Yet, on the other hand, from this battle's costly object lesson in the
weakness of divided commands, came at last the appointment of the French
General, Foch, (March 28,) to absolute command over all the armies of
the Allies on the western front. For a long time a single command has
been the one great need to insure military efficiency, and obtaining
this is an offset against the losses in the battle which brought such a
command into being.
Throughout the war the great outstanding element of failure for the
Allies has been lack of co-ordination. The varying aims of the different
nations in the war have accounted for this to a great degree, but on the
battlefields of France there should have been no delay in giving the
command to the chosen General of the nation which had everything at
stake. All the influence of the United States had been exerted for a
long time in favor of a single command, and at once the unrestricted use
of the American force in France was offered to General Foch.
From what has been said of the course of the battle of Picardy, it can
readily be seen that the task of the new Commander in Chief was one of
the hardest ever given to a General on taking command of an army. After
a disaster that had greatly impaired the availability of the troops of
the Allies, General Foch was obliged to face the culminating effort of
the greatest military machine in all history with a force placed under
his command made up of armies that had never been in co-ordination--and
after the collapse of one of these armies.
Another serious element in the battle in Flanders is the fact that it
has been necessary to send to this front also French troops from General
Foch's reserves, making another drain upon these forces. The appointment
of General Foch to the chief command literally on the battlefield was
formally confirmed by the British and French Governments in the
following notice which appeared in Le Temps April 14:
The British Government and the French Government have agreed to
give General Foch the title of Commander in Chief of the allied
armies operating in France.
The United States, after having greatly helped to bring about General
Foch's command, has given a large part of the American force in France
to be brigaded with the allied troops wherever there are weak spots.
These factors in the military situation may make it possible for General
Foch again to assemble a mobile army for a counterstroke against the
German offensive.