WAR ECHO

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 2, 2 December 1931, Page 9

WAR ECHO

LLOYD GEORGE ATTACKED. GENERAL GOUGH’S BOOK. THE ALLIED COMMAND. “Mr Lloyd George showed the worst aspects of liis many-sided character in the plot to place the British army under General Niyelle’s command after the decision had been made that the safety and honour of the British arms would be in better keeping in the hands of a Frenchman than in Field-Marshal Haig’s hands,” says General Sir Hubert Gougli, breaking a 13-vears’ silence since his recall in 1918. In his book, just nublislied, entitled “The Fifth Army,” General Gougli, who was in command of the British Fifth Army on tlio Somme when the Germans broke through in March, 1918, explains that this plan was very different from that actually adopted, when Marshal Focli was made Commander-in-Chief of the Allied armies on the Western Front. . PLOT A CLOSE SECRET. General Gough adds: “The plot was a close secret, and the facts have not previously been published in England. Mr Lloyd George had recently been appointed Prime Minister in the Coalition Government; he was already lacking in confidence in Field-Marshal Haig, and in 1916 he was even intriguing against him. When he met General Nivelle, whose fluency was in such contradistinction to the silence of Field-Marshal Haig, of General Sir William Robertson, and of Marshal Joffre, that fluency appeared to be an invaluable asset in the eyes of Mr Lloyd George, who loved a fluent talker. “He was impressed with General Nivelle’s high-sounding phraV-s. such as ‘brusque rupture’ and “clVkwork advances,” delivered with an air of profundity and astuteness, even if Mr Lloyd George was unable to understand their real worth. Moreover, General Nivello’s fluent English, due to the fact that he had an English mother, enabled Mr Llovd George to discuss military affairs with him without the aid of nn interpreter.” HAIG’S BITTER COMPLAINT.

General Gough adds: “Neither Field-Marshal iiaig nor General Robertson had the slightest warning ot the revolutionary proposals that were to be presented at the Calais conference. There is little doubt that Mr Lloyd George was cognisant of the outrageous proposal which would have given General Nivelle complete command and would have involved the disappearance of the British Army as a recognisable unit. Although French generalship, staff work, and tactical efficiency compared unfavourably with that of the British throughout the whole course of the war, despite the fashion in British Government circles to declare that it was superior, it is impossible justifiably to explain Mr Lloyd George’s pro-French and antiEnglish bias. Perhaps he has lived long enough to realise his error. It is fortunate for the British Empire that this unseemly proposal was laid before men of such solid character as FieldMarshal Haig and General Robertson, whose firm protests frightened Mr Lloyd George, resulting in its being dropped. “Mutual confidence was lacking between Mr. Lloyd George and FieldMarshal Haig,” writes General Gough, “and the British Commander-in-Chief bitterly complained to me about Mr. Lloyd George’s ill-concealed admiration for the French Generals and the French soldiers. Field-Marshal Haig added, ‘There is no question which ot the two it would have been better to serve under —Mr. Lloyd George oi Mr. Asquith. Mr. Asquith has been blamed unfairly. I have always found him a loyal supporter, whereas Mr Lloyd George places every obstacle in my way and hampers my conduct of the wars.’ ”

It was after a bitter newspaper campaign demanding more shells for the armies in France and attacking Lord Kitchener, that Mr Llovd George succeeded Mr. Asquith as Prime Minister in December, lJlo. Lord Kitchener was drowned in Juno, 1916, when H.M.S. Hampshire was lost, taking him on a mission to Russia. He was 65 years of age. General Nivelle died 1924, aged 68. I'leldMarshal Haig was 66 years of age when he died in January 1928. Mr. Asquith had been elevated to che peerage with the title of Earl of Oxford and Asquith when he died aged 76, in October, 1928. Marshal Foch, who died in March, 1929, was 78. Marshal Joffre was also 78 at the time of his death in January of last year. General Sir William Robertson, who became Field-Marshal in 1920, rose from the ranks in the British army; he is 71 years of age. General Gough, now on retired pay, is 61 years of age.