And in 1869 he was sent to Metz, to the Jesuit College of Saint
Clément, to which students flocked from all parts of Europe.

He had been there a year and had been given, by unanimous vote of his
fellow students, the grand prize for scholarly qualities, when the
Franco-Prussian war began.

Immediately Ferdinand Foch enlisted for the duration of the war.




III

A YOUNG SOLDIER OF A LOST CAUSE

There is nothing to record of Ferdinand Foch's first soldiering except
that from the dépôt of the Fourth Regiment of Infantry, in his home
city of Saint-Étienne, he was sent to Chalon-sur-Saône, and there was
discharged in January, 1871, after the capitulation of Paris.

He did not distinguish himself in any way. He was just one of a
multitude of youths who rushed to the colors when France called, and
did what they could in a time of sad confusion, when a weak government
had paralyzed the effectiveness of the army--of the nation!

Whatever blows Ferdinand Foch struck in 1870 were without weight in
helping to avert France's catastrophe. But he was like hundreds of
thousands of other young Frenchmen similarly powerless in this: In the