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106-650: On 26 March 1918, the French marshal Ferdinand Foch was appointed Supreme Allied Commander, gaining command of all Allied forces everywhere, and coordinated the British, French, American, and Italian armies to stop the German spring offensive , the last large offensive of the German Empire. He was the one who accepted the German cessation of hostilities in his private train. On 16 April 1918, at his own request, Foch

212-953: A court-martial gave him six months of restrictions and reduced pay. By his own account, he was various grades of lieutenant for 17 years, before finally being promoted to captain in 1935. Between 1936 and 1938, Captain Wedemeyer was one of a handful of United States Army officers, including Herman F. Kramer , who attended the Kriegsakademie in Berlin . While there he received instruction in armored warfare from Heinz Guderian and in Geopolitik from Karl Haushofer . He also met senior Nazi Party leaders such as Hermann Göring and Martin Bormann . Soon after graduation from this school, he attended, as one of many international observers,

318-543: A 3000-mile circuit through the American Midwest and industrial cities such as Pittsburgh and then on to Washington, D.C., which included ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery for what was then called Armistice Day. During the tour, he received numerous honorary degrees from American Universities. In 1923, Foch retired from the French Army, having served a total of 55 years in uniform. His career began as

424-727: A Nationalist-Communist coalition, he supported Truman's view and suppressed publication of Wedemeyer's report, further provoking resentment by Nationalist and communist advocates both inside and outside the US government and the armed forces. The report was reprinted, however, in the 1949 China White Paper . Following completion of the report, he assumed command of the Sixth United States Army in San Francisco, California ; in this capacity, Wedemeyer "thought of himself as cut off from further military policy making." After

530-650: A calculated gesture of disdain to the French delegates, left the carriage, as Foch had done in 1918. Foch's pre-war contributions as a military theorist and lecturer have also been recognised, and he has been credited as "the most original and subtle mind in the French Army " of the early 20th century. In January 1919, at the Paris Peace Conference Foch presented a memorandum to the Allied plenipotentiaries in which he stated: Henceforward

636-819: A coalition of these two political parties [the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party] in China by coercing both sides to make realistic concessions, serious post-war disturbance may be averted and timely effective military employment of all Chinese may be obtained against the Japanese. I use the term coercion advisedly because it is my conviction that continued appeals to both sides couched in polite diplomatic terms will not accomplish unification. There must be teeth in Big Three. Wedemeyer later said as

742-671: A decisive role in halting a renewed German advance on Paris in the Second Battle of the Marne , after which he was promoted to Marshal of France . Author Larry H. Addington says, "to a large extent the final Allied strategy which won the war on land in Western Europe in 1918 was Foch's alone." On 11 November 1918, Foch accepted the German request for an armistice. Foch advocated peace terms that would make Germany unable to pose

848-938: A hero to United States anticommunists, and gave many lectures around the country. After retiring as a lieutenant general in 1951, he was promoted to full general by act of Congress on July 19, 1954. In 1957, Wedemeyer was affiliated with the National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena . On May 23, 1985, he was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan . On December 17, 1989, Wedemeyer died at Fort Belvoir, Virginia . Wedemeyer and his wife Elizabeth Dade Embick (1903–2000) are buried in Arlington National Cemetery . Friends Advice , in Boyds, Maryland ,

954-486: A highly dignified bearing. Foch was a quiet man, known for saying little and when he did speak, it was a volley of words accompanied by much gesturing of his hands that required some knowledge of him to understand properly. One of Foch's favourite phrases was " Pas de protocole! " as he preferred to be approachable by all officers. Foch's only rigidity was always taking his meals at noon and at 7:30; otherwise, he would work all sorts of irregular hours from dawn until well into

1060-727: A military commander, his statement was intended as a call to force the long-heralded, but never implemented, military alliance between the Nationalist government and Chinese Communists in order to rout undefeated Japanese forces in China. He later told others that he had opposed a political coalition. (Tsou, 1962). After Japan's capitulation, Wedemeyer became alarmed that some Japanese troops were surrendering to Communist Chinese forces. He wanted seven American divisions to be sent to China, but General Marshall replied that it should not be given priority over Japan and Korea. Wedemeyer served in China into 1946. After returning from China, Wedemeyer

1166-552: A modest, devout, middle-class Catholic family. His last name reflects the ancestry of his father, a civil servant from Valentine , a village in Haute-Garonne , whose lineage may trace back to 16th-century Alsace . From a young age, he loved to study and work, showed great interest in military history and strategy, and was an avid reader of military literature. He attended school in Tarbes, Rodez , Gourdan-Polignan and at

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1272-643: A new intergovernmental agency was necessary to coordinate transportation and storage of military supplies in France. Pershing took the recommendation to French Premier Georges Clemenceau. The British were hesitant at first but finally the key players were in agreement and the Board was established in May 1918. It involved coordinating the entirely different supply systems for the American, British, and French armies, as well as

