The Evening Star TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1928. THE LATE EARL HAIG.

Evening Star, Issue 19778, 31 January 1928, Page 6

The Evening Star TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1928. THE LATE EARL HAIG.

News of the death of Field-Marshal the Earl Haig of Bemc'rsyde comes with the greater shock as being unexpected. He had nob reached the age when, for men of normal constitution who have led an active life in their youth, the grasshopper is accustomed to become a burden. And no warning bad been given of any decline in his health, unless it was to be found in bis reluctance, within the last twelve months, to commit himself to the project of a visit to Australia, to see again the men who ha I served under him, which would certainly have meant an exacting progress for him in view of their number. Earl Haig’s modesty may have had a part in that refusal. He was a shy man, for whom publicity had no charm. His death was due to heart disease. Probably it was hastened by the almost inhuman strain and responsibility of his great position during the war time, though his last years had been spent in a retirement from which he only emerged when something could be said or done by him on behalf of the ex-sorvico men to whom his devotion never failed. The war becomes more completely a matter of history now that Lord French and Earl Haig, the two successive leaders of the British annies in their greatest field of conflict, have both passed away.

It is not established that Field-Mar-shal Haig was, in the sense of the word which connotes inspiration, a military genius. It has been argued that he was, but the bulk of opinion would be against the verdict. The war in the w r est, from the scale and nature of it, was one of soldiers rather than leaders. One man alone, of all tho commanders, stands out as possessing beyond question those qualities in excess of talent which recall to us Napoleon, and that was Foch. But Haig had, incontestably, that kind of genius which consists in infinite capacity for taking pains, for always persisting and never despairing, however black the outlook. There is no question of the greatness of his character. He had talents enough to cause distinction to be predicted for him at a very early age. A visitor to Sandhurst when he w r as at the beginning of his training is said to have been told: “There is a cadet here called Douglas Haig, a Scotch lad, who is top at everything—books, drill, riding, sports, and games; he is to go into the cavalry; and what is more, he will be top of the Army before ho is finished.’’ It was a difficult command which he assumed in succession to Sir John French, and in one respect ho was uniquely fitted for it. He was a master, it has been said, in the art of training troops, the greatest Britain had seen since Sir John Moore. And so he forged the instrument which was decisive in the final triumph of Foch’s strategy. When he failed, or seemed to fail, as a commander, it was not always his own fault. He had Allies to consider. M. Painlevo only recently has made it known that ho fought the Somme two months

earlier than the state of his preparations permitted—to relieve pressure at Verdun. “ This kind of thing,” it has been said, “ accounts for a good deal of the inexplicable about Haig—as to why, for example, he continued slogging away on the Somme and—worse — at Passchendaele.” He was the only victorious commander in the whole war to keep his ■position uninterruptedly from start to finish —from Mons to Mons. He had not the magnetism in dealing with his troops which many commanders have had. His shyness—part of his selflessness—was a weakness in that respect. Ho was never actually inaccessible, it has been said, but he was always quite remote. He was a man of few words. Only one order given by him to his army is on record which bears any resemblance to an emotional appeal. It was that issued after the first success of the Germans’ great offensive in March, 1918, when h© declared: “ With our hacks to the wall, and believing in the justice of our cause, each one of us must light to the end. The safety of our homes and the freedom of mankind depend alike upon the conduct of each on© of us at this critical moment.” But his soldiers trusted him; that confidence was compelled by his character. In the days of waiting of the mid-months of mournful 1917 1 Punch ’ wrote :

Steadfast and calm, unmoved by blame or praise, By local checks or Fortune’s strange caprices, You dedicate laborious nights and days To shattering the Hun machine to pieces; And howsoe’er at times the battle sways, The Army’s trust in your command increases; Patient in preparation, swift in deed, We find in you the leader that we need.

He sought no fame for himself. He welcomed the appointment of Foch as the supreme generalissimo. A letter which he wrote to the Secretary of War on the Christmas -Day of 1918, enclosing a map which made plain the final operations, was characteristic. It read:—

Dear Mr Churchill, — The enclosed map shows the eight great battles which we fought between Amiens and Auvergne, and the results. You will also see, from the same table, that the British Army took more prisoners in the period under consideration than all the other Allies together. Wishing you the best of good luck in the coming year,—l am, yours very truly, Douglas Haig. He disdained, when the great conflict was over, to be among the war wranglers. His personal records, when they are published, will no doubt throw more light upon it, and on difficulties encountered by him, the revelation of which may yet make greater lustre for his fame; but, like those of Marshal Foch, they are not to be published (or so it is understood) till long after his death. Returned soldiers will have their own cause to honor him. “In season and out of season,”'it has been said, “ the Field-Marshal has pleaded the cause of the men who fought, and the British Legion’s magnificent service for them is largely due to him.” Not without reason did Lord Birkenhead suggest that a prouder title than any made for him by his military honors might be that which he had earned of “The Soldiers’ Friend.”