The Cook County news-herald., 1921-12-15
LIFE STUDY TO | ! !. ]. !.
BEAT GERMANY
Foch Began at 20 to Work for
i Downfall of Teutonic Power,
FLEx|B|uTY IS HIS MAXIM

France in Debt to Generalissimo Of
Allied Armies for His Military In.
struction-keen> Student Of Napo-
Icons Campaigns and Of German
Staff Methods, He Accepted Neither,
but Pruned and Grated the Two
Together-sense Of Propriety.
my center gives way, my right re-
cedes; the situation is excellent; /
shall attack"
The writer of this message to his
commanding officer was either a Grim.
inai braggart or one Of the greatest Of
generals, depending whether his at.
tack succeeded or failed. If it failed,
country would have clamored for
the life Of general who sent his COM
mand to certain destruction. If it
succeeded, his dispatch should rank
with other historical battle messages,
such as "Don't give up the ship"
England expects every man to do his
duty" and ''We have met the enemy
and they are ours.'
The attack did not fail. The author
Of this dispatch had said several years
before: "A battle won is a battle in
which one refuses to admit that one is
beaten" After writing the dispatch he
gave the order to attack, then, while
his men were going forward, he took
a young staff officer for a walk and
discussed metallurgy and economics.
His men pushed back the enemy at q
vital point in the line, the enemy with
drew and Paris was saved.
The message was sent during the
first battle Of the Marne in September.
1914. It was written by Ferdinand
Foch, marshal Of France, then a gen.
eral commanding the Ninth French
army holding the allied center.
Second Battle Of the Marine.
The offensive begun by Foch at La
-Chamnenoise represents the turn
Ing point of the first battle of the
Marne. But the allied generalissimo
was in q similar situation on the eve
ming of July II, 1913, while second
battle of the Marne was being fought.
At that time he might have para
phrased his earlier message by writ
ing: my left in Flanders gives way,
my center recedes, Paris and the chan
mel ports are menaced. The situation
Is excellent. 1 will attack"
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. m., Novem-
Der II, 1913. And had the armistice
failed, he had yet another and more
dlsconcerting attack planned in every
detail for November II, 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 defeat
of Germany.
or the many generals who achieved
prominence during the war, Foch and
H1ndenburg were military school teach
ers before 1914. Here comparison ends.
H1ndenburg was retired officer dur
ing the war. When the Germans
moved toward Paris the Russians
swept into Prussia, and the German
high command was in a near panic
Then some one remembered the griz-
zled individual with a close cropped
head and generous mustache who for
year after year at the staff college
had annihilated the enemy in a paper
campaign in the Masorian lake region.
then invaded by the Russians Hin
denburg was summoned to Berlin. He
refreshed himself with his lecture
notes, took command of the eastern
forces, and the Masurian lakes cam
paign was won for the Germans Hin
denburgs military reputation rests
upon this one campaign that had been
German general staff exercise for
years before the war.
FIexibiIity Foch's Maxim.
With Foch. on the other hand, it was
one Of his principles that war against
a skillful enemy cannot be waged sue
cessfully according to blue print alone.
He had been teaching for years to
young French officers, candidates for
staff positions, that, above all else,
modern warfare demands hexibility,
Plans go wrong, and surprises occur
constantly which must be met as they
arise. These were the principles he
set forth in his works on the art of
War;" as Foch prefers to term what
is called more often military science
Like other French officers, he satu.
rated himself with Napoleon's cam.
pagns, but in addition he had been a
painstaking student Of German staff
methods. AS result he accepted
neither Napoleon nor the German gen.
eral staff slavishly, but rather pruned
and grated the two together. The
fundamental Of his principles of wal
was the insistence upon morale, that
as much intelligence and spirit arc
needed to carry out orders as to issue
them.
1t is doubtful whether the French
nrmV ShOuld he more grateful tn Foch