Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 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.

\ L0ndOn.-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
" 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 destruction of the
.enemy's organized forces.
WAR undertakes and prepares this
destruction by battle, which brings
about the overthrow Of the adversary,
dtsorganizes 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 a battle must not be
purely defensive. A purely defensive
battle, even well conducted. does not
result in a victor and vanquished. 1t
is simply 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
1t follows the defensive, can only give
results, and, in consequence, must al
ways be adopted at the finish.
TO 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 un-
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 a battle, all other actions
which make up battle must be en-
4 vsaged, considered, organized, pro-
vided with forces in the measure in
which they will prepare, facilitate, and
guarantee development Of decisive
attack characterized by its mass, its
surprise, its speed, and for which, in
consequence, 1t is essential that there
shall be the maximum reserve force
! possible Of troops of maneuver.
The reserve-that Is to say, the
prepared bludgeon--is organized and
kept carefully instructed to execute
the single act Of battle from which re-
suits are expected 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 ~ violent as possible.
Let loose at the finish. without any
lurking idea Of saving them, with a
1 well thought out plan for winning the
battle at q point chosen and deter
mined, reserves are thrown in all to-
gether In an action SURPRISING in vio-
lence and energy all other phases Of
battle, an action with proper charac-
teristics-surprise, mass, and speed.
1 All our forces really participate, either
/ by preparing 1t or by carrying 1t out.
"In this, our supreme aim, we must
not be deceived by appearances. Al
though theory fails when applied by
feeble hands and when accessories OBJ
scure the main principle, history and
reason show us that in battle there is
namely, decisive attack, which is
alone capable Of assuring the desired
result-the overthrow Of the adver-
sary."
Praying for a Miracle.