Foch is a slim man, with a great deal of nervous energy in his actions,
being so quick and graceful in movement, indeed, that a recent English
observer declares he carries himself more like a man of 40 than one of
64. His gray blue eyes are particularly to be noticed, so keen are they.
His speech is quick, precise, logical.
So little has Foch been known to the French public that it has been
stated time and again that he is an Alsatian. He is not, but comes of a
Basque family which has lived for many generations in the territory
which is now the Department of the Hautes-Pyrenees, directly on the
border of Spain. Foch was born in the town of Tarbes in that department.
Joffre was born in the Department Pyrenees-Orientales, on the Spanish
border to the east. Foch's father, Napoleon Foch, was a Bonapartist and
Secretary of the Prefecture at Tarbes under Napoleon III. One of his two
brothers, a lawyer, is also called Napoleon. The other is a Jesuit
priest. Foch and these brothers attended the local college, and then
turned to their professions.
In 1870 Foch served as a subaltern against the Germans, as did Joffre.
After the war Foch began to win recognition as a man of brains, and at
26 he was given a commission as artillery Captain.
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