1378-461: A program, a tactic, a will. We find ourselves in the presence of an England that has all it wants for the present: the German colonies and the German fleet. We lack future security because [Britain] is not interested. In the presence of an America which seeks its own peace, we must have what we need... It is on the Rhine and nowhere else that we shall find it. He later wrote: In a word, the occupation

1484-561: A symbol both of Foch's leadership and of French determination to resist the invader at any cost, although there is little evidence that the signal was sent. Accordingly, on 4 October 1914, Foch was made the Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Zone under Joseph Joffre. Foch's counterattack was an implementation of the theories he had developed during his staff college days and succeeded in stopping

1590-587: A threat to France ever again. He considered the Treaty of Versailles too lenient on Germany. Winston Churchill attributed this famous quote about the Peace Treaty of Versailles to Foch: "This is not Peace. It is an Armistice for twenty years." Indeed, the next war sprung out 20 years later. Ferdinand Foch was born in Tarbes , a municipality in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées , in southwestern France, into

1696-680: Is a lever that we have in our hand and with which we can call the tune. However, the British Prime Minister David Lloyd George and the American President Woodrow Wilson objected to the detachment of the Rhineland from Germany so that the balance of power would not be too much in favour of France, but agreed to Allied military occupation for fifteen years, which Foch thought insufficient to protect France. Foch considered

1802-732: The Artois Offensive and, in 1916, the French effort at the Battle of the Somme . He was strongly criticised for his tactics and the heavy casualties that were suffered by the Allied armies during these battles, and in December 1916 was removed from command by Joffre and sent to command Allied units on the Italian front ; Joffre was himself sacked days later. Just a few months later, after

1908-830: The British and French lines. They tried again at the end of the month during the First Battle of Ypres , this time suffering terrible casualties. Foch had again succeeded in coordinating a defense and winning against the odds. Field Marshal Sir John French , C-in-C of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) had described Foch in August 1914 to J. E. B. Seely , a liaison officer, as "the sort of man with whom I know I can get on" and later in February 1915 described him to Lord Selbourne as "the best general in

2014-627: The China Lobby and openly voiced his criticism of those allegedly responsible for the Communist takeover of China. In 1951, after the outbreak of the Korean War , Senator Joseph R. McCarthy said that Wedemeyer had prepared a wise plan that would keep China a valued ally, which it had been sabotaged: "only in treason can we find why evil genius thwarted and frustrated it." The evil geniuses, McCarthy said, included Marshall. Wedemeyer became

2120-597: The Chinese Civil War that was both opportune and dire. Chiang's armies were far better-equipped than their Communist adversaries (who had not yet received weapons and training from the Soviets in Manchuria), and pushing them back on all fronts, but ammunition, fuel, and spare parts were severely lacking. These had been promised by Lend-Lease , but not delivered and still charged to Chaing's account. Thus, while

2226-429: The First Battle of the Marne with Maxime Weygand as his chief of staff. Only a week after taking command, with the whole French Army in full retreat, he was forced to fight a series of defensive actions to prevent a German breakthrough. During the advance at the marshes at St.-Gond he is said to have declared: "My centre is yielding. My right is retreating. Situation excellent. I am attacking." These words were seen as

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2332-567: The German Army grand maneuvers of 1938. When he returned to Washington that year, Wedemeyer analyzed Nazi Germany 's grand strategy and dissected German thinking. Wedemeyer thus became the United States military's foremost authority on German tactical operations, whose "most ardent student" was George C. Marshall . Wedemeyer was greatly influenced and his career aided by his father-in-law, Lieutenant General Stanley Dunbar Embick ,

2438-958: The Jesuit Collège Saint-Michel in Saint-Étienne before attending the Jesuit Collège Saint-Clément in Metz . A professor there once said of Foch, "A geometric mind, he is made for the Polytechnique." His brother, Germain Foch, became a Jesuit priest, which may have hindered Foch's rise in the French Army since the Republican government of France was anti-clerical . When the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870,

2544-613: The Lebel Model 1886 rifle had just entered service, and ended after Foch had commanded hundreds of thousands of soldiers in World War I. On chemistry , he said, "There is no science that is so nearly bound up with the future of our industrial and military forces. France will not remain indifferent to this branch of science that she has neglected for so long." Albert Coady Wedemeyer Chinese Civil War General Albert Coady Wedemeyer (July 9, 1896 – December 17, 1989)

2650-655: The National Revolutionary Army . His efforts were not wholly successful, in part because of the ill will engendered by his predecessor, as well as continuing friction over the role of the Chinese Communist Party 's People's Liberation Army . Wedemyer was credited for his advice in helping the NRA to defeat the Japanese forces in the Battle of West Hunan , as well as retaking Guilin and Liuzhou. Wedemeyer also supervised logistical support for

2756-765: The Polish–Soviet War of 1920, as well as his pressure on Germany during the Greater Poland Uprising , he was awarded the title of Marshal of Poland in 1923. On 1 November 1921 Foch was in Kansas City, Missouri , to take part in the groundbreaking ceremony for the Liberty Memorial that was being constructed there. Also present that day were Lieutenant General Baron Jacques of Belgium, Admiral David Beatty of Great Britain, General Armando Diaz of Italy and General John J. Pershing of

