A GREAT SOLDIER

Manawatu Standard, Volume LI, Issue 29, 5 January 1931, Page 7

A GREAT SOLDIER

DEATH OF MARSHAL JOFFRE.

CONQUEROR OF THE MARNE,

WORLD-WIDE SORROW. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copy r i ght.) Paris, Jan. 3. Marshal Joffre died at 8.23 o’clock this morning. A weakening pulse at daybreak indicated that Ins end was imminent, and his wife, daughter- and son-in-law gathered at his bedside at 7.30 o’clock, while the Chaplain administered the final absolution.

Within, half an hour of death the Premier, M. Steeg, entered the room alone and saluted the Marshal. It is expected that Marshal Joffre will be accorded a State funeral. The stricken soldier of a victorious army—conqueror of the Marne defeated in his last battle—lies on an iron bedstead in a sparsely-furnished room. His body is shrunken and the pallor of his face is accentuated by his white moustache. His features seem carved in marble, intensifying the aspect of stern serenity. His emaciated hands are crossed on his chest. A silver and ebony crucifix hangs over the bedstead. M. Barthou, who will deliver the sole funeral oration on January 7, sent a message to the army announcing the death, adding: “Marshal Joffre saved France at the Marne and broke all the efforts of the enemy. His strength, soul, indomitable energy, and continuous service ensured the final victory.” . This message will reach the farthest outposts of the army, even in the deserts of Sahara and the jungles of Indo-China. According to medical opinion, Marshal Joffre passed from the world much earlier than the hour of his actual death, as all senses and organs other than liis indomitable heart had ceased to function. The body of Marshal Joffre is being removed this evening from the nursing home to the chapel of the Military School, where it will lie in state until Tuesday evening,- when it will be taken to Notre Dame, pausing en route at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier while buglers sound the Last Post. SERVICE AT NOTRE DAME. There will be a service at Notre Dame on Wednesday morning, followed by a procession to tfie lnvalides and M. Barthou’s oration. Teetotallers are comforted by the theory of Professor Leriche, the chief consultant, that the heart’s strength was duo to the fact that the Alarshal had not touched alcohol in any form for 30 years. , . , Deep emotion was manifested at Rivesaltes, Marshal Joffre’s birthplace, where work is at a standstill. Hundreds of residents are hanging out crepe-draped flags. A most significant note throughout France is the mourning observance. The Marne Department has telegraphed the widow saluting Marshal Joffre’s memory as a token of the Marne’s undying gratitude. Messages of condolence have been received from the British, Spanish and Belgian Royal families, Mr Ramsay MacDonald, Mr Stanley Baldwin, the Admiralty, the War Ministry, the Air Force, the General Staff and the Lord Mayor. The British representatives at the funeral will be Lord Tyrrell, representing the King; Lord Allenby, the British Army; Sir George Milne, the Army Council; Admirals Wester Wemyss and Dreyer, the Navy; Lord Trenchard and Sir John Sahnond, the Air Force; also representatives of the Guards Brigade and the Air Force. King George sent the following message to the President, M. Doumergue: “1 join my people in an expression of heartfelt sympathy with you and the French nation. The sad news will arouse feelings of sorrow, especially in those countries which, in 1914, were allied to France. I treasure the memory of my meetings with Marshal Joffre on the occasion of my several visits, to the front. Please convey to Madame Joffre and his relatives roy sympathy.” President Doumergue replied as follows: “The death of Joffre cannot fail to revive among all Frenchmen the remembrance of the brotherhood in arms which united the two countries in the tragic days.”

WILL REST AT THE INVALIDES.

DEATH MASK NOT TO BE TAKEN

Received January 5, 11.0 a.m. PARIS, Jan. 4

Though Marshal Joffre will rest at the Invalides side by side with Napoleon Foch and other great soldiers, he will not, unlike Napoleon, have a death mask-taken. One of his last requests was that nobody should be allowed to reproduce his image in death.

DARK DAYS OF 1914

LATE MARSHAL’S GREAT SERVICES.

