Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1914-11-09

American Correspondent Says
British Have Been Badly
Led in Present War Joffre
Real Commander in Chief,

t1Icrbcrt Corey. In st. Paul Dispatch.)
London. Nov. - Man for man.
the French soldier Is better than the
English soldier In the field In France.
The French officer Is better than the
English officer. The trouble of the
English troops In This war has been
due to the fact that, they have been
bravely but poorly Icd."
This is the statement of one OF the
worlds real experts upon war In It's
essentials IL Is supported by the state
ment of an English war correspon-
dent OF wide experience.
They arc wonderful defensive sol
dicrs." they said. when properly led
Army National Democracy.
THE French army" said the first
man quoted. zig in truth national
democracy All ranks of society ell
bow each other in the files. In one
squad found banker. a lawyer q
business man. and man OF ndcpen-
dent fortune. That was fairly typi-
cal OF the army produced by the uni
vcrsal conscript system. II hardly Is
to be wondered at IL such an army Is
superior In Intelligence to one made
up Of professionals.
The dash of the French soldier IL
everywhere admitted His critics
have held up that he will not stand
fire well In cold blood
Took II for Days.
"WIil the Frcnchmen lie and take
it?" ] asked.
'He has" was the reply. "lIe lay in
the trenches and took II for days at a
time. His percentage of loss by death
and wounded IL far higher than that
OF the English army. and closely APP
proaches that Of the Germans In rela-
tion to the number Of engaged"
Retreat From Mons Frcnch's Blinder.
There is a rather bitter feeling
growing up between the French and
English soldiers in the field. The
French think that the English have
not played the game" With 10000
men in the field. they have assumed
to direct a campaign In which their
allies had almost 100000 men en-
gagged. When, because Of their own
tactical error they suffered heavily,
they blamed their allies. The English
insist that the fault was that Of the
French and declare they have not
been properly supported. But the
leaders on both sides--for the most
rt--discountenancc this sentiment
They realize the absolute necessity for
mutual trust anu 'forbearanee.
THE whole truth never has been
made known about the retreat from
Mons" said these men separately, I'm
which the English forces under Cen
eral French suffered so heavily. and
were finally driven from the field In q
retreat which came perilously close
TO being a rout. In his report upon
his action General French twice re-
ferred to the, failure Of French gea-
eral to come to his support because
his horses were tired Here are the
facts:
Joffre In Supreme Command.
General Joffre was in supreme
command He had outlined a MASTER
ly plan of campaign. He thoroughly
understood his business as did his
German opponents. The staffs Of
both armies have for years devoted
themselves to a study of big army
tactics. They have considered contests
In which hundreds of thousands
might be millions---of men were en-
gagged No English soldier of this
generation ever has attempted TO han
die an army Of more than $4,000 men.
Big army work was a mystery to
them.
Caught in d 1'rnp
80 that French did not coordinate
his force with that Of Joffre. Instead
OF being merely unit in the mass,
he attempted independent action with
his army OF $4,000 men. The natural
consequence was that he got caught
in n trap. His own aerial observers
had failed to locate the enemy. Joffre
had no information for him. because
French was not where he should have
been. When Joffrc did detect the
danger that threatened French be
cause the latter was out of line he
warned the English general ut once
The battle came on and French was
dccsivcly whipped. lie appealed for
aid
ITO send that aid at that time in
volved a change in Joffres whole
plan OF campaign. To save S0,o00
English he might be forced to sacri-
flee $4,000 French and deform his
line of defense with possibly serious
consequences He was forced to let
French work out his own salvation,
This was done with gallantry. but
from the military point OF view
- a NIL