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Show H 1 1, T 'iiimwvjMniwii.M ! iii -- I UUZAHlOVES m VERSION OF I SELE0T!1 FOOH H trails, Nov. 12- Under the caption H t What passed ..t Doullcns on March H ; ,"26, 1918," Stephen Lauzannc, In an H i -article which will appear In tho, Mat H Inflomcrrow morning, gives a new H -mrslon of thut momentous uicctng H 3nr,,,!;' llttlu town In northern Franco H Trlilcli decided that the allied armlee H should cpordlnatc 'their activities H cuntler bno acncrallsslmo. H jTho Get man attack of March 23, H vtllcli"liad-8innstied tho soulhermost H -otjthc llrltlali armies, had advanced . H vinim the lino ot-St. Qucntln, almost H o Amiens. The wholo allied front H -was-threatened und French and Am- H -erica 11 troops had been started north H .-ward to the aid of the British. H I The situation was so critical that H -n confirmee o( allied statesmen and H "inllilniy chlers was called, tho Drlt- H it crossing from London and the H i French going north from Paris. They H mtt at Woullens. ' H According to M. Lauzanno, this la H I Un narrative of what preceded and H ' -rn)ioi occtirred at that meeting. H "On Sunday, March 23, 1918, as H Mrrcnlng approached, Clcmenceau met H folncalro at tho Klyseo Falace. This H ( "waft, the fourth day of tho German H rifltnslvo In tho Somnie and Olsc sec- H flora. 'I havo como from ' Com- H ipclgno,' said tho Premier without H .preliminaries. 'I havo seen Gen. H JTetnln. It Is bad everywhere. Wo H uniist iven consider cvuucuntlng Far- I ' H " 'Or that there Is no question H ' whatever,' was Pdlncalro's answer. H "I am going to Compclgno dl- H -j-ectly this very night,' responded H i the fremiti! . 'Of course I shall see H 'Pclain again und I will let jou lnow H , y telephone dur:og the tuning B ivliat ho says.' H ""Tho naino night about 11 o'clock B' ho telephone message came. "It was tho voice- of tho Frontier. H "I have seen Pctaln again,' ho said. H .Jl does not chango Ills opinion.' B t "Very well, wo will discuss tho H matter later on.' Folncalro hung up H abruptly, breaking tho telephone con- H H ' ncctlon. (1ICKMAK ItAIDS OVEIl I'AKIS That night enemy raids were being be-ing mado over Paris. During this excitement tho President wroto a letter let-ter to tho Premier and It expressed opposition. Ilcforo making a final decision, 'towc -r ho suggested calling call-ing tho ministerial council in cession. Tjio suggestion was approved and Uto council was convoked -the following follow-ing mbrnlng. "Clcmenceru, when ho arrived was, feeling o ' of sorts. Under lit exterior, whL t Is brutal, ho" Is of noblo charact r and susccptlblo to suggestion. ,v 'V "Upon tho r,.-'vul of tho ministers ho mado tho I llowlng remarks: "Wo will li. vo a conferenco day after tomorrow at Doullens with a representative if tho government of Great Britain. I would suggest that I bo accompanied by tho president, and that would glvo him an opportunity oppor-tunity to Judgo for himself. "This was agreed to. On Wednesday, Wed-nesday, March 2G, Folncalro went to DoullonB by automobile. Whon Folncalro Foln-calro loft his automobllo ho was informed in-formed that Marshal Halg was at the Town Hall conferring with some of his army commanders, and it might be best not to Interrupt him. Tho mombors of tho delegations walked to and fro. In tho party were Flncalrc, Clemcnceau,, Lou-chour, Lou-chour, Minister of Munitions, and a General. Tho General played about with an old cano which a pollu had presented to hint. GK.V. FOCII IX PARTY "This man was Focli. "No one new exactly who had Invited In-vited him to come. There was no disputing, however, that he was there. When ho saw Folncalro ho drow near and took him asldo In con vcrsatlon. 