Ferdinand Foch

Ferdinand Foch led XX Corps into Germany in August 1914, fell back, held the line at Nancy, then raced west to defend Paris. The victory at the First Marne made his name; he commanded the Ninth Army, then Army Group North through Ypres and the Somme. Sidelined to Italy at the end of 1916 amid political friction and stalled offenses, he returned in March 1918 as Supreme Allied Commander - Généralissime - just as Germany launched its spring offensive. Foch coordinated French, British, and American forces, managed the reserves, halted the advance at the Second Battle of the Marne, and drove the counterattack that broke the German army by autumn. On 11 November 1918 he accepted the armistice, was made Marshal of France, and immediately argued the Treaty of Versailles left Germany too strong. Twenty years later the next war came.