El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-10-27
By FRANK b SIMONDS.

q western front was to be ruptured and
the war won In bis opening con
lrersations Nivelle told the fascinated
public men. who were mis- audience
rive at Laon on the second day. al
3 dawn. precisely, but also that he had
! prepared a time table for an advance
Z 10 the Meuse. Iwenry1Our hours aftel
Z The exploitation would begin and on
J the third day war in the open. war OF
{ movement would recommence
As this great operation for the
I liberation OF northern France could
not succeed without the full coopera-
ton OF the British, Haig consented
/ that Nivelle should exercise supreme
Z command over the British as well as
I the French armies. with the single
/ Limitation that when the battle had
I tsrminated-and HaiE was to decide
Z this point. full freedom to command
should return to the British field
marshal In the first hours OF this
exercise OF command Nivelle got into
difficulties because Of the hruescue-
ness Of his orders TO the British. but
the Incident vas later politely for
gotten.
Upon the British. quite as much
as the French. Niveile made a great
impression. Il is not true that Brit
ish influence had contributed to his
appointment The selection was
y.
mother had been English and he
spoke the language with a certain
fluency, much exaggerated at the
time His success with the British
was due rather to his manner. to the
distinction OF his bearing. to the
plausibility Of his statements Thus
he carried the British with him. and
Haig. after preliminary objections,
willingly and loyalty enlisted as
subordinate in Nivelle's campaign
Moreover. for Nivslle himself. Haig
acquired real admiration. and to
those who talked with him IN this
period he spoke OF Nivelle's fighting
spirit IN words Of unqualified praise.
Fatal Indiscretionz.
No sooner had Nivelle taken com
mand than the very firmness o. his
faith IN the success OF his plan led
him TO amazing and 1atal inoiscre-
tons By January his orders outlin-
ing his great strategic conception had
been issued and transmitted down TO
the very commanders Of companies
BY February every village n France.
no matter how small. knew OF the
coming Of the spring offensive and
knew that Il would be directed
against the Craonne Plateau. what
they knew the Germans were equally
prompt to discover. Preserving Ger
tain element OF common sense, Nivelle
first invited Petain 10 command
group OF armies whose mission a
was to storm the Craonne Plateau
Petaiu promptly pointed out the dis
proportion between the task and the
resources He did not believe the
great plan would succeed, he said so.
and, as a result. on OF his three armies
was taken from his command and
given 10 1richeier. Petain was thence
forth Ignored
Meantime conditions changed. The
Russian revolution broke out II be-
came clear that Russia was ont OF
collapse brought paralysis 70 the
italian offensive. which was planned
to coincide with the dttzclr on the
western front. since e was clear that
italy would now have TO bsar the
weight OF Austrian troops which {
would be transferred from the RUS (
sian 70 the Venetian front Jcffre's {
concentiou. which fixed No
rembsr IS. 1915. as the day for