The Washington herald., 1918-06-03
BY JOHN L. BALDERsTON,

London. May ), tby maiD-"In
war. men are nothing-a man is
everything" This saying of Ma
poleon comes naturally to the mind
in beginning a story about Gen.
Foch. for 1t is one of the maxims
OF the Emperor which the great
strategist who is now directing all
our armies is most fond of quot
ing. Twice I have met Foch. once
in London. once in Paris. On each
occasion, he uttered a few polite
phrases. the sort Of thing generals
say to correspondents, without
great interest where i am liberty
to quote them. which / am not.
But 1 have found a way of see
ing inside the head of the man upon
whose brain and nerve depend the
fate Of the world. For many years
the master OF our troops was pro-
fessor of military history at the
French school of War;" and from
his chair he drove into the minds
of a whole generation Of French
stan officers his views about war
above all. about this war. for which
he spent most of his life prepar-
ing himself and his pupils. Today,
those men who studied under Mai.
Foch, believing in him as they all
do, delight in recalling how he used
to break away from the technical
subjects under discussion and re-
veal in cries from his heart his dis
trust in mechanical German for
mulae. ut is the soul that wins
battles" he would say, and add,
''it was not Caesars Roman legions
who conquered Gaul. 1t was Caesar.
the soul of Caesar
War q Melodrama.
A mere boy during the Franco
Prussian war of 1870. Foch saw
hard service. and Immediately af-
terwards went through st. Cyr. the
French West Point. Within a few
years he became professor of
strategy. and French officers credit
Foch- especially between the years
1896 and 1901, with revolutioniz-
ing the French conception of the
war of tomorrow" He believed
and taught the most thorough
efficiency night and day, but he
would declare repeatedly with saw
age emphasis his disbelief in Ger
man military science. The science
of war does not exist, but only the
instinct for it," he would say. and
often quoted with approval a say
ing of Jomini, Far from being an
exact science, was is a melodrama,
frightful and passionate"
OF greatest interest, in judging
the character of Foch today by his
words of years ago, is the insistence
which he always placed upon the
personality of the general-his will,
his belief in himself. as we'll as in
his knowledge and competence. "A
battle lost is a battle which you
think you cannot gain" he would
approvingly quote year after year,
to his classes. Two other favorite
quotations of Foch are on the lips
of his old pupils in these days:
For there's nothing either good or
bad. but thinking makes it So"
from Hamlet, and Moral force is
the mistress of armies" attributed
to the French Colonel General
Bugeaud. But Foch never relied
upon inspiration or will-power to
make up for blunders or stupidity
arising from lack of knowledge of
the art of war. Each year, at the
end of his lectures. he would tell
his pupils. to make them remember.
"the unchanging and Interchangeable
character of fundamental princi-
pies" mo invention. no new ma
chine. no increase in the number of
your electives. can change the in
exorable laws of war. Great COM
manders may sometimes appear to
achieve success by breaking the
rules, but examine closely and you
will find that the career Of each of
them is a crowning vindication of
what I have told you"
Superior to Fritx.
Professor Maj. Foch who had met the
German In the field as q boy, be-
lieves in the superiority Of the French
soldier over Fritz. "Our fighting
man." he would say. "is incontestably
superior to the one beyond the Vos-
ges, by his qualities Of race-activity.
intelligence. spirit, zeal and national
sentiment" He praised the individual
initiative of the Poilu. All that has
happened in this war must have SEEM
ed to him to confirm his views.
After the war of 1870, French staff
officers were hypnotized by the theo-
ries and military writings of the VIC
torious Germans: Mai Foch NV his