Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1929-03-20
(Continued from PAGE one.)

NCOuLllueQ 1IOl1 PoSS o31C.i
est In all history, In which the al
lies recaptured in three weeks
ground that had coat the Germans
four months Of hardship and super
human struggle as well as 100000
men to attain, was at its height on
November 2.
Its status was somewhat as fol-
lows: The American army, with
Sedan as its objective, was attack
ing on both sides Of the Meuse. One
French army was battling, in con-
junction with the Americans, left
of the Aisne for Mezieres. Another
French and British army was
pressing forward between the river
Disc and the cit yof valenciennes,
with Maubeuge and Mons as their
goal. The British and Belgians
were driving ahead in Flanders for
Journal and Client. South Of the
Disc. between that river and the
Aisne, another French army bat
tered its way toward the important
railway functions at Vervis and
Hirson. Roughly, this constituted
Foch's wise" in which the enemy
was being squeezed.
The Germans held on desperate
ly but, even "as the stars in their
course fought against Sisera," were
forced to yield. And then came
that eventful day when the enemy.
practically routed by the superior
strategy of Foch, sent it's embas-
sage praying for an armistice. It
was then, according to a correspon-
dent for the Paris Matin. that Mat
thias Erzberger, n OF the German
plenipotentiaries, extending his
hand to Foch, declared:
Marshal, we are at your mercy.
Our reserves of men and ammuni-
ton are exhausted and we can no
longer continue the war"
An American correspondent, re-
ferred to the wanton slaughter per-
mitted by the German commander,
to which Foch laughingly replied:
Did not your own General Grant
believe that battles could not be
won without sacrificing men?"
That is true" admitted the
American. IF you would win you
are obliged to sacrifice men"
do not misunderstood me-"
quickly replied the generalissimo. a
twinkle in his eye. Its the Ger
mans that I sacrifice. I never
throw away my own soldiers"
Speaking to a group of officers
one night Foch is reported to have
said!
First find out your enemy's
weak point and concentrate your
blows there. That is a common
place Of tactics which is self evil
"But, general" broke in an eff
Ger of artillery, suppose your en-
envy has no weak points? That
sometimes happens"
Certainly" replied Foch. And
in that case you make a weak
Again and again he would quote
Joseph de Maistre's aphorism, "a
battle lost is a battle which n be-
lieves to have lost. for battles are
not lost materially" And he would
add: Battles therefore are lost
morally, and it is morally, there
fore, that they are won"
Foch's career could be summed
up in the word prepare" Born
October 2. 1851. at Tarbes. a little
city in the Pyrenees, close to the
Spanish border, his boyhood was
not characterized by brilliancy as
a student. In a class Of 10 at the
Ecole Polvtechnique. which he en-
tered in 1871 just after the Franco
Prussian war, he graduated forty
fifth. But he was a hard worker.
with a wonderful memory and
great persistency.
He served for the next years as
an artillery officer, passing through
various garrisons until 1884 when
he was admitted to the Ecole de
Guerre as a student.
Twelve years later, as Major
Foch, he returned to the war COL
lege as an instructor. Later he won
a colenelsy and in 1907 became a
brigadier general. During his serv-
ice as a teacher and later as COM
mandant Of Frances military
school General Foch wrote a nllns-
Der Of technical books. Two CT
these. works on the subject of war
fare, both Of which were translated
into German. English and italian,
were entitled Principles OF War"
and "The Conduct Of War"
Foch was in command Of the4