The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1918-06-21
OFFENSIVE ALONE
BRINGS VICTORY
General Foch SAYS Reserves,
Carefully Husbanded, Will
Deliver the Knockout.
BLUDGEON MUST BE STRONG
Used at the Finish With Surprise, Macs
and Speed, They Will Make the De.
cisive Attack. Destroying the Enc.
my's Organized Forces.

LOndon.-Only an offensive. charac-
terized by surprise, mass and speed,
can bring victorious results in warfare,
says General Foch, commander in chief
Of the allied armies, in an article which
he contributes to the Field, a weekly
journal.
Modern warfare, to arrive at Its
end and to impose its will on the en-
emy," General Foch says, recognizes
only one MISREPRESENTATION Of the
enemy's organized forces.
War undertakes and prepares this
destruction by battle, which brings
about the overthrow Of the adversary,
discrepancies 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 it's object a battle must not be
purely defensive. A purely defensive
battle, even Well conducted, does not
result in a victor and a 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 # whether
it follows the defensive, can only give
results, and. in consequence, must al
Ways be adopted at the finish.
1 maintain u position is not
synonymous with being victorious and
even prepares for u 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 20 carry on and sustain numer-
u 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 a battle must be EN-
visaged. considered, organized, pro-
vided with forces in the measure in
which they will prepare, facilitate, and
guarantee development Of a decisive
attack characterized by it's mass, its
surprise, its speed, and for 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 Int
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 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 a
well thought out plan for winning the
battle at a point chosen and deter
mined, reserves are thrown In all to-
gether in nm action surprising In vio-
lence and energy all other phases OF
battle, an action with proper charac-
teristics-surprise, mass, and speed.
All our forces really participate, either
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 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.
sary."