AN IMPORTANT INTERVIEW

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 25 May 1915, Page 2

AN IMPORTANT INTERVIEW

GENERAL JOFFRE.ON* PAST "'* ■ ' rf : BLUNDERS. ' ~>

Authentic interviews with General JotTve are few and iar between (says the .London correspondent of the Lyttelton Times), but M. Arthur Hue, editor of the Toulouse Depeche, who is an old friend -of the French Com-mander-in-Chief, was privileged recently to record a conversation with him.

An officer conducted »me direct to the generalissimo's house, M. Hue writes. Ihe room where I was received Was a salon four yards square, with three armchairs. A captain of the staff discreetly retired; we remained alone, deeply moved, our friendship causing us to embrace instinctively, as befits old comrades in the most solemn hours of life.

The' General has not a single wrinkle; his cheek is full and plump, as it was when he was thirty. How often have I not become indignant on seeing the photos which have been so widely scattered to popularise him, outrages' on aesthetics and offences against the truth! The physiognomy of the General is that of a bon homme, as the Parisians say. It is characterised by an infinite sweetness, and above all, when he smiles, it may be said to be lit up with a flash of kindness. His eyes, are those blue ones, so transparent that you can see right through them down' to the depths of his soul. They are the eyes of a good man; for if the old saying ever holds good it applies to Joffre. -

"PAPA" JOFFRE.

I heard a woman of the people the other day in the street speak of him as "papa Joffre." She did not know how true that was: He is the nutaan, paternal general who, on another occa•sion^ftQ,^^,ev^.o^le^*^ipjr. the Sudan, asked' a medical friend :of vofirs for notions of medicine so that he might take care of his soldiers. He adores the latter, and I would like .all the mothers who have their sons at the front to hear how be speaks of them. You must not deceive yourself, however, with this mildness. When the moment for energy arrives, the man is unbreakable. .

So great is his passion for equity that he would not hesitate to sacrifice his best friend, and he is able to study with impartiality the qualities of those who are in complete disagreement with him in opinions and tastes. Sometimes reference has been made to his political opmions: this is not the time to speak about them, but what I can say is that, a very old and faithful servant of the Republic, he has always adhered strictly to the carrying out of his duty as a soldier, more especially since he came to occupy the highest posts. If in France this soldier loves the Republic, in the Republic he first loves France. In Joffre, the good soldier is distinguished by his humor, and, once he has conquered, he will not forget that victory is only one way, like any other, of serving the country.

"Things are going on all right, very well, indeed," said he before I had even asked. "Scissons? A fatality if you like. A fault if you prefer it. In a^y case,.a mere episode." And gazing impatiently at the leaden sky, he remarked: "I command soldiers, not the barometer. But I have' not doubted for a moment, nor do I doiibt, the final victory." He had uttered the same phrase to me oh the day war was declared. And on. hearing it again on his lips the sickening memories awoke m me of the rapid march on Paris, and of the defeat of Charleroi, in which I.thought I saw a sanguinary denial of Joffre's confidence.

FRENCH SHOULD HAVE WON

CHARLEROI

"Explarin t-o me," I said, "about Charleroi." I asked him if it were indeed true, as was believed by the public and even by the combatants themselves, that we were crushed in Belgium by overwhelming numbers. General Joifre,- a man who has never lied, answered me as follows:

"That is absolutely wrong. Our army was numerous. We ought to have won the battle of Charleroi; we ought to have won ten times out of eleven. We lost it through our own faults. Faults of command. Before the war broke out I had already noted that among our generals many were worn out. Some had appeared* to me o be incapable, not good enough for then work. .Others inspired me' with doult. Some with disquietude. I had made up my mind to rejuvenate our chief commands, and I should have done so in spite cf all the commentaries and against all malevolence.

"But the war came too soon. And besides, there were other generals in whom I had faith and who have hot responded to my hopes. The man of war reveals himself more in war than in studies" and the quickest intelligence arid the most complete knowledge are of little avail if they are unaccompanied by qualities of action.

