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Marshal Ferdinand Foch
MARSHAL FERDINAND JEAN MARIE FOCH (2 October 1851 - 20 March 1929) was a French general and Marshal of France, Great Britain and Poland, a military theorist and the Supreme Allied Commander during ...view moreMARSHAL FERDINAND JEAN MARIE FOCH (2 October 1851 - 20 March 1929) was a French general and Marshal of France, Great Britain and Poland, a military theorist and the Supreme Allied Commander during WWI. He was a commander at the First Marne, Flanders, and Artois campaigns of 1914-1916 and became the Allied Commander-in-Chief in 1918, successfully co-ordinating the French, British, American, and Italian efforts.
At the outbreak of WWI, Foch’s XX Corps participated in the brief invasion of Germany and, ordered west to defend Paris, won at the Marne, for which he was widely credited as a chief protagonist while commanding the French Ninth Army. He was then promoted to Assistant Commander-in-Chief for the Northern Zone, a role which evolved into command of Army Group North and required him to cooperate with the British forces at Ypres and the Somme. At the end of 1916 Foch was transferred to Italy.
He was made Commander-in-Chief of Western Front (Généralissime) and appointed “Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies” in 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.
Foch died in Paris in 1929 aged 77.
COLONEL THOMAS BENTLEY MOTT, S.S., D.S.M., L.M. (May 16, 1865 - December, 1952) was a decorated American army officer. Born in Leesburgh, Virginia, he graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1886. He was commissioned and promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1911 and was Colonel of the National Army and then the U.S. Army in 1918. He was commended in orders for gallantry and services in the Manila campaign. He was the Liaison Officer between Marshal Foch and General Pershing, the latter being his lifelong friend. He was a military attaché to the American Embassy in Paris from 1919-1930. He died in Biarritz, France in 1952 aged 87.view less