Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-11
BY CoMMANDANT BUGNET.

BY COMMANDANT BUGNET.
written exclusively for the Star, and the
North American Newspaper Alliance.
On March % Haig himself telephoned
to ask for some one to take charge of
the war"
The oath was a Sunday. Foch told
M. Loucheur, minister of munitions,
who. being uneasy. had wished to dis
cuSS the. situation with him. 1T is seri-
Gus. very serious, but it is in no sense
desperate. You understand, 1 refuse
to speak of possible retreat"
Then. on that same day, he called
on Clemenceau with letter in which
he had set out his opinion: Nothing is
ready"
The President replied: You are de-
Serting me-"
NO, no, M. LIE President. I am not
deserving you. but We must have a SUI
preme command. otherwise We shall be
on the verge of disaster"
On the following day, as he was
on the point of starting for Abbeville
to meet the English. Clemenceau tele-
phoned him: There is a war council
at Compiegne."
What about Abbeville?"
Send Weygand there"
AT Compiegne the meeting took
place In villa on the outskirts of the
town. because the latter was being
bombarded. Things were going badly!
HaiR was not there, and we could not
arrive at any agreement.
Frowns on Early Proposal.
I'VE agreed to meet on the following
day, and returned to Paris. I was at
my home, in the Avenue de SAKE, when
Weygand called to tell me what he
had heard from Field Marshal Haig
and Wilson. The latter had gone back
to Versailles, but he called on me the
same evening to tell me: This Is the
proposal: M. L.emenceau will be in
supreme command, with Gen. Foc1 as
his chief of staff.
THAT will not work." said. I'M.
Clemenceau knows nothing of leading
armies or directing battlesl Who then
will take charge of affairs? There will
be decisions to take-who will take
them? Clemenceau will say: I agree
with Haig and Petain.' But it is not
a matter of agreeing with them. He
must command. Who will assume the
responsibility? No, it will not work"
Foch definitely accepted his respon-
Sibilities. I'VE are about to try to
create events, not to submit to them"
The night passed. They met again
on the following day at Doullens. The
position was examined: There Is not
a foot of ground to lose. 1t is neceS-
sary to cling to what we hold. Re-
member October, 1914 ." The enemy
has struck Just where the two halves
Of the door meet. He has pushed them
back on Haig and Petain. New strength
is necessary to force them together
again. Above all, do not give the troops
a line on which to fall back, otherwise
they will tend to retire too precipi-
lately"
Lord Miner and Gen. Haig arrived.
It was then proposed to give Gen.
Foch the command in the Arniens Sec
tor. "
mo, on the whole western 'front.'"
said Haig.
FOch Accepts Command.
Every one agreed. IT am to co-ordi-
nate? Very well!" Foch accepted.
On the way to lunch, Clemenceau
came and said to him: Well! You
have had your own way"
Yes! A nice mess You give me a
lost battle, and tell me to win it."
Anyhow, you have got what you
wantedw
To his wife, who was perturbed at
seeing him shoulder so heavy bur-
den, Foch merely replied, God grant
that 1t may not be too late"
On the evening Of March Is, on re-,
turning to his G. H. @. the general
iSSimo met at Dury, Gen. Cough, COM
handing the 5th Army, which, having
been broken through in front Of Saint
Quentin, had had to fall back from the
Somme-Peronne line.
What are you doing here?"
81 was waiting for you"
you should not wait for me in that
TNy0N until nj
your corps commanders will be on your
heels, and every one will stampede.
Go forward; the whole line will stand
fast, and so will your own men,"
LET Nothing Co." He Says.
"You see how matters stood when
I assumed the Command of the allied
armies in 1918? The Germans at
tackled at the point of juncture be-
tween the British armies and our own.
The line was dented; one ally could
only see the Channel, the other the
capital. They said to me: There are
the Channel ports and Paris. Which
are you going to defend-the ports or
Paris?' Both But If you have to
let one or the other go?' I shall let
What was to be done? We could
not afford to lose a yard of ground,
and, above all, it was necessary to
maintain liaison with the allies. To
do that, the first thing to do was to
hold the enemy and to stand fast.
There was only one method of doing
thiS-to reorganize, cost what 1t might.
Then we must counter ATTACK to break
down offensives."
He set up his quarters at Beauvais,
in the middle of the theater of oper-
ations: The battle of Amiens fol-
lowed. While the British armies re-
sisted foot by foot, 80 divisions and
more. than 20 regiments of heavy ar
tillery were hurried up from all parts
of the French front. Thrown into
the fray as they were detrained, they
determined the rate of progress of the
enemy and maintained liaison between
the allied armies. On April 3: THE
enemy was held from Arras to the
Oise."
Further Attacks Fail.
Further German offensives were an
ticipated. Again they took place
against the English front and at the
point of juncture between the French
and British forces. At the urgent re-
quest of the chief, who had foreseen
these attacks. the Belgians extended
their front, Field Marshal Haig held
firmly TO his positions, and our troops
fastened to his aid. The attacks came
to nothing.
AS a first result, this was splendid.
From now onwards, the chief matter
was to constitute reserves. With what?
UNUSUAL VALUE!