THE WAR'S WHO'S WHO.
STRIKING FIGURES IN THE CONFLICT--JOFFRE, THE HERO OF
MARNE--NIVELLE, THE FRENCH COMMANDER--SIR DOUGLAS HAIG--THE
KAISER'S CHANCELLOR--VENIZELOS--"BLACK JACK" PERSHING.
One of the most striking figures among those whose names are irrevocably
linked with the history of the world fight for democracy, is that of
Joseph Joffre, Marshal of France, former Commander of the French forces
and victor of the famous battle of the Marne, who led the French Mission
to the United States, after America entered the war.
The Commander-in-Chief of all the French armies, a man of humble birth,
saw the light of day at Perpignan, near the Pyrenees, in 1852.
The future General early showed a deep interest in mathematics and
obtained the degree of Bachelor of Science at the College of Perpignan
at the early age of 16. He was a student at the Polytechnic Institute
when the Franco-German War of 1870 broke out. Joffre was placed in
charge of a large part of the defense of Paris and drew the plans of the
fortifications in the direction of Enghein. At the age of 19 he was
promoted to Captaincy in the presence of Marshal MacMahon and his whole
staff.
Marshal Joffre traveled much and spent a great many years fighting
France's colonial wars. He served in the Formosa campaign of 1885;
constructed a chain of forts at Tonkin, Cochin-China; was decorated for
distinguished bravery in leading his troops in action there in the
eighties; was Chief Engineer of the Engineering Corps at Hanoi, and
undertook the building of a railroad from Senegal to the Niger River in
1892.
Joffre fought through the Dahomey Campaign in 1893; saved the day for
the French in a brilliant rear-guard action and entered Timbuctoo as a
conqueror. Later he proceeded to Madagascar, where he constructed
fortifications and organized a naval station.
Recalled to France, General Joffre became a Professor in the War College
and obtained his stars in 1901. He later entered the Engineering
Department of the War Ministry; then became Military Governor of Lille.
Later he was promoted to be a Division Commander in Paris and then
commander of the Second Army Corps at Amiens. He gained the honor in
1911 of a unanimous vote of the Superior Council of War making him
Commander of all the military forces of France.
A FAMOUS WAR RECORD.
His record in the World War is well known. Every one has read of his
masterly conduct of the retreat from the Belgian border; of his work in
regrouping the shattered and retiring French forces; of his ringing
appeal to the men to strike back at the moment he had determined upon.
At the Marne he saved France and perhaps the world.
Joffre is unsympathetic and grim when at work. He has no patience for
anything but the highest efficiency. At a single stroke he cashiered a
score of Generals who did not measure up to his standards. He is a
master builder, organizer and strategist. Though rather taciturn he is
loved both by the officers and poilus. Among the latter he became known
as "Papa" Joffre.
He showed by his appointments and acts that a new inspiration--an
inspiration of patriotism--controlled the Republic. Joffre's accession
to supreme command symbolized that France had experienced a new birth,
that the army was well organized and that the man who for three years
had been silently performing the regeneration of the land forces had
rightly been placed over the forces he had reformed.
Almost unknown to the masses, Joffre was placed at the head of the
French troops in the summer of 1914. Among his associates he was known
as an authority on aeroplanes, automobiles, telegraphs and the other
details of modern warfare. Above everything else he stood for efficiency
and preparedness, and lacked the qualities of the French soldier of
literature. To be prepared for instant war had been his effort for three
years, and when that time came France found herself nearly as well
prepared for the conflict as was Germany, which had prepared for
twenty-five years.
ADJURATION TO SCHOOL CHUMS.
One of his few published speeches, made to his old school chums, is on
this theme. "To be prepared in our days," he said, "has a meaning which
those who prepared for and fought the wars of other days would have
great difficulty in understanding. It would be a sad mistake to depend
upon a sudden burst of popular enthusiasm, even though it should surpass
in intensity that of the volunteers of the Revolution, if we do not
fortify it by complete preparation.
