The Tomahawk., 1918-06-20
RESERVES. TO WIN
IL
THE BIG BATTLE
General Foch Says Offensive Is
Necessary for Victory.
SURPRISE, MASS AND SPEED
Final Attack With These Charaeter's'
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 ne als.
cusses the problem of the soldier anu
the way to victory.
Modern warfare, to arrive ut IT'S
end and to impose it's will on the en-
emy,". General Foch says, "recognizes
only one means-destruction OF tue
enemy's organized forces.
"War undertakes and prepares this
destruction by battle, which brings
about the overthrow of the adversary
discrepancies his command. destroys MS
discipline, and ntllities his units as
fur as their fighting power Is con-
cerned.
No Victory in Defense.
"Our first axiom mast be that ~
achieve it's object u battle must not "
purely defensive. A purely defensive
battle, even we'll conducted, does not
result in victor and Il VanQuished. IL
is simply game that must be begun
over again.
"FrOm this it is an obvious cOrOllary
that an offensive, whether started ut
the beginning of an action or whether
it follows the defensive, can only give
results, and, in consequence, must III
ways be adopted at the finish.
ITO maintain our position Is not
synonymous with being victorious ana
even prepares for defeat. II 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 nulner-
GUS cOml..;ts, each with determined
aim.
All Depends on Reserve.
But since there remains no doubt
that decisive attack is the very Key
stone of u battle, all other actions
which make up battle must be ell
visaged, considered, organized, pro-
vided with forces in the measure III
which they will prepare, facilitate, anu
guarantee development Of decisive
attack characterized by It's mass, its
surprise, it's speed, and tor which, IN
consequence, it 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.
Preserves must be husbanded with
the most extreme parsimony so that
the bludgeOn may be strong enough t"
make the blow as violent as possible.
Let loose ut the finish, without any
lurking idea of saving them, with
well thought out plan for winning tlsc
battle at point chosen and deter
mined, reserves are thrown In all to-
gether in an action surprising In v1O-
lence and energy all other phases OF
battle, an action with proper charac-
teristics-surprise, mass, and speed.
All our forces really participate, eithel
by preparing it 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 IL
single argument which Is worth while
namely, decisive attack, which Is
alone capable Of assuring the desired
result-the overthrow Of the adver-
sary."