Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-10-31

turning point of the first battle Of the
Marine. But the allied Generalissi-
mo was in a similar situation on the
evening Of July II, 1918, while a
second battle of the Marine was being
fought. At that time nc might have
p~araphrased his earlier message by
writing. My left in Flanders gives
way, my entire recedes, Paris and
the Channel ports are menaced. The
situation is excellent. | shall at
tack
And attack he did on the morning
OF the 18th with two, French and two
American divisions. He continued to
attack until the Germans came to
him and asked him to stop, and his
attacks did not stop until 1859 a.
NJ, Nov. II, 1918. And had the ar
mistice failed, he la yet another and
more disconcerting attack planned in
every detail for Nov. Il, in which
French and American divisions would
have swept past Metz and into lor-
raine. Since he was twenty, Marshal
Foch had been working for the de-
feat of Germany.
OF the many generals who achieved
prominence during the war. Foch and
Hindenburg We're military school
teachers before 1914. Here COMPARE
| son e1uS. 1llueIOuIE was b ISllIeO
officer during the When the
Germans moved toward Paris, the
Russians swept into Prussia. and the
German High Command was in a
near panic. Then some one emem-
bered a grizzled individual with a
close-cropped head INC generous
mustache who \for year after year
at the staff college had annihilated
the tenemy in "a paper campaign in
the Masurian Lake region, then in.
vaded by the Russians. Hindenburg
was summoned to Berlin. He refresh
ed himself with his lecture notes,
took command Of the eastern forces,
and the Masurian Lakes campaign
was won for the Germans. linden
burg's military reputation rests upon
this one campaign that had been a.
/ German general staff exercise for
years before the war.
T~cxibility ,Foch's Maxim.
With Foch. on the other hand. it
was one of his principles that war
against a skillful enemy cannot be
waged successfully according to blue
print alone. He lad been teaching
for years to young French officers,
candidates for staff positions. that
above all else modern warfare de-
and f~lexibility. Plans 60 wrong,
| oiit, sAA 20 10 wv
must be met as they arise. These
were the principles he set forth in
his two works on the art of War
as Foch prefers to term what is cali
ed more often military science. Like
other French officers, he saturated
himself with Napoleon's campaigns,
but in addition he had been q pains
taking student of German staff meth
Dds. AS a result he accepted neither
Napoleon nor the German general
staff s~lavishly, but rather pruned and
grated the two together. The funda-
mental OF his principle Of war was the
insistence upon morale that as much
intelligence and spirit are needed to
carry out orders as to issue them.
Of them merely replied: IT'S all set
1t is doubtful whether the French
army should be more grateful to Foch
for his services during the war or for
his fork as an instructor at the SUI
perior School of War during the years
previous to 1914. He was the first
F~'rencnman, and probably the first
military student of Importance, who
Ions in the war OF 1870. Until Foch
went to the Ecoie de Guerre in 1894
as a teacher. it vas impossible for
French officers to study the German
operations Of 1870 calmly. Honest at
tempts had been made, in fact the
Ecole de Guerrc was established just
after the Franco-Prussian war as a
part of the reorganization of the
French army with a view to discover
ing just what happened in 1870. But
until Foch was detailed to the school
in 1894 it was just like trying to find
out the manner in which Mr.. William
Patterson had been assaulted. It was
too soon after the war, for the hearts
of both officers and students were
1 fnf hoo nv With co6roQ~ Nvor tho 1ooc
of Alsace-Lorraine to investigate the
facts dispassionately.
Focafs Ant1-German Strategy.
Foch was the first man to fill the
French with hope that French gener-
alship might be a match for German.
AS calmly, as meuhodically and as old
~bloodedly as the German general staff
itself, Foch set to work to analyze for
his pupils German military science.
He arrived at a conclusion just the
opposite to what might be expected.
Instead of declaring that in the next
war France must beat Germany at her
own game, he emphasized that French
strategy must be the opposite of Ger
a that iron-clad plans must give
way to flexibility.
These principles had ar enormous
effect or French staff worw during
the war, for the young students, who
were filled with enthusiasm over
Foch's maxims paid down in the
School Of Wal in the late nineties,
were the division commanders and the
corps and army staff officers OF the
world war. That France alone Of the
allies had weu-trained and active
minded staff officers in 1914 is largely
due to Foch.
Marshal Foch was born in Tarbes.
Dot. 2, 1851. Boyish enthusiasm over
the campaigns of Napoleon-he had
mastered Thierss History of the Con-