Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-15
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

/ it was typical of Marshal Fochs whole
/ concept of the difference between sue
/ cess and failure, and il holds the
! secret of success or failure in peace IS
I well ss in war, as demonstrated daily
! by youth who dares overcome all handi-
caps and charge into victory-in school,
college or business.
n y
, Another key was turned which show
ed why some men succeed. It was when
Cen. Joffre received a military medal
and was Nbelng congratulated on the
honor by some friends.
This is nothing" he answered.
Everything Is nothing save victorT.
The only thing that counts is the final
success"
| So many folks are easily diverted By
the inconsequential; the man who wen
battles and became a marshal of France
kept his eyes soleIyzhpgn his obiecti-e-
victory. year before the outbreak OF
the World War he. who was noted fer
/ his silence, like Gen. Grant did make
speech before the former pupils of
the Army School, the Polytechnic, in
! which he said:
| 'sWe must be prepared With the
means of fighting the world possesses
| at present, with whole nations en-
! gagged in a mortal combat, disaster Is
certain for those who in time of peace
fail to prepare for war. To be ready
means, today, to have mustered. in adj
| vance, all the resources of the country,
all the intelligence of its children. slI
their moral energy for the purpose Of
attaining but this one ain-victory
Getting ready is a duty that devolves
not only upon the Army but upon all
public officials, upon all organizations,
upon all societies, upon all families,
upon all citizens. Each and all must
! 70 art ~ rfr fr%N al =
( Tense. No individual or collective act
Is without Importance This defense
grows stronger through the invention
of a genius as much as through the
efforts of simple laborer, and every
failure to cooperate makes 1t weaker
in the same ratio"
Those words, spoken year before the
war came. sound nightly like words Of
warning we hear even today: BE pre-
pared for defense"
Five years later-in the Winter of
l9l7-18-he led in the appeal that
Foch should take supreme command.
and save the war from defeat of the
allies. and on July Il. 1919. the graft
! tude OF France was united in the same
apotheosls for the two chiefs of the
great war, apd .Marshals Foch and
Joffre passed side by side under the
Triumphal Arch Of Paris. Too great
for jealousy! Both absorbed in patriot
ism! They kept their eyes on victory.
r
Marshal Foch held that success in
war depended upon discipline in it's
oroadeSt SenSe-not merely discjpline
toward superiors but as concerned ones
own passions and ignorance, to the end
that sen-possession was never lost in
the presence of crisis. and Judgment
was based upon calm intelligence But
more important than either discipIine
or Intelligence is the will to face and
overcome the impossible"
When Marshal Foch sent his famous
dispatch to his then commanding off,
Ger, Gen. Joffre, at the First Battle of
the Marine. he was defending ,Ioffre's
center against the invincible Prlssian
guards. 1t was the crucial and most !
dangerous point on the front. and the
Prussians charged VIGOROUSLY and cut
through Foch's center: then, sure of viz
tory, they began celebrating their sue
cess. Foch was driven back to the
Aube beyond which Joffre had ordered
that no retreat should be permitted.
but that every man should die rather
than retreat. To quote French his
torlan: Foch gave the order to al
tacks Everything that he cared for in
this world was at stake. This desperate
maneuyer would save it all or It. would
not. He gave the order to attack-and
then he went for walk on the out
skirts of the little village of Plancy
His companion was one of his stan
officers, Lieut.. FeraSSon of the artillery.
and as they walked they discussed met
allurgy and economic Toward 6
o'clock on that evening the Germans.
celebrating their certain victory. saw
themselves confronted with new
French army pouring into the gan they
had thought their road to Paris.
The Forty-second Division (more
than half dean of fatigue, but their
eyes blazing with such immensitv and
intensity Of purpose 1t has been said
that the Germans fed, as before spirits.
when they saw these mem had not only
blocked the roundabout road to Paris:
they had broken the morale of Won
Buelow's crack troops. Without this
brilliant maneuver and superb execution
the successes of all the other armies
must have gone for naught.''
Are there no crises in ordinary life
that can be met only by the use of the
impossible forces" exactly as Foch
won that First Battle of the Marne9
That was genius but so always is
unusual victory over the Impossible
In peace as well as In war. The de-
termination 10 wini
.tcopyright. 1879, By Paul V. couins.S