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The Gay ton Tribune
procession. It was a delicate matter
to Vecfcle which should precede the
other, Foch was generalissimo of the
allied land forces, yet In the French
army he was outranked by Joffre.
It was finally decided that the mar
shals should ride side by side, but,
thanks to the tact of Foeh, neither
^lutplnced the other. As supreme com-
thauder of the Allies, Foch had the po
sition of honor on the right, but
throughout the whole five miles of the
inarch through the streets of Paris,
Marshal Foch was careful to keep his
Hbrse at least n yard behind Joffre.
Imch’s right of the line was offset by
h(s allowing Joffre to ride a few feet
ahead, and the .difficulty was solved.
Editor.
Jame; J. Reynolds,
Assistant Editor:
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STUDY TO
BEAT GERMANY
Foch Began at 20 to Work for
Downfall of Teutonic Power.
IS HIS MAXIM
France In Debt to Generalissimo of
Allied Armies for Hie Military In
struction-Keen Student of napo
leon's Campaigns and of German
Staff Methods, He Accepted Neither,
but Pruned and Grafted the Two
Together—Sense of Propriety.
center gives way, my right re-
the situation Is excellent; I
writer of this message to his
officer was either a crim
inal braggart or one of the greatest of
generals, depending whether his at
tack succeeded or failed. If It failed,
a country would have clamored for
the life of a general who sent his com
mand to certain destruction. If It
succeeded, his dispatch should rank
with other historical battle messages,
such as “Don’t give up the ship,”
“England expects every man to do his
duty," and “We have met the enemy
and they are ours.”
The attack did not fall,. The author
of this dispatch had said several years
before: “A battle won ]ls i battle In
which one refuses to admit that one Is
beaten.” After writing the dispatch he
gave the order to attack, thqn, while
hi?, men were golng ^awwid; he took
a young staff offlcer. 4 iB4m A Walk and
discussed metallurgy and economics.
His men pushed back the enemy at a
vital point Iff the line, the enemy with-
drew pad Paris was saved.
The message was sent during the
first battle of the Manta In;September,
1914.' It was written by Ferdinand
Foch, marshal of France, then a gen
eral commanding the Ninth French
' nrmy holding the allied center,
8econd Battle of the Marne.
The offensive begun by Foch at La
Fere-Ohampenolse represents the turn
ing point of the first battle, of the
Marne. But the allied' generallBSlmo
was In a similar situation on the eve
ning of July 17, 1918, while a second
battle of the Marne was being fonght.
At that time he might have para
phrased his earlier message by writ
ing; “My left In Flanders gives way,
my center recedes, Paris and the chan
nel porta are menaced. The situation
is excellent. I will attack.”
And attack he did on the morning of
the 18th with two French and two
• American divisions. He continued to
attack until the Germans came to him
and asked him to stop,’ and his attacks
did not stop until 10:59 a. m., Novem
ber 11, 1918. And had the armistice
failed, he had yet another and more
disconcerting attack planned In every
detail for November 14, In which
French and American divisions would
have swept past Mets and Into Lori
ralne. Since he was twenty, Marshal
, Foch had been working for the defeat
of Germany.
Of the many generals who achieved
prominence during the war, Foch and
HIndenburg were military school teach
ers before 1914. Here comparison ends.
HIndenburg was a retired officer, dur
ing the war. When the Germans
moved toward Paris the Russians
swept Into Prussia, and the German
high command was In a near panic.
Then some one remembered the grte-
sled Individual with a close-cropped
head and generous mustache who for
year, after year at the staff college
had annihilated the enemy In a paper
campaign In the Masorian lake region,
then invaded by the Russians. Hln-
denburg was summoned to Berlin. He
refreshed himself with his lecture
notes, took command of the eastern
forces, and the UasurUm lakes cam
paign was won for the Germans. Hln-
denburg’s military reputation rests
upon this one campaign that had been
« German general staff exercise for
pars before W*
Flexibility Foch’s Maxim.
With iroch, on the other hand, It Whs
Otte of-his principles that war against
a skillful enemy cannot be waged suc
cessfully according to blue print alone.
HO had beten teaching for years to
yonng French officers, candidates for
staff positions, that, above all else,
modern warfare demands flexibility.
Plans go wrong, and surprises occur
constantly which must be met ns they
rfrlse. These were the principles he
set forth In his works on the "Art of
War,” as Foch prefers to term what
is called more often military science.
