After his resignation Messimy came to say goodbye to Joffre on 1 September. Joffre told him that he expected to renew the offensive on 8 September at Brienne-le-Chateau, a town between the Marne and the Seine - the counterstroke which would become the First Battle of the Marne. Messimy wrote that he had been impressed by his calm. At the time his feelings may have been less cordial: in late December 1914 he complained to Abel Ferry that Joffre was responsible for the “divorce” between GQG and the troops, and that bad intelligence had been responsible for the near disaster of Charleroi and for Joffre's partial and costly attacks.