Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-05-06
GERMAN GENERALSHIP
Marshal FOCh Discusses LudeDd0ff
and HlndenbuFg.
WHY CAMPAIGNS CAME TO NAUGHT


Sighted Enough. in: that Plans Die
Not; Provide For Possible Contin
!; seneies Following Failure Of Pre-
liminery Effort:
(From the New York Times.) -
Marshal Foch smoked his pipe one
day recently and l';,iween puffs, told
what he thought of Ludendorff. =.
The great allied commander was
caught in q communicative mood LILY
Raymond Recouly, famous as a war
writer under the. pseudonym of Cap
tain Y, and Recouly has faithfully re-
corded the views Of his chief on Ger
mans in general and Ludendorff in
particular in q new French magazine.
La Revue de France. the first issue OF
which has just reached America. ..
Marshal Foch had been reading The
war books of Ludendorff and Hindnn-
burg, in which these two chief adver'
saries Of his had sought to explain why
they were beaten. The French leader
doesn't agree with their why's ana
wherefores. After walking up and
down the room which serves him for Il
study in his Paris home, he dropped
into a chail, filed his pipe chock fHit
of tobacco, lit it, and let his mind
wander back to those days OF two
years and a half ago when he smash
ed Ludendorff's last desperate olfen-
sive and brought victory to the allies.
Let us consider what Ludendorff Is
shown to be by his memoirs, Marshal
roch said. "They prove him to lie an
excellent staff officer, nothing more
nothing less-one who knows his pro-
tession admirably, q professional Oh
the school of Frederick. He eXcels IN
whatever has to do with management
and organization of armies. But nc
understands not at all the true char
acter Of a natural war in which the
,reatest interests, the existence even
of nations are staked, in which, there
fore, moral forces patriotism, pay
paramount part. This moral force was
lacking in the German armies in l9lS.
They were like a body without Il soul.
Always Demanding.
"Ludendorff continually turns 10 his
government. EIe orerwhelms' it with
protests and recriminations. He con-
stantly demands more soldiers more
Ciscipline; falling to realize that the
government, because of the internal
crisis, the apathy of the people and
the growing encouragement, Is pow
erless to give these things 10 him.
The country it tired of war; the SOL
Gicrs have had enough Of it.
I'm 1911 the situation was exactly
the reverse; Blucher, York. Zieten'
Kleist were inspired by a sacred fire.
With what impetuosity with what ar
dor they hurled themselves upon the
enemy, They were a torrent which
swept all before il. Some among
them, notably Blucher, were certainly
not men of military genius-far from
il. Their intelligence was small. their
minds limited. But the internal tame
animating them was substitute TO"
everything: it triumphed over the gen.
ius of Napoleon: over the slowness,
hesitation and opposition Of their Aus
trian and Russian allies.
"In 1918 this ardor, this confidence
in victory. again made their appear
,nre, but they were to be founc on the
side of the allies. All together, they
raincd blows upon the boche with
ever growing energy and fury. The
various offenscs were launched one
after the other, Or rather, were fitted
into each other. i'm such a way as TO
set the whole front aflro.
"Our troops are tired, our forces and
material C.iminished-hut. M matter
Our allies. English. Belgian. American.
give us absolute and unlimited help.
Some of them attack without IL full
rcaliZat ton of objectiveS. without
knowing exactly whittier they are be-
ing led, but that does not keep them
from attacking furiously. They have
no idea of the degree Of weakness and
disorder into which the German arm