New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-16
Petain Face to Face
An Incroicw With the Defender of Verdun wear ne
Famous Battle Line

ovnrossion that never changed until nc
.,iIcd bis word Of good wishes as we lett
yc, have since found that apart from one
circumstance. which 7 shall mention IN
moment. | have remembered those minutes
most clearly Of all Of my Verdun experience
Inst as the photograph does not reveal tne
face Of the man. the word does not describe
the sense of strength, -of responsibility tha'
he gives.
The New Soldier
In a childish sort Of way exactly az one
thinks Of war as matter Of dash and color
and motion. one thinks of the French general
as the leader of a cavalry charge or OF for-
lorn hope Of infantry. And the French SOL
der of this war has not been the man OF
charge or of dash not that he mas ho'
charged as we'll as ever in his history lltue
more bravely, perhaps, for machine guns
are new and something worse than other wars
have had. What the French soldier has done
has been to stand, TO hold, 20 die, not III
the onrush but on the spot.
And Petain in some curious way has hxed
in my mind the impression Of the ne"
Frenchman, if there be new one, or, per
hans better of the French soldier OF to-day
whether he wear the stars Of the general OF
undecorated "horzon" blue of the poilu. nc
look that | saw in his eyes, the calm, STEADY
utterly emotonless looking straight forward
saw everywhere at the front and al tne
back of the front. Il embodied for me an
enduring impression of the spirit and the
noise OF the French soldier Of the latest and
most terrible of French struggles And
confess that, more than all ! saw and nearc
at the front and in Paris, the look OF TINS
man convinced me that Verdun 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 Jofre
work is done and that France waits for the
man who will complete the task; that tn'
strain of the terrible months has wearied the
general who won the Battle Of the Marine
and saved France. They will tell you, per
haps, that Petan is the man; they WI!
certainly tell you that they hope that the
man has been found in Petain. As to Tho
/ truth of all this | do not pretend TO know
I | did not see Jofre. but all that ! have reaC
of Joffre suggests that Petain is Of his sort
the same quiet, silent man, with certain
GOODNESS of the North, grimness of manner
that is lacking in his chief.
I Another Legend
There was Kitchener legend in Europe
and | do not think il survives save littl'
perhaps in corners of England. There was
a legend of a man of ice and Of iron, mar
who made victory out of human material as z
man makes a wall of mortar and stone, mar
to whom his material was only mortar anC
stone. even though it were human. This
legend has persisted so far 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.
II were an officer | should not like tC
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 | wa
obeying orders | was carrying out 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-bue eyes had foreseen al
that could occur foreseen calmly and Ut
terly whether it entailed the death of one Of
a thousand men, of ten thousand men il
necessary and had willed that il should
happen.
do not believe Napoleon's Old GuarC
would have followed Petain as they fol
lowed Ney | cannot fancy him in the I'M
perial uniform. and yet, now that wa- is &
thing of machines, of telephones, OF indirect
fire and destruction from unseen weapons al
remote ranges. now that the whole manner
and circumstance of conflict have changed
it is but natural that the general should
change, too. Patiently Petain is of the new
not the old, but no less patiently he was the
master of it.