2862-642: The Rhine ought to be the Western military frontier of the German countries. Henceforward Germany ought to be deprived of all entrance and assembling ground, that is, of all territorial sovereignty on the left bank of the river, that is, of all facilities for invading quickly, as in 1914, Belgium , Luxembourg , for reaching the coast of the North Sea and threatening the United Kingdom, for outflanking

2968-759: The Sarrebourg – Morhange line, taking heavy casualties in the Battle of the Frontiers . The defeat of the XV Corps to its right forced Foch into retreat. Foch acquitted himself well, covering the withdrawal to Nancy and the Charmes Gap before launching a counter-attack that prevented the Germans from crossing the River Meurthe . Foch was then selected to command the newly formed Ninth Army during

3074-489: The Soviet Armed Forces . In June 2003, the commands were reshuffled. One command was given responsibility for operations, and one for transforming the military components of the alliance to meet new challenges. In Europe, Allied Command Operations was established from the former Allied Command Europe, and given responsibility for all NATO military operations worldwide. However, for legal reasons, SACEUR retained

3180-507: The Supreme Allied Commander (SACEUR). Soon afterwards, Allied Command Atlantic was established, at Norfolk, Virginia, under Lynde McCormick , a U.S. Navy admiral. His title was Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT), and the entire command was usually known as SACLANT. Both Supreme Commanders have, until 2009, been American, with a deputy commander from another NATO member, though only British and Germans have held

3286-482: The Treaty of Versailles to be "a capitulation, a treason " because he believed that only permanent occupation of the Rhineland would grant France sufficient security against a revival of German aggression. In a remarkable moment of foresight, as the treaty was being signed Foch said: "This is not peace. It is an armistice for 20 years". Foch was made a British field marshal in 1919, and, for his advice during

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3392-1039: The United States Army Air Forces in China. These forces included the United States Twentieth Air Force partaking in Operation Matterhorn and the Fourteenth Air Force operated by General Claire Chennault . On December 7, 1945, Wedemeyer with General Douglas MacArthur , and navy Admiral Raymond A. Spruance , the three top military officers in the Far East, recommended to the Pentagon that it transport six more Chinese Nationalist armies into North China and Manchuria. However they also suggested that "the U.S. assistance to China, as outlined above, be made available as basis for negotiation by

3498-415: The fall of China to Communist forces , Wedemeyer would testify before Congress that while the loss of morale was indeed a cause of the defeat of the Nationalist Chinese forces, the Truman administration's 1947 decision to discontinue further training and modernizing of Nationalist forces, the US-imposed arms embargo, and constant anti-Nationalist sentiment expressed by Western journalists and policymakers were

3604-443: The 19-year-old Foch enlisted in the French 4th Infantry Regiment , which did not take part in combat. He remained in the army after the war. In 1871, he passed the entrance exams to the grandes écoles scientifiques and later entered the École Polytechnique . There, he was an excellent, hard-working, and studious student, and pursued studies in mathematics , engineering , science , history, and literature. He eventually chose

3710-423: The Allied Generalissimo. Late in 1917 Foch would have liked to have seen Haig replaced as C-in-C of the BEF by General Herbert Plumer ; however, Haig would remain in command of the BEF for the remainder of the war. In January 1918, in accordance with Lloyd George's wishes, an executive board was set up to control the planned Allied General Reserve, with Clemenceau 's agreement being obtained by having Foch on

3816-415: The Allied position. Receiving thanks from the Bishop of Châlons (Joseph-Marie Tissier), Foch piously replied, " non nobis , Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam " ("Not unto us, o Lord, not unto us, but to Your name give glory", Psalm 115:1). As assistant Commander-in-Chief with responsibility for co-ordinating the activities of the northern French armies and liaising with the British forces; this

3922-511: The American Ambassador to bring together and effect a compromise between the major opposing groups in order to promote a united and democratic China." The issue of forcing the Nationalists into a coalition government with the Communists would later become a central issue in the fierce " Who lost China " political debates in the United States during 1949–51. On July 10, 1945, Wedemeyer had informed General Marshall: If Uncle Sugar , Russia, and Britain united strongly in their endeavor to bring about

4028-414: The Army Douglas MacArthur was appointed Supreme Allied Commander, South West Pacific Area (SWPA) on 18 April 1942. However, he preferred to use the title Commander-in-Chief. During the Allied occupation of Japan following the war, MacArthur held the title of Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP). The Pacific Ocean Areas (POA), divided into the Central Pacific Area, the North Pacific Area and

4134-406: The British in an effort to convince the British to support the cross channel invasion. Wedemeyer was a staunch anti-communist . While in China during the years 1944 to 1945 he was Chiang Kai-shek 's Chief of Staff and commanded all American forces in China. Wedemeyer supported Chiang's struggle against Mao Zedong and in 1947 President Truman sent him back to China to render a report on what actions

