Ferdinand Foch

“ Upon leaving the cavalry school at Saumur, in 1878, Ferdinand Foch went, with the rank of captain of the Tenth Regiment of Artillery, to Rennes, the ancient capital of Brittany and the headquarters of France's tenth army corps.
He stayed at Rennes, as an artillery captain, for seven years.
It is not a particularly interesting city from some points of view, but it is a very "livable" one, and for a student like Foch it had many advantages. The library is one of the best in provincial France and has many valuable manuscripts. ”

“ Victory, in his belief, goes to those who merit it by the greatest strength of will and intelligence.
It was his endeavor, always, to develop in the hundreds of officers who were his students, that dual strength in which it seemed to him that victory could only lie: moral and intellectual ability to perceive what ought to be done, and intellectual and moral ability to do it.
In his mind, it is impossible to be intelligent with the brain alone. The Germans do not comprehend this, and therein, to Ferdinand Foch, lies the key to all their failures. ”

“ Principal among these, was the materialisation of a unified command of all the armies of the Allies. General Ferdinand Foch was selected and placed in supreme command of every fighting man under the Allied flags.
One of the events that led up to this long delayed action, was the unprecedented action of General Pershing, when he turned over the command of all the American forces in France to General Foch. He did this with the words:
"I come to say to you that the American people would hold it a great honour for our troops were they engaged in the present battle. ”

“ In France, on the contrary, it was difficult to think about war—even in the very midst of a place like Vincennes—unless you were actually engaged in organizing and preparing the country's defenses.
After three years at Vincennes, Ferdinand Foch was recalled to the army staff in Paris. And on the 31st of October, 1895, he was made associate professor of military history, strategy, and applied tactics, at the Superior School of War. ”

“ His exploits in the Soudan recall a time when there was no smile on the face of John Bull as he looked across to France. A poet in his ideality and lyric quality, he has the sublime courage of the Early Christian, the personal sway of the born leader, the heart and tenderness of a woman.
No French general has come into closer contact with the English than Foch, for his army neighboured theirs for long months together, and none has a higher opinion of their qualities or was more sensible of the vast improvement effected in their fighting methods during the progress of the war. ”

“ Almost immediately after the battle, when the mutual attempts of Allies and Germans to outflank one another's northern wing produced the so-called “race to the sea,” Foch was designated assistant to the commander-in-chief and sent north to coördinate the movements of the various French armies and eventually those of the British and Belgian armies concentrating towards Flanders. Over the French army commanders he possessed the powers of a commander-in-chief, but over the British and Belgian forces, like Joffre, he had no authority. ”

“ There are few situations possible in life in which a man could be set apart with his soul and have so much demanded of his communings as was demanded of Foch from October, 1914, on to October, 1918. Every decision he made involved lives—hundreds and thousands or hundreds of thousands of lives—and not one pang of what must be suffered for each life laid down was strange to him; his only son was among the first to die for France and human liberties ”

“ And attack he did, hurling back the surprised Teutons and aiding Joffre to turn the invader, and save Paris.
Foch, in brief, is a soldier of the intellectual type. His headquarters when at last he was made Marshal of France and Generalissimo of the Allied forces, resembled a classroom more nearly than the center of a vast and far-reaching activity. ”

“ For no other man in the world knows so well as he the extent and the enormity of the crimes those men and their masters and their minions are guilty of. A primitive man, or any undisciplined modern man, would have leaped at their throats. Instead, Foch treated them as if they were human though not humane beings, and read to them slowly and in a loud voice, the terms of the armistice for which they had asked.
Mathias Erzberger, their spokesman, requested a cessation of hostilities whilst a courier carried the terms to German General Headquarters at Spa. ”

“ The allied airplane, caught thus between two fires, was in a dangerous predicament.
"Climb in here, sir," said Hal to General Herwigs, "and we will make our escape while we may."
But Chancellor Ebert stayed the departure.
"A moment," he said. "I cannot fly while Germans, through a misunderstanding, are at each other's throats."
"But we must go, sir," said General Herwigs. "Time is growing short. Marshal Foch said that if we had not returned in twenty-four hours negotiations would be considered suspended. We have little time now, sir. Haste is necessary." ”

“ To those heroic men who had left their beautiful country to the arch-fiends of destruction, their parents and wives and children to savages who befoul the name of beasts; who no longer had any possessions, nor munitions wherewith to make another stand on Belgian soil; to them Foch took fresh inspiration with his calm and tremendous personality; to them he sent his splendid Forty-second Division to swell their ranks so frightfully depleted in Honor's cause ”

“ It was, in reality, as a leader in the field, far more than as thinker, that Foch personally influenced the course of the war on the western front. His conduct of operations in the first battles before Nancy, as a corps commander, presents no special characteristics, but in a few weeks he was placed at the head of the newly formed IX. Army, to fill the gap in the line caused by the divergent directions of retreat of the IV. and V. This army he commanded in the battle of the Marne, being opposed to the German III. Army and part of the II. in the region of Fère Champenoise and the Marais de St. ”

“ For Foch is, and ever has been, the kind of man who would most abhor being advanced faster than he developed.
He would infinitely rather be prepared for a promotion and fail to get it than get a promotion for which he was not thoroughly prepared.
Nor is he the sort of individual who can comfortably deceive himself about his fitness. He sustains himself by no illusions of the variety: "If I had so-and-so to do, I'd probably get through as well as nine-tenths of commanders would." ”

