General Joffre and his battles

Prefatory Note

The writer of the following pages is one of the many talented and devoted young Frenchmen who, loving life, now hold it lightly compared to their love of France. It has been Captain Recouly's good fortune to have a share in much of the fighting, while his position on the General Staff has brought him into close relation with the men by whom the fighting is planned. Readers of Scribnefs Magazine during the past year know him as **Captain X,'' and may be glad to have his articles collected in a permanent form. He also kept a journal while in the field during 1915, which was published as "La Bataille dans la For^t," under the penname of "Jean Lery." Part of this was used

PREFATORY NOTE

in his articles; the rest is here translated for the first time. As his work was necessarily done under difficult conditions, and not consecutively, occasional overlappings and repetitions may be found, but it has been thought that too much editing would take away from its freshness and simplicity.

VI

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. General Joffre : The Victor of the Marne 3

II. The French Offensive in Champagne . . 67