BRITAIN'S TRIBUTE TO FOCH

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 275, 16 August 1919, Page 6

BRITAIN'S TRIBUTE TO FOCH

UNPRECEDENTED HONOUR CONFERRED. It is an unprecedented distinction for the baton of n British field marshal to be conferred on a French general. Marshal Foch has just been so honoured. The runic of field marshal was created in England by George II in 1730. From that period up lo the Napoleonic wars (1/9G--1815) the French and the British wero too great antagonists to ,think of conferring honorary distinctions upon each other. . The British and French, during the Second Empire, fought togothcr as allies in the Crimea against Russia in 1851, the British eompiandcd 'by Lord Raglan' and the French by Marshal at. Arnaud. . After the Bear was defeated the Bri--tish did not confer upon Arnavul the distinction of an honorary field marshal, nor did Napoleon lit imiko Lord Raglan a French lield ninrslihl." Hence it will be i seer that the distinction now conferred I upon Foclr by King George is unprecedented. . ~ , Genera! Weygand was loch s chief of staff during a- considerable part of thff war. At the outset of the struggle, I when Foch was in command of the 20In Army Corps at Nancy, General Weygand was then closely associated with him, and when .1 off re urgently summoned I'ocli to the Marne, in September, lflU, General Wcvgand collaborated with I'ocli in the strategic plan which resulted in the defeat of the Prussian Guards—the pivot of the German attack—at La'l'ere Champenoise. ' After unity ol command had been reposed in Foch on March 27, 1918, General Weygand was ■ selected as his cheif of staff. ■ When Foch was a military professor at the Paris Stalf College in ISiIS, General Weygand was also on the staff. Foch then formed iv great opinion of hisV ability and strategic knowledge, and for many years the three names which stood out in' France os military and strategic professors were Focli, Bonnal, and. Weygand.