Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-29

war Is not only Work. out team Work OF
the very highest order. Sir Douglas.
for example. never orders any action
until he has had the widest possible In
formation and has garnered the very
best judgment of his associates. The
great battle OF the Somme is typical OF
his procedure. He devoted months TO
patient preparation. There were many
times when he might have struck and
when the temptation to strike was
strong. But il is not the Haig way TO
go off half-cocked. II is the very OPP
posite OF the French strategy as repre-
sented, for example. by Gen. Nivelle
He is a type of the spectac,t ar fighter,
and, result. he reaped The wf1iri-
wind. Perhaps it's the Scotch in him;
perhaps it's the mans caution and cam
niness. but one thing is certain-Haig
never moves until he is good and ready
You may well imagine that after such
morning as have described Sir pou-
glas Haig is ready to welcome the
lunch gong, which sounds at 1850
o'clock. Yet this meal does not bring
immunity from work While the COM
pany is never large, 1T almost invaria-
bly, includes one or two high officers
from one OF the outlying armies and
there is much shop talk
After lunch Haig does a very char
acteristic thing. He isolates himself in
his study. and IL is one OF the unwrit-
ten laws of general headquarters that
he is not to be disturbed. In this period
of meditation he really Sits out all
and plans the fatefu1 orders that leap
up and down the battle line before the
day is ended. The Communicated chief
flashes signal and the generals under
his command do the rest
How does A man keep fit under the
racking anNieties such as beset. Sir
Douglas Haig? The next step In his
daily procedure is the answer After
ms quiet hour Haig gets his only play.
Being a born cavalryman. it naturally
follows that his chief recreation Is
horseback riding. Promptly at half
past three. his horse is brought Up.
and. attended by one or two young star
officers and sometimes by a few of his
own nth Lancers. he goes of for a
gallop along unfrequented roads. He
rides superbly.
Sometimes he devotes part of the
afternoon to inspection at the various
army headquarters or to a visit to the
headquarters OF one of his French al
lies. On such trips he uses a long gray
that flies a small British flag When
the Tommies see this brilliant bit of
color flashing by they stand at at
tentfon with more than usual rigtdity,
for they know that the leader of them
all is out. This car has the supreme
right of way, and. when you follow il,
you go at lightning speed.
Home from the ride, whether horse
back or motor. there are more confer.
ences that continue through the in
evitable tea-time and almost up to the
dinner hour. If any meal might be
called festive at general headquarters.
it is the evening one. Then there 10
talk of the outer world so far removed:
of new books, plays, or of the trend of
world politics. Very often the COM
mander-in chief has conferences after
dinner.
When there is no formal conferences
Sir Douglas leaves his guests early
But it is not to seek his bed. II you
should be strolling up and down the
quiet garden that tanks the chateau
You are more than likely to see the
light burning in the field marshal's
study. and you know without being told
that the commander-in-chief is keeping
a solitary vigil of some map or study
ing some report or working out bit
of strategy that before forty-eight
eight hours have passed will be trans
lated into action on some hard-fought
field.
So ends the days work at general
headquarters 1t has been one long
assimilation of minute details-yet the
sum of these details makes up the con-
duct of war as it is fought today.
You have seen the picture of the aver
age weekday at the nerve center
the British army in France. Now drop
in on Sunday. The telephone still
jingles, the typewriters click. there Is
the same movement of orderlfes to and
fro, the usual succession of confer
ences. But there is one other perform
ance worthy of the day and eminently
typical of the keen-eyed Scotchman
who is the repository of SO much Brit
ish hope and fear.
At 10 o'clock in the morning the
long gray motor with its tiny British
flag is at the door: the comma nder-in-
chief steps briskly inside and is whiried
off to the little Presbyterian church
where he sits with his brother officers
and men and hears good old-fashioned
Scotch orthodoxy preached by a
padre" a they call the army chap
lains. The weather is never too bad
or the pressure of those multitudinous
reports too great for Sir Douglas Haig
to miss Sunday service.
In this devotion to the creed Of his
fathers. you find just one other evil
dence of the character of the fair
haired. blue-eyed soldier who's
Pershing's chief brother arms.
Copyright, 1917. by the Bell Syndicate. -fneJ.