4240-474: The British/American Combined Chiefs of Staff , although in the case of the Pacific and South East Asia, the relevant national command authorities of the American Joint Chiefs of Staff or the British Chiefs of Staff Committee had responsibility for the main conduct of the war in the theatre, depending on the Supreme Commander's nationality. General of the United States' Army Dwight D. Eisenhower served in successive Supreme Allied Commander roles. Eisenhower

4346-409: The CBI command were then split among three people: Lt Gen. Raymond Wheeler became Deputy Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia; Maj. Gen. Albert Wedemeyer became Chief of Staff to Chiang, and commander of US Forces, China Theater (USFCT). Lt Gen. Daniel Sultan was promoted, from deputy commander of CBI to commander of US Forces, India-Burma Theater (USFIBT) and commander of the NCAC. General of

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4452-424: The Central Personnel Service Depot of the artillery. In 1885 Foch undertook a course at the École Supérieure de Guerre where he was later an instructor from 1895 to 1901. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel in 1898, and colonel in 1903. As a colonel he became regimental commander of the 35th Artillery Regiment (35 R.A) at Vannes. Foch was known for his physical strength and his sharp mind who always maintained

4558-403: The Chinese Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army and Korean People's Revolutionary Army were incorporated into their order of battle for the liberation of Northern China , Northeastern China and northern Korea from Japanese imperialist occupation. The term came into use again with the formation of NATO in 1949. In 1952, Allied Command Europe was established, led by Eisenhower. He became

4664-412: The Communist Chinese. Vice Admiral Oscar C. Badger , General Claire Chennault , and Brigadier General Francis Brink also testified that the arms embargo was a significant factor in the loss of China . In 1948, Wedemeyer supported General Lucius D. Clay 's plan to create an airbridge during the Berlin Crisis . After the Communist victory in 1949, Wedemeyer became intimately associated with

4770-443: The Conduct of War") in 1904. Both "thought" and "will" were the key words of these teachings. While Foch advised "qualification and discernment" in military strategy and cautioned that "recklessness in attack could lead to prohibitive losses and ultimate failure", his concepts, distorted and misunderstood by contemporaries, became associated with the extreme offensive doctrines ( l' offensive à outrance ) of his successors. The cult of

4876-424: The Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of the War Plans Division of the United States War Department . At the outbreak of World War II , Wedemeyer was a lieutenant colonel assigned as a staff officer to the War Plans Division. Notably, in 1941 he was the chief author of the " Victory Program ", which advocated the defeat of Germany's Wehrmacht in Europe as the prime war objective for the United States. This plan

4982-429: The French Army". His thinking on military doctrine was shaped by the Clausewitzian philosophy, then uncommon in France, that "the will to conquer is the first condition of victory." Collections of his lectures, which reintroduced the concept of the offensive to French military theory, were published in the volumes "Des Principes de la Guerre" ("On the Principles of War") in 1903, and "De la Conduite de la Guerre" ("On

5088-404: The French army on the left of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig , C-in-C of the BEF, rather than the 300 which Lloyd George wanted. As the guns reached Italy, Cadorna called off his offensive (21 September). Until the end of 1916, the French under Joffre had been the dominant allied army; after 1917 this was no longer the case, due to the vast number of casualties France's armies had suffered in

5194-416: The French, British and American efforts, deftly handling his strategic reserves. He stopped the German offensive and launched a war-winning counterattack . In November 1918, Marshal Foch accepted the German cessation of hostilities and was present at the Armistice of 11 November 1918 . At the outbreak of war in August 1914, Foch's XX Corps participated in the brief invasion of Germany before retreating in

5300-419: The German advance. Foch received further reinforcements from the Fifth Army and, following another attack on his forces, counter-attacked again on the Marne. The Germans dug in before eventually retreating. On 12 September, Foch regained the Marne at Châlons and liberated the city. The people of Châlons greeted as a hero the man widely believed to have been instrumental in stopping the retreat and stabilising

5406-450: The German negotiators' immediate request to declare a ceasefire or truce so that there would be no more useless waste of lives among the common soldiers. By not declaring a truce even between the signing of the documents for the Armistice at 5:45 a.m. and its entry into force, "at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month", about 11,000 additional men were needlessly wounded or killed – far more than usual, according to

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5512-448: The German school, but also since about 1911 by a new French school inspired by General Loiseau de Grandmaison, which criticised them as lacking in vigour and offensive spirit and contributing to needless dispersion of force. The French Army fought under the new doctrines, but they failed in the first battles of August 1914, and it remained to be seen whether the Napoleonic doctrine would hold its own, would give way to doctrines evolved during

5618-495: The Généralissime's resolve to keep the Allied armies intact, even at the risk of losing the capital. The British general Sir Henry Rawlinson , commanding the British Fourth Army , commented after meeting Foch: "I am overjoyed at his methods and far-sighted strategy. I was in close touch with him in 1916. He is a better man now than he was then, for his fiery enthusiasm has been tempered by adversity." Rawlinson also noted Foch's intense Frenchness: "He knew nothing of Britain. The Rhine

