DEPARTURE OF JOFFRE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14235, 1 March 1917, Page 4

DEPARTURE OF JOFFRE.

NIVELLE'S DRILL! ANTHD9LSH. WKARY^GERM ANS. (Sydney Sim Special). LONDON, Dec. 15. With the departure of Joff re there dis- • appeal's also the Grand Quartier-General, that abode of supreme authority .where all great questions affecting the strategy and tactics of the West front were decided. Neither ;Joffre nor . .his , t headquarters are to be known any riiore". Military policy and military strategy, too, are to be decided m Paris, where the French War Council, With Jqffrc as a consulting -membev, is; to meet, and Joff re's .. successor will play a_ .more humble rple, with headquarters less concerned with strategy than with the administration connected with trench fightL ing. . There has been a clumsy attempt to hipe Joffre \fall," 'and to pretend that now be is m a position of greater, authority,* as the head of an Allied war staff. ; But the truth is that the veteran general's critics fiercely assailed c him; They blamed- him for inactivity, and .said he was. old. and tired; They made much of tlie. tangle into 1 which Genera.! Hecr got at m the first' days of. th'£ German attack. And they secured a vote .m the Chamber of Deputies after ten days of secret session.' which spared v the life of. the G,overnment--tejnporarily. — at the price of -Joffre. ~-Ami*sb the yip- ; tor of t the Marne becomes a marshal, "a rank specially revived to salve his wound and he goes to Paris to be chairman. of. a War Staff- which exists only m namq, and to be a "technical adviser" ' to the War Council on matters, which. 'till jiow have been withjn bnrjndiyidual authority as Generalissimo. ~ -Per, - though. ; Joffre suffered much fronVlhe politicians, h,e for 28 months 'Was Generalissimo m deed as m word, and the great hotel anjcl humble dwelling alongside which form.e4 his Grand ;Quartier-Gerieral were Uj'«F very centre of the Allies' Western military efforts. There is- much regret j(n the British Army that he 3s gone, but France knows best what is right, for het_ self, and indubitably, Joffre has been, looking wan and ill. What ' could you expect, of a man i over vho Jiag been through campaigns, m whicji, tl«j fate of civilisation has depended upon hi s thoughts? The breat with the old ? Grand . Quartier-General i s also costing us a parig. Calm, hopeful, Joffre was. there with his brilliant young staff wbeji things were at their, worst for us.. They were there when, we were embark* ing, with faith and hope high, upon great offensives ; they were ' there, the ever-steady raWers.t- *when dirappointments and difficultife Seemed intolerable. And' now Joffre, and the authority he wielded are gone, and >ye , know that though he is ay m«ridi,i! he will hot take the field again, an<l .fhat'ih "future .our joint plans will be decided and discussed by new authorities) m Paris and London. GENERAL 1 NTVELLE." y '. , Many years ago the orphaned) daughter of a British^on%wF*w : en£>- to France to complete her education, and there married a dashing' young French cavalry officer. General Nivelle is. their son. He becomes Commander-in-Chief of . the northern and north^easj:e.rn armies pf France— that is, those 'from the junction with the British li*iefi -on the Somme to the borders of Switzerland. It is Joffre's old command — stripped of much. It is stripped of its 'control over the rest of. the military forces m France and over the Balkan army— l?Armee de L'Orient. And it is presumed that before many weeks there will" be another decrease,, for the British Army will be called on to take over a .larger portion of the Frendh line; Only ; the . disclosure of a great personality m Nivelle will bring baak the fame arid authority of the Grand-Quartier 'General. His *frieud s say that he can do it— 4hat he is much more than a soldierj that he understands his pbilus, and that lie; can lead, them through the German lines. „ One is reminded -.of old, Joffre' s wistful saying. "Wpuld Napoleon have got through:" he wa^ asked, "Ah," he replied, "yen, 1 think Napoleon would have thought of something." Nivelle's meteoric rise from colonel to Command-er-in-Chief during the war justifies hope that he will 'think of something. Perjwpg he has already 1 a secret. For the quick blow he gave .the Hun aY Verdun, at tjie end of Ofctober was a brilliant piece of offenrive generalship. He launched his men at the Germans when they.wer,e preoccupied on the Somme, ,.ahct with one stride lie retook Vaux and Rouaumont, and made Verdun quite safe again. Nivelle' "has "been one of. two heroes of the Verdjin battle. The first was Petain, whom Joffre sent to save the situation after the Veteran Heer bad decided 'tljat it could not be saved, and that F r «nch-. men must get put. Petain . wenj six months ago to command anotVier pre up of armies, grouped to tae nu'th of P.