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Ferdinand Foch Quotes

Ferdinand Foch was a French general and military theorist who served as the Supreme Allied Commander during the First World War. An aggressive, even reckless commander at the First Marne, Flanders, and Artois campaigns of 1914–1916, Foch became the Allied Commander-in-Chief in late March 1918 in the face of the all-out German spring offensive, which pushed the Allies back using fresh soldiers and new tactics that trenches could not contain. He successfully coordinated the French, British and American efforts into a coherent whole, deftly handling his strategic reserves. He stopped the German offensive and launched a war-winning counterattack. In November 1918, Marshal Foch accepted the German cessation of hostilities and was present at the armistice of 11 November 1918.

At the outbreak of war in August 1914, Foch's XX Corps participated in the brief invasion of Germany before retreating in the face of a German counter-attack and successfully blocking the Germans short of Nancy. Ordered west to defend Paris, Foch's prestige soared as a result of the victory at the Marne, for which he was widely credited as a chief protagonist while commanding the French Ninth Army. He was then promoted again to Assistant Commander-in-Chief for the Northern Zone, a role which evolved into command of Army Group North, and in which role he was required to cooperate with the British forces at Ypres and the Somme. At the end of 1916, partly owing to the disappointing results of the latter offensive and partly owing to wartime political rivalries, Foch was transferred to Italy.Foch was appointed "Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies" on 26 March 1918 following being the Commander-in-Chief of Western Front with the title Généralissime in 1918. He played a decisive role in halting a renewed German advance on Paris in the Second Battle of the Marne, after which he was promoted to Marshal of France. Addington says, "to a large extent the final Allied strategy which won the war on land in Western Europe in 1918 was Foch's alone."On 11 November 1918, Foch accepted the German request for an armistice. Foch advocated peace terms that would make Germany unable to pose a threat to France ever again. He considered the Treaty of Versailles too lenient on Germany and as the Treaty was being signed on 28 June 1919, he declared: "This is not peace. It is an armistice for twenty years." His words proved prophetic: the Second World War started twenty years and 65 days later. Wikipedia  

✵ 2. October 1851 – 20. March 1929
Ferdinand Foch photo
Ferdinand Foch: 32 quotes6 likes

Famous Ferdinand Foch Quotes

“The distribution of troops devoted to the defence of a place includes a garrison, an occupying force, numerically as weak as possible; a reserve as strong as possible, designed for counterattacking and for providing itself, at the moment it goes into action, with a security service which will guard it from any possible surprise.”

Ferdinand Foch

Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 147

“My centre is giving way, my right is retreating, situation excellent, I am attacking.”

Ferdinand Foch

Mon centre cède, ma droite recule, situation excellente, j'attaque.
Message to Marshal Joseph Joffre during the First Battle of the Marne (8 September 1914), as quoted in Foch : Le Vainqueur de la Guerre (1919) by Raymond Recouly, Ch. 6

“The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.”

Ferdinand Foch

As quoted in The 32d Infantry Division in World War II (1956) by Harold Whittle Blakeley, p. 3

“The will to conquer is the first condition of victory.”

Ferdinand Foch

The Book of Positive Quotations (2007) by John Cook, Steve Deger, and Leslie Ann Gibson, p. 370
Victory is a thing of the will.
perhaps a different and better translation of the same remark) quoted by Barbara Tuchman in The Guns of August (Random House, 1962

“One does simply what one can in order to apply what one knows.”

Ferdinand Foch

The Principles of War (1913)

“A radish will never stand in the way of victory.”

Ferdinand Foch

As quoted in M*A*S*H, Season 3, Episode 1, "The General Flipped At Dawn"; this seems to be a jocular fabrication.
Misattributed

Ferdinand Foch Quotes about war

“The unknown is the governing condition of war.”

Ferdinand Foch

Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 209

“Everything in war is linked together, is mutually interdependent, mutually interpenetrating.”