5724-401: The Italian and Belgian armies. It started operation from its base in Paris at the end of June. The president of the board was French general Jean-Marie Charles Payot (1868–1931), assisted by an international staff. Board decisions had to be unanimous, and once made were binding on all of the armies. However each army continued to be responsible for its own logistical system and procedures. Foch

5830-526: The Nationalist government caused by Joseph Stilwell and George Marshall's meddling, President Harry S. Truman not only rejected the recommendations in the report but also imposed an arms embargo against the Nationalist government, thereby intensifying the bitter political debate over the role of the United States in the Chinese Civil War . While Secretary of State George C. Marshall had hoped that Wedemeyer could convince Chiang Kai-shek to institute those military, economic, and political reforms that would create

5936-438: The Nationalists had over 16,000 trucks virtually all of them were rendered inoperable, forcing his troops to march on foot. Ammunition shortages were also causing Nationalist divisions to lose battles, and Chaing's troops were forced to scavenge abandoned American dumps because no deliveries had been made. Even worse, much surplus weaponry and ammunition in the Pacific was being destroyed rather than utilized, and Chiang's government

6042-620: The South Pacific Area, were commanded by Admiral Chester W. Nimitz , Commander-in-Chief Pacific Ocean Areas. Although not bearing any official title of Supreme Allied Commander, Joseph Stalin , as Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Armed Forces , as well as the commanders of the 1st Belorussian , 1st , 2nd , 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts of the Soviet Red Army - Zhukov , Rokossovsky , Konev , Malinovsky , Tolbukhin , Sokolovsky , Yeremenko , Petrov , Vatutin , etc. - acted in de facto capacity of Supreme Allied Commanders in that units of foreign Allied armies were incorporated into

6148-399: The Supreme War Council, Foch was given authority over the Italian Front. Foch controlled the Military Board of Allied Supply (MBAS), an Allied agency for the coordination of logistical support of the Allied forces. In March 1918 Colonel Charles G. Dawes , the general purchasing agent for the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) recommended to his commanding general John J. Pershing that

6254-419: The United States should take. During the Cold War , Wedemeyer was a chief supporter of the Berlin Airlift . Wedemeyer was born on July 9, 1896, in Omaha, Nebraska , and was a graduate of the Creighton Preparatory School . In 1919, he graduated from the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York . On his first assignment, at Fort Benning , Georgia, he became uncharacteristically drunk;

6360-418: The United States. One of the main speakers was Vice President Calvin Coolidge of the United States. The local veteran chosen to present flags to the commanders was a Kansas City haberdasher, Harry S. Truman , who would later serve as 33rd President of the United States from 1945 to 1953. In 1935, bas-reliefs of Foch, Jacques, Diaz and Pershing by sculptor Walker Hancock were added to the memorial. Foch made

6466-475: The Western Front (by contrast, Cadorna was disgraced after the recent Battle of Caporetto ) and Wilson, a personal friend of Foch, was deliberately appointed as a rival to General Robertson, the British Chief of the Imperial General Staff , an ally of Haig's, who had lost 250,000 men at the battle of Ypres the same year. Clemenceau was eventually persuaded to appoint Foch's protégé Weygand instead, although many already suspected that Foch would eventually become

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6572-412: The board rather than Maxime Weygand . Pétain agreed to release only eight French divisions and made a bilateral agreement with Haig, who was reluctant to release any divisions at all, to assist one another. The situation was worsened by Clemenceau's and Pétain's dislike of Foch. At a Supreme War Council meeting in London (14–15 March), with a German offensive clearly imminent, Foch protested to no avail for

6678-412: The college, Foch was a professor of military history, strategy, and general tactics while becoming the French theorist on offensive strategies. He also employed mathematical terms in his lectures. During his time as an instructor, Foch created renewed interest in French military history , inspired confidence in a new class of French officers, and brought about "the intellectual and moral regeneration of

6784-404: The end of the Soviet Union's European theater of World War II, during the Soviet-Japanese War , the commanders of the Red Army's 1st and 2nd Far Eastern fronts and Transbaikal Front - Vasilevsky (in overall command of all three fronts), Malinovsky, Meretskov and Purkayev - once again acted in de facto capacity of Supreme Allied Commanders as the Mongolian People's Army and partisans of

6890-445: The face of a German counter-attack and successfully blocking the Germans short of Nancy . Ordered west to defend Paris, Foch's prestige soared as a result of the victory at the Marne , for which he was widely credited as a chief protagonist while commanding the French Ninth Army . He was then promoted again to assistant commander-in-chief for the Northern Zone, a role which evolved into command of Army Group North , and in which role he

6996-530: The failure of General Robert Nivelle 's offensive , General Philippe Pétain , the hero of Verdun , was appointed Chief of the General Staff; Foch hoped to succeed Pétain in command of Army Group Centre , but this job was instead given to General Fayolle. The following month Pétain was appointed C-in-C in place of Nivelle, and Foch was recalled and promoted to chief of the general staff. Like Pétain, Foch favoured only limited attacks (he had told Lieutenant General Sir Henry Wilson , another British Army officer, that

