One General on Another
Turenne, Marshal of France. By General Max Weygand. Translated by George B. Ives. (Harrap. 10s. 6d. )
GENEILAL WEYGAND, FoCh'S Chief of Staff, has written a military biography of the greatest of French Generals before Napoleon. Turenne advanced the art of war more than any- one, except, perhaps, Marlborough. and NapoleOn. General Weygand quotes with approval his dictum :- " Undertake few sieges and fight plenty of battles. When you are surely master of the country,' villages are worth as much as forts. But men consider their honour at stake in the difficult capture of a. strongly fortified town much more than in devising a method of easy conquest of a whole province,. If the Kin of
Spain had spent on troops what it has cost him in men and- money to lay sieges and fortify towns, he would be to-day the greatest of all kings."
General Weygand shows that French Generals have not changed much since Turenne. They have the same scholarly, philosophical attitude to war, and the same intense conviction that it is the only proper study for man, while the preparation for it is the only correct policy for a nation. He tells how Turenne's teachings were lost to France, which did not produce another master of war until the Revolution, while her enemies profited by it. He says :-
" Often, indeed, after a successful war the victor has fallen asleep in a fallacious assurance of his superiority, while his opponent, striving to work out the causes of his defeat, struggles to recover from it. Hence, the victor of to-day becomes the vanquished of to-morrow • Rossbach succeeds- Turkheim ; Sedan, Jena ;
Rethondes, Sedan ; may we not forget it ! " • One sees the modern implication of General Weygand's views.
Previous page
