NERVE CENTRE OF A GREAT ARMY.

Waikato Times, Volume 87, Issue 13269, 26 August 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

NERVE CENTRE OF A GREAT ARMY.

BUILDING THE BARRIER AGAINST BARBARISM.

Bv H. Warner Allen

One can recognise headquarters of brigade, division, or army in the towns and villages behind the fighting line by the motley collection of motor cars which are inrariably drawn up in front of it. As for the house itself, its appearance throws no light on the part it is playing in the present war, for, headquarters are always posted in the most convenient spot, whether it be sonic huge historic chateau or a humble private house. If there is no large house at a convenient spot, tho most commodious building available is chosen, and all around it spring up wooden buildings, fitted simply with desks, telephones, and electric lights and a hard chair or two, in which the real business of the army is carried on as methodically and seriously as though the officers there were working in the employment of some great business firm. If "there is any comfort, it is to he found in the general's study, and that comfort is such as would have appealed to the heart of Savonarola. Instead of pictures the walls are hung with maps, and perhaps a collection of aeroplane photographs of the German lines. The maps in themselves are fascinating things, thanks to the many colored chalk marks placed upon them showing tho essential points of th e opposing lines. The aeroplane photographs are an amazing patchwork in their first stato, but thanks to the skill of the modern military photographer the final ' print has lost all trace of its origin, ' which is something that closely resembles a Chinese puzzle. Dozens of photographs, each of which necessarily overlaps its neighbour, are fitted together with the most painstaking care, until a bird's-eye view of all the hostile trenches has been secured. There is one corridor in a famous I chateau which to-day has something to

add to its centuries of historic reminiscences, for it was there that a French general directed a series of operations which marked a definite recoil of the German front in France. He sat there before a big map of the field of battle measuring from time to time the distance hero or tho distance there, whilo the reports of tho commanders in the fighting line were brought to him as they arrived by telephone. The officers of his staff whose dutv required them to work in that corridor sat there in absolute silence, lest a muttered word should disturb the brain that was directing the battle, and they contented themselves with deducing from the general's expression the varying fortunes of the day

*' FEEDING THE FRONT. The three bureaus of tho staff have all their special quarters —the first bureau in charge of material and personnel; the second in cliarge of the intelligence and the third of operations. It is there that the officers of the first bureau work out the whole system if light railways required to keep the front provided with all that is necessary alike for offence and defence. It is responsible for the provision of munitions and commissariat and all clerical work in connection with the ]>crsonnel and recommendations for honors and promotions, etc. The second bureau collects and puts together every scrap of information that can be obtained as to the enemy's position and intentions. It is at the moment of heavy fighting that the heaviest work falls on the third bureau, when an order may come that so many men must bo transported to a particular place, in order to reinforce a threatened point. It is on this bureau that all the complicated arrangements for such a movement of troops fall. . , „ No one can accuse the French officer of failing to realise that jn truth there is only one front, on which civilisation is fighting against Germany. Naturally many of them have followed closely the Balkan wars, as affording the only practical lessons in modern warfare that were available before August 1914. and evervthing that happens, whether it be in Salonica, Mesopotamia, or South Africa, they regard from the same point of view—what effect will it have in rc'dncing Germany's power of resistence. It is perhaps in living in close relation with the officers of a general staff that one can best appreciate the magnificent spirit which animates the French army, the spirit which lias enabled it to raise an impregnable barrier across Europe against the advance of the barbarian. From the professional point of view, eveVy officer of the staff works for a number of hours during the day which would appal the Utopian who hopes that some day hours of labor will be limited for the whole world by Act of Parliament. , . , . ~ One and all,?they are enthusiasts in their own particular line of business. Long ago the men (if there were any; who were not prepared! to work themselves to the bone, have disappeared, and to-dav there is not a single officer who does not throw his whole heart into the particular job entrusted to him quite ap-entbusiatie&lly as s. great artist working at the masterpiece that Ins own genius has chosen for him.