The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-04-20
HEAD OF FRENCH ARMY SLEEPS BUT
 SIX HOURS A DAY
Gen. Nivelle Labors Unceas ingly Eighteen Hours
 Out of 24.

1 Paris, April 18.-From a staff off
 cer who has been on duty at head
 quarters I have obtained a detailed
 account of the daily life of Gen. Mi
 velle, who now has command of
 Frances fighting forces.
 l No matter what may be going on in
 the front lines, the man who controls
 thousands of soldiers must regulate
 his life as precisely as the man who
 runs a great business enterprise in New York.
 Thus Gen. Nivelle burns no mid
 night oil-not after midnight at any
 rate. He gets good six hours sleep
 and walks into his office at headquar-
 ters, which is situated in the Munici-
 pal Building of a village twenty miles 1 behind the trenches, at the stroke of
 T. having partaken of the traditional
 French first, breakfast coffee and
 milk and bread and butter. l Sitting down in a stigbacked arm
 chair at the big table which he prefers
 to desk, the general prepares to re-
 ceive the report of his Chief of Staff.
 The room in which he works has an
 other smaller table, three or four plain
 wooden chairs, and filing cabinet; I nothing more, except maps, which are everywhere.
 The chief of staff, briefly saluting his
 superior, pIunges laconically into his
 typewritten narrative of the nights
 doings.
 l "The x sector was calm, but near
 by in Y there was brisk artillery bom-
 bardment. Shells fell thickly on the l- position, but our batteries shut | up the enemy without great trouble. A patrol of the steenth battalion of the
 'tieth brigade brought in seven pris- | oners from whom we ascertained that
 the heavy howitzer located by our aer- l oplanes in the - wood was destroy ed by three shells from our No. -
 battery of 240 millimetre guns. We
 brought down an aeroplane at 1 o'clock this morning over Douau-
 mont; the pilot is now being interro-
 gated. We have had 326 wounded
 and 97 dead in that engagement at - yesterday. There is an>epidem- l ic of typhoid in the - cantonment, but only four cases so far. Judging l by the direction of his fire, the enemy | is planning trench raid on Hill Mo- l- The tn Division asks for 1 10000 75mm shells, and an increase ] in the wine rationment, is asked by \ the -th Brigade" etc, etc, etc. l An hour is consumed in the read ! ing of the report, which is constantly l interrupted by comments and brief 1 instructions from the General. Then Ahe sends his dispatches from Great General Headquarters to other head 1 quarters.
 l He then devotes a scant 15 minutes
 to his other correspondence-com -commu-' nications from the Minister of War, I from members of the Government, from Deputies and Cenators, from simple "poilus" who violate the reg ulations by addressing their "big boss direct, and from friends and family. Meantime the table is loaded down with the day's "dossiers'' bulky rec ords dealing with proceedings in court martial, recommendations for the awarding of decorations special re- ports on matters concerning the health or the housing or the feeding or the transportation of troops-an
 endless flood of papers.
 The General signs his. name until his wrist aches. but it is pumb by the time the last of the documents has been dealt WlCn.
 Throughout all this period of sigma lures there are intermittent spasms of telephoning.
 Then there are numerous up-to- the-minute reports phoned in by sub ordinate officers, commanders of di- visions and brigades, which must be heard by Gen. Nivelle himself.
 Beaides there is always the unex-
 --3kr systematized warfare may have be- come. The five hours to noon passes rap idly and luncheon often finds the Gen eral barely abreast of his multitudin- is always served on time for it is sell dom that headquarters finds itself l without guests at this hour.
 Gen. Nivelle is fond of meeting visi- tors to the front and invariably in- vites members of the Cabinet, parlia- mentary dignities, distinguished for-l luncheon with him.
 Immediately after lunch the gen. era1, attended usually by a single aide-de-camp, climbs into his big linn cuisine and sets out for the firing line. OH Ll6 way l0 Id1kS WlCIl s pOl- lus'' he may chance to meet and in- forms himself thus at first hand concerning that most important rib in an armys anatomy . morale.
 By 5 o'clock Gen. Nivelle is back again at headquarters, ready to listen to another series of reports, dealing with activities since a. m., and to receive the maps corrected by hourly aeroplane reconnaissance and photog- raphy.
 Just before dinner he confers with a representative of each of the di- visions under his command, and if it be Friday holds great conference with all his subordinate general off, cers,
 Dinner, served at 1880, is usually a family affair." only the high func- tionaries of the Headquarters Staff be- ing present. No sooner has the Gen