Ferdinand Foch and His Role in World War One
by
Nolan
Ferdinand Foch played a critical role in World War One (WWI) and without his unique style at fighting a war WWI would have lasted much longer. [Image pending permission for use] (Figure 1). As Supreme Allied commander for the last half of the war, Foch was one of the most influential people in the Allied victory. One of the main reasons was because of his worship for the offense[1]. This contradicted many other important figures in the French Military who thought the offensive was too risky. Foch, unlike others in the the British and French Military, often would learn from his mistakes, although many times only with hundreds of thousands of dead troops as a result. Other commanders would continue to order massacres for nearly no gain of territory of strategic position. This set Foch apart from the rest and along with his optimism for victory was one of the reasons he was chosen as Supreme Allied Commander as several other commanders thought the war would not be won until 1920 or further[2].
Before Foch was assigned to an active duty position in the field he taught as a professor at Ecole Supérieure de Guerre[4]. Unlike other commanders, he praised the offense and his teachings made him well known in military circles despite his different stance. He taught that the over reliance on the defence was the reason France had lost the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 to 1871. One of his advantages over his superiors was that he had never served and would never serve in the colonies[5]. This let his mind focus on the real threat, the Germans. He also understood that, however patriotic he was, France was under armed and under prepared for a war with Germany[6]. He also understood that the Germans had a technological advantage compared to the French[7].
After he was done teaching at Ecole Supérieure de Guerre he was assigned to “exile” military positions. The reason for this, Foch thought, was because his brother was a Jesuit and this was not accepted in France especially not in the military as France was a largely Christian society[8]. His so called “exile” assignments were, in fact, to be very important in 15 years at the first battle of the Somme as he was assigned in close proximity to this area[9]. Because of his position on the French - German border, he was able to gain valuable information that would be impossible to collect without having several years of experience there. During his assignment near the Somme, in the Aisne, a secret document had been written about how he was a “doubtful republican”. This was presented to him by Clemenceau, a fellow British commander and this sparked disagreement with him. Clemenceau also surprised Foch by saying he did not believe the report and that he did not care that Foch’s brother was a Jesuit. This, however did not stop a mixed relationship with Clemenceau that would last throughout the war.
When the war started, the three main armies fighting on the Allied side were the French, British and Belgium's, a large and diverse group of armies for Foch to command. During 1914, Foch gained some of his first victories in Flanders along with the Belgian army. His first act while in Flanders was to meet with as many of the divisional commanders on the 550 mile region, a rarity for people of his status[10]. The result of this is Foch now had a understanding of the strength and weaknesses of the different amries. During this tense period at Flanders, Foch had to argue against fellow commanders such as Sir John French, part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), from abandoning France and heading back to England. During this early part of the war Foch had trouble commanding both the British and Belgian army as their respective leaders were both of higher rank than him[11]. Because of this rank separation most of Foch’s orders were given by persuasion rather than direct instruction[12]. Moving speeches and statements were the foundation of Foch’s commanding power. This kind of foundation greatly improved his relations with French and King Albert I, a British commander and the commander of the Belgian army respectively. King Albert I was in command of the Belgian army but nearly all of his homeland had been occupied by the Germans. His energy was only rivaled by Foch himself and his determination to hold a strip of very small land was incredible[13]. Foch understood that if he did not help the King that it would be hard to gain his trust back as this was the last remaining part of his country. The two armies flooded Flanders with sluice gates to act as a natural barrier[14]. Because of the relative flatness of Flanders it was very hard to find cover, the reason for the flooding of the sluice gates. The battle was successful with the small strip of land protected ensuring Belgium cooperation.
In December of 1915 after only months of becoming Commander of the Allied Armies Foch was removed from his position due to dangerous mood swings[15]. Sir Douglas Haig of the British army replaced him who had a dangerous tendency to command brutal attacks[16]. These mood swings by Foch were because of the confusion he experienced while fighting the Germans. During the first 2 years of the war, offense had not been the best tactic with the Allied armies often resorting to defence, a tactic Foch did not believe in. Even after being recommissioned as the Allied Commander he could not stop using the offense. During this tough period Marshal Joseph Joffre was one of his closest companions working with Foch at nearly every moment for the beginning of the war. Generals Joffre and Foch were despised due to their belief that the recent losses at the battle of Arras had been worth it despite the small territorial gains[17]. Despite the criticism Joffre planned another offensive around Arras in September[18]. One other major setback for Foch was the First Battle of the Somme where both French and British troops lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers[19]. Overall 1915 was one of the hardest years on Foch that would tarnish his reputation.