- 113. and Nivelle, the, lithe, eager, resourceful young artilleryman, was jrivt-n cf.mn>atid. Nivelle had di^.i'igu!rfh»d l:ims«if a*< coldnel'in ,the fli-jt, days of tlw> wrir, beinVl'.Tnentioned .1:1 army crcors j fo? the skill with which he j.nt out of action 24 eiiemy gun?, . On the Ourc<[ h; saved a desperate f'LuJition m Se, ten>ber. 1914. by placing ail his available g ip« m front pf the retreating Seventh Arm> Corp.^. Jiard .pivi.-se 1 oii the riv.wr'a bank, and driyrng'back Uie Jdlermaus liy r:heet force or shr *;» \\l tny.. He fiturecl' wi*-.» his artillery \\\ the tattle of ilic Ai*v.«» also. He be^ama ttripadicr-geiieia-in October, 1914 ; . r^e; /cd, a . 'diviMonal con it and m February, 1915.: nnd tecßiuc army corpp commsuvicr. J.«te that yo^r... All through he saw heavy fighting—freqr.pntly brilliant wr>«j, as when he tjreke" tliro^gh the O"« < a.au , \\nes ,-at Qunineviei'esj. aaid "uflj^ted heavy lo^.c-s, I giw the .fpvP^'' 11 ?..?' 0 *: I**1 ** of -l-im fis.Tn, the pen of, an .vnjMCjfal- l>pglihhmar : — "ife i 3 59. appg;. vai-e, he is tall ,:n.d Bupp!-:. He has the he4d -of a .thinker, with a fi rm > .'decided, and remarkably piercing . eyes. He is a man. of idear, an.4 r , resqurcn,' af fl . iudefatig^Me organiser, .and enaowei 'with infinite. patience. He' is . absol it ily impa^f-ive v, the presence qf /danger. ..'.* He »no lioctimairej but" a trained of ironius, who believes i|i intuition and solves e«ery problem' as i it irii«'& on its cwn rc«rlts." ' ",..'.. NIVELLE AND -PEACE. Within seven days of his appointment General Nivelle struck; at. the^ Germans. He threw them back nearly two miles further at Verdun, .capturing 7500 prisoners and many guns.' 'Some movement was called for from.. Paris, where it would not be without effect on the .military situation. ' A^^ivelte chose that zone where, " through \ summer', and autumn, he, had held. the Crown Prince's army m a grip, exacting heavy, .penalties for attacks. ! a,nd hardVhen opportunities caihe for return blows. Yesterday he^ launched - six divisunm from the line about Douaumortt— two on the left, -where prpg'pees was rapid and. cheap ; 'two m- the, ceiitre, where the Germans became utterly demoralised^; and' two oh 'tfie ngbjt. wi.hg 1 , wttcrc reAidtance was strong arouird tfae old, ruined ' Hardauinont " Woiit.v Neville everywhere attained his objective; He had:- with htm as subordinates General Petaiu, who again' has the ' Verdun sec-, tor ; in his €x,fended command; and G«jnerai' Maugin, a' young infantryman, who has for long Been Nivelle's j;redteet:; friehd. This waa^^ttie ttue" French answer to the Kaiser's offer of a Ger-num-made peace- It" was the answer of the French , army— an army of veteran patriots, wli'p A are noKv : hardened to warfare and ■ who* 'least of" all the armies m »th© field think "of peace without complete victory. And it at once wins for the now ■. Cojmhiaiidcr-jn-Chief full fame and confideiW amoHg his three million men. Its effect upon the peace question is already pronounced. The world knew aud ■ mspeeted the Allies' answer to Germany long before it was announced. But. how' much more is it worthy of respect when we prove 1 m this way ,thaf, ; ftbwover-icleve'r «he may be m overrunning; .-jsmall aud halfarmed nations— (-lie Bmaller. aaid the less armed the :b*tte^ fvpm.j her point 'of view— G^rjnany j\o& rjU* -Ko through 'defeats w^en she places., the magnificent forces of her greater enemies.- No army sarrerid€Jrs 7#X> men, and two miles of territory, under circumstances % 4g(eat- t,JKTo army can Burxender iOOjOOO men, as Germany has don© during ,s£. 'last >bsx months on the West front, except under circumstances of grave defeat. Her defeats are far from being decisive. But they go a

JgM way. ,to «&plain . why she babbles TaJbut peace. Her defeated men want peace, and "can bo buoyed up only _by a move showing tljat they, «^m't get it.