"To be prepared we must assemble all the resources of the country, all
the intelligence of her children, all their moral energy and direct them
toward a single aim--victory. We must have organized everything,
foreseen everything. Once hostilities have begun no improvisation will
be worth while. Whatever lacks then will be lacking for good and all.
And the slightest lack of preparation will spell disaster."
What Joffre said to his chums he had done for the French army, and
President Poincare, after the Battle of the Marne, summed up his
qualities which made it a French victory in this message to Joffre: "In
the conduct of our armies you have shown a spirit of organization, order
and of method whose beneficent effects have influenced every phase, from
strategy to tactics; a wisdom cold and cautious, which has always
prepared for the unexpected, a powerful soul which nothing has shaken,
a serenity whose salutary example has everywhere inspired confidence and
hope."
These words of the President of the French Republic are an epitome of
the character and the military record of Joffre. He is representative of
the real France, not the France of Paris and scandals. He is of the
peasantry, and he and his kind, men of character, brought about the
glorious France of the war.
Among those who accompanied Joffre on his visit to the United States was
Rene Viviani, ex-Premier of France and Minister of Justice. He was born
in Algeria in 1862, his family being Corsican, and originally of Italian
blood.
VIVIANI A SOCIALIST LEADER.
M. Viviani became a lawyer in Paris and built up a large practice. In
1893 he entered the Chamber of Deputies as a Socialist. Together with
Briand, Jaures and Millerand he was long a leader of the parliamentary
delegation of Socialists. On June 1, 1914, one month before the outbreak
of the war, M. Viviani became Prime Minister. He showed himself a
brilliant leader and tireless worker. His speeches embodying the spirit
of fighting France were read and admired the world over. Many persons
consider Rene Viviani France's greatest orator. Volumes of his speeches
have had a wide sale.
M. Viviani was succeeded in the Premiership by M. Briand, and recently
he became Minister of Justice in the Ribot Cabinet. He is a man of great
culture. Though an excellent Latin and Greek scholar, he speaks no
English. Rene Viviani has had some experience as a newspaper man, as a
special writer and as managing editor of the Petite Republique. His
younger son, aged 22, was killed in the war. His older son has been
wounded but is back at the front.
Another member of the French mission was M. de Hovelacque, the French
Inspector General of Public Instruction. He is well known in the United
States because of his marriage to Miss Josephine Higgins, of New York
State.
The Right Honorable Arthur Balfour, ex-Premier of England, who came to
America to join in the conferences at which the policies for carrying
the war were outlined after America became an Ally, is described as one
of the most intellectual statesmen in England, and one who, although he
won all the honors his country could give him, never realized his own
possibilities. At sixty-nine, at the height of his mental development,
he occupies a place in the English cabinet, a place which was given him
because of his great hold upon the autocracy of England.
BALFOUR'S INTELLECTUAL ABILITY.
As the Premier of England, as Secretary of Ireland and as the leader of
the House of Commons Mr. Balfour displayed great intellectual agility,
but at no time was credited with having displayed the industry which
spurred on such men as Lloyd George to success. He is of the aristocracy
and his position in English politics came to him as the nephew of Lord
Salisbury.
He was born in 1848 and educated at Eton and Cambridge and entered the
House of Commons at the age of 26. Mr. Balfour was known in his early
years as a philosophically and religiously inclined young man, and it
occasioned some surprise when he followed the traditions of his family
by entering politics.
Some years after taking his seat he joined what was known as the Fourth
Party, a conservative rebel faction, consisting of three members, Lord
Randolph Churchill, Sir Henry Drummond Wolff and Sir John Gorst. This
group constituted a sort of mugwump element that voted independently on
every party question and that tried to rouse the Conservatives from
their party prejudices and narrow leanings.
