New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-04-30
From the Graves of
the Marine to the
Hills of the Meuse
The Master
of the New
War.
COPYRIGHT 1916
THE TRIBUNE. ASS n.

rible of French struggles. And confess
that. more than all | saw and heard at
the front and in Paris. the look of this
man convinced me that Nerdun would not
fall that France herself would not either
weary or weaken
In Paris. where one may hear anything,
there are those that will tell you that
Joffres work is done and that France
waits for the man who will complete the
task; that the strain OF the terrible
months has wearied the general who won
the Battle of the Marine and saved France.
They will tell you. perhaps. that Petain is
the man; they will certainly tell you that
they hope that the man has been found in
Petain. As to the truth of all this | do
not pretend to know. | did not see Joffre,
but all that | have read Of Joffre suggests
that Petain is of his sort. the same quiet.
silent man. with certain GOODNESS of the
North a grimness of manner that is lack
ing in his chief.
There was Kitchener legend in Europe,
and do not think il survives save little
perhaps in corners Of England There was
legend Of a man Of ice and of iron, a
man who made victory out of human ma
terial as a man makes wall Of mortar
and stone. man TO whom his material
was only mortar and stone. even though
it were human. This legend has persisted
so far as Kitchener is concerned, gone
with so much that England trusted and
believed two years ago, but | find myself
thinking now Of Petan as we all thought
of Kitchener in his great day.
If were an officer | should not like to
come to the defender Of Verdun with the
confession of failure. | think ! should
rather meet the Bavarians in the first line
trenches. but | should like TO know that
when was obeying orders ! was carrying
out a minor detail of something Petain had
planned; | should expect it to happen, the
thing that he had arranged and should
feel that those clear, steel-blue eyes had
foreseen al that could occur, fcfeseen
calmly and attery. whether it entailed the
death Of one or a thousand men, Of ten
thousand men if necessary, and had willed
that it should happen.
] do not believe Napoleon's Old Guard
would have followed Petain as they fol
lowed Ney. cannot fancy him in the I'm
perial uniform, and yet. now that war is a
thing Of machines, Of telephones, Of indi-
rect fire and destruction from unseen
weapons at remote ranges. now that the
whole manner and Circumstance Of conflict
have changed. it is but natural that the
general should change, too. Patiently
Petan is Of the new. not the old, but no
less patiently he was the master Of il.
Those Who Hold the Line
We left the little Marie, entered our
and slid out swiftly for the last
miles. climbed and curved over the final
hill and suddenly looked down on deep,
valley marching from east 70
west and carrying the -Verdun-Me.z
no longer available for traffic.
And as we coasted down the hill we heard
the guns at last, not steadily, but only
from time 70 time. distant boom, a faint
up Of musketry fire. Some three
or four miles straight ahead there were the
lines Of fire, beyond the brown hills that
hanked the valley.
At the bottom Of the valley we turned
east. moved on for a mile and stopped
abruptly. The guns we're sounding more
dearly. and suddenly there was a sense not
81 soldiers, but Of an army. On one side
IF the road column was coming toward
Us, column Of men who were leaving the
trenches for a rest. the men who for the
recent days had held the first line. Wea-
rily but steadily they streamed by; the mud
# the trenches covered their TUNES; here
and there man had lost his steel helmet
and wore handkerchief about his head
probably to conceal slight wound that
,ut for the helmet had killed him.
These men were smiling as they marched;
hey carried their full equipment and it
attled and tinkled; they carried their guns
1t all angles, they wore their uniforms in
he strangest of disorders; they seemed al
most like miners coming from the depths
# the earth rather than soldiers returning
rom decisive battle from the hell Of
modern shell fire.
Going Under Fire.
But 1t was the line on the other side ~
ne road that held the eye. Here were the
roops that were going toward the fire,
oward the trenches, that were marching
o the sound Of the guns, and as one saw
hem the artillery rumble took on a new
listinctness.
Invountarily / searched the faces Of
hese men as they passed. They were hard
y ten feet from me. Platoon after pla-
Don. company after company, whole regi-
rents in columns Of tours. And seeing the
aces brought an instant shock; they all