“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

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Nov. 20, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The distribution of troops devoted to the defence of a place includes a garrison, an occupying force, numerically as we…" by Ferdinand Foch?

Ferdinand Foch 32

French soldier and military theorist 1851–1929

Related quotes

“The fortifications here are so strong, and the garrison will be so numerous, that I think we have but little to fear, either from a surprise or storm; and therefore we have only to guard against an investiture or siege.”

Nathanael Greene (1742–1786) American general in the American Revolutionary War

Letter to George Washington (November 1779)

“The positions occupied by our troops presented a military situation unique in history. The force, in short, held a line possessing every possible military defect.”

Charles Monro

Conclusion of his report on the failure of the Gallipoli campaign.
Quoted in "The Economist", 8th October 2011, p. 69

“We live in a self-defeating culture that pays lip service to heroic action in times of crisis, yet brutally punishes the very kind of snap judgments and instant security profiling that make such heroism possible in the first place.”

Michelle Malkin (1970) American political commentator

America’s Empty Slogan: “See Something, Say Something” http://michellemalkin.com/2013/04/17/americas-empty-slogan-see-something-say-something/ (April 17, 2013)

“I am anxious to get as many of these negro regiments as possible, and to have them full, and completely equipped. I am particularly desirous of organizing a regiment of heavy artillery from the negroes, to garrison this place, and shall do so as soon as possible.”

Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) 18th President of the United States

At Vicksburg (11 July 1863), as quoted in Words of our Hero: Ulysses S. Grant https://archive.org/stream/wordsofourheroul00gran/wordsofourheroul00gran_djvu.txt, edited by Jeremiah Chaplin, Boston: D. Lothrop and Company, p. 13.
1860s