To Mr. Balfour belonged the distinguished honor of attending the Berlin
Conference of 1878 as private secretary to Lord Salisbury. In 1885 he
became President of the Local Government Board. The Conservatives were
thrown out of power for a short time at this juncture, but when they
were restored in 1886 Balfour became Secretary for Scotland. Shortly
after he was promoted to be Chief Secretary for Ireland.
Despite his gentle manners and quiet ways, the new Chief Secretary ruled
the then disturbed Ireland with an iron hand. He was known as "Bloody
Balfour" by the Irish agitators until he began to show his milder ways
upon the restoration of peace. He remained in Ireland until 1891. He had
endured abuse and faced threats and had come away triumphant. From
Ireland Mr. Balfour went to England as First Lord of the Treasury.
Arthur James Balfour showed his friendship for the United States when,
in 1897, as Acting Secretary for Foreign Affairs, he refused to give
England's consent to a continental proposal that Spain be permitted to
govern Cuba as she chose.
LIBERALS COME INTO POWER.
When Lord Salisbury died in 1902 Mr. Balfour succeeded him as Prime
Minister. He remained in that office until 1905, when the Liberals came
into power. In the coalition Ministry formed since the outbreak of the
European War, he was nominated First Lord of the Admiralty. He showed
remarkable ability in this office. Upon the resignation of Mr. Asquith's
Cabinet, Mr. Balfour became Secretary for Foreign Affairs. He is an
enthusiastic sportsman and has written a book on golf.
The other English envoys who accompanied Mr. Balfour to Washington were
Rear Admiral Sir Dudley Rawson Stratford de Chair, and Lord Walter
Cunliffe, Governor of the Bank of England.
Rear Admiral de Chair was born August 30, 1864. He entered the Royal
Navy at the age of 14, and received his early training aboard His
Majesty's Ship Britannia. He served in the Egyptian war and was naval
attache at Washington in 1902.
Admiral de Chair commanded the Bacchante, Cochrane and Colossus
successively in the years between 1905 and 1912. From 1912 to 1914 he
acted as Assistant Controller of the Navy and subsequently he was the
Naval Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty. At the outbreak of
the war he became Admiral of the training services and of the Tenth
Cruiser Squadron. Admiral de Chair is a member of the Royal Victorian
Order and a Companion of the Bath.
LORD WALTER CUNLIFFE.
Lord Walter Cunliffe, Governor of the Bank of England, is 52 years old.
He received his education at Harrow and at Trinity College, Cambridge,
from which he graduated with the degree of Master of Arts. He is a
Lieutenant of the City of London.
Lord Cunliffe has been active in the banking field for many years and is
a member of the firm of Cunliffe Brothers. He is a Director of the North
Eastern Railway Company and has been a Director of the Bank of England
since 1895. He became Deputy Governor of the bank in 1911 and has been
Governor since 1913. Lord Cunliffe is the first Governor of the Bank of
England to receive the honor of re-election after serving his term of
two years. In 1914 he was created the First Baron of Headley.
Among the dominating characters of the war and upon whose judgment and
ability the destinies of France and the Allies depended for a long
period is General Robert Nivelle, Commander of the French armies, and
who succeeded General Joffre. General Nivelle is a man of silence; he
speaks little. General Nivelle is four years younger than Joffre.
As a boy of fourteen he could not take part as did Joffre and Gallieni
and Pau and Kitchener also, in the tragical war of 1870. Joffre studied
at the Ecole Polytechnique, in Paris; Gallieni, at Saint Cyr, without
the walls; Nivelle studied at both; he may claim to belong to all arms,
artillery, infantry--even cavalry. And, in his youth, he was not only a
magnificent all-round athlete, as indeed he still is, but also a
headlong rider of steeplechases, in which, had he been fated to break
his neck, his neck would infallibly have been broken. This is a trait he
shares with General Brussiloff, and, like the great Russian General, he
was famous for the skill with which he tamed and trained cavalry mounts.
SERVES AS JUNIOR OFFICER.