During the last few years of the war, 1917 to 1918, Foch moderated his use of the offense. This was very important for the Allied victory because if Foch had continued attacking the Germans in the way he was before the Allied morale would have dropped even more than before. An important point in the Allied victory was Foch becoming Generalisimo, in other words the commander of all the allied army’s[20]. This was not extremely critical as he still did not out rank the other commanders he was supposed to be commanding but this did help his ability to order the other commanders. One of the most important victories for Foch was defeating the Ludendorff Offensives[21]. These were the last offensive orchestrated by the Germans in 1918. This was also Germany's last hope to conquer France, but after nearly 4 years of fighting they could not muster the strength needed to crush Foch. This victory brought Foch back into the spotlight after two years of being frowned upon. The victory brought him fame but perhaps more importantly, becoming Marshal of France[22]. With this promotion he now outranked Haig and Pershing allowing him to more effectively control and command the British and American armies than before when he was Generalissimo[23]. Although both armies did not enjoy being commanded by a French Marshall, they now respected Foch more than before, making his job slightly easier. After gaining position of Marshall of France, equivalent to a five star General in the American Military, it made British, American and French forces collaborate more than before, greatly helping to win WWI. When a opportunity finally presented itself at the Marne Foch took it, wielding his new power as Marshall of France[24]. Finally after 4 years of fighting the American and French armies collaboratively brought their forces down on the German positions at the Marne. The battle was a crushing victory with 10,000 German Prisoners of War (POW) on only the first day and 30,000 German POWs after the battle had ended[25]. This was also one of the largest tank operations of the war with 300 tanks being used in the battle[26].
As the war neared an end, Germany was demanding peace talks. Foch was against this as he knew that it would just mean letting the Germans recuperate their army to strike again. His next steps reflected this with more offensives against the Germans in late 1918. During this important time, deciding how and when to win the war there many disagreements between the political and military portion of the French government. Clemenceau, a politician, did ask Foch for advice as to what to do about winning the war and so Foch gave Clemenceau three main points and six supplementary points. The nine points that Foch gave to Clemenceau were extremely alarming to Clemenceau and denied Foch the ability to decide how the end of the war would be fought. His conditions were: German evacuation of Belgium, France (understood to include Alsace and Lorraine), and Luxembourg within fifteen days; the creation of three Allied military bridgeheads across the Rhine River, and the imposition of reparations[27]. The six supplementary conditions were: Germany to surrender resources that are: railroad stock, industrial resources and military materiel in the evacuated areas described above[28]. The final agreements were set by Clemenceau.
Foch however continued to speak out against this saying “[The only men] qualified to deal with the conditions of an armistice are the commanders-in-chief...”[29]. This, however, was to no avail as Clemenceau quieted him and continued to have peace talks without Foch. The final treaty, as mentioned above, was determined by Clemenceau.
Foch’s final years were mostly spent in silence in terms of his public image and not in the military although he still was commissioned. Mere weeks before the Treaty of Versailles he gave one of his last interviews as well as a prophetic speech in 1919. He correctly predicted that “the Germans will make no mistake. They will break through into northern France and will seize Channel ports as a base of operations against England.”[30]. 20 years later his statement came true. He remained in active duty until 1923 although in some not so glorious positions. His last years were filled with sadness and death as three of his closest companions who he had fought with in WWI were dead. They were Mangin, Haig and Fayolle[31]. He also spent his last few years writing his memoirs, a large 517 page book. Ferdinand Foch died on March 20, 1929, ten years before World War Two (WWII) would start[32].
Despite having died 11 years after WWI, Foch still made a large impact and is still honored and remembered today. France has built an aircraft carrier in his honor called the Foch R99 and is a Clemenceau class carrier which is now decommissioned [Image pending permission for use] (Figure 2)[33]. They also have road and metro station built after him in the center of Paris. Perhaps the most honorary commemoration was one given 100 years later on the Centenary of Foch becoming Supreme Allied commander of the Allied forces. It was held and organized by descendants of both Foch and Haig at the statue of Foch in Paris[34].
Sources
Footnotes
[1]Michael S. Neiberg, Foch Supreme Allied Commander in the Great War (Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books, 2003), 9.
[2]Ibid.
[3] Image in Public Domain in the United States.
[4]Neiberg, Foch, 9.
[5]Ibid.,5.
[6]Ibid., 6.
[7]Ibid.
[8]Ibid., 10.
[9]Ibid.
[10]Ibid., 31.
[11]Ibid., 33.
[12]Ibid., 43.
[13]Ibid., 35.
[14]Ibid.
[15]Ibid., 38.
[16]Ibid.
[17]Ibid., 42.
[18]Ibid.
[19]Ibid., 50.
[20]Ibid., 63.
[21]Ibid., 75.
[22]Ibid., 76.
[23]Ibid.
[24]Ibid., 75.