"The responsibilities of war are such that even in the men of merit they ■paralyse their best faculties. That is what happened to some of my chiefs. Their merit turned out to be below the mark. I had to remedy these defects. Some of these generals were my best comrades. But if I love my friends much, I love France more. I relieved them of their posts. I did this in the same way as I ought to be treated myself, if it is thought I am not good enough. I did not do this to punish them, but simply as a measure of public safety. I did it with a heavy heart. When I have been alone I have wept."

YON KLUCKS FAILURE

"And now explain your retreat to me. And, above all, explain to me what surprising miracle, what singular caprice, caused General yon Kluck to make that sudden oblique movement when he already had Paris within his grasp?"

"The retreat? That is very simple," said the general, smiling. 'With numerous details he explained to me how the army of yon Kluck marched'rapidly upon Paris, and how, during, the ten days that the retreat of our troops lasted, an army was formed in the region of Amiens, on the flank of the line of invasion, an army' of which nobody, certainly not the Germans, knew anything until the day when it was thrown violently on to the enemy, driving the latter back on our lines of the Marne.

General JofFre explained all this to me as if he had played merely a secondary role in these events, and in the tone of a professor explaining to his students the retreat of the Ten Thousand. "This history will bo written." said the general. "My. General Staff will write it when the war is ove^ and 1 will see to it that the narration will be well documented."'

"And now," sard I, "it is rcgr«* table that there is no possibility to-day 01 such decisive manoeuvres. This iV a war of trenches." "WE WIN WITH LOCOMOTIVES." 'Manoeuvres? We do nothing else. Napoleon professed to gain his battles

u wjth,his Moldiers'-' le^s^^We'gaia- ours j is;the dif-i / Tl o'u'^liit^-nof 3ep^afe"t^#W, harshly of, the slowness of the yJar.'xrt ,ha^ .allowed "us to 'increase 'oUr :ineans',1 them to this war, and. create new, ones. And it is an error;-to imagine that an army beaten every day car rally indefinitely. Whoever does not keep up the ascendancy is very übat to panic. 1 ''We have that ascendancy beyond any doubt. The Germans have * lost more than a million men to our army. Yes, N more than a million men who will never reappear on any battlefield,- The famous Imperial Guard is only a collection of uniforms, a historic memory Their officers were .brave; they have nearly all fallen. The German troops are so weakened morally that their chiefs are forced to lead them to the i'.gH in compact formation,, eight men shoulder to shoulder in the front. Leading them to slaughter—an easy prey to our gunners." - * "And our men?" "Our men? There 'have been faintnesses at "all times and in all places, and it is possible there have been such thmgs among us. But our heroes may be counted by thousands. Yes by thousands. \Vhat a great and admirable country! You may say so, and ciy it aloud! We are living in, a great epoch. To distrust when we have an army like ours? You know it would be a crime against France."

A MODERN CINCINNATUS

I questioned the general as to his personal-ambitions. During his long career his loyalty has been so great and his nature so generous that he made.no. enemies. But it may be that hif inflexibility has made late. It may be that his success has aroused envy. When I said as much he tshrugged his shoulder slightly. "I did not seek my post. The war found me there,.- I accept, its duties. I support the burden, and will do so to the end. But if anyone... wants to occupy my ■place,-! am ■'ready^.toileave'it.i.'... And the general laughed, witnfcut giving any sign of suspecting that he is •the/most popular of men, and that if anyone should attack him the very stones would rise up against such a man.

He spoke to me of his projects for the. future.. They are the same as hefore • the •■■'war/ Not "Jong ago, foresee-* ing his retirement, he confided to me his dream, which was that of a peaceful shepherd. A lover of the country, he looks forward to the possession of a small vessel which would carry a crew of two. his wife and a couple of friends. On this they would spend the fine weather navigating alone; the rivers with no end in view but the enioyment of the beauty of the scenery -the seduction of the sky. the freshness of the nights. The conqueror of the Marne cherishes this anything but subversive dream. After the epic, the bucolic. "Meanwhile," said I, on leaving, "be quick and select the best road to cross the Rhi^«.'' "I will not lose any time," he answered smiling.