7102-525: The field of battle and the scene of the consequent devastation. This makes it impossible for the yet unstable German Government to reject any demand on our part if it is clearly formulated. The Entente , in its present favourable military situation, can obtain acceptance of any peace conditions it may put forward provided that they are presented without much delay. All it has to do is to decide what they shall be. Upon returning home. Foch wrote in his diary: Watch out: suspect peace, English peace... We must have

7208-552: The first to hold the post for NATO (see next section). Field Marshal Henry Maitland Wilson succeeded Eisenhower in the Mediterranean theatre, given the title Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean. Wilson was succeeded by Field Marshal Harold Alexander , who continued in charge of those Allied forces until the end of the war. Admiral of the Fleet Lord Louis Mountbatten was Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia (SACSEA) throughout most of its existence. He replaced General Archibald Wavell . Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek

7314-439: The following lunchtime. Pétain had sent a dozen divisions to plug the gap and it is unclear that a committee would actually have acted any faster during the immediate crisis. At the Doullens Conference (26 March) and at Beauvais (3 April), Foch was given the job of coordinating the activities of the Allied armies, forming a common reserve and using these divisions to guard the junction of the French and British armies and to plug

7420-406: The formation of the Allied Reserve. On the evening of 24 March, after the German spring offensive was threatening to split apart the British and French forces, Foch telegraphed Wilson (who by now had replaced Robertson as Chief of the Imperial General Staff) "asking what [he] thought of situation & we are of one mind that someone must catch a hold or we shall be beaten". Wilson reached France

7526-426: The fronts' order of battle and fought against the European Axis powers under their command during the Great Patriotic War : the Polish Armed Forces in the East , 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps , French Normandie-Niemen Fighter Regiment and Romanian Tudor Vladimirescu Division from 1943, then from 1944 until the end of the war also the Romanian Army , Bulgarian Army and Yugoslav National Liberation Army . After

7632-555: The growing American forces ) counterattacked at the Second Battle of the Marne in July 1918. On 6 August 1918, Foch was made a Marshal of France . Along with the British commander, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, Foch planned the Grand Offensive , opening on 26 September 1918, which led to the defeat of Germany. After the war, he claimed to have defeated Germany by smoking his pipe. An unintended consequence of Foch's appointment

7738-428: The idea took root that his military doctrines had set the stage for the futile and costly offensives of 1914 in which French armies suffered devastating losses. Supporters and critics continue to debate Foch's strategy and instincts as a commander, as well as his exact contributions to the Marne "miracle": Foch's counter-attacks at the Marne generally failed, but his sector resisted determined German attacks while holding

7844-503: The military statistics. On the day of the armistice, 11 November 1918, he was elected to the Académie des Sciences . Ten days later, he was unanimously elected to the Académie française . He received many honours and decorations from Allied governments. In the euphoria of victory Foch was regularly compared to Napoleon and Julius Caesar . However, historians took a less favourable view of Foch's talents as commander, particularly as

7950-517: The multi-nation, multi-discipline fighting forces for a particular theater of war . These Supreme Allied Commanders were given operational control over all air, land, and sea units in that theatre. In other cases, senior commanders were given the title Commander-in-Chief . These Supreme Allied Commanders were drawn from the most senior leaders in the British Armed Forces and United States Armed Forces . These commanders reported to

8056-596: The natural defences of France, the Rhine, Meuse , conquering the Northern Provinces and entering the Parisian area. In a subsequent memorandum, Foch argued that the Allies should take full advantage of their victory by permanently weakening German power in order to prevent her from threatening France again: What the people of Germany fear the most is a renewal of hostilities since, this time, Germany would be

8162-645: The night. In 1907 Foch was promoted to Général de Brigade , and in the same year, he assumed command of the French War College. He held this position until 1911, the year in which he was appointed Général de Division . Foch influenced General Joseph Joffre (Chief of General Staff, 28 July 1911 – 12 December 1916) when he drafted the French plan of campaign ( Plan XVII ) in 1913. In 1913 he took command of XX Corps  [ fr ] at Nancy , and he had held this appointment for exactly one year when he led XX Corps into battle in August 1914. Foch

8268-641: The now three and a half-year-old struggle with Germany. The Supreme War Council was formally established on 7 November 1917, containing the Prime Minister and a Minister from each of the Western Front powers (i.e., excluding Russia), to meet at least once a month. Foch (along with Wilson and Italian general Cadorna) were appointed military representatives, to whom the general staffs of each country were to submit their plans. The French tried to have Foch as representative to increase their control over

8374-575: The offensive came to dominate military circles, and Foch's reputation was damaged when his books were cited in the development of the disastrous offensive that brought France close to ruin in August 1914. Foch was seen as a master of the Napoleonic school of military thought, but he was the only one of the Military College Commandants (Maillard, Langlois, Bonnal) still serving. Their doctrines had been challenged, not only by

