already protesting.

. Nivelle, observe the "Illustration," regards the army as an exacting mistress. For this reason he gently admonished! a young man who came out to him in Africa with literary ambitions which he thought could be realised while pursuing a soldier's career. That, safd Nivelle sadly, could not be. The army eats up all one has, he explained. There is no such thing as writing poetry and wearing the uniform —unless one is willing to be a sham soldier, fit only for the, ballroom. Never, .was there: a great soldier, according to Nivelle, who whs likewise, a

groat poet. They do not narch together*. The Conspicuous Trait, .-, ,'■ Tile conspicuous' trait' iu bis-person-ality, "says -tho "Folio do Pahs," is tlio senso of authority, lii a lecture to some yoimgvofficers m the tvar o liege ho once observed that authority m this world goes to those who assume it. Having assumed authority they must show that they know how to- use it or it will he taken- from 3hem. The essential -nature of authority, accord--irig to Nivelle, is moral. The martinet is but a drill-sergeant. - The humblest soldier in the ranks must be roade to feel that iii some indescribable fashion, he ig under the eye of his commanding officer. -Nivelle's expedient, .reserved for moments, of extreme emergency, is to-'oall by name the soldier to whom he gives ■. an order. How lie manages to identif yindividuals in this way remains a mystery, but he, j.ehieves this so : completely that not once js heknown to have erred. The capacity of a general, the thing that [takes him a genius in the field, remains, aeccrding to Nivelle, a mystery, seeing that it. is the infection of the i.'ind and heart of the mail in the ranks wit-i a fury, an ardour, a readiness \o perish Tor Clie sake of victory- This iidefinablo and! suhtle trait, the French experts seem a greed is tlie essence of the soul of Nivelle, the explanation of Verdun. • ■ - ■