[25]Ibid.
[26]Ibid., 76.
[27]Ibid., 81.
[28]Ibid.
[29]Ibid., 82.
[30]Ibid., 98.
[31]Ibid., 105.
[32]Ibid., 108.
[33] “World Aircraft Carriers List: France” Hazegray, November 26, 2001, https://www.hazegray.org/navhist/carriers/france.htm#r99 (accessed May 15, 2018)
After he was done teaching at Ecole Supérieure de Guerre he was assigned to “exile” military positions. The reason for this, Foch thought, was because his brother was a Jesuit and this was not accepted in France especially not in the military as France was a largely Christian society[8]. His so called “exile” assignments were, in fact, to be very important in 15 years at the first battle of the Somme as he was assigned in close proximity to this area[9]. Because of his position on the French - German border, he was able to gain valuable information that would be impossible to collect without having several years of experience there. During his assignment near the Somme, in the Aisne, a secret document had been written about how he was a “doubtful republican”. This was presented to him by Clemenceau, a fellow British commander and this sparked disagreement with him. Clemenceau also surprised Foch by saying he did not believe the report and that he did not care that Foch’s brother was a Jesuit. This, however did not stop a mixed relationship with Clemenceau that would last throughout the war.
When the war started, the three main armies fighting on the Allied side were the French, British and Belgium's, a large and diverse group of armies for Foch to command. During 1914, Foch gained some of his first victories in Flanders along with the Belgian army. His first act while in Flanders was to meet with as many of the divisional commanders on the 550 mile region, a rarity for people of his status[10]. The result of this is Foch now had a understanding of the strength and weaknesses of the different amries. During this tense period at Flanders, Foch had to argue against fellow commanders such as Sir John French, part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), from abandoning France and heading back to England. During this early part of the war Foch had trouble commanding both the British and Belgian army as their respective leaders were both of higher rank than him[11]. Because of this rank separation most of Foch’s orders were given by persuasion rather than direct instruction[12]. Moving speeches and statements were the foundation of Foch’s commanding power. This kind of foundation greatly improved his relations with French and King Albert I, a British commander and the commander of the Belgian army respectively. King Albert I was in command of the Belgian army but nearly all of his homeland had been occupied by the Germans. His energy was only rivaled by Foch himself and his determination to hold a strip of very small land was incredible[13]. Foch understood that if he did not help the King that it would be hard to gain his trust back as this was the last remaining part of his country. The two armies flooded Flanders with sluice gates to act as a natural barrier[14]. Because of the relative flatness of Flanders it was very hard to find cover, the reason for the flooding of the sluice gates. The battle was successful with the small strip of land protected ensuring Belgium cooperation.
In December of 1915 after only months of becoming Commander of the Allied Armies Foch was removed from his position due to dangerous mood swings[15]. Sir Douglas Haig of the British army replaced him who had a dangerous tendency to command brutal attacks[16]. These mood swings by Foch were because of the confusion he experienced while fighting the Germans. During the first 2 years of the war, offense had not been the best tactic with the Allied armies often resorting to defence, a tactic Foch did not believe in. Even after being recommissioned as the Allied Commander he could not stop using the offense. During this tough period Marshal Joseph Joffre was one of his closest companions working with Foch at nearly every moment for the beginning of the war. Generals Joffre and Foch were despised due to their belief that the recent losses at the battle of Arras had been worth it despite the small territorial gains[17]. Despite the criticism Joffre planned another offensive around Arras in September[18]. One other major setback for Foch was the First Battle of the Somme where both French and British troops lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers[19]. Overall 1915 was one of the hardest years on Foch that would tarnish his reputation.
During the last few years of the war, 1917 to 1918, Foch moderated his use of the offense. This was very important for the Allied victory because if Foch had continued attacking the Germans in the way he was before the Allied morale would have dropped even more than before. An important point in the Allied victory was Foch becoming Generalisimo, in other words the commander of all the allied army’s[20]. This was not extremely critical as he still did not out rank the other commanders he was supposed to be commanding but this did help his ability to order the other commanders. One of the most important victories for Foch was defeating the Ludendorff Offensives[21]. These were the last offensive orchestrated by the Germans in 1918. This was also Germany's last hope to conquer France, but after nearly 4 years of fighting they could not muster the strength needed to crush Foch. This victory brought Foch back into the spotlight after two years of being frowned upon. The victory brought him fame but perhaps more importantly, becoming Marshal of France[22]. With this promotion he now outranked Haig and Pershing allowing him to more effectively control and command the British and American armies than before when he was Generalissimo[23]. Although both armies did not enjoy being commanded by a French Marshall, they now respected Foch more than before, making his job slightly easier. After gaining position of Marshall of France, equivalent to a five star General in the American Military, it made British, American and French forces collaborate more than before, greatly helping to win WWI. When a opportunity finally presented itself at the Marne Foch took it, wielding his new power as Marshall of France[24]. Finally after 4 years of fighting the American and French armies collaboratively brought their forces down on the German positions at the Marne. The battle was a crushing victory with 10,000 German Prisoners of War (POW) on only the first day and 30,000 German POWs after the battle had ended[25]. This was also one of the largest tank operations of the war with 300 tanks being used in the battle[26].