8480-523: The pivot on which the neighbouring French and British forces depended in rolling back the German line. After the reading of the preamble of the November 1918 armistice , Foch left the carriage , in a move that was perceived as humiliating by the defeated Germans. In 1940, after the defeat of France by Germany early in World War II , when France signed an armistice with Germany , Adolf Hitler , in

8586-682: The planned Flanders offensive was "futile, fantastic & dangerous") until the Americans, who had joined the war in April 1917 , were able to send large numbers of troops to France. Outside of the Western Front , Foch opposed British Prime Minister David Lloyd George 's plans to send British and French troops to help Italy take Trieste , but was open to the suggestion of sending heavy guns. The Anglo-French leadership agreed in early September to send 100 heavy guns to Italy, 50 of them from

8692-592: The post. Responding to the establishment of NATO, the Warsaw Pact was established in 1955 along with their own posts of United Armed Forces Supreme Commander and Chief of Combined Staff . Until the disbandment of the Warsaw Pact in 1991, both posts had always been held by a Marshal of the Soviet Union or Army General due to their expertise in commanding and coordinating forces of enormous sizes in

8798-531: The potentially fatal gap that would have followed a German breakthrough in the British Fifth Army sector. Two days later, while Foch was writing in his notebook, he allowed an interview to a group of war correspondents. At a later conference he was given the title Supreme Commander of the Allied Armies with the title of Généralissime ("Supreme General"). In May 1918, in the fifth session of

8904-538: The primary causes of that loss of morale. In particular, Wedemeyer stressed that if the US had insisted on experienced American military advisers attached at the lower battalion and regimental levels of Nationalist armies, as it had done with Greek army forces during the Greek Civil War , the aid could have more efficiently been used. He also said that the immediate tactical assistance would have resulted in Nationalist armies performing far better in combat against

9010-554: The protests of Haig who argued that it would reduce his power to safeguard the interests of the British Army. The British were disappointed that Foch operated through his own staff rather than through the Permanent Military Representatives at Versailles , and on 11 July 1918 British ministers resolved to remind Foch that he was an Allied, and not a French, C-in-C. The Allies (mainly French and

9116-502: The school of artillery . In 1873, he received his commission as an artillery officer and served as a lieutenant in the 24th Artillery Regiment in Tarbes, despite not having completed his course, because there was a shortage of junior officers. In 1876, he attended the cavalry school of Saumur to train as a mounted artillery officer. On 30 September 1878, he became a captain and arrived in Paris on 24 September 1879 as an assistant in

9222-665: The staff, kept everything in his "hip pocket". During his time in the CBI, Wedemeyer attempted to motivate the Nationalist Chinese government to take a more aggressive role against the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces in the war. He was instrumental in expanding the Hump airlift operation with additional, more capable transport aircraft, and continued Stilwell's programs to train, equip, and modernize

9328-487: The traditional title including Europe. In the United States, SACLANT was decommissioned and Allied Command Transformation established. The headquarters of ACT is at the former SACLANT headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia , USA. Each has a Supreme Allied Commander as its commander. Ferdinand Foch Ferdinand Foch ( / f ɒ ʃ / FOSH , French: [fɛʁdinɑ̃ fɔʃ] ; 2 October 1851 – 20 March 1929)

9434-526: The war, or would incorporate the new moral and technical elements into a new outward form within which the spirit of Napoleon remained unaltered. The war gave an ambiguous answer to these questions, which remains a source of controversy among experts. On the outbreak of World War I , Foch was in command of XX Corps, part of the Second Army of General de Castelnau . On 14 August the Corps advanced towards

9540-589: The world". By contrast, Lieutenant General William Robertson , another British officer, thought that Foch was "rather a flat-catcher, a mere professor, and very talkative" (28 September 1915). On 2 December 1914, King George V appointed him an Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath . In 1915, his responsibilities by now crystallised in command of the Northern Army Group , he conducted

9646-545: Was a United States Army commander who served in Asia during World War II from October 1943 to the end of the war. Previously, he was an important member of the War Planning Board which formulated plans for the invasion of Normandy . He was General George C. Marshall 's chief consultant when in the spring of 1942 he traveled to London with General Marshall and a small group of American military men to consult with

9752-645: Was a French general, Marshal of France and a member of the Académie Française and Académie des Sciences . He distinguished himself as Supreme Allied Commander on the Western Front during the First World War in 1918. A commander during the First Marne , Flanders and Artois campaigns of 1914–1916, Foch became Supreme Allied Commander in late March 1918 in the face of the all-out German spring offensive . He successfully coordinated

9858-575: Was a key appointment as the Race to the Sea was then in progress. General Joseph Joffre , Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the French Army, had also wanted to nominate Foch as his successor "in case of accident", to make sure the job would not be given to Joseph Gallieni , but the French Government would not agree to this. When the Germans attacked on 13 October, they narrowly failed to break through

