The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1921-12-21

put Pruned and Grafted the w
Together-Sense of Propriety.
my center gives way, my right ri
cedes; the situation is excellent;
shall attack"
The writer of this message to- hi
commanding officer was either a Grim
inal braggart or one Of the greatest o
generals, depending whether his at
tack succeeded or failed. If it failed
country would have clamored TO
the life of general who sent his com
mand to certain destruction. If |
succeeded his dispatch should ranl
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 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 a
vital point in the line, the enemy with
| drew and Paris was saved.
| The message was sent during the
| first battle Of the Marine in September,
1914. 1t 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
-ChampenOise represents the turn
Ing point of the first battle Of the
Marne But the allied generalissimo
was in a similar situation on the eve
ming of July II, 1913 while second
battle Of the Marine 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 l 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 10 80 a. M, Novem-
Der II, 1918. And had the armistice
failed, he had vet another and more
disconcerting attack planned in every
detail for November IA, in which
French and American divisions would
have swept past Metz and into Lor
rafne Since he was twenty, Marshal
Foch had been working for the defeat
of Germany.
OF the many generals who achieved
prominence during the war, Foch and
Hindenburg were military school teach
ers before 1914. Here comparison ends. |
was a retired officer dur
ing the war. When the Germans |
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
in the Masorian lake region,
then invaded by the Russians. Hin /
1enburg was summoned to Berlin. He |
refreshed himself with his lecture
notes, took command of the eastern
forces, and the Masurian lakes cam
1afgn was won for the Germans Hin
lenburgs military reputation rests
lpon 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, 1T was
me of his principles that war against
/ skillful enemy cannot be waged sue
.essfully according to blue print alone
lie had been teaching for years to
roung French officers, candidates for
taft positions, that, above all else,
modern warfare demands fexibilIty
which must be met as they
rise. These We're the principles he
et forth in his works on the "Art Of
VAR as Foch prefers to term what
S called more often military science
ike other French officers, he satu-
ated himself with Napoleon's cam
,aigns, but in addition he had been a
student Of German staff
Methods AS result he accepted
either Napoleon nor the German gen
raj staff slavshly, but rather pruned
nd grated the two together. The
fundamental of his principles of war
vas the insistence upon morale, that
IS much intelligence and spirit are
leeded to carry out orders as to issue
hem.
1t is doubtful whether the French
rmy should be more grateful to Foch
or his services during the war or for
Is work as an instructor at the SUI
crior School Of War during the years
revious to 1914 He was the first
and probably the first
Military student of Importance, who
ras able to dissect the German opers-
Ions in the war Of 1870. Until Foch
on Tcole de Guerre in 1894
was impossible, for