The Elk Mountain pilot., 1917-01-04
HAS GREATEST
RECORD OF ANY
LEADER IN WAR
General Joffre Will Rank in His
tory With the AbIest of
Soldiers.
YOUNGER MAN IN HIS PLACE
Hero Of the Battle of the Marne Is
Succeeded by General NiyelIe, but
His Great Talents viii Still
Be at Service of Allies as
War Council Head.

Paris.-General Joffre has been su-
perseded The active command of the
French armies in the field has been
placed in the hands of a younger man,
General Nivelle. the hero of Verdun.
General Joffre has been made head of
the allied war council. Unprejudiced
observers agree he has today the great
est military record of any of the lead
ers in the present war. He will rank In
history with Napoleon /, Hannibal.
Caesar and George Washington
He won the battle of the Marine,
where defeat would have meant com
plete German success in the conflict.
He won 1t twice-frst, by directing
French preparations in the critical
years, 1911 to 1914, and, second, by
leading the armies of the Republic
in that fateful month of September.
1914, on the field of battle.
Joffre has commanded the armies Of
warning nation longer than any other
man in this war. Hindenburg's victo-
ries in the two battles of East Prussia
involved smaller numbers of men and
smaller responsibilities by far than
those which the idol of the French peo-
pie has borne through more than two
years of heart-wracking strife.
The Old Man of the Lakes follows
Won Falkenhayn and Won Moltke as
supreme military leader-under the
kaiser-of Germany Who knows how
long he will last? In the British land
forces Sir Douglas Haig has superseded
French; in Russia the Grand Duke
Nicholas has given place to the czar,
and General Alexieff sharing highest
command; in Austria-H Hungary the
leadership has shifted and finally been
given almost entirely into alien hands;
while Italy's troops. although always
under General Count Cadorna, have
not been fighting so long rs those of
the other great powers.
Age His Only Fault.
The slowing-up Of the battle of the
Somme without a distinguished allied
success, has been great disappoint-
ment to France. But few Frenchmen
blame Joffre for this. Criticism of him
has to find comfort in the fact that he
Is old, that he fought in the Franco
force theoretically should be exceeded
by that Of younger man.
He is one of n group OF great
French leaders who got their earlier
training in the 1S70-71 struggle with
Germany. The others of the group
include the one-armed hero, General
Pau, and General Foch, who has been
in direct command of the Somme op-
erations.
The present war has brought to the
fore certain younger officers. Men who
were only colonies or less when the
struggle commenced are now COM
manding army groups. Paris polii-
clans of the intriguing sort have been
demanding for some time that the old
er leaders step aside and let the young
sters show what they can do.
But nothing that may happen can
dim the great glory of Joftre. 1t is
safe to say that II vote by either the
soldiers or the civilians of France
would continue him in the post he has
held since 1911.
In that year the archaic French MILL
| tary organization started toward re-
! form. The army was to have its first
real commander in chief in many
years. Cabinet, army leaders and the
people alike united In the demand that
this position go to General Pau.
| But Pau, the patriot, standing in n
great council, declined the honor.
Pointing to Joffre, he said: There
stands the only possible man"
So Joffre was selected, because Pau
wanted him as his superior. The choice
was disappointment to the public.
TO whom Joffre was little known.
In many ways Joffre is more Ger
man than Partisan. Sober, simple in
habits, industrious, rising at five and
going to bed at ten, and making no
great public appearance, he was not
the figure to strike the French imag-
ination at first view.
Strong for Efficiency.
His career had already been marked
by several acts of gallantry, but 1t was
as an efficiency man, an engineer, n
systematiZer and organizer who was
not too proud to learn from the kais-
er's great general staff, that he had
impressed Pau and Castelnau and 9TH
ers, who now became his Immediate
instruments in regenerating the French
army.
loffre is not the Frenchman of Paris,
but the Woodworking peasant type
! which made France great. He was
born in Riversaltes, in the East Pyre-
nees, and loves today to talk the Cata-
Ian dialect with his old friends there.
He was the third of eleven children
no race suicide, one may deduct. The
family were traditionally coopers, and
none of them had had military careers.
There is some Spanish blood in Joffre's
veins.