As a junior officer Nivelle saw service in the French General Staff; his
part in the expedition to China we have recorded; he also served in
Northern Africa. So that, like Joffre, Gallieni, Lyantey, Roques and so
many leaders of French armies, Nivelle gained an invaluable element of
his training in the out-of-the-way corners of France's vast colonial
empire, which has outposts in every continent and measures nearly five
million square miles.
At the outbreak of the World War Nivelle, with the rank of Colonel,
commanded the Fifth Regiment of Artillery, which is the artillery
element of the Seventh Army Corps, the corps of Besancon and the old
Franche-Comte, under the Jura Mountains, at the corner of Switzerland
and Alsace.
It was, in fact, in the section of Alsace invaded and retaken by the
French army of General Pau--who lost an arm in Alsace in the war of
1870--that Nivelle struck the first of many hard blows which made him
Field Commander of the splendid army of France. He directed the guns of
his Fifth Regiment with such deadly accuracy against a group of German
guns that he first scattered their gunners in flight and put them out of
action, and then led them off in triumph, twenty-four guns in all, the
first great trophy won by the arms of France.
In the battle of the Ourcq, fought with superb tenacity and dash by
Manoury and his men, the first decisive blow of the great battle, the
first definite victory, was gained; General von Kluck's right wing was
smashed in and out-flanked, with the result that the whole German line
was dislocated and sent hurtling backward.
In that battle and victory Colonel Nivelle, as he then was, had his
part; but it was on the Aisne, a few days later, that a strikingly
brilliant act brought him into especial prominence. The Seventh Corps
was attacked by exceedingly strong enemy forces and forced backward over
the Aisne. Colonel Nivelle, commanding its artillery, saw his
opportunity, and, himself leading on horseback, brought his batteries
out into the open, right between the retreating Seventh Corps and the
strong German forces that were pursuing them, already sure of victory.
VICTORY TURNED TO SLAUGHTER.
With that calm serenity which is his dominant characteristic in action,
he let the Germans come close up to his guns in serried masses. Then he
opened fire, at short range, with deadly precision, so that the expected
victory was turned into a slaughter. The broken German regiments,
fleeing to the woods beside the Aisne for safety, ran upon the bayonets
of the rallied Seventh Corps, inspired to splendid valor by the
magnificent action of their artillery. Of 6000 Germans who made that
charge few indeed returned to their trenches.
This was on September 16, 1914. Before the New Year the Artillery
Colonel had been made a General of Brigade, and in January, 1915, the
new General distinguished himself by stopping the tremendous and
unforeseen German drive against Soissons. He was forthwith recommended
for further promotion, and on February 18 was gazetted General of
Division. Shortly after this be gained new laurels by capturing from the
Germans the Quenevieres salient.
This great commander was the son of Colonel Nivelle--and an English
mother, a former Miss Sparrow, whose family lived at Deal, on the
English Channel. In his married life General Nivelle has been
exceedingly happy.
The dominating figure in the English army when America entered the fray
was Sir Douglas Haig. He succeeded Sir John French.
Sir Douglas Haig was born under so favorable a star that he has long
been known as "Lucky" Haig. Not that he has depended upon his luck to
push him ahead in the army, for his record as a student and a worker
wholly disproves this. But nevertheless fortune has showered many favors
upon him. Among these favors the first and by no means the least is his
very aristocratic lineage and the consequent high standing he has had in
royal and influential circles.
HAIG'S FAMILY TREE.
Haig's family tree dates back at least six centuries and he comes of the
very flower of Scotch stock. The virtues of the "Haigs of Bamersyde"
were extolled by the poets of the thirteenth century. And to discuss
this feature of his career without giving due credit to the position and
influence of his wife would be ungallant as well as unfair. She was the
Hon. Dorothy Vivian, daughter of the third Lord Vivian, and
maid-of-honor to Queen Alexandra, and the pair were married in
Buckingham Palace.
