Foch, appointed Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces on the Western Front in the Spring of 1918, was widely seen as the architect of Germany's ultimate defeat and surrender in November 1918.

Among many other honours, he was made an honorary Field marshal in the British Army, the only French military commander to receive such a distinction.

[4] Foch was the recipient of many French and foreign honours; among these the British government awarded him the Order of Merit and made him an honorary Field marshal.

[6] The choice of a copy of a French statue by a French sculptor was not without controversy; the President of the Royal British Society of Sculptors wrote to The Times to complain, and the Chair of the Royal Fine Art Commission, Lord Crawford, privately described the final design as "a very poor and commonplace thing".

[7] Nevertheless, the Memorial Committee pressed ahead, partly due to underfunding of the project and the relatively cheap cost of the replica.

[5] The memorial was unveiled by Edward, Prince of Wales, on 5 June 1930[9] at a ceremony also attended by Lloyd George, Admiral Lord Jellicoe and an array of British and French senior military officers.