As the war neared an end, Germany was demanding peace talks. Foch was against this as he knew that it would just mean letting the Germans recuperate their army to strike again. His next steps reflected this with more offensives against the Germans in late 1918. During this important time, deciding how and when to win the war there many disagreements between the political and military portion of the French government. Clemenceau, a politician, did ask Foch for advice as to what to do about winning the war and so Foch gave Clemenceau three main points and six supplementary points. The nine points that Foch gave to Clemenceau were extremely alarming to Clemenceau and denied Foch the ability to decide how the end of the war would be fought. His conditions were: German evacuation of Belgium, France (understood to include Alsace and Lorraine), and Luxembourg within fifteen days; the creation of three Allied military bridgeheads across the Rhine River, and the imposition of reparations[27]. The six supplementary conditions were: Germany to surrender resources that are: railroad stock, industrial resources and military materiel in the evacuated areas described above[28]. The final agreements were set by Clemenceau.
Foch however continued to speak out against this saying “[The only men] qualified to deal with the conditions of an armistice are the commanders-in-chief...”[29]. This, however, was to no avail as Clemenceau quieted him and continued to have peace talks without Foch. The final treaty, as mentioned above, was determined by Clemenceau.
Foch’s final years were mostly spent in silence in terms of his public image and not in the military although he still was commissioned. Mere weeks before the Treaty of Versailles he gave one of his last interviews as well as a prophetic speech in 1919. He correctly predicted that “the Germans will make no mistake. They will break through into northern France and will seize Channel ports as a base of operations against England.”[30]. 20 years later his statement came true. He remained in active duty until 1923 although in some not so glorious positions. His last years were filled with sadness and death as three of his closest companions who he had fought with in WWI were dead. They were Mangin, Haig and Fayolle[31]. He also spent his last few years writing his memoirs, a large 517 page book. Ferdinand Foch died on March 20, 1929, ten years before World War Two (WWII) would start[32].
Despite having died 11 years after WWI, Foch still made a large impact and is still honored and remembered today. France has built an aircraft carrier in his honor called the Foch R99 and is a Clemenceau class carrier which is now decommissioned [Image pending permission for use] (Figure 2)[33]. They also have road and metro station built after him in the center of Paris. Perhaps the most honorary commemoration was one given 100 years later on the Centenary of Foch becoming Supreme Allied commander of the Allied forces. It was held and organized by descendants of both Foch and Haig at the statue of Foch in Paris[34].
Sources
- “Centenary of appointment of First World War supreme allied commander marked” News & Star, http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/national/article/Centenary-of-appointment-of-First-World-War-supreme-allied-commander-marked-5fa54953-5a99-4bcf-8b45-68602f05366a-ds (accessed May 15, 2018)
- Neiberg, Michael S. Foch Supreme Allied Commander in the Great War. Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books, 2003.
- “World Aircraft Carriers List: France” Hazegray, November 26, 2001, https://www.hazegray.org/navhist/carriers/france.htm#r99 (accessed May 15, 2018)
Footnotes
[1]Michael S. Neiberg, Foch Supreme Allied Commander in the Great War (Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books, 2003), 9.
[2]Ibid.
[3] Image in Public Domain in the United States.
[4]Neiberg, Foch, 9.
[5]Ibid.,5.
[6]Ibid., 6.
[7]Ibid.
[8]Ibid., 10.
[9]Ibid.
[10]Ibid., 31.
[11]Ibid., 33.
[12]Ibid., 43.
[13]Ibid., 35.
[14]Ibid.
[15]Ibid., 38.
[16]Ibid.
[17]Ibid., 42.
[18]Ibid.
[19]Ibid., 50.
[20]Ibid., 63.
[21]Ibid., 75.
[22]Ibid., 76.
[23]Ibid.
[24]Ibid., 75.
[25]Ibid.
[26]Ibid., 76.
[27]Ibid., 81.
[28]Ibid.
[29]Ibid., 82.
[30]Ibid., 98.
[31]Ibid., 105.
[32]Ibid., 108.
[33] “World Aircraft Carriers List: France” Hazegray, November 26, 2001, https://www.hazegray.org/navhist/carriers/france.htm#r99 (accessed May 15, 2018)