FOCH, fosh', Ferdinand, French marshal, "the hero of the Marne": b. Tarbes, department Hautes-Pyrenees, 2 Oct. 1851, within a few miles of, and only three months before his illustrious colleague, Marshal Joffre. Of Basque descent, his father, Napoleon Foch, was a civil servant under Napoleon III. One of his broth ers, a lawyer, also bears the martial name of Napoleon. and the other is a Jesuit priest. The three brothers received their early education together at the local college, and then turned each to his respective vocation, the Church, the Army, and the Law. The strongest points in the mental composition of Ferdinand Foch were geometry and mathematics. He entered the Polytechnic School and graduated as an artilleryman. At the age of 19 he served as a sub-lieutenant in the Franco-German War, and at26 had won his commission as a captain of artillery. Rising to lieutenant-colonel, he was appointed professor of strategy and general tactics at the Ecole de Guerre (War College). After five years he returned to his regiment, held various commands for several years, and then went back—a brigadier-general — to the War College as Director. This high position, conferred upon him without being sought, by Premier Clemenceau, brought him into close and confidential contact with the War Depart ment. About this time a small but serious band of French officers was formed, men then un known to the outer world and hardly even recognized in France, but whose names have since become celebrated in military history — Joffre, Castelnau, Petain, Nivelle, Foch and a few others. Each realized that France would some day be called upon to face an ordeal like that which confronted her in 1870, and each toiled strenuously to prepare himself and his colleagues against the day. They had not for gotten the lessons of Gravelotte, Metz and Se dan. For his part, Foch devoted his energies to training and teaching officers. For years his two great works, The Principles of War' and 'The Conduct of War' (translated into different lan guages) had been highly prized by military stu dents both in Europe and America. But Foch was a preceptor of a new type; he laid equal stress upon the philosophical as upon the mate rial aspect of war; he did not regard war as an exact science, but rather as a condition in which character or morale counted for as much as strategic and tactical skill. On the other hand, he possessed a deep knowledge of the mechan ical details of war machinery. Dressed in workman's overalls, he would spend months at a time going around the famous Creusot cannon works, experimenting, watching, testing and analyzing. After leaving the War College Foch commanded successively the 13th Division, the 8th Corps at Bourges, and the 20th Corps at Nancy. The European War gave him the first opportunity of putting his theories into actual practice; destiny called the professor from the lecture room to demonstrate his teachings on the field of battle, and it was in the most thrill ing and momentous event of the war that he justified them and distinguished himself.
At a critical moment of the battle of the Marne General Foch, commanding the 9th French Army, was informed by his airmen that a gap had been left in the alignment of the German armies between von Hausen's right and von Buelow's left. In the night of 8 Sept. 1914, he thrust his left wing behind von Buelow's exposed flank and pushed his right wing for ward; by dawn next morning he had driven a wedge between the forces of the two German commanders. After a fierce battle he drove two corps of von Buelow's right into the muddy marshes of Saint Gond and made the largest Allied capture of prisoners and guns up to that date. Von Buelow retreated, closely pursued by Foch, whose right meanwhile harassed von Hausen and threw him back upon Chalons. Within a few hours the whole German line was in full retreat. The Allied victory at the Marne was due, according to most military critics, to the error of von Kluck in exposing his flank and, secondly, to the swift decision and prompt action of General Foch in recognizing that error and seizing the advantage. Up to that moment of the battle the 9th Army had suffered severe punishment; with a force already more than half defeated, Foch passed to the offensive and accomplished what appears almost a miracle. Altogether he had no more than 120,000 men in his command to oppose some of the finest Ger man troops, who were stated to have numbered 200,000. At the battle of Ypres General Foch was in control of the successful operations by the French, British and Belgians which pre vented the enemy from breaking through to Calais. In May 1917 he succeeded General Petain in Paris as Chief of the Staff of the Army, and in March 1918, during the great Ger man offensive on the Western front, the grim logic of events dictating the necessity for a unity of command, General Foch was nominated supreme commander of the French and British armies on that front. On 28 March 1918, the commander of the United States forces in Eu rope, General Pershing, placed the whole strength of the American army in France at the immediate disposal of the Generalissimo. The combined strategy under his command cul minated in victory. On 8 Oct. 1918 he received the German commission empowered to sue for peace which was consummated 10 Oct. 1918. (See WAR, EUROPEAN - BATTLE OP THE MARNE; BATTLE OF YPRES). Consult Johnston, Major R. M., 'General Foch, the Man of the Hour' (New York 1918) ; Le Goffic, C., 'General Foch at the Marne' (New York 1918).