“ One plan goes awry. Very well! we'll find a better.
But Foch had not trained the German general staff. They made war otherwise. And well he knew it! Well he knew what happened to them when their "blue prints" would not fit unexpected conditions.
He knew that they expected to take Nancy easily, that they were looking for some effort to defend it, but not for a French attack.
They did not know his maxim: "The best means of defense is to attack."
He attacked. His Twentieth corps fought its way through the center of the Bavarian army, into German Lorraine. ”

“ Foch declined to cease hostilities. He knew his enemy too well.
As soon as the Kaiser learned what the terms were, he abdicated his throne and fled his country. When the courier had returned, and the German plenipotentiaries once more presented themselves before Foch (again in his car) the "War Lord" of all the world was cowering in a Holland hiding place, his blubbering heir was in another, and a Social Republic had been declared in Berlin. ”

“ Foch may well feel that he has done his utmost for his country and for mankind, in the crisis for which he prepared himself and which he met with such superb faith in the triumph of Right; but he certainly does not feel that he has ushered in the millennium; he knows what other demands there are and will be upon the souls of men, on their devotion to their country, their perception of truth and honor, and their ardor and ability to serve humanity. ”

“ Every black-smocked schoolboy in France loitering along historic highways to his gray-stuccoed school, may feel in himself a Foch of to-morrow—and quicken his steps so that he may make himself a little more ready for his recitation.
Every youth entering upon his military training must find in Foch a comrade whose influence is all toward thoroughness, "Learn to think," was Foch's personal admonition for long years before he thus charged his students. ”

“ He became then just a spectator at one of the greatest football games ever played between Yale and Princeton. Come to think of it he was rather less a part of the proceedings than the young men in the cheering section behind him. Foch did not have a blue feather, or a girl, or a bet on the game. The greatest military leader in the world was assigned today to the humble job of being just a neutral. ”

“ France is too essentially democratic to esteem one set of characteristics in the mass of men and another set in the leaders of men. Foch and Joffre will live always in the hearts of their countrymen because, like Jeanne d'Arc, they have so much to say to everyone—so much that illumines every path in life wherever it is laid.
On the 19th of December, 1918, Joffre took his seat among the Immortals of the French Academy. ”

“ But who will sign the armistice for Germany?"
"Chancellor Ebert, I imagine," said Chester. "He should be the proper man to do so now."
"Well, I guess we'll know soon enough," said Hal. "But see, the conference is breaking up. We'd better get back a bit. No need having them learn we have overheard what has happened."
The lads drew back to the far end of the tent.
Perhaps fifteen minutes later the man who had acted as spokesman for the German delegates at the conference with Marshal Foch entered the tent. ”

“ The lads bowed in response to this praise, but neither spoke.
"It is fortunate that General Rhodes brought you with him," General Pershing continued. "Still, it may not be so fortunate for him, for I am about to deprive him of your services. I take it that you will survive the separation, though," and the commander-in-chief smiled.
"We are always glad to serve in whatever way we may, sir," said Hal.
"Good!" said General Pershing. "Then I shall avail myself of your services. Several hours ago I was in communication with Marshal Foch, who is now in Soissons. ”

“ And the impression made upon him by Foch is so remarkable that his letter is likely to become one of the small classics of the war—endlessly reproduced whenever the story of Foch is told.
"General Foch," he reminds his parents, "is a former commander of the School of War, where he played, on account of his great fitness, a very remarkable role.
"He is a man still young [he was almost 63!] , slender and supple, and rather frail; his powerful head seems like a flower too heavy for a stem too slight. ”

“ Marshal Foch, having pocketed the document, indicated that the conference was adjourned.
"There is no other business before us, I believe, gentlemen," he said, "so I shall detain you no longer. I have much work to do in the next twenty-four hours and I must get about it."
At the door to the car the German envoys saluted the French commander-in-chief before taking their departure. Marshal Foch returned the salute stiffly. Upon suggestion of General Dupree, Hal and Chester were to take the German envoys back to their own lines. ”

“ When he turned from journalism to authorship several of his books were biographies of military men, notably his life of Marshal Foch, which gives a truer portrait of the man than can be found in some other biographies of Foch. ”

“ I shall stand firm."
"As you should, your excellency. The enemy is entitled to no consideration."
"I shall be no more harsh than necessary," said Marshal Foch. "All I am striving to bring about is peace—peace on such terms as will prevent a resumption of this murderous struggle."
Marshal Foch now turned and re-entered his car which still stood in the station.
"I shall receive them here when they arrive," he informed General Dupree, who accompanied him.
The day passed slowly for Hal and Chester. ”

“ On that night of July 14 he began the great offensive which never stopped until the whining boche was east of the Rhine!
His Intelligence Department told him that the German drive would probably begin at ten minutes past midnight. They might be quite wrong, but that was their guess. Foch was all-but sure they were not wrong; that it was not in German nature to reason other than as I have described.
An hour before midnight the Germans were (doubtless) surprised by some lively action of French artillery. Strange! But it couldn't mean anything, of course! So the boche came on. ”

“ American forces mingled with French troops on all sides of the German salient when General Foch struck its western side. In proportion to the combined number of French, British and Italian troops, they were not many. For that reason their achievements stood out with greater distinction; inferiority of numbers made their exploits conspicuous. They were with the French south of Soissons, on the southwest corner of the salient, west of Château-Thierry, along the Marne east of that town, and east of Rheims, the latter outside the salient proper. ”

“ Perhaps, after giving orders for notifying his Government and her Allies, he sent a message to Madame Foch. But I am quite sure that otherwise he did not "celebrate," except that he gave God thanks for the victory.
XVIII DURING THE ARMISTICE AND AFTER
When the French army rode into Metz, Foch was not at its head. There may or there may not be another man who could and would have foregone that satisfaction; but certainly there are not many. ”