GENERAL GAMELIN

Grey River Argus, 8 November 1939, Page 9

GENERAL GAMELIN

General Marie Gustave Gamel’.n, who has been invested with niore military power than any Frenchmen since Napoleon, has never captured the imagination of his fellow-coun trvmen. ' Outside France even less is known of him. Yet military experts regard him as the greatest living exponent of the complex art ol modern war. They speak of him as the logical choice for supreme con mand of both British and French forces. France has even created for him a new military rank. bn. has made him General Commander-in-Chief of the French Forces. And tnat is a rank that makes even the baton of a Marshal of France lose a Sttle of its glamour. What manner of man is he? He comes of a line ct distinguished officers. - At St. Cyr Military Academy he attended the lectures of a lean instructor who cast the die that put young Gamelin at the top of his year, its S brilliant student. The name of that instructor was FoCh. At -4 Gamelin was a full lieutenant, . ready a marked man with a geographical survey of Algiers and Tunis to his credit. During the crucial Battle of the Marne, when it seen, ed as though the Germans would achieve their military

Paris, he was serving under Jottre. He was known at headquarters as an officer who set great store by philosophy. The German right had just been rolled back. Nerves, frayed and taunted, relaxed. Even th. great Joffre himself reacted. Om> one man remained unruffled. looked at this officer for a win it?. Then he remarked: “Well, if this is philosophy, it is time all general were philosophers.” The officer of course, was Gamelin. Who was the architect of that great victory? Whose was the plan that turned the German Army; “They say you were the author oi that' famous turning manoeuvre? Students of war sometimes put this question to Gamelin. He has but one answer. A terse: “N onser \ s . War is the sole test of a soldier. ry,.+ h r.nmplin came with a re-

nutation second to none. He never messed a job. He never fumbled. When peace came he was recognised among French military experts as the outstanding figure of the Frenei Army. The war over, other work awaited him. He was chosen to head the military mission to Brazil, a task calling for a different set of qualities. That meant difficult guerilla war and desert technique. He had only a handful of French colonial troops. Two years later he was in command of the troops in the Levant. Next he took over the. 20 . Army Corps. By 1930 he was Chief o. Staff, four years later succeeding i General Weygand as Vice-President of the Supreme War Council. . He speaks little, but succinctly. This has resulted in the legend that ne is shy. Nothing could be further from the truth- He works loi g i hours.. But he is never hurried. Daladier is said to hold him in profound respfect, and with reason. When Gamelin leaves the War Ministry he does so by an unostenta-

tious exit. Across the road and directly facing him are the windows of a room with an especial significance for him. For in that room, sixty-seven years ago, he first saw the light of day.