  We study the ground state phase diagram of the pseudospin model introduced by
Doniach to describe the essential physics of Kondo lattices. We use variational
trial states which augment the usual mean field solution by incorporating
various intersite correlations. A composite spin correlation describing the
antiparallel alignment of fluctuating triplets is found to be particularly
favourable for large Kondo couplings. With this trial state, the
magnetic--to--Kondo transition is suppressed and the strong coupling ground
state is ordered with strongly reduced moments. The relevance of the findings
is discussed.
