South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-09-16
FRENCH GENERAL
MOST ROMANTIC
FIGURE IN WAR
BY GEORGES DUFREsNE.

most dramatic figure in the great
European war up 10 now IS Gen. Paul
Pau, the aged French veteran Of the
war Of 1870, who IS now leading a
part OF the French army against the
Germans over the same territory
where he was a commander and lost
an arm A years ago.
AT the beginning Of the war, Gen.
Pau was sent 10 the 'front.' and in
short time, after the French had met
their first reVerses at the hands of
their old time enemy in Alsace-Lor-
raine. buffer state between France and
Germany for 100 years, he was sent
into Lorraine.
This was FAMILIAR ground for Gen.
Pau and in a few weeks he retrieved
the losses OF the French in Lorraine.
He knew the country; he knew the
Germans and above all. the dra-
matte circumstances of being led by
hero Of 1870 over the same roads
he travelled then, had a remarkably
stimulating effect upon the French
troops.
Erenchmen Inspired
All Frenchmen love romance and
the dramatic. Impressive condolences
thrill them. They are inspired by the
white-haired, one-armed vigorous
veteran. who seemed to them a wrath
Of the Franco-Prussian war, and they
1t then developed that Gen. Pau,
unknown to the public at the time,
was transferred TO command the
French left wing against the German
main army in northern France. on
Sept 1, the anniversary OF the de-
cisive battle of Sedan, when 5000, 900
French, British and Germans were in
a fierce conflict within a few miles Of
that historic battlefield, Gen. Pau was
in command Of the French left, in
close cooperation with the British
mmander-in-chief, Field Marshal
Sir John French.
That battle might have developed
into a decisive engagement, that would
have settled the fate of Paris, as did
the battle Of Sedan, where Marshal
Mcmahon surrendered and Napoleon
III became a German prisoner.
That Gen. Pau was at The front.
again defending Paris against her old
time enemy, thrilled every Partisan,
and Pau's name was on every tongue
in the boulevards.
Pau Was Fortunate.
During the war of 1870 Gen. Pau
he was a general even then-WaS
not involved in any of the disastrous
defeats administered by the Prussians
BY superior strategy or perhaps good
fortune, Pau's men were for the most
part victorious. For that reason,
then Pau has been an idol and pop
ular hero with the French people for
almost half century.
Pau most emphatically is not a dis
ciple OF Napoleon. He does not be-
lieve in Napoleonic tactics in war.
The fact that he was in command Of
the left on the first Of this month was
therefore taken as significant 1t was
predicted that Pau might soon super
cede Gen. Joseph Joffre as general
issimo Of the French army.
Joffre, also a veteran of the war of
1870, though he was then only IS
years old, is a profound believer in
Napoleonic strategy. AT the begin
ming Of this war, he adopted the tao
tics of Napoleon and sent his army in
every direction to strike the Germans
in several places at once. That was
Napoleon's idea, to strike first, strike
N many places, and strike often.
Abandon Methods.
The French generals of 1870 aban-
| doned Napoleon'S methods and Joffre
was among those who said that this
was responsible for the defeat of
France in that war.
But evidently the French military
authorities did not agree with JOffre.
In the first four weeks of the war Of
1914, the French were more or less
! beaten. They met reserves in AlSace
and Lorraine and they were pushed
| back in the north. The Germans
! crossed the frontier.
! Suddenly NJ. Millerand took the
| helm. Napoleonic tactics were aban-
doned. The French forces were con-
centrated against the main German
| army in the north. Gen. Pau was
called back from Lorraine and placed
in command of the French main left.
| There were those who said that he
would soon be commander-in-chief of
the French forces, and that the spirit
| of Napoleon would no longer fight
| the battles of France in this, the
greatest of all wars.
Should Gen. Pau be placed in su-
| preme command of the French army,
should he survive the war and should
| France be victorious, what dramatic
| triumph il would be! Fiction does
not contain a parallel for such an
| achievement. That a commander
who was defeated and himself MAIN
ed in a war, should live to retrieve
that defeat "A years later would per-
! haps be the most remarkable and
stirring achievement in the military
/ history world. Certainly no novelist
or dramatist ever had the imagination
20 portray such an occurrence.