Beauvais Conference
The Beauvais Conference of World War I was held at the request of French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau to solidify command of the Western Front and to ensure the maximum participation of France's allies in the war. The conference was held on April 3, 1918, at the Hôtel de Ville in Beauvais, France, one week after the Doullens Conference that appointed General Ferdinand Foch as Commander of the Western Front. Clemenceau thought the wording of the Doullens Agreement was too weak, and that a correction was needed to solidify Foch's command. The urgency of the meeting was underpinned by Germany's Spring Offensive on the Western Front, which opened a gap 50 miles wide and 50 miles deep in the line, forcing the British Expeditionary Force to reel back, and retreat orders from both French and British army commanders to protect their armies.
Background
Immediately after the Doullens Conference, Prime Minister Clemenceau came under pressure to strengthen the Doullens note's wording, which read:On the return trip from the Doullens Conference to Paris, Clemenceau's military aide General Henri Mordacq thought the note looked weak. Mordacq wrote, "He discussed the matter with me thoroughly everything depends on..the three men leading the armies..if they cooperate with each other, everything will go along well." Those three men were General's Petain, Haig, and the new arrival from the United States, General "Black Jack" Pershing. Mordacq was convinced General Petain would remain loyal to General Foch, but he had serious concerns about General Douglas Haig, who married into royalty, and who might ignore the Doullens directive at will. Legally, the words in the note, "to conduct the action of the Allied Armies" meant to lead during times of conflict, but not to lead during breaks in the conflict. General Mordacq said, "Since the situation is not clear, and since the word 'coordination' does not mean 'command', Marshal Haig is unfortunately compelled to debate his orders." This could lead to another catastrophe. Convinced this was now a serious concern, Clemenceau flip-flopped on the Doullens note.
The Role of Winston Churchill
and Winston Churchill were close political allies after Churchill turned from the Conservative Party to the Liberal Party in 1905. In 1917, despite the Gallipoli disaster and opposition from conservatives on the War Cabinet, the Prime Minister revived Winston's career by making him Minister of Munitions. Winston was also allowed to sit in at all War Cabinet meetings. After Lord Milner returned from the Doullens Conference and reported to the War Cabinet, the Prime Minister asked Churchill, on March 28, to go to France as his personal liaison to General Foch. Both Lord Milner and General Henry Wilson opposed this, thinking Churchill's meddling could pose a problem. As the War Cabinet's de facto emissary to France, Lord Milner was most upset. After protesting, the conservatives received assurance that Winston would avoid the front and only talk to officials in Paris. Henry Wilson and Leo Amery personally delivered the message. However, Prime Minister Clemenceau disregarded it and took Winston on tours of the front to meet each of France's important generals. The two discovered that General Foch was doing an outstanding job as Commander of the Western Front. Prime Minister Clemenceau also asked Winston to help draft a letter to President Woodrow Wilson to request 120,000 US infantry troops for each of the next four months. He did this, and the request was approved by President Wilson on April 1. Later, when Prime Minister Clemenceau was convinced that General Foch's powers should be strengthened further, Mordacq explained why to Churchill, who "listened to me with close attention, but did not reply to my suggestions. We soon changed the subject". However, this did not absolve Churchill from meddling in other affairs. He played an important role for the French in orchestrating the Beauvais Conference, when at midnight on April 1, he sent the following fictitious telegram to Lloyd George:The Beauvais Conference
Based on Winston's letter, Lloyd George and Henry Wilson made plans to leave for France at once. On April 3, they were greeted in Boulogne byChurchill, and they travelled most of the way together to GHQ. Outside of town, Henry Wilson insisted that Winston play no part in military discussions, and he was asked to get out of the car. In town, the party picked up General Haig and continued on to Beauvais for the important conference. The Beauvais Conference lasted a full hour and a half, with the English rejecting all French proposals to strengthen Foch's hand. When the French suggested using the words "supreme command" in the new text for Foch's command, Lloyd George said, "If the War Office and he himself were to consent to it, the English parliament would certainly not approve such a decision at the present moment." However, in the end, the parties did agree to alter some of the Doullens Agreement. A deal was reached when Prime Minister Clemenceau reached into his vest and pulled out a paper, and General's Pershing and Bliss together said 'This will be the true solution and we shall accept it.' The French generals often complained that the English generals were good on tactics but short on strategy. After looking over the new wording, and each other, General Wilson said, "One never knew with precision where strategy began and where it left off". General Foch answered, "that it was known with precision in France, and that nothing better was asked than an opportunity to explain it to our English comrades". The English accepted the words at this special gathering. The new text at Beauvais read:
General Foch Still Needs a Title
Yet another problem with General Foch's promotion was solved on April 15. General Foch wrote the following letter to Prime Minister Clemenceau:However, Prime Minister Clemenceau said the word, "Commander" in the title was a problem for the English, and it was therefore always translated by the English as "General in Chief".