Charles Lanrezac Charles Lanrezac ( July 31 , 1852 – January 18 , 1925 ) was a French general , formerly a distinguished staff college lecturer , who commanded the French Fifth Army at the outbreak of World War I . His army , originally intended to strike the Germans on their western flank , faced the brunt of the German march , stronger and further west than anticipated , through Belgium at the Battle of Charleroi . He had become increasingly frustrated at the reluctance of his superior , General Joseph Joffre , who was initially preoccupied by French attacks into Lorraine and the Ardennes , to appreciate the danger of the German march through Belgium . Forced to retreat , at Joffre ' s insistence he made a successful counterattack at the Battle of Guise , but his apparent reluctance to counterattack led him to be relieved of command prior to the Battle of the Marne . He is particularly remembered in British writing as his army fought on the right of the small British Expeditionary Force , with whose commander - in - chief Sir John French , he had a poor relationship . Early life . Lanrezac was a Marquis , but did not use his title . Lanrezac attended the military school at Saint - Cyr in 1869 but when the Franco - Prussian War started 1870 , he was sent to fight as a lieutenant . He fought with the Armée de la Loire at Coulmiers and in the campaign around Orléans . In January 1871 he was transferred to the Armée de l ' Est and following the failure of its campaign , he was interned in Switzerland . By 1876 he had been promoted to captain . He graduated from the École Militaire in 1879 . The following years Lanrezac served in various staff functions in the 113th Infantry Regiment and on a brigade staff in Tunisia . Lanrezac was promoted to colonel in 1902 and given command of the 119th Infantry Regiment . He became a brigade general in June 1906 , commanding the 43rd Infantry Brigade stationed in Vannes . After this brigade command he was made a professor at the École Militaire . He was made a Général de Division in 1911 and the following year he was appointed to command of the XI Corps in Nantes . In April 1914 Lanzerac succeeded Joseph Gallieni as a member of the French Supreme War Council and was designated as the commander of the Fifth Army in the event of war . World War I . Advance into Belgium . At the start of World War I , Lanrezac was given command of the French Fifth Army , holding the extreme left of the French line . His command was arguably the most difficult on the Western Front ; he had to meet the enveloping right - wing of the German Army that quickly steamrolled Belgium , whilst co - operating with the allied British Expeditionary Force on his left flank . Lanrezac was already sufficiently concerned ( 11 August ) about the German movement into Belgium to obtain permission to deploy one of his corps at Givet on the Meuse . Liege fell on 12 August ( on which day senior British generals were still arguing , in London , as to how far forward the BEF should be deployed ) . Lanrezac visited his superior , General Joseph Joffre on 14 August , but the latter was pleased at the good progress which the French were making into Alsace - Lorraine , and unwilling to listen . On 15 August , after German cavalry had been spotted at Dinant on the Meuse , Lanrezac at last obtained permission to redeploy from opposite the Ardennes to the angle of the Sambre and the Meuse , and on that day Joffre issued his " Instruction Particuliere No 10 " , stating that the main German effort would come through Belgium . The British liaison officer Edward Spears later wrote that Lanrezac ' s reputation as an academic lecturer made him “ the star turn ” of the French Army . The British commander Sir John French , at his meeting with Joffre on 16 August , was advised to hurry up and join in Lanrezac ’ s offensive , as he would not wait for him to catch up . Spears described Lanrezac as “ a big flabby man ” with a habit of hitching his spectacles behind his ear , whilst Sir John , who disliked him , later described him as “ a Staff College pedant ” with no practical ability at command in war . Sir John had an infamous meeting with Lanrezac at Rethel ( 17 August ) , at which he attempted to speak in French , despite not being able to do so well . When he asked whether the Germans spotted at Huy were crossing the river , his attempt to pronounce the name " Huy " caused Lanrezac to exclaim in exasperation that the Germans had probably gone there to fish . Not only did they form a mutual dislike , but Sir John also believed Lanrezac was about to advance further , whereas in fact Lanrezac wanted to fall back from his strong position behind the angle of the Rivers Sambre and Meuse , but was forbidden to do so by Joffre . Although Joffre was aware ( 18 August ) that as many as fifteen German corps were moving through Belgium ( in fact it was sixteen , and twenty - eight if the German Fourth and Fifth Armies are also included ) , he believed that only a few of these would come west of the Meuse , where he believed they could be held by the British and Belgians . French Third and Fourth Armies , on Lanrezac ' s right , were preparing to attack into the Ardennes in accordance with Plan XVII , and Joffre wanted Lanrezac ’ s Fifth Army to attack the bulk of the German right wing on its west flank as – it was assumed – it attacked the left flank of French Fourth Army . Lanrezac , forbidden to retreat by Joffre , reported that he would be ready to attack by 20 August . Joffre believed ( 20 August ) that Liege was still holding out ( in