The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1921-11-03
Great Man is in
Ametica Today
\ Small Man in Horizon
Blue

!. retiring, impossible to maneuver,
the situation is excellent, / shall at
taak.'
Ferdinand Foch, Marshal of France,
generalissimo of the armies of the al
led and associated powers, comman-
der of the victors in the Battle of
France, is called a strategist. He is
called audacious. The heart of this
message sent to his superior, Joffre,
rr a division commander after four
Iays of retreat at the MaIne is this:
the situation is excellent" and it is
net audacity. It is declaration of
knowledge of conditions behind the
tnemy'S front. The circumstances he
m2ntioned to his staff at the time was
tie fury of the attack on his own
own front. He read from it that
tA'ags were going badly with the Ger
mans elsewhere The situation was
excellent. Foch attacke3--a sunset:
;nd success followed.
There was never anything in his
tory like that later struggle Of 235
Gays Oh a front OF $50 miles, involv-
i2g more than six million men of seven
nations. French hiStoriens regard it
Is a single engagement and call it
the Battle of France.
Ludendorff had from March until
,!uIy to defeat an inferior force and
win the war. His enemy, at the first,
acked supreme command; it lacked
'och. Ludendorff~ had the Hut:er tao
tic; the first strategic device devel-
olped in all the years of fighting ca
I,aG!e of breaking through successfully
He had until the first part of July to
establish position which would have
prolonged the war into winter and
"on favorable peace It was a duel
between Ludendorff, the ablest pro-
Iuct of German militariSna, and Foch.
Ludendorff lost. T..
This man of seventy, face bronzed
and furTowed by war, shoEt legs
strongly bowed from much horse
back riding" shaggy gray mustache
EelloWed by tobacco, who says much
N quick gestures with his arms, glanc-
jng clear from eyes 'just trif1e ma
icious under his wrinkled eyelids," is
the candidate of this day and genera
ton for the supreme place in history's
hall Of military fame. The ages must
Judge, and so there is no insistence
upon his claims. 4 greater than Ma
poleon? This generation, this century,
cannot say. Napoleon finally failed
I'd toch finally succeeded. FtGeh had
: the clear preponderance Of men and
materials in his favor, and Napoleon
did not? Foch had the title to them;
but the first few months Of that final
struggle, he did not have them avail
@hle. Ludendorff had his OppoIt tunity
to win, before Foch got that prepon-
GcEance in availables; as the forces
:v2i.sb]e moved toward a balance, he
had the opportunity to prevent Foch
winning.
The other day, as his ship neared
American hores, the Marshal of
France said: 81 know they love me
over there" That is the important
thing about this visit to America; not
whether the honor is that of a visit
5"orn the greatest solder of the ages,
or greater than Napoleon-we, also,
have produced some super1ative gen
erals from on" c~:' H who comes
Fo"F the Well-Beloved. He comes
secure in his place and fame, imper-
Shable laurels upon his brow; but the
t5rongs do not greet him as an object
Of awful curiosity.
Trey greet him out Of an affection
that had its birth and growth under
such circumstances as render it imper-
1ahable. In the dark days of March,
April, May and June, Of that final
"ear, American fathers and mothers
trusted him because they must; they
were committing to his care their best,
their dearest; under God, their trust
must needs lie next in Ferdinand
EOch. Confidence the cherished
younger brother of Trust, was born
after the middle of July, when Foch
gained the initiative; and all through
the hourly stress of that longest of
=11nmer, most fateful of a11tumns, as
ne enemy was beaten back. Wch by
'2ch. on until the chilly, glorious dawr
II November II, an indescribable day
IN the calendar, in American hearts
crew that cherishing pride which now
1inds its first real opportunity for ex-
preston, that emotion in everv true
american heart which recoonizes in
Ferdinand Foch 2 blood brothe~.
~ know thew love me over there"
said the Marshal of France, "but~
eve them, too. Ny joy in meeting
mem will be equal to their joy in
meeting me-" And that it is. a sea-
on of jov; no mere -pageantry OF
hcrO-WOrship.-Gre News.