HAIG AS GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 9, 12 January 1938, Page 18

HAIG AS GENERAL

WORK IN GREAT WAR

INEXPERIENCE HIS TROUBLE

A GREAT CHARACTER

The noble rites of homage and thanksgiving at this time of Remembrance were made the more complete this year by the unveiling in Whitehall of the national monument to Earl Haig of Bemersyde, who commanded the British forces in France in' the fiercest fighting which history records and led through terror to triumph armies of 2,000,000 men, writes H. W. Wilson in the "Daily Mail."

: With justice does the nation honour in him one of its greatest sons and one of the foremost figures in the war. .Though Haig had an intense dislike for every kind of theatrical display, he recognised that there are times when a.gesture may carry the day. His own , career gave proof of this.

: In-'the. first Battle of Ypres the Ist] Corps, which he commanded, after a protracted and terrible struggle against > very superior German forces, was giving way, when by his dramatic inter- : vention he rallied it. He rode down the Menin Eoad under a murderous fire, \ himself in spick-and-span uniform, I with his staff and escort about him in fautless order, "saying not one word, yet by his presence and his' calm restoring hope to the disheartened and strength to the exhausted troops."' And thus Ypres was saved and the collapse of the Allied front averted, AGAINST MACHINE-GUN. Napoleon's famous saying that the general who has made no mistakes has never made war must be kept in mind ip. criticising Haig's career. '"Friendly judges have regretted- his excessive faith in cavalry—an arm which lost its deadliness with the advent of rapid-fire rifles—and his initial disbelief in the potency of the ma-chine-gun. His conduct of the first Battle of the Somme and the series of fearful encounters in the mud at Passchendaele has been generally questioned. liUdendorff, it is true, has praised the:iron tenacity 'of purpose which he showed by persisting in the face of cruel losses and every difficulty of terrain. But the sacrifice of life and limb was'appalljng. Thus, in the first day's fighting in the Battle of the Somme, the British had to deplore 60,000 casual-, ties—a figure never exceeded in modern war—and in the series of battles in the Passchendaele swamps more than 200,000. It must be remembered, however, that Haig before the Great War had not been able to obtain that experience in the handling of masses which was essential for victory in a war of millions. The British Army b.eiore 1914 was a small-scale army. None of its generals had manoeuvred a force of 30,000 men. In ,the Great War Haig had to lead at the Somme armies totalling 750,000 men—five or six time's the strength of Wapoleon's forces at Waterloo, and twice or thrice Moltke's army at Sedan. Haig's generosity of character was shown in his loyal co-operation with Toch, when at last in March, 1918, unity of command was established in' Foch's hands. His unselfishness was the more impressive because he had not been quite fairly treated by the French Command on one or two occasions. Catastrophe must have resulted had he not maintained as he did the closest and friendliest relations with Foch. Against the fierce German offensive of the spring Haig held out, though it was touch and go, and the British line was stretched to ttie limit in its desperate resistance, to, portentous odds, j There were hours when it seemed that all was lost—hours when Haig called on his men to fight to the end "with backs to the wall"; hours when even his own confidence, wavered. His responsibility was overwhelming, j and it may be that he bore it without! giving' way because of his firm faith in the eternal justice of his cause. "I feel'that every step in my plan has been taken with the Divine help," he had written on the eve of the Somme. The true measure of Haig's. greatness as a leader was1 given when, he took the ' offensive in August, 1918, with armies that had suffered during the spring a loss of '450,000 men. The British Cabinet was reluctant to agree to his proposals, fearing that he was over-sanguine and that losses such as those in the Somme and Passchendaele battles might be repeated, at a tune when British man-power was almost exhausted. Foch was known to lean to the view that1 the right course was to'await the arrival in Europe of the forces which ] the Americans were enrolling. Haig did not share this opinion. "We ought now," he wrote, "to hit as hard as we can and try to get .peace this i summer." [ ■ 'Haig had profited by misfortune. He had grown in mental stature to be one I of the great military leaders of history and felt himself capable now of meeting and beating Germany's best. His friends might be anxious when, ■in framing with Foch the plans for the new offensive, he took for the British forces the task of storming the Hindenburg Line at its strongest point. Bui this time his generalship was not at fault.;, ■■■...,•■■ -■ ■ ■■, . .■-

His first stroke broke deep into the German front, taking 21,000 prisoners and 400 gups. It was, as Ludendorff called it, Germany's "black day." And such a victory that Ludendorff warned his Government to prepare for peace. Haig followed up this immense success with the utmost energy, though the British Government informed hun^nce more that he must not incur heavy losses, thus again placing. oil his shoulders the heaviest of responsibilities. . , | Once again he was equal,to, the burden. His magnificent troops with but small loss burst through the JJrocourtQuearit Line, works of such strength that they were rated impregnable, and •through the Hindenburg Line itself. The German resistance was collapsing under Haig's tremendous blows. A British official summary, issued while the guns were still hot, showed that between July, 1918, and the Armistice Haig's armies took. 188,000 prisoners and 2840 guns, captures almost equal to those made by the whole of the rest of the Allies combined. 'And these victories, be it once more pointed out, were gained by'the identical British armies which earlier an the year had. lost nearly 500,000 men. To this recovery there is no parallel in history, .. ■ : Let his critics say what they may, j in the light of these facts, Haig was a great general. When peace was made—a peace in which much of his sympathy went to the Germans—with failing health he played a noble part in his efforts to secure fair treatment of the officers and men who had fought with such self-abnegation and heroism. "They 'are the fellows who have saved the| world," he said of them. Friend and faithful servant of his King and. people, he was followed to the grave with the affection and pride of the whole nation, which paid him its supreme tribute of gratitude and love—great soldier and noble-hearted j \.taan. ■■■■■■