He did not enter the army until after his graduation from Oxford and
then he took service in the cavalry, the usual choice of the English
"gentleman." When twenty-four years old, he received his commission as a
Lieutenant in the Queen's Own Hussars, one of the ultra-fashionable
regiments. Six years later he was made a Captain and then decided to
take a regular military course at the Staff College.
In 1898 he took part in Kitchener's campaign up the Nile and in the
Soudan as a cavalry officer. He was then thirty-seven years old. He
distinguished himself in several engagements, was "mentioned in the
dispatches," was awarded the British medal and the Khedive's medal and
was promoted to Major.
His career in the Boer war, which followed that in Egypt, was
characterized by distinguished services and numerous rapid promotions.
It was during this latter war that Haig became attached to the staff of
Sir John French, whom he succeeded in France and Flanders. He came out
of the war in South Africa a full-fledged Colonel, and with a fresh
supply of medals and "mentions." Then he was sent to India as Inspector
General of Cavalry.
DIRECTOR OF MILITARY TRAINING.
He remained in the Indian service three years, and then was given a post
at the war office in London, with the title of "Director of Military
Training." He remained in London three years, when he was sent to India
as Chief of the Staff of the Indian Army. Three years later he returned
to England and was given what was known as the "Aldershot Command,"
which, in fact, was the command of the real active British army. He had
this post when the war broke. His assignment as Commander of the First
Army Corps under Sir John French soon followed.
The man, who next to the Kaiser had more to do with Germany's plans for
world domination, is Dr. Theobold von Bethmann-Hollweg, Imperial
Chancellor of Germany.
The elevation of Hollweg to the Chancellorship came when Prince Bulow
stood in the way of complete domination of Germany's policies by the
militarists, headed by the Kaiser. Prince Bulow was dismissed and
Bethmann-Hollweg became Chancellor in 1909. From that time on he
dedicated his life to the achievement of a single aim--the completion of
Germany's plans of aggression.
Bethmann-Hollweg comes from an old Prussian family ennobled in 1840. He
was born about 1855 and was a student with the Kaiser at the University
of Bonn. He studied law at Gottingen, Strassburg and Berlin, and for
several years followed the law and was appointed a judge at Potsdam.
APPOINTED PRUSSIAN HOME SECRETARY.
In 1905 he was appointed Prussian Home Secretary, and it was then that
his name first became familiar to the man in the street in Berlin.
Shortly afterward he was appointed Assistant Chancellor of Prince Bulow,
who was then Chancellor.
It was during his service as Home Secretary that Bethmann-Hollweg became
largely converted to all that the most advanced Prussian militarism
stood for. Ultimately he became a far more ardent Pan-German even than
Prince Bulow. In a speech at Munich in 1908 he declared that though
Germany was then happily free of all immediate anxiety so far as her
foreign relations were concerned, her present and future position as a
great Power must ultimately rest on her strong arm and though the
strength of her arm was greater than it ever had been it must grow yet
stronger.
It was a speech after the Kaiser's own heart--provocative and boasting
to a degree. It had, as a matter of fact, it is said, been prepared by
the Emperor, and was delivered by the Kaiser's order for the special
benefit of Prince Bulow, who had at that time fallen out of favor with
the Emperor.
Grand Admiral Von Tirpitz is said to be the man who made the German
navy. Having won the recognition of the Kaiser in 1894 he was promoted
to Chief of Staff in the German navy, and was placed in command of Kiel.
He was made Secretary of State in 1898 and immediately began the
building up of the navy. New and modern methods of engineering were
developed and finally he made such an impression with the Kaiser that he
was ennobled. Von Tirpitz was the principal advocate of Germany's plans
during a decade for having the navy powerful enough to equal the
combined powers of any three great naval powers.
