True Stories of the Great War, Volume 1 (of 6) / Tales of Adventure--Heroic Deeds--Exploits Told by the Soldiers, Officers, Nurses, Diplomats, Eye Witnesses

by Unknown

MY TRIP TO VERDUN—GENERAL PETAIN FACE TO FACE

From Graves of the Marne to Hills of the Meuse
Told by Frank H. Simonds, Famous American War Historian

Mr. Simonds is the first great historian that this war produced. He traveled over the battlefields to record for history the world-revolutionizing events as they were taking place. As the intimate friend of Governments, General Staffs and diplomats, he gathered his knowledge first hand and became recognized throughout America and Europe as the historical authority on the war's strategy. His judgments were weighed by such men as President Poincaré and Lloyd-George—and followed with interest by the officers of the armies. Mr. Simonds had been studying military strategy for many years before the war; he was an authority on the Napoleonic campaigns—but it was not until the Great War that the "man and the opportunity met." He was then an editorial writer on the New York Sun, where his first prophetic editorials gained him immediate recognition. He later became associate editor of the New York Tribune. His reviews of the war began to appear in the American Review of Reviews, for whom he produced his great five-volume "History of the World War"—a work for the generations. We can tell here but one of his brilliant stories—his "Visit to Verdun."