'It must bo that you do not know what orders have been Issued,' Is-sued,' ho said to Folncalro, "To ten mo truth the president did not know. Tho Instructions were severe. They ordered a complete retreat of tho nrmy and tho evaluation evalua-tion of Paris with tho least delay. I'och was over excited, " 'Paris, Paris,' ho kept exclaiming, exclaim-ing, 'Paris has nothing to do with this, Paris Is far off. Wo must stop tho Doclio hero. Wo need only to repeat that again ho shall not paBS. i Tho Doclio has not passed. All that I W uceded Is to glvo tho noccssary orders and that done threo quartora of tho task Is done, nnd we will withdraw no further. " 'Frnnce is not dead. Halg Tind Petaln aro two hton to hold with firmness against this opening with two doors, each pushing behind his door. Tho opening has been wedged wedg-ed and they aro there to watch tho enemy be swallowed up.' " 'How can you cheek thorn?" asked ask-ed M. Louchcur, who had approached. approach-ed. " 'Well, you know how I do things," said Foch. "See, I stick' a pleco of scaling wax there, alother there and another there. Soon tho Docho scarcelwy can move. Then I stick another thero and they are gummed. Tho Bocho Is stuck. One can always stick tho Bocho.' si:i:s i)A.vai:it is roni "Clcmenceau had como up and listened. lis-tened. Ho leaned over Loucheur's hsouldcr and suld. " 'Ho's a dangerous fellow.' "Tho English conferenco broke up at this moment and the Frenchmen Joined their allies. Lord Mllncr represented rep-resented tho British government, Halg had the strained and wearied expression of a man who has not rested for three days. "Folncalro explained the altuation saying tho point was to stop the Germans whero they were and not anywhere else. Halg spoke next. He said he would do all he could to halt the Germans at Amiens. FOCH BECOMES EXCITED "As these words were spoken Foch jumped to hig feet. Striking the table with his fist, ho exclaimed: " 'No Marchal, no! It is not Amiens that matters. Thoy must b& defeated boforo Amiens. We must defeat them where they arc' "In his abrupt way Foch repeated repeat-ed tho argument ho had used In tho square outside, saying It would havo been bettor If tho bocho had been slopped at tho Sommo, but now thero was no choice left, and ho must bo halted, and It would only bo necessary neces-sary to glvo tho orders and ho would bo halted. "Mllner mado a slgna to Clcmenceau Clcmen-ceau after this speech and left tho table. Clcmenceau Joined hint, there could bo heard a low dialogue, and several times Mllner could bo heard saying. 'Thero is tho man.' Halg Joined them. He had been awaro from tho first days of battle that thero was lack of unity between tho allied arnilca. "If this is continued tho result will bo a debacle,' he said. 'There is .only one remedy. There ntus bo a supremo comander nbovo mo nnd above Petaln. "Hnig then said ho would bo willing wil-ling to follow tho comands of Foch. "Halg had telegraphed this determination deter-mination to his government forty-eight forty-eight hours boforo. Aftorward ho told M. Polncalro that ho had telegraphed tele-graphed to London to send a teprt-seutatlvo teprt-seutatlvo of tho Drltish government to the conferenco to mako tho nomination nom-ination of Foch as supremo commander. com-mander. "Clemonceau turned toward the tablo where the others remained In conversation. Ho spoke in a loud voice saying ho proposed to Goneral Petaln to do what Halg had done, and to place himself under the orders or-ders of General Foch. Potaln, no less patriotically, expressed the samo sentiment. Foch did not hesitate to accept. "Loucheur mado copies of tho declaiatlon to tho effect that Gen. Foch was to coordinate tho action of tho two armies. It was signed with n pencil on a looso sheot of note paper. It was thus a decision to creato a" supremo chiof for tho allies was reached. It was evident that Foch had what ho wanted Polncair too. Tho thing thoy desired was but to savo tho armies, Paris and Franco." Now York Horald. |