Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-08-22
UNITY OF CONTROL

UNITY OF CONTROL
There are many Allied armies on the fighting line in
France. and our thoughts concerning them are apt to ne
confused unless we keep in mind the main fact that all
the armies there. no matter what their nationality. are
under the supreme command of Marshal FocM There
are several great British armies, each under its own gen
eral, and all under the general command of General
HAS. France, also, has in the field several armies, each
with its general command, but all subject to the direction
of General Petain. The United States is at present rep
resented by one grand army group commanded by Gen.
eral Pershing, whose authority and responsibility are
subject to the direction of the supreme commander,
Foch. whose orders, no matter to whom issued, are law.
More recently the conduct of the campaign on the Italian
front has also been placed in charge Of General Foch.
If we will bear these facts constantly in mind we
\ will be less apt TO wonder, somewhat querulously, it may
be. why. when the conditions appear to be thus and so,
this or that army does not do some given thing. Within
certain limits there is a local responsibility and a local
freedom Of action. But, in the larger sense, every move.
at every point. is a part Of a carefully prepared general
plan.
The conduct Of a great military campaign is the
greatest business enterprise in the world. There is no
branch of human activity upon which it is not necessary
to draw for its success. There must be solved problems
Of manufacture and transportation, of food and clothing,
or arms and equipment. Lines of railroad must be laid,
and material must be on hand for extending them rap
idly. Two thousand miles of railroad in Great Britain
have been torn up in order that the rails and rolling
stock might be used in France. The need outstripped
the capacity Of British and French factories, and the
British railroads had to go. Vast quantities of men and
material must be massed where it is expected that they
will be needed, and provision must be made for the rapid
transfer of these men and this material to other points,
forward, backward or to either side.
1t is obvious that it is impossible to leave to the
discretion of the local commander the choice Of where
he shall strike, or when. The commander of an army
corps, a division or a. brigade has weighty responsible
ties, but it is not his business to map out the campaign.
He is there to carry out his instructions, and to use his
own discretion within the limits Of those instructions.
Just now the British are doing some tremendous fight
ing in Picardy and the French along the Disc because
General F'och has planned it so. At the same time there
is comparative quiet along the Lorraine front, where the
American army is stationed, and in lower Flanders, be
cause it does not suit the purposes of General Foch that
important offensive movements shall be undertaken on
those sectors at this time. "
In a manner somewhat similar to that in which
control of the armies in France and Italy is vested in
General Foch, the shaping of the conduct of the war at
large is vested in the supreme war council at Versailles.
The control Of that body appears to be less complete
than is the control Of the western armies under the su-
preme general. And in this lack Of completeness there
is. Of course. an element of weakness. Naturally, Cen
eral Foch confers with the generals Of all the armies
under his command. He obtains Information from them,
receives advice from them, and listens to their sugges-
tons But when the decision is made it is not the de-
cision Of arrangement and compromise. 1t is the de-
cision Of a single mind which, in its own way, has reached
its own conclusions. A council or commission cannot
operate in that way. It's decisions are not those Of a
single mind. but the composite decisions Of a group.
{. It Is not likely that this will be changed. We can
scarcely conceive of the whole conduct of the war. and
the entire Part that each nation shall play in it, being
left to the decision Of a single individual. We may ex-
pect to see, for the remainder Of the war. some central
and representative body rather than an individual decid.
ing on what force, II any. shall be sent to Mesopotamia
and Macedonia; what measures shall be taken to place
Russia again on something resembling a war footing
The defects inseparable from the council system are
doubtless less than those which would arise under q
system Of one-man control. But we may expect to see
the war council welding more and more complete au.
thority as time passes. and to see the entire war assume
an aspect Of greater unity.