Sioux County pioneer. (Fort Yates, Sioux County, N.D.) 1914-1929, 1918-06-20
RESERVES TO WIN
THE BIG BATTLE
General Foch Says Offensive Is
Necessary for Victory.
SURPRISE, MASS AND SPEED
Final Attack With These Characters.
tics, by Troops Carefully Prepared
and Then Thrown In Without
Regard to Losses.

London.-Battles can be won in the
end only by the army which takes the
offensive. This is the significant dec
laration made by General Foch, COM
mander in chief of the allies, in an
article contributed by him to the week
ly journal, the Field, in which he dis
cusses the problem of the soldier and
the way to victory.
Modern warfare, to. arrive at its
end and to impose its will on the en-
envy" General Foch says, recognizes
| only one means-destruction of the
enemy's organized forces.
"War undertakes and prepares this
destruction by battle, which brings
about the overthrow of the adversary,
disorganizes his command, destroys his
discipline, and utilities his units as
far as their fighting power is con-
cerned.
No Victory In Defense.
"Our first axiom must be that to
achieve its object battle must not be
purely defensive. A purely defensive
battle, even well conducted, does not
result in victor and vanquished. 1t
is simply a game that must be begun
over again.
"From this it is an obvious corollary
that an offensive, whether started at
the beginning of an action or whether
it follows the defensive, can only give
results, and, in consequence, must al
ways be adopted at the finish.
ITO maintain our position is not
synonymous with being victorious and
even prepares for defeat. If we re-
main where we are and do not pass to
the offensive to fix the direction of at
tack, to guard against the plans of the
enemy, and prevent him from carrying
out the same maneuver, we must I'M
dertake to carry on and sustain numer-
GUS combats, each with determined
aim.
All Depends on Reserve.
But since there remains no doubt
that decisive attack is the very key
stone of battle, all other actions
which make up. a battle must be ell
visaged, considered, organized, pro-
vided with forces in the measure in
which they will prepare, facilitate, and
guarantee development Of decisive
attack characterized by it's mass, its
surprise, itsf speed, and for which, in
consequence, it is essential that there
shall be the maximum reserve force
possible Of troops Of maneuver.
1.-THE reserve-that is to say, the
prepared bludgeon-is organized and
| rort IN rofnlov irotruoto1 m oyoo,,tc
the single act of battle from (which re.
suits are xpected-namely, the de.
cisive attack.
Surprise, Mass and Speed.
" Reserves must be husbanded with
the most extreme parsimony so that
the bludgeon may be strong enough to
make the blow as violent as possible
Let loose at the finish, without any
lurking idea of saving them, with q
we'll thought out plan for winning the
battle at point chosen and deter.
mined, reserves are thrown in all to.
gether in an action surprising in VIC.
lence and energy all other phases of
battle, an action with proper charac-
teristics mass, and speed
All our forces really participate, either
by preparing it or by carrying it out.
I'm this, our supreme aim, we must
not be deceived by appearances. AL
though theory fails when applied by
feeble hands and when accessories oh,
scure the main principle, history and
reason show us that in battle there is
q single argument which is worth while
namely, decisive attack, which is
alone capable of assuring the desired
result-the overthrow Of the adver.