9964-837: Was adopted and expanded as the war progressed. Additionally, Wedemeyer helped to plan the Normandy Invasion . In 1943, Wedemeyer was reassigned to the South-East Asia Theatre to be Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander of the South East Asia Command (SEAC), Lord Louis Mountbatten . On October 27, 1944, Wedemeyer received a telegram from General George C. Marshall directing him to proceed to China to assume command of United States forces in China, replacing General Joseph Stilwell . In his new command, Wedemeyer

10070-612: Was also named Chief of Staff to the Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek . The telegram contained a host of special instructions and limitations on Wedemeyer's command when dealing with the Nationalist government . Wedemeyer later recalled his initial dread over the assignment, as service in the China theater was considered a graveyard for American officials, both military and diplomatic. When Wedemeyer arrived at Stilwell's headquarters after Stilwell's dismissal, he

10176-418: Was appointed "Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies". Despite his promotion 19 days earlier, and the subsequent Beauvais Conference of 3 April 1918, he was not provided a title. He remedied this by making up his own title and by writing to Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau to request it, which was immediately granted. During World War II , the Allied leaders appointed Supreme Allied Commanders to manage

10282-539: Was charged exorbitant prices for what remained. For example, bazookas were sold to Greece at $ 3.65 apiece, while Chiang's government had to pay $ 162. For rifles, the price difference was $ 5.10 and $ 51, respectively. Ammunition cost differences were similar, China being charged $ 85 for 1000 rifle rounds and $ 95 for 1000 machine gun rounds, compared to $ 4.55 and $ 4.58 elsewhere. Wedemeyer recommended an immediate correction of these deficiencies and sending leftover equipment to China rather than blowing it up. Lacking confidence in

10388-629: Was dismayed to discover that Stilwell had intentionally departed without seeing him, and did not leave a single briefing paper for his guidance, though departing United States military commanders habitually greeted their replacement in order to thoroughly brief them on the strengths and weaknesses of headquarters staff, the issues confronting the command, and planned operations. Searching the offices, Wedemeyer could find no documentary record of Stilwell's plans or records of his former or future operations. Wedemeyer then spoke with Stilwell's staff officers but learned little from them because Stilwell, according to

10494-540: Was for him a river of life and death." At the sixth session of the Supreme War Council on 1 June Foch complained that the BEF was still shrinking in size and infuriated Lloyd George by implying that the British government was withholding manpower. At a major Allied conference at Beauvais (7 June) Lord Milner agreed with Clemenceau that Foch should have the power to order all Allied troops as he saw fit, over

10600-474: Was later acclaimed as "the most original military thinker of his generation". He was a disciple of Napoleon, and made use of the lessons taught by Moltke . He became known for his critical analyses of the Franco-Prussian and Napoleonic campaigns and of their relevance to military operations in the new twentieth century. His re-examination of France's defeat in 1870 was among the first of its kind. At

10706-548: Was named the Supreme Commander of Allied forces in China Theater on 1942. However, US forces in China were usually overseen by General Joseph Stilwell , the commander of China Burma India Theater (CBI) and Deputy Allied Commander of South East Asia Command (SEAC). It was not until late 1944 that the land forces chain of command was clarified, after Stilwell was recalled to Washington. His overall role, and

10812-474: Was promoted to Army Chief of Plans and Operations. In July 1947, President Harry S. Truman sent Wedemeyer to China and Korea to examine the "political, economic, psychological and military situations." The result was the Wedemeyer Report in which Wedemeyer stressed the need for intensive United States training of and assistance to the Nationalist armies. Wedemeyer's 1947 report painted a picture of

10918-481: Was required to cooperate with the British forces at Ypres and the Somme . At the end of 1916, partly owing to the disappointing results of the latter offensive and partly owing to wartime political rivalries, Foch was transferred to Italy. Foch was appointed " Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies" on 26 March 1918 following being the commander-in-chief of Western Front with the title Généralissime in 1918. He played

11024-619: Was surprised by the German offensive ( "Bluecher" ) on the Chemin des Dames (27 May). Foch believed it was a diversion to draw Allied reserves away from Flanders. This was partly true, although the planned German Flanders Offensive ( "Hagen" ) never took place. The Allied armies under Foch's command ultimately held the advance of the German forces. The celebrated phrase, "I will fight in front of Paris, I will fight in Paris, I will fight behind Paris", attributed both to Foch and Clemenceau, illustrated

11130-525: Was that he sheltered Haig from British political interference. Before the armistice and after the Armistice of Villa Giusti , Foch controlled all the operations against Germany including a planned invasion from Italy into Bavaria . Foch accepted the German cessation of hostilities in November from the German delegate, Matthias Erzberger , at 5:00 a.m. local time. However, he refused to accede to

11236-701: Was the Commander-in-Chief, Allied Force for the Mediterranean theatre . Eisenhower then served as Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force (SCAEF) in the European theatre , starting in December 1943 with the creation of the command to execute Operation Overlord and ending in July 1945 shortly after the End of World War II in Europe . In 1951, Eisenhower would again be a Supreme Allied Commander,

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