The Belding banner-news. (Belding, Mich.) 1918-1973, 1918-12-11


in war was mistake. He held thai
war was not an exact science but a
terrifying and passionate drama. He
held that between knowing and doing
there was a great abyss, which could
only be traversed IL the start was
made from knowledge and not from
ignorance.
At the outbreak of the war Foch
was in command at Nancy. Located
with his forces at that strategic ave-
nue. of entrance between the Vosges
mountains and Luxembourg, he repre-
sented the best soldierly material that
Gen. Joffre could station at this vital
point.
The French commanders depend
ence on Foch was justified in the first
battle of the Marine when Foch, with
his famous belief in the directness and
decisiveness Of an attack reported to
his commander that with his left be-
ing attacked and his right suffering
severe assault from the enemy he
was attacking with all he had in the
center.
That stroke won the first battle of
the Marine. The enemy's terrific Of
fensive upon which was based the
German hope to conclude the war in
six weeks failed signally. Thus did
the Allies receive necessary breathing
spell by which they were able to
withstand successive enemy onslaughs
until Americas weight arrived in the
fourth year Of the war to turn the
tide.
1t was in this year on March 20 that
Foch was placed in command of all
of the armies of the allies. This Gre
alton Of the unified command Of all
the armies Of the allies. This crea-
ton of the unified command came
eight days after the launching of the
terrific German offensive in Picardy
putting one entire British army to
rout. Foch was the answer. That
March 81 offensive of the enemy was
a success in view of territory gained
and prisoners and material captured
but for the allies it resulted in the
greater victory. 1t brought the uni
fed control From that time on all
allied effort received direction from
one head.
On MAY 81 the Germans struck
again, this time on the Chemin des
Danes, and with frightful expendi-
ture of their reserves succeeded in
advancing their lines 80 miles from
the valley Of the Aisne to the valley
of the Marine. Foch threw in the
Americans and stopped the enemy
advances on the north bank of the
river in the first days of June.
On July Is Foch was ready to strike
with the long delayed allied counter
offensive. He struck in the Villers-
Cotteret forest The blow was d.
rected at the right flank of the Germ
an salient. To strike that blow Foch
needed three divisions of the hardest
fighting soldiers he could obtain. With
the influx of the American forces, the
commander in chiefs armies number
ed 100000 bayonets. OF all those
veteran troops Foch selected three
divisions to strike the blow on which
the future of the world depended. The
first division he selected was French
colonial division from Morocco. The
ether two divisions were the First and
the Second United States regular ar
my divisions.
History will undoubtedly date the
turn of the tide of the entire war from
that minute of Abs on the morning
of July 18 when those two American
divisions and that enc, French divi-
sion went over the top in the Villers-
Cotteret forest to execute the mas
terly plan of the allied commander in
chief History will relate how the
German withdrawal started immed-
lately and history will not overlook
the weeks that followed in August and
September when Foch began to take
advantage of his successes, striking
blow after blow all along the battle
line from Flanders to the Alps until
at one time this master Of Hindenburg
and Ludendorf was directing stimuli
taheously seven battles on as many
different fronts.
This was the type of a man, small,
why, nervous, pious, who on Nov. 10,
seated in the small compartment of
a railroad train in the rear Of the