Like other French officers, he satu
rated himself with Napoleon’s cam
paigns, but In addition he had been a
painstaking student of German staff
methods. As a result he accepted
neither Napoleon nor the German gen
eral staff slavishly, but rather pruned
and. grafted the two together. The
fundamental of his principles of war
was the Insistence upon morale, that
as much Intelligence and spirit are
needed to carry out orders as to Issue
them. 1
It Is doubtful whether the French
army should be more grateful to Focli
for his services during the war or for
his work as an Instructor at the- Su
perior School of War during the years
previous to 1914. He was the first
Frenchman, and probably the first
military student of Importance, whe
was able to dissect the Oermnn opera
tions In the war of 1870. Until Foch
went to the Ecole de Guerre In- 1S9-1
ns a teacher. It wns Impossible for
French officers to study the German
operations of 1870 cnlmly. Honest
attempts had been made, in fact the
Ecole de Guerre was established just
after the Franco-Prusslan war as a
part of the reorganization of the
French army, with a view to discov
ering just what happened Xn 1870.
But until Fodh Was detailed to the
school In 1894 It was just like trying
to find out the manner In which Mr.
William Patterson had been assaulted.
It wns too soon after the war, for the
hearts of both officers and students
were too heavy with sadness over the
loss of Alsace-Lorraine to Investigate
the fact? dispassionately.
Foch's Anti-German Strategy.
Foch was the first man to fill the
Freheh with hope that French general
ship might be a match for German. A 8
calmly, as mathematically and as Cold
bloodedly as the German general staff
Itself* Foch set td work to analyze for
his ppplts/Gerinan military science. He
arrived at a conclusion just the Op
posite to what might be expected. In-
siead of declaring that In the pext
war lkanee must beat Germany at her
that French
Opposite of Ger-
... . plans must give
Way to OexibMlty.
These principles’ had' an enormous
effect Upon F^retWhi. Atatf work during
the war. for the young students, who
wdre fHled .‘With enthusiasm over
Foch’s maxims laid down in the School
of War In the late nineties, Were the
division commanders and the corps
and army staff officers of the World
War. That France alone of the allies
had well-trained and active-minded
staff officers In 1914 lsr largely due to
Foch.
Marshal Foch was born In Tarbes,
October 2, 1851. Boyish enthusiasm
over the campaigns of Napoleon—lie
had' mastered Tiller's “History of the
Consulate and the Empire’’ before he
was twelve—filled him with the am
bition to enter the array. The year
previous to the Franco-Prusslan war
he was studying at St. Clement's, a
Jesuit college In Metz, where more
candidates for army comissions were
taught than at any other school in
France. He eiillsted as a private lu
the Fourth regiment of Infantry which
never got into action. Alsace-Lorraine
lost and with it his beloved school at
Metz, he entered the Polytechnique at
Fontainebleau, and nfter the usual gar
rison life he was detailed to the Ecole
de Guerre as assistant professor of
military history and strategy.
His Sense of Propriety.
Two stories may be told to illustrate
Marshal Foch’s sense of fitness of
things. There is the Incident at his
headquarters car the night the German
commissioners arrived to negotiate for
an armistice. The military delegate,
was wearing, among other decorations,
the cross of the Legion of Honor
which had bSen conferred upon him
before the war. The Germans filed
Into the small room In Marshal Focli'i-
car and saluted. Foch made no sign,
but stared at the red ribbon thni
seemed so out of place among Germai
decorations. While his associates
fidgeted, the German officer finally
saw a great light and In silence re
moved the French decoration. Thef
Foch acknowledged the salute and en
tered into a discussion of the anpls
tiee terms.
Thed there was his tactful, punctili
ous behavior the day of the Victory
Fete in Paris, July 14, 1919. Prelim
inary plans had Foch selected to lead
the allies' march through the Arc dt
Triomphe, but some friends of Joffre
threatened to make political capital
« Jb§ ; senior marshal of Vmm
Mythological Birds.
The Australian thick-headed shrike
la about six inches long, rich-yellow
below, with a jet-black collar and a
white throat, black head and partly
black tall. It Is sometimes called the .j
blqck-breasted flycatcher and white-
throated thick-bead, and it has also n !
variety of French and New Latin
names. '
In the mythology of some low tribes
Buch as the Cnribs, Brazilians, Har
vey Islanders, Karens, Bechunas and
Basutoa there are legends of a flap
ping or flashing thunder bird, which
seem to translate into myth the
thought of thunder und lightning de- j
scendlng from the upper regions of |
the air, the home of the eagle and the I
vulture.
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