GENERAL FOCH AT WORK.

Taihape Daily Times, 23 May 1918, Page 3

GENERAL FOCH AT WORK.

The name of the Allied Generalissimo is pronounced with the soft ch— Posh— as a French word, rather than with the gutteral ch, as in German. The general was born in the south of France, and is said to be of mingled Basque and Alsatian blood, and to derive his name from the latter source. Many of the Alsatians who have been ardent French patriots for generations have names Avhich are German in form. General Foch's training was gained in the French artillery. He is 66 years old, so that there are facing one another in supreme command of the two armies on the western front two men each above 65 years of age. General Foch has in the highest degree the confidence of his officers and men. By the latter, indeed, he is regarded as having almost miraculous powers of quick determination and infallible judgment. During a battle General Foch is to be found in the room at his headquarters. He stands before one of those scale maps with a pencil in his hand and the telephone. receiver at his ear. His staff stands in a semi-circle behind him. There is perfect silence, and the only movement is of the general's pencil on the map as he follows the battle and pen-

ders the detail of the district where the fighting is in progress. He has two gestures. One is persistent and constant. It is the hand rising to the end of his grey moustache, not to fondle it, but to tug at it slowly and strongly. The other is seen when the door opens softly and an officers enters on tip-toe. "Where have you been?" the general asks abruptly. "When he is answered one hand raises his pencil to the point on the map and the other makes a quick, backward, underhand sweep, close to his body and high up, as though he were impatiently brushing a speck from his tunic under his arm. The officer backs into the semi-circle and awaits the next demand. "What did you see?" And again, when he has replied, he is brushed back to await a new order.