FAMOUS SOLDIER

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 102, 30 March 1929, Page 14

FAMOUS SOLDIER

LATE GENERAL SARRAIL. The late General Maurice Paul Emmanuel Sarrail, who died in France this week, was born at Carcassonne in April, 1856, and was educated at St. Cyr. Joining the army in 1877, ho had by 1908 become a general of a brigade and rose in 1911 to be a general of a division. Ho was one of the comparatively few high officers in tho French army who were avowed and ardent Republicans. It was before the war a grievance of the radical press that ho was kept in the background for that reason. In November, 1913, he was given the command of the Bth Army Corps and in April, 1914, transferred to the 6th Army Corps at the head of which he entered the war.

On September 2, 1914, after doing well in the frontier fighting, Sarrail succeeded lluffey as leader of the 3rd Army, which formed tho pivot of the wheel-back of the Allies during the retreat to the Marne, and Sarrail maintained it' as such on tho north-west front of Verdun, though he had been prdered to fall back. This left him in an exposed position, but one in which the Germans might present a flank to Sarrail’s attack. His part in bringing about the situation which enabled Joffre to counter attack was thus as important as Gallieiii’s on tho other flank. In autumn, 1914, he repulsed two big German attacks—one on Verdun and the other in the Argonne. Later, friction with Joffre led to his dismissal from his command in July, 1915. After a great outcry in the French press, Sarrail was sent out to Salonika- to lead the French forces. Little was done till March, 1916, when Joffre ordered him to advance in order to hold the enemy troops on his front. Some ground was gained, but Joffre demanded more vigorous operations on a larger scale.

Eventually in July, 1916, Sarrail was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Allied forces, but was much hampered by the limitations put on the use of the troops of other Powers. In August he saw a chance of an important victory and blamed Cordonnier, who commanded the French, for having prejudiced the success of the operations by his slowness. At a later stage in the fighting Cordonnier, who had advocated a turning movenient in the Cerna sector, was overruled by Sarrail, who ordered a direct attack. This failed with heavy losses and a violent scene occurred on the battlefield between Sarrail and Cordonnier with the result that the latter was sent home. After Roumania entered the war, in August, 1916, Sarrail’s plans for an offensive were betrayed by two of his officers and conveyed to the enemy. His offensive in 1917 was indecisive and in Decenibey he was recalled by M. Clemenceau on the demand of Foch and of the British and Italian Governments. In April, 1918, despite the vigorous protests of the Left he was put on the reserve on reaching the agelimit. The Grand Cross of the legion of Honour and the Military Medal were awarded him. After the war he published his account of the Salonika operations. ' In 1919 Sarrail stood for Parliament, but without success. He .also wrote for the Ere Nouvelle and other radical papers, in which he denounced the oc-

cupation of the Ruhr. In .1921, he joined Herriot and Painleve in founding the Republican League, which opposed Poincare. After the victory of the Left at the polls in May, 1924, he was restored to the active list, but the proposal to make him a member of the Supreme War Council had to be dropped, apparently in consequence of the objections of other generals.

In November, 1924, Sarrail was appointed French High Commissioner in Syria and Commander-in-Chief of the French forces in the Levant, in place of General Weygand, who had been very successful there. It was declared by his partisans that his efforts to pacify the country were thwarted by Paris politicians of the Right and that ho was kept short of the troops he needed. On the other hand, it was asserted that he alienated the Druses by forcing on them unpopular officials and by discourteous treatment and the eventual arrest of some of their leaders. • The result was an insurrection during which General Michaud sustained a severe reverse. It culminated in Sarrail ordering a bombardment of Damascus by which many civilians were killed. It was claimed that it was justified by the fact that a plot was on foot to seize the city and that it was merely a matter of eight can-non-shots. But against that it was urged that a situation should not have been allowed to arise where it became necessary to destroy part of the city and cause gre&t loss of life among its inhabitants. Tire reports of the affair aroused a storm of protests all over the world. The result was the recall of Sarrail by Briand at the end of October, 1925,' and his replacement by De Jouvenel. In March, 1926, the Mandates Commission of the League of Nations in its report severely criticised the general.