Marshal Ferdinand Foch, under whose dashing command the French and their Allies defeated the Germans in WWI, had panache. During the second battle of the Marne in 1918, in response to fear-mongering reports from the front, he sent the following telegram:
My center is giving way, my right is in retreat; situation excellent. I am attacking.
And, of course, like his fellow Gascons D’Artagnan and Cyrano de Bergerac, one quality he possessed in abundance was audacity: “L’audace, toujours l’audace,” was the cry that rallied the troops that won the war. If only he’d been around in 1940. On the other hand, one of his ablest generals was a certain Philippe Pétain. Mutatis mutandis, or words to that effect.