(British Official Wireless.) Received January 5, 11.0 a.m. RUGBY, Jan. 4,

Lord Tyrrell, British Ambassador at Paris, has forwarded to the French Government a telegram of regret from the British Government, which says: “The great services rendered by the late Marshal in the dark days of 1914 have won him a sure place in every British heart.”

RECORD OF SERVICE. A STERLING LEADER. Joseph Jacques Cesaire Joffre was born in the little town of Riversaltes, famous for its muscat wine, and as near to the Pyrenees as to the Mediterranean shore. In 1869, when he was 17 years old, Joffre entered the Ecole Polytechniquo with the intention of becoming an officer «of Engineers. The war of the following year found him in Paris, where he served throughout the German siege. In 1876, when he had become a captain, he co-operated in fortifying the Jura frontier of France and, a few years later, he built some of the forts surrounding the entrenched camp of Paris. Subsequently, he went to the Far East and erected the forts of Tonquin. Next, he was found in Africa constructing a railway line from Kayes, on the Senegal, to the Niger, Then, a French column having been destroyed while advancing on Timbuctoo, Joffre gathered some troops together and forced liis way into that famous and mysterious city. . ' But advancement did not come rapidly, and he was still only a colonel of Engineers when, in 1897, he went out to fortify Diego Suarez in Madagascar. Five years later he became a briga-dier-general and director of the engineering department at the Ministry of War, and in 1905 he reached divisional rank, and was placed in command of infantry in Paris. On the whole, his career had hitliei-to been more useful than brilliant, and nothing in the experience he had gained in uncivilised

countries, far from France, seemed to designate him to the post of chief of the army’s general staff, which would imply supreme command in the event of a great war. But a French Prime Minister, M. Joseph Caillaux, recognised in Joffre a man of great abilities, and, in 1911, submitted his name for the post of chief of staff, a suggestion which was approved by the entire Cabinet. Some political considerations may have influenced the appointment—for Joffre was known to be a staunch Republican—but it certainly was a fortunate selection.

Heavily built, somewhat thick set, blunt, and sparing of words, Joffre was already noted for a characteristic which was wanting in some distinguished French commanders of former days. He laid no claim to the dash, the bravura, of a MacMalion, a Canrobert, or a Galliffet. He was dogged, determined. His very look showed him to be of the bulldog breed, and in a great, supreme struggle, it was necessary that the forces of France should be commanded by a man of that stamp. Such an officer, such a leader, the French Army secured in Joffre, who, although he was born in the Midi, was always the very antithesis of tlio excitablej impulsive folk of that region. He commanded the French troops in those dark days of 1914, when the enemy’s guns were within sound and striking distance pf Paris. Whatever may have been said of him later when it fell to the honour of Foch to walk through the blaze of glorv which victory brought, it must be' remembered that his outstanding characteristics —steadfastness and doggedness—held his country supreme in. its greatest hour of need.

FIELD-MARSHAL HAIG’S TRI

BUTE,

The late Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, who commanded Britain’s “.Old Contemptibles,” and was associated with Joffre in the- retreat of 1914, writes thus of the French Commander-in-Chief, in his book “1914” “I had heard of the French Com-mander-in-Chief for years, but - had novel- before seen him. He struck me at once as a man of strong will and determination, very courteous and considerate, but firm and steadfast of mind and purpose, and not easily turned or persuaded. He appeared to me to be capable of exercising a powerful influence over the troops he commanded and as likely to enjoy their confidence.

“These were all ‘first impressions,’ but I may say here that everything I then thought of General Joffre was far more than confirmed throughout the year and a half of fierce struggle during which I was associated with him. His steadfastness and determination, his courage and patience, were tried to the utmost and never found wanting. History will rank him as one of the supremely great leaders. The immediate task before him was stupendous, and nobly did he rise to it. .... 1 had a long conversation with the Commander-in-Chief. He certainly never gave mo the slightest reason to suppose that any idea of retirement was in his mind. Ho dismissed possible alternatives of action depending upon the information received of the enemy’s plans and dispositions; but his main intention was to always attack.”