The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1916-06-07
SUPPLY GEN|USMAY
SUCCEED KITCHENER
Lieut.. Gen. Sir William Robert
Robertson Distinguished as
Transport Officer.

Lieut.. Gen. Sir william Robert Rob-
ortson. who IL likely to succeed Lord
Kitchener. Is known rs the supply
Genius" of the British armies.
Only a few months ago he was pro-
NOTED to be CHIEF OF the imperial gen.
erai stan.
Hitherto. the head or the general star
had been a strategic expert, but re-
General kobertsons promotion was due
TO- the unique record he made for him.
self by keeping the British soldiers well
fed and their ammunition belts well
nlled. When the war broke out the
British war office supposedly had IN It's
pigeonhofes minute plans for rushing
anrarn1y for Belgium's protection. BUT
and in particular there were immense
difficulties with the supplies.
80 Organized Motor Truck Service.
This was the circumstance that
caused General Robertson 70 distin-
suish himself. lie belongs to the class
OF Englishmen who do not believe
England somehow will always muddle
through whether the workers do we'll
or Ill. He has American persistence
and Yankee ingenuity IN his personality,
and as a result the supply department
Of the British expeditionary force made
things move with amazing celebrity be-
England and the rghting front in
France.
General Robertson, for instance, or
gantzed motor truck supply service
tho tracks run no further. and the
British battle lines, that was the won-
der or the French geenral stan. He
demonstrated that in these days OF
army does not have to rely on rail-
roads to maintain it's most efficient
lines of communication.
General Robertson also taught the
as hustle. which spells victory In war
fare: To be sure, ne had the authority
OF Lord Kitchener, himself a grea,
transport officer. to help him at home
put Kitchener's chief work was to raise
and drill volunteer armies. To General
Robertson belongs the chief credit OF
keeping the supplies coming forth from
England at high pressure.
Has Distinguished Career.
He has been at this kind Of work
since his young manhood. In 1891 when
General Robertson was thirty-one
Years old. he was. transport officer to a
British punitive expedition in India,
and won such high praise that he was
attached to the quartermaster general 4
department at S!mla headquarters.
After three years spent feeding the
,British army In India, he went as in.
telligence officer with the Chitral ex.
pedition. and won the Distinguished
Service Order. which ranks just bel .w
the Victoria Cross for great gallantry
under fire. Then the general stan in
London got him, and when the South
African war broke out General Robert
son was sent to the front to maintain
When the war ended General Robertson
was among the new school of officers
who returned homo to revolutioniso the
antiduated methods OF the British I'm
pertal defense.
Part of this time he devoted to re-
forming the ,auartermaster's depart
ment. Later he was commandment at
the British staff College. which trains
,ambtious young officers for tho gen.
.erel staff. When the European war be-
gan. General Robertson was director of
military training at the war office.
Lord Kitchener. who could detect an
organizer BY instinct. Immediately sc Sc
cult question OF supplies. and the work
,of the British quartermaster general
SOON became known as one of the most
brilliant pieces of scientific management
tho war hos seen.
Problem Is Munitions.
Then, as the opposing armies settled
down to siege warfare in their trenches
the qunrtermaster generals department
became Of greater important then II
had ever been before. The British
quick to see the advantage which q
supply genius like General Robertson
might give them, elevated him to third
In authority throughout the army, &c
that his superiors were only Lord Kitch-
erer and Field Marshal French.
The day after General Robertson was
made chief of staff Field Marshal
French gave an interview TO n Paris
newspaper man.. 1T is a rough war
said the British commander-in-chief
but the problem It sets Is compare
lively simple. 1t Is munitions, more mu
nitfons-always more munitions"