Ferdinand Foch

Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 214
Context: The military art is not an accomplishment, an art for dilettante, a sport. You do not make war without reason, without an object, as you would give yourself up to music, painting, hunting, lawn tennis, where there is no great harm done whether you stop altogether or go on, whether you do little or much. Everything in war is linked together, is mutually interdependent, mutually interpenetrating. When you are at war you have no power to act at random. Each operation has a raison d'etre, that is an object; that object, once determined, fixes the nature and the value of the means to be resorted to as well as the use which ought to be made of the forces.

“A war not only arises, but derives its nature, from the political ideas, the moral sentiments, and the international relations obtaining at the moment when it breaks out.”

Ferdinand Foch

Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 211
Context: A war not only arises, but derives its nature, from the political ideas, the moral sentiments, and the international relations obtaining at the moment when it breaks out.
This amounts to saying : try and know why and with the help of what you are going to act; then you will find out how to act.

“In tactics, action is the governing rule of war.”

Ferdinand Foch

Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 79

“In war there are none but particular cases; everything has there an individual nature; nothing ever repeats itself.
In the first place, the data of a military problem are but seldom certain; they are never final. Everything is in a constant state of change and reshaping.”

Ferdinand Foch

Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 152

“In war there are none but particular cases; everything has there an individual nature; nothing ever repeats itself.
In the first place, the data of a military problem are but seldom certain; they are never final.”

Ferdinand Foch

Everything is in a constant state of change and reshaping.
Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 152

Ferdinand Foch Quotes about victory

“The laurels of victory are at the point of the enemy bayonets.”

Ferdinand Foch

Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 105
Context: The laurels of victory are at the point of the enemy bayonets. They must be plucked there; they must be carried by a hand-to-hand fight if one really means to conquer.

“When the moment arrives for taking decisions, facing responsibilities, entering upon sacrifices — decisions which ought to be taken before they are imposed, responsibilities which ought to be welcomed, for the initiative must be secured and the offensive launched — where should we find a man equal to these uncertain and dangerous tasks were it not among men of a superior stamp, men eager for responsibilities? He must indeed be a man who, being deeply imbued with a will to conquer, shall derive from that will (as well as from a clear perception of the only means that lead to victory) the strength to make an unwavering use of the most formidable rights, to approach with courage all difficulties and all sacrifices, to risk everything; even honour — for a beaten general is disgraced for ever.”

Ferdinand Foch

Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 140

“Far from being a sum of distinct and partial results, victory is the consequence of efforts, some of which are victorious while others appear to be fruitless, which nevertheless all aim at a common goal, all drive at a common result: namely, at a decision, a conclusion which alone can provide victory.”

Ferdinand Foch

Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 209

Ferdinand Foch Quotes

“An army is to a chief what a sword is to a soldier. It is only worth anything in so far as it receives from him a certain impulsion”

Ferdinand Foch

direction and vigour
Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 138

“The military art is not an accomplishment, an art for dilettante, a sport.”

Ferdinand Foch

Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 214
Context: The military art is not an accomplishment, an art for dilettante, a sport. You do not make war without reason, without an object, as you would give yourself up to music, painting, hunting, lawn tennis, where there is no great harm done whether you stop altogether or go on, whether you do little or much. Everything in war is linked together, is mutually interdependent, mutually interpenetrating. When you are at war you have no power to act at random. Each operation has a raison d'etre, that is an object; that object, once determined, fixes the nature and the value of the means to be resorted to as well as the use which ought to be made of the forces.

“To be disciplined does not mean being silent, abstaining, or doing only what one thinks one may undertake without risk”

Ferdinand Foch

Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p.
Context: To be disciplined does not mean being silent, abstaining, or doing only what one thinks one may undertake without risk; it is not the art of eluding responsibility; it means acting in compliance with orders received, and therefore finding in one's own mind, by effort and reflection, the possibility to carry out such orders. It also means finding in one's own will the energy to face the risks involved in execution.

“The first obstacle is the enemy gun. It will be the first objective assigned to artillery masses.”

