F.O.B. 



diminutive of foal, to the young 

 female, but formerly the distinction 

 was less rigid. The word is con- 

 nected ultimately with Gr. polos, 

 foal, and Lat. pulhis, young animal. 



F.O.B. Abbrev. for free on 

 board. When goods are sold f.o.b. 

 it means that the price quoted 

 covers all charges until they are 

 placed on board ship. 



Focal-plane Shutter. Ap- 

 pliance for very rapidly uncovering 

 and re-covering the photographic 



3222 



plate in photographing quickly 

 moving objects. It is an opaque 

 flexible blind mounted on spring 

 rollers close in front of the plate, 

 and having in it either several 

 slits of different widths or one 

 slit the width of which can be 

 altered. The plate can thus be 

 exposed for a time ranging from 

 j\jth to T^o-Q-th f a second, accord- 

 ing to the width of the slit and the 

 tension at which the spring is set 

 See Photography. 



FERDINAND FOCH : FRENCH SOLDIER 



Sir W. Beach Thomas, K.B.E., Special Correspondent of The Daily Mail 



This biographical sketch should be supplemented by the articles on 



the various battles of the Great War, especially those of 1918 when 



Foch broke down the German resistance. See Clemenceau ; French ; 



Haig ; Petain 



Ferdinand Foch bears a surname 

 probably derived from fioch, a 

 local word meaning fire. The Foch 

 family belonged to Valentine, a 

 town in the Haute Garonne, and 

 Foch, like Joffre, is of southern 

 stock, both on his mother's and 

 father's side. His father, Bertrand 

 Jules Napoleon, left his ancestor's 

 woollen trade to become a civil 

 servant. Ferdinand Foch was born 

 at Tarbes on Oct. 2. 1851. A 

 younger brother, Germain, became 

 a Jesuit, a fact of cardinal im- 

 portance in Foch's career. 



Ferdinand was a studious boy. 

 At 12 years old his favourite read- 

 ing was Thiers' History of the Con- 

 sulate and Empire, and he always 

 earned high commendation from 

 his instructors. He was educated 

 wherever his father's movements 

 dictated : first in Valentine, then 

 in St. Etienne, at the College S. 

 Michel, which was under the direc- 

 tion of the Jesuits. After taking his 

 degree there he was sent to the 

 College de S. Clement at Metz. 

 In 1870 the Franco -Prussian War 

 broke out, and Foch enlisted. 



After the war he at once returned 

 to Metz, but at the end of a 

 year entered by request the en- 

 gineering and artillery establish- 

 ment at Fontainebleau, which he 

 left as 2nd lieutenant in 1874. He 

 was first attached to the 42nd 

 regiment of artillery stationed at 

 Tarbes. Two years later he took. 

 a course at the cavalry school at 

 Saumur, and in 1878 was made 

 captain of the 10th regiment of 

 artillery. He was one of the 

 officers picked for the school of 

 war in 1885, and on leaving it was 

 put on the staff of a division. He 

 was appointed to the general staff 

 in 1894, a year later appointed 

 associate professor, and later full 

 professor, of military history, 

 strategy, and applied * tactics at 

 the Ecole Superieure de Guerre, or 

 staff college. 



Foch's lectures there made his 

 name, first in France, then out- 

 side. The bulk of them were 

 collected in two books, The Con- 

 duct of War and The Principles of 

 War, the latter translated by H. 

 Belloc, 1918; both have become 

 classics. They are not narrow 

 military treatises. Much space is 



devoted to 

 will power 

 and moral "-" 

 force. The 

 general argument is that, though 

 the art of war is simple, few can 

 acquire it, for its execution is 

 complicated and it demands the 

 highest will, purpose, and strength 

 in a commander who can impart 

 them to his soldiers. 

 In 1901 Foch was sent to com- 

 mand a regiment. It was generally 

 held that his religious belief, and 

 the fact that a brother of his was 

 a Jesuit, were the causes of this 

 transference, which seemed to in- 



FOCH 



volve a great setback in his career' 

 In 1903 he was appointed full 

 colonel, in 1905 chief of staff to the 

 5th Army Corps, in 1907 brigadier- 

 general with a position on the gen- 

 eral staff. Clemenceau had just 

 become prime minister, and offered 

 General Foch the command of the 

 Ecole de Guerre. His 4| years in 

 that position were invaluable to 

 France. He made good officers, and 



His work was done when in 1911 

 he became general of division, in 



1912 of the 8th Army Corps, and in 



1913 took command of the 20th 

 Army Corps at Nancy. 



On four critical occasions dur- 

 ing the Great War, before he was 

 appointed generalissimo, Foch 

 proved his principles in action, 

 first in the defeated French offen- 

 sive, and the subsequent defence 

 of Nancy in Aug., 1914; secondly, 

 at the battle of the Marne in 

 Sept. ; thirdly, with the British at 

 Ypres in Oct. of the same year ; 

 and fourthly, on the British right 

 flank in the battle of the Somme, 

 which began on July 1, 1916. As 

 soon as Nancy was saved, largely 

 through the 20th corps under Foch, 

 Joffre called on him to form and 

 command a new army, the 9th. 



This was Aug. 24. The work 

 was done with amazing speed and 

 thoroughness, and on Sept. 5 the 

 battle of the Marne began, Foch 

 having his headquarters at La Fere. 

 The turn of the tide was marked 

 by a dispatch from Foch that will 

 always be famous : "I am heavily 

 pressed on my right ; my centre 

 is giving way ; I cannot redistri- 

 bute my forces. The situation is 

 excellent, and I shall attack." He 

 attacked and won. 



Again on -July 1, 1916, Foch 

 shared in one attack, taking the 

 right wing on both sides of the 

 river Somme. His artillery work 

 was so perfect that the first ad- 

 vance of the infantry were sin- 

 gularly bloodless, and the success 

 overwhelming at every point. On 

 Sept. 30, 1916, Foch reached the 

 age limit. He was given the mili- 

 tary medal, kept on the active list, 

 but taken from any particular 

 command. On Dec. 13 he be- 

 came director of a new bureau for 

 the study of inter- Allied questions. 



He soon began to press for the 

 creation of a strong Allied reserve, 

 and it was decided early in 1918 

 to give the command of it when 

 formed to Foch. But other 

 counsels began to prevail, and 

 against his earnest protest the 

 inter- Allied reserve was whittled 

 down. Then came the very critical 

 German offensive on March 21, 

 1918. The way to Paris lay 

 open, a wedge was driven between 



