In last week’s NS political column, George Eaton compared Ed Miliband’s strategy following his fightback speech of 13 November to that of the French general Ferdinand Foch, who said in 1914, “My centre is giving way, my right is retreating, situation excellent. I am attacking.” Foch made this declaration to the French commander-in-chief, Joseph Joffre, after his famed counterattack on the River Marne – known as “the Miracle of the Marne”.
Foch, promoted a marshal of France in the closing months of the war, is honoured as the victor of the Western Front, the man who accepted the German surrender in November 1918. In July 1919 he did what Napoleon Bonaparte only dreamed of: he led a parade of French troops across Westminster Bridge, to the cheers of a huge crowd. His statue stands near Victoria Station.
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