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In the days immediately following their interview with General Petain, the lads saw much fighting; and with the close of each day there came bitterness to them, to the French troops, their officers and to the people of France and of all the allied nations.
I hesitated to express my real wish, when my good counsellor and friend, with whom I was making the journey, the Commandant Jean de Pulligny, answered for me "I feel sure it would be a great happiness and honour if you would allow us, General, to go to Verdun." General Pétain appeared slightly surprised, and turning to me, asked, "Do you thoroughly realise the danger?
Thousands of prisoners had been captured and many guns taken. But at this point the French resistance stiffened, as had the German last year. French reserves and artillery arrived. Pétain and Castelnau arrived. There was an end of the rapid advance and there began the pounding, grinding attack in which the advantage passed to the defender.
This name, which was fated to become historic, was gained only after days and days of constant hand-to-hand fighting and is now recalled as one of the bloodiest battlefields of the titanic struggle. General Henri Phillip Petain, in direct command of the French operations at Verdun, endeared himself to the hearts of all his countrymen by his gallant conduct of the defense.
"Look at them fall!" exclaimed Chester, as through his glasses, he witnessed the last desperate attack of the French. "It's a terrible sight," agreed Hal, "and yet there will be many more just as terrible before this war is won." "Indeed there will," agreed Chester. "Lieutenant Crawford! Lieutenant Paine!" It was General Petain who spoke.
But the troops distinguished somehow, and for what seemed ages they battled there, hand-to-hand. German reinforcements rushed up in a valiant effort to save the day. General Petain threw out supports for his own infantry. All these surged into the trenches and added their quota to the terrible din.
"I see," said Chester. At this moment Stubbs was announced. General Petain looked at him sharply. "These officers," he said, indicating Hal and Chester with a wave of his hand, "deny the charges you have made against them, sir." "Surely, you didn't expect them to admit it, sir?" questioned Stubbs, shifting from one foot to another, as Hal and Chester bent their gaze on him.
I shall always remember the picture of General Pétain seeing us into our car with his parting words, "You are about to do the most dangerous thing you have ever done or will ever do in your life. As for Verdun, tell them in England that I am smiling, and I am sure that when you see General Nivelle you will find him smiling too.
The impression was of a strong man whose life was a life beaten upon by storms; the man on the bridge, to keep to the rather ridiculously inadequate figure, but not by any chance the man on horseback. My talk, our talk with Pétain was the matter of perhaps five minutes.
Pétain was, however, a past-master in the art of limited offensives; his aims were less ambitious than those which Nivelle or even Haig had set before themselves, but he achieved them with scientific precision and without the devastating losses which had attended the larger and less successful projects.
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