Ferdinand Foch

See also: Foch (homonymy)

Ferdinand Foch , Marshal of France, Great Britain and Poland, is a French general officer born with Tarbes the October 2nd 1851 and died in Paris the March 20th 1929.

Youth

Ferdinand Foch was born with Tarbes in the Pyrenees, the October 2nd 1851. His/her father was a Languedocien civil servant. He followed his schooling in Tarbes, Rodez and with the college Jésuite of Saint-Etienne. His/her brother will become a Jesuit besides, which perhaps slowed down the progression of Foch in the Army, the republican government being very anticlerical. The November 5th 1883, it Marie with Welcome Julie with the church Saint-Michel of Saint-Brieuc (Coasts of Armor), the small-cousin of Fulgence Welcome, creator of the Parisian Metropolitan .

With the declaration of war against the Germany, in 1870, it engages with the ''' 4 {{E}} Régiment of Infantry '''. At the end of the Guerre free-Prussian it decides to remain in the army and just the Polytechnic school, which it leaves in 1873 as officer artillery. It is affected as lieutenant with the ''' 24 {{E}} Régiment of Artillery ''', although it did not finish his schooling; that is explained by the shortage of officers which assigned the army to leaving the defeat. It then climbs the ranks one by one, becoming Capitaine, before joining the staff in 1885. It enters then to the military university as raises, and becomes itself there professor in 1895. It there teaches the military History and the Tactique, and becomes one of the French theorists of the offensive. It is made known by its critical analyzes of the Guerre free-Prussian and the Napoleonean Guerres. It continues its rise in the army: promoted Lieutenant-colonel in 1898, it is named Colonel in 1903, then Brigadier general (1907).

He assumes the command of the École of War of 1907 with 1911, year when he is named Major general; then in 1913, Lieutenant-general of army, with the head of the ''' 20 {{E}} Army corps ''' of Nancy.

Foch and the First World War

During the Great War, it orders the 20th Army corps of Nancy, pertaining to the II {{E}} Armée with the general of Castelnau. The August 14th, during the Battle of Lorraine, its body advanced towards the line Sarrebourg - Morhange, undergoing heavy losses. Rout of the 15 {{E}} Body on its line forcing it, however, with the retirement. Foch arrived however to well managing the situation by covering the retirement of Nancy and while counter-attacking, preventing the Germans from crossing the Meurthe.

It is for its acts that it was selected to order the IX {{E}} Armée at the time of the Bataille with the Marne. It coordinates the British, French armies and Belgians during the Course with the sea. With the chief of the staff, Maxime Weygand, Foch had to manage the Retraite of the Marne, whereas it hardly had just been named at his station. There will then have these words remained famous: “ strongly In a hurry on my line, my center yields, impossible me to drive, excellent situation, I attack. ”. Its counter-attack was the practical application of ideas that it had developed as a teacher, it enabled him to put a term at the offensive of the German army. This success was worth a new promotion to him and the October 4th, it was named associated commander-in-chief, of the Northern zone, with the general Joffre. The October 13rd, the Germans launched a new offensive, contained at the price of very heavy losses; situation which again reproduced at the time of the First battle of Ypres. Each time, Foch managed to leave the French troops very difficult situations.

At the origin of the battles of Artois (1915) and from that of the Somme (1916) it falls in provisional disgrace, consequence of bloody failures. In December 1916, Joffre raises it of the command of the army and sends it in Italy. Joffre itself will be dismissed a few days later.

A few months later, after the failure of the general Bubble, Philippe Pétain replaces it as a new commander-in-chief on May 10th, 1917 and will help Foch thereafter to return to France and to reinstate its station.

The March 26th 1918, it is named commander-in-chief of the Front of the West, with the title of Généralissime , its role being to coordinate the actions of the allied armies. Although it had been surprised by the German offensive with the Chemin of the Ladies, it manages to block the last German offensives of the year 1918. The August 6th 1918, it is made Marshal of France, and it is with this distinction that it will plan and carry out the general offensive which forces the Germany to require the Armistice, the November 11th 1918.

It belongs to the allied signatories of the armistice with Rethondes. It is named Marshal of France, the the United Kingdom and Poland, at the conclusion of the First World War. The day of the armistice it is named with the Academy of Science, and ten days later it is elected with the French Academy, with the armchair n°18.

The Conference of peace of Paris

August 1st

Post-war period

He was a follower of the offensive with excess while taking as a starting point Clausewitz and by Napoleon I {{er}}. Its ideas had a great influence on the French officers in 1914. One reproached him thereafter a blindness towards the new weapons (aviation, tanks…) and its refusal of a last Lorraine offensive in in 1918 in order to take pledges.

Ranks

Distinctions and decorations

French decorations

Important foreign decorations

  • Belgium: Large Cross of the royal Order of Léopold.
  • the United States: Distinguished Medal Service.
  • Morocco: Large Cross of Ouissam Alaouite Of the sherifs.
  • the United Kingdom: Large knight Cross about the Bath, Distinguished Order Service.

Homages

The name of the marshal was given to prestigious ways important cities of France, in particular Paris, the Avenue Foch, with an aircraft carrier of the French Marine, the Foch. A Ville of South Africa, in its honor, was baptized Fochville and one of the Kerguelen, the island Foch.

Quotations

  • “the airplanes are interesting scientific toys, but do not present a military value” (1911)
  • “It is necessary to work, always to work to hold us with the current, because the means evolve/move, the solutions are each day different. To make the nearest war with the processes of the last, what a Utopia! It will be necessary that the chief of then improvises new solutions. Work… the brilliant improvisations on the battle field are only the result of the former meditations” (conference at the Naval college - August 1920).
  • “It is not a peace, it is a twenty years armistice. ” (Foch, 1920)
  • “to control is to envisage, one made control is to await (Books - 1926)”
  • “I like an army of sheep better ordered by a lion that an army of lions ordered by an ass” (Books - 1926)
  • " An assembly to decide must have an odd number, but three, it is already trop."
  • " " Because a man without memory is a man without life, people without memory are people without future… "

Its writings

  • Principles of the war (1903)
  • the Control of the war (1904)
  • Memory to be used for the history of the war 1914-1918 (1918).

Gallery

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