Joffre: A Portrait in Miniature

SEPTEMBER, 1916

I WAS fortunate enough to be in Paris with a letter in my pocket written by a person in authority, addressed to General Joffre. After forwarding it through the proper military channels, I learned that the General would be glad to see me and my friend M. L—— at nine o’clock the next morning, Sunday, at his headquarters at——. We motored out, making an early start from Paris, and were taken from the hotel at—— to a simple brick cottage where the General of all the Allied armies lives.

We were ushered into his study, a small, simple room. The General rose and greeted us cordially. He is a short thickset man, quite fat and heavy, with a square face, the head and moustache almost white, with just enough color left to show that his hair was a light yellowish red originally. He has a kind, lightblue eye. He is deliberate in his actions and exceedingly quiet and grave. He was dressed in an old-style uniform that looked as though it had seen much service — the red trousers with the black braid at the side, tan shoes and leggings, and an old-style black jacket without any decorations or insignia of office.

He sat opposite us at a small table where he had been working, and discussed with us various phases of the war for an hour and three quarters. Apparently he was much interested in getting from me my impressions of Germany and the Germans, after which he talked at some length about certain characteristics of Germany’s war policy. He said,—

‘ We have kept a very accurate record in two parallel columns of our losses and of the German reports of those same losses. To illustrate the point — the other day we lost at Soissons, as the result of an unimportant engagement, some sixteen or eighteen men and one or two guns, and north of Soissons a few prisoners were taken and a few metres of trench. The Germans in their official communiqué reported this in the minutest detail and with great precision, their official published record agreeing exactly with ours, as it always does on minor details and engagements. But on that same day they reported 1000 prisoners taken near Verdun. What actually happened at Verdun was, that we threw out , as a sort of observation post, a salient forming an angle in advance of the main line, consisting of 600 men and a few guns, with the order that this salient should retire to the main line as soon as it was hard pressed. The men soon were hard pressed and did retire, losing twenty-six men and three guns. The German report of this was, that they had beaten back the French line at this point and taken 1000 prisoners. The result of these exaggerations since the beginning of the war shows a grand total of men taken and killed amounting to more than the number of men that France has equipped. I liken this sort of thing to a panorama where there are a few sticks, stones, dried leaves and bits of grass in the foreground which are real, but the main scene, which is calculated to deceive, is unreal, a pure fake.

‘This has been Germany’s policy since the beginning, and some day the German people will realize how they have been fooled. They will not care much so long as Germany remains on the offensive and is more or less continuously successful in keeping up the pressure; but some time that must stop. Germany deliberately plans an offensive such as is going on now, and votes for that offensive 500,000 men. We cannot vote man-power away in that ruthless fashion. We count the cost in human lives and human suffering, and Germany does not, and we believe that Germany is wrong. It may take months to prove it, and we must be patient; but we shall go on and we ought to win.

‘ It is strangely interesting to see the results as they now begin to show themselves of Germany’s hatred of those countries which she has forged into a league against her. We must never forget what Germany has taught us all. When she began the war, France was given over to things unworthy of her. She seemed to have forgotten her aspiration and her destiny. See her now, purified and made new. She has saved her own soul. Then England, whom Germany hates most of all. She had grown light-minded, unstable, a prey to civil discord. Now she is unified and made whole. Her young men will begin life anew, and the nation will take on the vigor and enthusiasm of youth. Think of Italy, after fifty years, fulfilling the visions of Mazzini and Cavour! And Russia — Russia to settle whose account Germany began this enormous war — will profit more from it than all the other countries of Europe combined. Not only has the Russian nation been reborn, but her material greatness will be vastly enhanced. No; whatever we may think of Germany, we must never forget all we have learned from her.’

M. L—— told the General of what he had contributed to France. He recited briefly the tragic story of the death of his only son. The General shook his head and looked sad and grave. Then L—— told him of his lecturing at Harvard in June, 1915, and of a young Breton who came up to him after the lecture and shook hands with him; then handed him a letter which he said he had just received from his mother. The letter read, ‘ My dear son: You will be grieved to learn that your two brothers have been killed. Their country needed them and they gave everything they had to save her. Your country needs you, and while I am not going even to suggest to you that you return to fight for France, if you do not return at once, never come.’

The General, anticipating what was coming, was with difficulty controlling his feelings. But at the end of the story the tears were rolling down his face. He bowed his head and rubbed his eyes, then, pulling himself together, stood up, put one arm on L——’s shoulder and one arm on mine, and said, ‘That is France ; do you wonder that we count the lives?'

He talked on ten or fifteen minutes after that, and I felt like hugging him, he was so big and human. As I sat there watching him, he seemed a sort of superman. He was not French; he had a face that was a sort of composite photograph of the best German generals I had seen, but with a kind expression about the mouth and a gentle eye. He had no gestures, and spoke slowly, quietly, and deliberately, unlike the French.

I asked my companion if he could be French. ‘No,’ said L——, ‘he is a pure Visigoth, and I like to think of him as having all the courage and wonderful fighting qualities of the Visigoth, tempered and made gentle by the environment of southern France — the best of Germany and the best of France combined in one great leader, and France is supremely lucky to have that leader. Galliéni is another Visigoth. The two men were in Abyssinia together. They are both old campaigners and big men.’

The General said as we parted that he was homesick for his vineyards. He must long to get back to them, to the simple, free life, far removed from the burdens of this hideous struggle. They ought to make General Joffre king of France, but I do not believe he would want that honor, for he longs for the pruning-hook and the plough.