FOCH, FERDINAND

(1851), Fr. marshal and member of Fr. Academy; b. at Tarbes; educated at Metz; joimed army during Franco-Pru ian ‘War; entered artillery school and pa ed out with distinction; lieutenant, 1875: captain, 1878; in 1885 entered Staff Coul.; lecturer on military history, strategy, and applied tactics, 1885; his lectures pub. as Des Principes de la Guerre (1903, Eng. trans. by Belloc, 1918), at once recognized as of sterling merit; also wrote standard books on tactics, and was generally regarded as brilliant exponent of the art of war; lieutenant-colonel, 1898; colonel, 1903; eneral commanding 13th Infantry i vision, 1907. At first battle of Marne Sept. 1914, in command of 9th Army between Sézanne and Mailly; for three days on defensive, and forced to retreat: having drawn enemy into marshes of St. Gond, took them in flank and hurled them over river. Again distinguished himself during first battle of Ypres, when his a istance was invoked by Sir John French. In great Somme offensive of 1916 the Fr. armies co-operated under his direction. Finally, in the darkest days of 1918, when unity of command was agreed upon, he was appointed generali imo of the Allied armies in France and Flanders, March 1918. The turning point came in the middle of July at the second battle of the Marne, and thereafter with consummate ability he struck that arpeggio of ringing blows which demoralized the German armies and forced them to sue for an armistice. He was made marshal of France, 1918; a Brit. field-marshal. Physically, a man of middle height with a ma ive head, deep voice, grey-blue eyes, and the typical Fr. military moustache; laconic and staccato in speech, and e entially mathematical in expre ion and point of view. His marvelous succe was due to the practical application of sound principles combined with an absolute of technique, a quick perception, a genius for co-ordinaticn, a capacity for envisaging the situation in a comprehensive fashion, allied with the e@ of ‘calculated tenacity.’ E entially of the school of Napoleon, he reected the a prior i reasoning of the Germans, and while recognizing the value of organization made it always subordinate to strategy. While the Ger. system took no account of the human factor in warfare and aimed at the creation of a perfect machine, Foch was @ great leader of men. His guid in g strategical maxim was, ‘to hold positio is to ns prepare implicitly for defeat if nothing further is attempted and the offensive is not immediately a ume d.’ village, Elginshire, Scotland, near mouth of Spey; near it is Gordon Castle. town, Putna, Rumania; grain, wine; fortification works. Pop. 25,300.