Sir John Jellicoe, Vice Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the British
Naval Home Fleet had served more than forty years in the navy when the
war broke out. He was a Lieutenant at the bombardment of Alexandria and
was a member of the Naval Brigade which participated in the battle of
Tel-el-Kebir, for activity in which he was presented with the Khedive's
Bronze Star for gallant service. He was in command of the naval brigade
which went to China in 1898 to help subdue the Boxers and was shot at
Teitsang, where he was decorated by the German Emperor, who conferred
upon him the Order of the Red Eagle. He was Rear-Admiral of the Atlantic
Fleet in 1907-08, and Commander of the Second Home Squadron in 1911-12.
To Admiral Jellicoe is given credit for having developed a high degree
of efficiency among the gunners in the English navy.
ADMIRAL HUGO POHL.
Admiral Hugo Pohl, of the German navy, was born at Breslau in 1855. He
became a Lieutenant in the Imperial German navy when but 21 years of
age. He gained rapid promotion, and within a few years was Commodore in
charge of the scouting ships. He had charge of setting up the now famous
German naval stations from Kiel to Sonderberg in Schleswig in 1908 and
was afterwards made Vice Admiral. He wears the medal of the Order of the
Crown, bestowed upon him by the Kaiser for admirable service.
One of the men whose names will be forever linked with the war,
particularly with relation to the adoption of new methods of warfare, is
that of Count Zeppelin, who died on March 8, 1917, and who was the
father of the Zeppelin or dirigible balloon. The idea for the big
airship did not originate with Count Zeppelin, but with David Schwartz,
a young Austrian, who built his first dirigible in 1893. He tried to
arouse interest in his aircraft in Russia, but failed and finally went
to Berlin, where he interested the then Baron Zeppelin. A balloon was
made, but Schwartz fell ill and died. Zeppelin was later accused of
attempting to steal the young Austrian's patents, and the courts made an
award to Schwartz's widow of $18,000.
Count Zeppelin's first airship came out about 1898. It was 300 feet long
and had an aluminum frame. Short cruises were made in 1899 and 1900, and
the craft maintained a speed of about sixteen miles an hour. A second
airship was completed in 1905, and later a third aircraft was finished.
This dirigible made a cruise of 200 miles at an average speed of twenty
miles. The success led Count Zeppelin to make his most ambitious attempt
and he tried to cross the Alps carrying sixteen passengers.
IN THE AIR THIRTY-SEVEN HOURS.
He succeeded and passing through hailstorms, crossing eddies and
encountering cross-currents he traveled 270 miles at an average speed of
twenty-two miles an hour. Subsequently he made a flight to England,
remaining in the air thirty-seven hours. Fate played him false, however,
in many of his ventures and he returned home after making remarkable
voyages, only to have his craft destroyed at its very landing place.
The German Government and the Kaiser joined in giving him a grant of
money to carry on his work, and a plant was built at Frederichshafen.
But while Count Zeppelin's name will be forever identified with
aeronautics the successes which he attained were not enduring, for the
Zeppelins proved not entirely satisfactory in military warfare in
competition with the aeroplane.
In the counsels of Greece the outstanding figure from the beginning of
the war was Eleutherois Venizelos. He is credited with being responsible
for the national revival in Greece when the country seemed doomed after
the Turkish war of 1897. He was the leader of the country in the
movement to join the Allies in the fight against German domination and
he swayed the nation and held them as few men have. He was born in the
Island of Crete in 1864, and according to tradition, his family
descended from the medieval Dukes of Athens. He was educated in Greece
and Switzerland and became active in Cretan politics, and won
recognition as the strong man of the "Great Greek Island."
TRANSFORMS A NATION.
In less than three years after the distress in which the country found
itself in 1909 he transformed the nation into one of solidarity. There
had been meaningless squabbles of corrupt politicians and a sordid
struggle for preferment. The army was degenerating and the popular fury
became so great that there was an uprising of the army, which under the
title of the "Military League," ousted the Government and took control
of the country. The heads of the League brought forward Venizelos. The
League dissolved and reforms were instituted which started the country
on a new path, and when the Balkan war broke in 1912 Greece made a
record and emerged in many respects the leader of the Balkan states.
