GENERAL FOCH

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 190, 1 May 1918, Page 6

GENERAL FOCH

THE MAN WHO CONTROLS THE ALLIES' COOL, DECISIVE, & CONFIDENT (By "Captain X.," (ho well-known French Military Writer.) On August 30, 1914—it was a morniuß | of dog-day heat—a general was walking to iiml tro in 'rone of the Hotel de Ville in the market-place of Attifjiy, on tho Aisnc, a small town a little, above Rethcl Kin mnimev n:is abrupt nnu jerky; his air was anxious, his <■:; -asion grave. From time to time a slim officer would arrive bringing him inforiiia(ion and presenting .him with reports. Ha would snatch each paper that was brought to him. cast n rapid e.ve over it, and resume his walk. A number of German prisoners vere marched past, marshalled by our soldiers, with fixed bayonets. They wore a wretched band, bare-headed, dishevelled, nautili?, covered with dust ami sweat. The general hardly turned his eyes in their direction. Jho road and the market-place were packed with an agitated throng. Batteries, munition sections, endless convoys, succeeded one another without a pause. Iho neighbouring guns grew louder and louder, ns if the battle were drawing nearer. A restnwit pnsssd. One Oi the men noticed ttte rmictrl, awV muVeea ws companion: "Look at the bow,' be said. "I shouldn't care to tackle mm to-day. "The lioss" (Iβ patron) ims Gennral Foch. Hfi had just assumed command of ■a neir nriny, expressly created for Jiw control. The Stroke st the Marne. The placing of Foch's army in the centre of our line, and of Jfanourys nrmy near Paris were two master-strokes of General Joftre, admirably earned out by his subordinates-two strokes in which our wholo victory on the Marne was already implied. But though VV>o of tins army gave way, the general iii command of u, iocn, did not give way an instant. Energy, iimncity,-resistance are Jus conspicuous qualities. Victory is above all things a question of will; ami it was by slice force of will that victory was dffihflf.il 1 to be wrested fronv the enemy s hands. The general communicated his confidence to all around him. Tho word of comLand was to hold on; to hold on whaler happened and at whatever price. And this was not enough. He achieved far more; he attached. He accomphshed I a tour de force, almost a miracle; with an army three-fouvths defeated he passed had been placed under Fooh'e command oanie to report that hi. men were tired out; his troops were a I the end of. their tether. The rebuff- was Ularp "Tired out!" replied the general. J "So we the Germans. You are to atI fa ßrew frontal, attack which the Germans 1 ad attempted had completely iaij Icr The Kaiser in person signed with offered to l.is brilTiianl collaborator.

"L'Entente Cordiale." In the first days of October General A *bo directed his. army» » mm Hβ lecteo defeat. The Man and His Career. ,I," entered college Ins teacher u mnthenmtte declared: "H» genius; !*Ol tco letrv he lias the makings ol a pol ■ iiiii „„ ron minds in various arms, he **> Mode director of tins same school s^ 3 act a d^ o e theory of war jft » m "ns vhat Napoleon called the "divine _ Sent Hence nr is .not an exact See but a terrific and passionate K where man vrith.hta moral.and physical faculties is cast for the p»n----n national war." The end it sets itself ?, not tho conquest or maintenance of a fro" nee but tho.<lefence or propaga ho., ■of principles: spiritual ends and plnloMpninil ideas. It tangs into play tho feelings'and passions of every boldicr. X" Bonaparte in his mation to the army of Italy bused us appeal on those passions he inaugurated a new era in war.

Intellectual Discipline. On the subject of the intellectual discipline- of commanders, General Foci lms wriften several pages which rank amon- the best that Iho ideal of military Ihilv has ever inspired "In war, except for'the commander-in-chief, every officer h n subordinate. Every one of them, in s»pkin" t<l command nmst seek to obey. But obedience is f> difficult art. Many cireumslances-to say imtluns of the cupmv-interfere with the execution of the order received. To conquer these circumstances demands a mental discipline that is intelligent ami alert A (.nniimuder then, should first and foremnst be a man of character, but he should also be capable of the comprehension and resource necessary for obertipnoo . . Diseinlinc involves a mental activity-"" activity of reflection: it is not a' matter of immobility, like the fiilonco "f the ranks. Discipline, in a commander, does not mean merely _ tho Moculion of orders within convenient, just, ratimv'.l, or even possible limits. It means n frank entry into the thoughts nnd intenlions of whoever is in supreme command, and the adoption of every liosfiihle means to satisfy them- Discipline rloos not mean a silent acquiescence that limits itself to whatever can be undertaken without compromising it h not the art of avoiding.responsibilities. It is the nrt of acting in the spirit of n (riven order, and nails us. to that end, to find in our intelligence a means of exe(Milins: the order, and in our character the energy in lake the necessary risks. In daily life the general is a man of few words. ' Tie speaks with mathematical Milrinones*;, and "his conversation is nln-nyn full if vifronr. Ctfd. calm, and splf-possessed, lie is :onspicumis for just the qualiticj whim tKt Eujjlisli must priz". Aili) t« these hi>« i'laso knowledge o! the Englisii Amy, along with his keen

sense of the imUonal temperament uni niararlcr, sin<l we shall easiiy wmureJienri t/ie fn/liiwicc Ji« v.xerti over evwy Kngliehman wliu comes m coutacc with him. To this influence is due in large measure the perfect understanding and cohesion nJncJi lias Misted between llio J-'rciicli and liaglish atmifs J row tJiu very hegiuning of the war. In tins war battles which used to be a matter oi hours or of days, lire now prolonged to months, and years. Many onlookers are so struck by tlio paradox uf this sloiv development. • tiiat they «re templed to disbelieve nt any final decision or rupture of tnei cru'iilwrium. But wo, who live among tne acioi-s in im , drama, nave, oa tlio oontravy, a mathematical cevtaitsty that the rupture will come, and that it will come in our favour, and that on an eulteuicd Germany the Allies by o-. common effort will one day deliver tJieir . united stroke.