High-Priced Hired Help.......or Brass Hats...

[Voltigeur]

The chiefs of the Inter-Allied Military Missions at Versailles, 21 May 1918. Two British, French, American and Italian members. First row, left to right: General Charles Sackville-West (British representative), General Tasker Bliss (US representative), General Emile Belin (French representative) and General Mario di Robilant (Italian representative).

© IWM (Q 69530)
http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib...at=photographs

[Voltigeur]

Charles Sackville-West, 4th Baron Sackville,KBE CB CMG (10 August 1870 – 8 May 1962)
In 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War, he was at the War Office. However, the need for experienced officers in the field prompted his movement to the Indian Army Corps on the Western Front until December 1915, when he was given command of the 21st Infantry Brigade. He was also made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the same year.
On 30 July 1916, at the height of the Battle of the Somme, Sackville-West was wounded in an attack by a German bomber on his brigade headquarters. Evacuated to Britain, he had recovered by October, when he took over the 190th Infantry Brigade. Within days of this posting however Sackville-West was wounded in the jaw when a high-explosive shell detonated in the midst of his command group as he inspected the trenches in front of Hamel. Although wounded, dazed and partially buried, Sackville-West was able to reach the casualty clearing station unaided, and was again evacuated to Britain to recover.
Returning to the Western Front for the third time in March 1917, Sackville-West commanded the 182nd Infantry Brigade until November when he was made a major general and attached to the General Staff. In 1918-9, as an ally of the CIGS Henry Wilson, he served on the Supreme War Council and was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire and a Companion of the Order of the Bath by 1921. Between 1920 and 1924 he was military attaché in Paris and from 1925 to his retirement in 1929 he served as Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey. In 1924 he married for a second time, to Mrs Anne Meredith Bigelow. In 1928, on the death of his elder brother Lionel Sackville-West, Charles inherited his uncle's title of Baron Sackville and sat in the House of Lords until his death in 1962.

Tasker Howard Bliss, GCMG, (December 31, 1853 – November 9, 1930)On 13 February 1915, BG Bliss was detailed to the general staff as Assistant Chief of Staff, Army until his promotion to Chief of Staff on 22 September 1917. He was promoted to Major General (MG) in the Regular Army on 20 November 1915 and received a temporary promotion to full General (four star) in the National Army on 6 October 1917. On 17 November 1917, he was assigned as the American Permanent Military Representative, Supreme War Council, concurrent with the U.S. Army Chief of Staff position.
General Bliss was forced to retire due to age limitations, 31 December 1917, but by order of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, was recalled to active duty on 1 January 1918 and sent to Versailles, France, 23 January, to better carry out his duties on the Supreme War Council. He was relieved as U.S. Army Chief of Staff, 19 May 1918, and returned to his permanent rank of Major General (retired) 20 May 1918. After the signing of the armistice ending World War I, on 11 November 1918, General Bliss held two titles, the American Permanent Military Representative, Supreme War Council, and also, Plenipotentiary at the Paris Peace Conference. This assignment was concluded on 10 December 1919.

Mario Nicolis di Robilant (Torino, 28 April 1855 - Roma, 23 July 1943) was an Italian General of the Kingdom of Italy who actively participated in the World War I, mostly at the head of the Fourth Italian Army.
At the entry of Italy in the First World War, he commanded the IV Italian Army Corps with which he conquered the Mount Nero. In September 1915, he became commander of the Fourth Army, stationed in the Cadore. At the height of the Caporetto disaster, he was ordered by Cadorna to retreat with his Army and clear the Cadore. Unaware of the seriousness of the situation, Di Robilant hesitated to execute the order. This caused the capture of 11.500 of his men by the forces of Otto von Below.
He withdrew to the Mount Grappa massif, where he won the defensive battle of Mount Grappa. In February 1918, he became commander of the new Fifth Army.
He ended the War as Italian Military Representative on the Supreme War Council in Versailles.
After the war, he shortly commanded the Eight Army, but then went into retirement at his own request. He had become senator in 1917.