He was no popular military
idol, no boulevard dashing figure. But he had seen active service
with credit, and had climbed, step by step, with persevering study
of military science into the council of the French General Staff.
As a strategist his qualities came to be recognized as paramount
in that body. A few years previously he had been intrusted with
the reorganization of the French army, and his plans accepted.
Therefore, when war with Germany became a certainty, it was natural
the supreme command of the French army should fall to General Joffre.
* * * * *
CHAPTER VI
CAMPAIGNS IN ALSACE AND LORRAINE
The French staff apparently had designed a campaign in Upper Alsace
and the Vosges, but the throwing of a brigade from Belfort across
the frontier on the extreme right of their line on August 6 would
seem to have been undertaken chiefly with a view of rousing patriotic
enthusiasm. French aeroplane scouts had brought in the intelligence
that only small bodies of German troops occupied the left bank
of the Rhine. Therefore the opportunity was presented to invade
the upper part of the lost province of Alsace--a dramatic blow
calculated to arouse the French patriotic spirit. Since the Germans
had expended hardly any effort in its defense, leaving, as it were
an open door, it may have been part of the strategic idea of their
General Staff to draw a French army into that region, with the
design of inflicting a crushing defeat.
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