Marshal Ferdinand Foch, GCB, OM, DSO was a French soldier and military theorist, and an Allied military hero of the First World War.
A native of Tarbes in the south of France, Foch enlisted in the infantry during the Franco-Prussian War and later graduated from the École polytechnique as artillery officer. For his scholarship of military history and strategic skills, he was appointed instructor at Staff College.
At the outbreak of war in August 1914, Foch's XX Corps participated in the brief invasion of Germany before retiring in the face of a German counterattack and successfully blocking the Germans short of Nancy. Ordered west to the defence of Paris, Foch's prestige soared as a result of the victory at the Marne for which he was widely credited as a chief actor while commanding the French Ninth Army. He was then promoted again to command Army Group North, in which role he was required to cooperate with the British forces at Ypres and the Somme. At the end of 1916, partly owing to the failure or stalemate of these offensives, and partly owing to wartime political rivalries, Foch was removed from command.
Recalled as Chief of the General Staff in 1917, Foch was ultimately appointed "Generalissimo of the Allied Armies" in the spring of 1918. He played 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.