Sir John French is one of the English commanders who have rendered
yeoman service in the war. He is one of the most striking military
figures in England. He has seen service in India, Africa and Canada, and
was one of the uniformly successful commanders in the Boer war. At the
Siege of Kimberly he was shut up in Ladysmith with the Boer lines
drawing closer. He managed to secrete himself under the seat of a train
on which women were being carried to safety. Outside the lines he made
his way to the Cape, where he was put in charge of cavalry and in a
terrific drive he swept through the Free State and reached Ladysmith in
time to save the day.
He originally entered the navy, but remained for a short time. He
commanded the 19th Hussars from 1889 to 1903 and then rose steadily in
rank until he was made General Inspector of the Forces and finally Field
Marshal in 1903.
There should be no discrimination in naming those who have represented
America in the country's activities at war, but because they came into
the world's line of vision by being sent abroad for service there are
some American commanders whose names will ever be remembered.
Vice-Admiral William S. Sims is one of these. He is a Pennsylvanian who
was born in Canada. His father was A.W. Sims, of Philadelphia, who
married a Canadian and lived at Port Hope, where Admiral Sims first saw
the light of day. He went to Annapolis when he was 17 years of age and
was graduated in 1880. After this he secured a year's leave of absence
and went to France, where he studied French. Subsequently he was
assigned to the Tennessee, the flagship of the North Atlantic Squadron
and passed through all grades of ships. He received promotion to a
Lieutenancy when he was about 30 years of age. For a time he was in
charge of the Schoolship Saratoga, and later was located at Charleston
Navy Yard, and also with the receiving ship at the League Island Navy
Yard, Philadelphia. After this he went to Paris as Naval Attache at the
American Embassy. He was similarly Attache at the American Embassy at
St. Petersburg.
Admiral Sims was relieved of his European assignment in 1900 and joined
the Asiatic fleet, and while abroad studied the methods of British
gunnery. When he returned to America later he inaugurated reforms which
increased the efficiency of the gunnery in the service 100 per cent. His
successful efforts led to his appointment as Naval Aide to President
Roosevelt. He made a report on the engagement between the British and
German naval fleets at Jutland which was startling, and declared that
the British battle cruisers had protected Great Britain from the
invasion of the enemy.
When he reached the European waters in command of the United States
naval forces, with a destroyer flotilla, and the British officers who
greeted him asked when the flotilla would be ready to assist in chasing
the submarine and protecting shipping, Admiral Sims created a surprise
by tersely replying: "We can start at once." And he did. Admiral Sims
married Miss Anne Hitchcock, daughter of Former Secretary of the
Interior. The couple have five children.
Major General John J. Pershing, of the United States Army, Commander of
the forces in France and Belgium, is one of the most picturesque figures
in American military circles. "Black Jack" Pershing is what the officers
call him, because he was for a long time commander of the famous Tenth
Cavalry of Negroes, which he whipped into shape as Drillmaster, and
which saved the Rough Riders from a great deal of difficulty at San Juan
Hill in the Spanish-American War. He was also at the battle of El Caney
where he was given credit for being one of the most composed men in
action that ever graced a battlefield. He served with signal results in
the campaign against the little "brown" men in the Philippines; was in
charge of the expedition which chased Villa into Mexico.
General Pershing was born in 1864 in Laclede, Missouri, and is tall,
wiry and strong. Every inch of his six feet is of fighting material. He
is a man of action and has a penchant for utilizing the services of
young men rather than staid old officers of experience. Pershing is a
real military man, and has been notably absent from such things as
banquets and other functions where by talking he might get into the lime
light. It is true that he was jumped over the heads of a number of
officers by President Roosevelt, but he has carved his way by his own
efforts, and no man could have more fittingly been sent to take charge
of the American forces abroad than "Jack" Pershing.