Ferdinand Foch

Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 108
Context: Against what should fire be opened? Against the obstacles which may delay the march of infantry.
The first obstacle is the enemy gun. It will be the first objective assigned to artillery masses.

“Airplanes are interesting toys, but of no military value.”

Ferdinand Foch

Les avions sont des jouets intéressants mais n'ont aucune utilité militaire
Said in 1911 as quoted Time : A Traveler's Guide (1998) by Clifford A. Pickover, p. 249

“What you did was the greatest thing accomplished by any private soldier of all of the armies of Europe.”

Ferdinand Foch

To Alvin C. York, on his extraordinary capture of over a hundred enemy troops behind enemy lines, as quoted in the Preface of Sergeant York And His People (1922) http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19117 by Sam K. Cowan

“This is not a peace. It is an armistice for 20 years.”

Ferdinand Foch

Said after the Treaty of Versailles, as quoted in Memoires (1963) by Paul Reynaud, vol. 2, p. 457

“To inform, and, therefore to reconnoitre, this is the first and constant duty of the advanced guard.”

Ferdinand Foch

Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 83

“Every manoeuvre must be the development of a scheme; it must aim at a goal.”

Ferdinand Foch

Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 175

“None but a coward dares to boast that he has never known fear.”

Ferdinand Foch

As quoted in Encarta Book of Quotations (2000) by Bill Swainson and Anne H. Soukhanov, p. 338

“I am conscious of having served England as I served my own country.”

Ferdinand Foch

As engraved on the statue of Ferdinand Foch on Grosvenor Square, London.

“This absence of similarity among military questions naturally brings out the inability of memory to solve them; also the sterility of invariable forms, such as figures, geometrical drawings (épures), plans (schémas), etc. One only right solution imposes itself : namely, the application, varying according to circumstances, of fixed principles.”

Ferdinand Foch

Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 154

“The truth is, no study is possible on the battle-field; one does there simply what one can in order to apply what one knows. Therefore, in order to do even a little, one has already to know a great deal and to know it well.”

Ferdinand Foch

Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 175

“There is but one means to extenuate the effects of enemy fire: it is to develop a more violent fire oneself.”

Ferdinand Foch

Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 110

“In a time such as ours when people believe they can do without an ideal, cast away what they call abstract ideas, live on realism, rationalism, positivism, reduce everything to knowledge or to the use of more or less ingenious and casual devices — let us acknowledge it here — in such a time there is only one means of avoiding error, crime, disaster, of determining the conduct to be followed on a given occasion — but a safe means it is, and a fruitful one; this is the exclusive devotion to two abstract notions in the field of ethics: duty and discipline; such a devotion, if it is to lead to happy results, further implies besides… knowledge and reasoning.”

Ferdinand Foch

Variant translation: In our time, which thinks it can do without ideals, that it can reject what it calls abstractions, and nourish itself on realism, rationalism and positivism; which thinks it can reduce all questions to matters of science or to the employing of more or less ingenious expedients; at such a time, I say, there is but one resource if you are to avoid disaster, and only one which will make you certain of what course to hold upon a given day. It is the worship — to the exclusion of all others — of two Ideas in the field of morals: duty and discipline. And that worship further needs, if it is to bear fruit and produce results, knowledge and reason.
As quoted in "A Sketch of the Military Career of Marshal Foch" by Major A. Grasset
Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 150

“Men called to the conduct of troops should prepare themselves to deal with cases more and more varied upon an ever-increasing horizon of experience. They can only be given the capacity to arrive at a prompt and judicious position by developing in them through study their power of analysis and of synthesis; that is, of conclusion in a purely objective sense, conclusion upon problems which have been actually lived and taken from real history. Thus also can they be founded through the conviction that comes from knowledge in a confidence sufficient to enable them to take such decisions upon the field of action.”

Ferdinand Foch

Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 199

“The truth is, no study is possible on the battle-field; one does there simply what one can in order to apply what one knows.”

Ferdinand Foch

Therefore, in order to do even a little, one has already to know a great deal and to know it well.
Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 175

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