Foch: Man Of Orleans Vol. 1 (1937) By B. H. Liddell Hart
 
This book does not pretend to be an official biography, although General Weygand has generously helped me in collecting and checking facts, as well as in giving me his impressions on certain issues. The more tribute is due to him because he has not sought in any way to influence my judgment. As he has refrained from imposing any conditions in return for his aid, it is all the more just that I should make it clear that he has no responsibility for the conclusions reached in this book. I realize that these conclusions may impair the popular conception of Marshal Fochs achievement, if not of his spirit. No one will regret such an effect more than I do. For it has been with reluctance that I have yielded my own original conception in face of the facts laid bare by research into the history of the war. If I may appear critical, I can only say that I have kept my criticism on a tight rein while giving the facts free rein as true history requires. Such criticisms as I make are implicit in the facts, which cannot be burked. And I have purposely restrained criticism because of a feeling that the indefinable effect of Fochs spirit may have endowed his actions with more effect than the facts convey. It is my strongest hope that the book will in no sense be regarded as an attack on or exposure of Foch. It certainly brings out his too absorbing devotion to the offensive in the theory and practice of war and the grave consequences not only to France but to her allies. But, this question apart, the book is really an analysis of the limitations which high command suffered under the conditions of the World War. The effective influence of the higher commander was thwarted by the difficulty not only of knowing the facts of the situation but of knowing them in time to take action which fitted them before they had changed. As for my criticism of the offensive doctrine, it does not exceed the way Marshal Foch himself castigates that too exclusive passion for the offensive and the useless repulses and cruel losses thereby caused My supplement has merely been to trace Marshal Fochs own influence in fostering that too exclusive passion which caused such useless repulses and cruel losses not only in 1914, but later. B. H. Liddell Hart
 
Soft Cover
272 pages
In Fair condition