GENERAL ALEXEIEFF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16200, 10 April 1916, Page 6

GENERAL ALEXEIEFF.

RUSSIAN CHIEF OF STAFF.

BEST BRAIN IN THE ARMY.

One of the great characters of the war is the new Russian chief of staff, General Alexeieff, who, under the Tsar himself, is the supreme commander of the Russian Army. A character sketch of the man is given by Mr. Stanley Washburn, the London Times correspondent with the Russian Army. General Alexeieff is about 48 years el age, and his sole interest in life from boyhood has been the profession of soldiering. He has no recreations save work, and he lives practically 24 hours of the day with but tho one purposo of winning this war. He is an extraordinarily hard worker. He rises at seven o'clock every morning from the little camp cot wluph stands in his office, and works without intermission until a-quarter past one o'clock, when ho walks or motors to tho club where the staff lunch at half-past one o'clock. Ho leaves hero not later than half-past two o'clock, and works tho entire afternoon until half-past seven o'clock, when he dines with his staff. After dinner ho walks for an hour, and then takes up the unfinished business of the day, which is never . completed before midnight, and often takes him until 1 two or three o'clock in the morning. Alexeieff is a man of absolute simplicity. He is so quiet that - his reserve borders on shyness. He speaks only Russian, and has no small talk, but this lack of conversation is offset by ideas which in the fewest possible words are translated into action at the front. He does nearly all his own work, and, under only the Emperor, makes nearly all of the plans. Tho General Staff to-day is as nearly a one-man executive enterprise as one can well. imagine. If ono were to venture a criticism on Alexeieff, it would bo that ho works too hard and does a hundred things daily that men of lesser ability might do for him.

Authoritative Personality. He is mild and low-spoken, but with that mysterious aura of authority , and character about him which brings quicker action from a well modulated sentence from him than a torrent of boisterous language from most men. The best evidence of his capacity is the comment one hears well-nieh universally in every arm„. " Ah, yes, Alexeieff. The best brain in the Russian Army." When His Majesty tho Tsar took command it was expected that the Chief of Staff would dine and lunch with him, as had been the case with the previous regime, that is, the Grand Duko and his CKief of Staff. Alexeieff is said to have replied bluntly to the suggestion. "I am a soldier, Your Majesty, and not a courtier. It will savo my time if I dine with the staff and give my every thought to the conduct of the war." So as it stands now the Emperor spends two hours daily with his Chief of Staff, conferring and advising with him on the military situation, while Alexeieff has tho rest of the day to do his work unmolested.

Personal Direction. Probably no general in this war does more in the way of actual direction than does Alexeieff. Time and again, when situations at the front become critical, he reaches over the heads of group and army commanders and directs the tactics of individual corps in person. During the retreat from Warsaw, he personally supervised innumerable details of the great retreat, which up to that time was one of the most, brilliant bits of defensive strategy which history affords. Probablv tho most brilliant work that Alexeieff hag done was the retreat of the — Army from Vilna. It is now well known that this army was enveloped on three sides, and practically cut off from its neighbours, with the only avenue of retreat an extremely poor road. Pressed on all sides with superior numbers, its fate seemed certain. It was feared that at last the Germans would complete ono of their so often planned enveloping movements. In this crisis, when all Petrograd was already gossiping over the anticipated disaster, the chief of staff took hold of the situation, and from his little office directed every detail of the movement for tho ten days that tho army was getting out, a withdrawal which it made without the loss of a single man. The repetition again and again of these strokes of Alexeieff have given him a great reputation in the army and enormously increased the morale of the troops and officers serving under him. Former Career.

The general is a man who has rison to his exalted position sheerly through merit and nothing else. In the Maneliurian campaign lie reached the rank of major-general, and served with distinction as Quartermaster-General of the Third Army. After the war he was Chief of Staff of the 13th Corps at Kiev, and later was professor ana lecturer on strategy. _ tactics and administration in the military college.. On the outbreak of the war he became the chief of staff of the armies of Ivanov, and the record of tho early months of the Galician campaign are evidence that ho did not fail in his duties there. On March 17, 1915,' ho was placed in command of the Polish front, taking the place of Ruszky, ■whose ill-health necessitated an interval of rest. Alexeieff and his chief of staff, Goulevitch, from Siedlice directed . the Warsaw movement, as is known. Army after army was transferred to the Aleseieff group until he had nine under his command. Tliey became such a burden -that the northern group was formed to relieve the intense pressure." Shortly after. this the Emperor took'the supremo command, and at once Alexeioff was made his chief of staff. ' ' '"'