MOURNING FOR FOCH

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 March 1929, Page 7

MOURNING FOR FOCH

CROWD IN TEARS OLD COMRADES BREAK DOWN (Australian Press Association.) (By Cable —Press Assn.—Copyright.) . PARIS, March 21. Marshal Foch will be buried on Tuesday at the Invalides, next to the tomb of Napoleon. France can pay no greater tribute to the Marshal’s memory. To-day a long procession of war veterans, many of them blinded, also war widows and orphans, have filed past the bier. At Marshal Foch’s home, there was a ceaseless stream of Ambassadors, politicians, Marshals and Generals. Then, towards the end, all Paris was admitted to file past. There came bare-headed girls direct from work, also men in their caps, and others who were well dressed. Many dropped simple tributes of flowers, being unable to resist the expression of their grief, despite Madame Foch’s wish that there should be no flowers. Even the men could not restrain themselves from tears. His old soldier comrades failed to recognise the strangely altered features, and they were saddened by the obvious signs of suffering on the face, and sobbed audibly. Later M. Clemenceau, when taking leave of Madame Foch, remarked: “How unjust it is, he being younger than I, that it is I who come to salute his deathbed!”

The stream continued until nightfall, when the doors were closed, and the vigil taken up by three Nuns. The body will remain in the Marshal’s house until Sunday. Then it will bo taken to the Arc De Triomphe for a day and a night, beside the tomb of the Unknown Warrior. Then it will be taken to the Cathedral Notre Dame on Tuesday for the religious service, after which there will be a procession through the streets to the Invalides, where the only speech will be delivered by M. Poincare, on behalf of the Government.

The Chamber voted, without discussion, £2,500 for the national funeral for Marshal Foch.

KING ALBERT’S VISIT. PARTS, March 21. The ceaseless stream of visitors to Marshal Foch’s home was interrupted to admit the King of Belgians, who arrived without ceremony, and went direct to Marshal Foch’s home, where he met the deceased soldier’s wife. The King, bending low, spoke words of comfort to the white-haired, frail woman. Then he approached the bier, standing stiffly at attention at its foot, gazing with visible emotion at the Commander, who was the saviour of his own country, as well as of France. One of his aides had/ to touch the King’s arm gently to recall him from far-off memories. He was then handed holy water, with which King Albert sprinkled! the foot of the bier. He returned to the ante-chamber, and again spent several minutes in conversation in low tones with Madame Foch. Thence he returned direct to Brussels. The President of France, M. Doumergue, also arrived at the Marshal’s home. He left it in tears.

GERMAN PRESS COMMENTS BERLIN, March 21. The German press discussions on Marshal Foch as a soldier are dispassionate in their tone. He is universally credited with abounding energy, unconquerable tenacity, and unflagging impulse to assume offensive. Many of the papers admit that his appointment as the Allied Generalissimo denoted the turning point of the war. “But for him,” says the “Boersen Zeitung” “the Germans would have broken through.” Despite these admissions, none of the German critics agrees with the Allied view that the Marshal may be regarded as one of the greatest generals of all time. They state that, although Marshal Foch achieved victory he held all the trumps, having unity of command, unlimited resources, swarms of Americans, the British blockade, and German’s material and moral exhaustion.

The leading German war-time Commanders refuse to offer any comment. Newspapers’ obituaries of Foch insist on his hostility to Germany after the Armistice, though they commend his ability and devotion to duty.