Foch the Man | Page 2

and tactician of all time, but the ideal leader and coordinator of democracy.
X. A COLONEL AT FIFTY
Clemenceau's part in giving Foch his opportunity.
XI. FORTIFYING FRANCE
How the Superior War Council prepared for the inevitable invasion of France. Foch put in command at Nancy.
XII. ON THE EVE OF WAR
True to his belief that "the way to make war is to attack" Foch promptly invaded Germany, but was obliged to retire and defend his own soil.
XIII. THE BATTLE OF LORRAINE
How the brilliant generalship there thwarted the German plan; and how Joffre recognized it in reorganizing his army.
XIV. THE FIRST VICTORY AT THE MARNE
"The Miracle of the Marne" was Foch. How he turned defeat to victory.
XV. SENT NORTH TO SAVE CHANNEL PORTS
Foch's skill and diplomacy in that crisis show him a great coordinator.
XVI. THE SUPREME COMMANDER
How Foch stopped the German drive that nearly separated the French and English armies.
XVII. BRINGING GERMANY TO ITS KNEES
The completest humiliation ever inflicted on a proud nation.
XVIII. DURING THE ARMISTICE--AND AFTER
How Foch carries himself as victor.

ILLUSTRATIONS
Marshal Foch at the Peace Conference . . . . . . Frontispiece
The room in which Ferdinand Foch was born
The house in Tarbes where Foch was born
Ferdinand Foch as a schoolboy of twelve
The school in Tarbes
Marshall Joffre--General Foch
General Pétain--Marshal Haig--General Foch--General Pershing
General Foch--General Pershing
Marshal Foch, Executive head of the allied forces
Ferdinand Foch, Marshal of France

FOREWORD TO REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION
When the Great War broke out, one military name "led all the rest" in world-prominence: Kitchener. Millions of us were confident that the hero of Kartoum would save the world. It was not so decreed. Almost immediately another name flashed into the ken of every one, until even lisping children said Joffre with reverence second only to that wherewith they named Omnipotence. Then the weary years dragged on, and so many men were incredibly brave and good that it seemed hard for anyone to become pre-eminent. We began to say that in a war so vast, so far-flung, no one man could dominate the scene.
But, after nearly four years of conflict, a name we had heard and seen from the first, among many others, began to differentiate itself from the rest; and presently the whole wide world was ringing with it: Foch!
He was commanding all the armies of civilization. Who was he?
Hardly anyone knew.
Up to the very moment when he had compassed the most momentous victory in the history of mankind, little was known about him, outside of France, beyond the fact that he had been a professor in the Superior School of War.
Now and then, as the achievements of his generalship rocked the world, someone essayed an account of him. They said he was a Lorrainer, born at Metz; they said his birthday was August 4; they said he was too young to serve in the Franco-Prussian war; and they said a great many other things of which few happened to be true.
Then, as the summer of 1918 waned, there came to me from France, from Intelligence officers of General Foch's staff, authoritative information about him.
And also there came those, representing France and her interests in this country, who said:
"Won't you put the facts about Foch before your people?"
If I could have fought for France with a sword (or gun) I should have been at her service from the first of August, 1914, when I heard her tocsin ring, saw her sons march away to fight and die on battlefields as familiar to me as my home neighborhood.
Not being permitted that, I have yielded her such service as I could with my pen.
And when asked to write, for my countrymen, about General Foch, I felt honored in a supreme degree.
In due course we shall have many volumes about him: his life, his teachings, his writings, his great deeds will be studied in minutest details as long as that civilization endures which he did so much to preserve to mankind.
But just now, while all hearts are overflowing with gratefulness to him, it may be--I cannot help thinking--as valuable to us to know a little about him as it will be for us to know a great deal about him later on.
My sources of information are mainly French; and notable among them is a work recently published in Paris: "Foch, His Life, His Principles, His Work, as a Basis for Faith in Victory," by René Puaux, a French soldier-author who has served under the supreme commander in a capacity which enabled him to study the man as well as the General.
French, English and some few American periodicals have given me bits of impression and some information. French military and other writers have also helped. And noted war correspondents have contributed graphic fragments. The happy fortune which permitted me to know France, her history and her people, enabled me to "read into" these brief accounts much which