At his Headquarters next morning I had the honour of being
received by Generalissimo Joffre and telling him of the admiration
and respect which we felt for him and for the magnificent fighting
spirit of the troops under his able command. He replied modestly
by speaking of the British army. He referred to the offensive on the
Somme, and said, "You may well be proud of your young soldiers;
they are excellent soldiers, much superior to the Germans in every
way, a most admirable infantry; they attack the Germans hand to
hand with grenades or with the bayonet and push them back
everywhere; the Germans have been absolutely stupefied to find
such troops before them." The General then paid a tribute to the
Canadian and Australian troops and told me that that day the
Australians had taken new territory, adding, "And not only have
they taken it, but, like their British and Canadian brothers, what
they take they will hold."

I explained to General Joffre that, whilst I was not collecting
autographs, I had with me the menu of the dinner in the Citadel at
Verdun and that it would give me great pleasure to have his name
added to the signatures already on that menu. All the signatures
were on one side, so I turned the menu over in order to offer him a
clear space, but he turned it back again, saying, "Please let me
sign on this side. I find myself in good company with the defenders
of Verdun."

At departing he said to me, "We may all be happy now since
certainly we are on the right side of the hill." ("Nous sommes sur la
bonne pente.")