Foch the Man | Page 3

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 does not appear to the reader without that
acquaintance. And distinguished Frenchmen, scholars and soldiers,
including several members of the French High Commission to the
United States, have helped me greatly; most of them have not only
close acquaintance with General Foch, having served as staff officers
under him, but are eminent writers as well, with the highest powers of
analysis and of expression.
Lieutenant-Colonel Édouard Réquin of the French General Staff, who
was at General Foch's side from the day Foch was made commander of
an army, has been especially kind to me in this undertaking; I am
indebted to him, not only for many anecdotes and suggestions, but also
for his patience in reading my manuscript for verification (or correction)
of its details and its essential truthfulness.
And I want especially to record my gratefulness to M. Antonin
Barthélemy, French Consul at Chicago, the extent and quality of whose
helpfulness, not alone on this but on many occasions, I shall never be
able to describe. Through him the Spirit of France has been potent in
our community.
Thus aided and encouraged, I have done what I could to set before my
countrymen a sketch of the great, dominant figure of the World War.
The thing about Foch that most impresses us as we come to know him

is not primarily his greatness as a military genius, but his greatness as a
spiritual force.
Those identical qualities in him which saved the world in war, will
serve it no less in peace--if we study them to good purpose.
As a leader of men, his principles need little, if any, adaptation to meet
the requirements of the re-born world from which, we hope, he has
banished the sword.
Not to those only who would or who must captain their fellows, but to
every individual soul fighting alone against weakness and despair and
other foes, his life-story brings a rising tide of new courage, new
strength, new faith.
For the young man or woman struggling with the principles of success;
for the man or woman of middle life, fearful that the time for great
service has gone by; to the preacher and the teacher and other moulders
of ideals--to these, and to many more, he speaks at least as thrillingly as
to the soldier.
This is what I have tried to make clear in my simple sketch here
offered.

I
WHERE HE WAS BORN
Ferdinand Foch was born at Tarbes on October 2, 1851.
His father, of good old Pyrenean stock and modest fortune, was a
provincial official whose office corresponded to that of secretary of
state for one of our commonwealths. So the family lived in Tarbes, the
capital of the department called the Upper Pyrénées.
The mother of Ferdinand was Sophie Dupré, born at Argèles, twenty
miles south of Tarbes, nearer the Spanish border. Her father had been

made a chevalier of the empire by Napoleon I for services in the war
with Spain, and the great Emperor's memory was piously venerated in
Sophie Dupré's new home as it had been in her old one. So her
first-born son may be said to have inherited that passion for Napoleon
which has characterized his life and played so great a part in making
him what he is.
There was a little sister in the family which welcomed Ferdinand. And
in course of time two other boys came.
[Illustration: The Room in Which Ferdinand Foch was Born.]
[Illustration: The House in Tarbes Where Foch was Born.]
These four children led the ordinary life of happy young folks in France.
But there was much in their surroundings that was richly colorful,
romantic. Probably they took it all for granted, the way children (and
many who are not children) take their near and intimate world. But
even if they did, it must have had its deep effect upon them.
To begin with, there was Tarbes.
Tarbes is a very ancient city. It is twenty-five miles southeast of Pau,
where Henry of Navarre made his dramatic entry upon a highly
dramatic career, and just half that distance northeast of Lourdes, whose
famous pilgrimages began when Ferdinand