fact the last of the Liege forts had fallen on 16 August ) , and hoped that Lanrezac would be able to link up with Namur , which was expected to hold out for even longer . Battle of Charleroi . With the French Third and Fourth Armies now attacking into the Ardennes , Lanrezac declined either to attack as Joffre wished or to send reinforcements to Namur , which he had been warned would not hold out . Later that day the German Second Army attacked the French Fifth Army and forced bridgeheads across the Meuse ( within a fortnight , Joffre had sacked one of the French corps commanders – General Sauret of III Corps , who had disappeared during the battle , leaving the corps artillery commander to take charge - and three of the four division commanders involved ) . The French III and X corps counterattacked but were beaten further back . Lanrezac ’ s Fifth Army was now attacked on its right by the German Third Army ; although these attacks were held , Lanrezac asked Joffre for permission to retreat . Lanrezac asked for the BEF to attack the German Second Army in flank , although he also – contradicting himself – reported that the BEF was still in echelon behind his own left flank , which if true would have made it impossible for the BEF to do as he asked . Sir John , who had cancelled his own planned advance on news that Lanrezac had asked to fall back , agreed to hold his position . 23 August was the third day of the Battle of Charleroi . A more aggressive commander than von Bülow might have been able to drive in III and X Corps in the French centre , but despite repeated pleas from 10am onward , Lanrezac refused Franchet d ’ Esperey ’ s I Corps permission to counterattack from the French right . The Fifth Army was attacked again , this time also on the flanks , by Bülow ’ s German Second Army to the north and Hausen ’ s German Third Army to the East . Hausen was prevented from driving south - west to cut off the French retreat only by several entreaties by Bülow to attack westwards to draw off French strength from Bülow ’ s front . Lanrezac was highly impressed by the performance of the French 75mm guns , and from now on devoted time to finding appropriate places to deploy them . Retreat from Charleroi . Lanrezac ' s retreat after the Battle of Charleroi ( 21 – 3 August ) arguably saved the French army from decisive defeat as it prevented the much sought envelopment of the Schlieffen plan . In the small hours of 24 August ( just after the Battle of Mons ) the BEF was forced to retreat on news that Lanrezac was falling back , which disgusted Sir John French , and that the French Third and Fourth Armies were also falling back after being defeated at Virton and Neufchateau . Churchill later wrote : " " The French Fifth Army had no sooner completed with severe exertions its deployment on the Sambre , and the British Army by forced marches had no sooner reached the neighbourhood of Mons , when the overwhelming force of the German turning movement through Belgium fell upon them . . . ( Sir John French ) accepted ( Joffre ' s wish to attack , even on the left ) with implicit faith . Lanrezac , sure that Joffre was utterly adrift from facts , watched with insolent distrust the impending disaster . But even he never imagined the weight and sweep of the German enveloping wing . The two armies of the left only escaped disaster by the timely retreat which Lanrezac and Sir John French each executed independently and on his own initiative . . . Lanrezac ' s grasp of the situation and stern decision to retreat while the time remained has earned the gratitude of France . It was a pity he forgot to tell his British Allies about it . " " On the morning of 26 August , while the BEF II Corps was engaged at the Battle of Le Cateau , Sir John French had a hostile meeting with Joffre and Lanrezac at St Quentin . Lanrezac was only reluctantly persuaded by his chief of staff to attend , and before Joffre ’ s arrival he was observed loudly criticising both GQG and the BEF , making a poor impression on the junior officer who witnessed it . However , he assured Joffre that Fifth Army would be ready to counterattack as soon as he was out into open country where he could use his artillery . French complained of Lanrezac ’ s behaviour , to which Lanrezac gave a vague and academic reply . Joffre stayed for lunch ( Lanrezac declined to do so ) , at which the atmosphere improved as Joffre confessed that he too was dissatisfied with Lanrezac . Battle of Guise . The liaison officer Colonel Victor Huguet reported ( 10 . 15pm on 26 August ) that the British had been defeated at Le Cateau and would need French protection to recover cohesion , and Joffre decided to order an attack by Fifth Army to take the pressure off the British . Early on 27 August Joffre gave Lanrezac a direct written order to counterattack as soon as his forces were on open ground where they could use their artillery ( which Lanrezac had told him was the key factor ) , and to take no account of what the British on his left were doing . This angered Lanrezac , who spent the day – both on the telephone to GQG and in conversation with Colonel Alexandre of GQG who visited him twice – arguing against the order , and he again demanded to be permitted to fall back when he learned that the BEF intended to retreat again on 28 August . Joffre visited Lanrezac at 8 . 30am on 28 August , and ordered Lanrezac to attack to the west , against the forces engaging the BEF . He later recorded that he had been struck by Lanrezac ’ s tired appearance , and that a “ heated ” discussion ensued until Lanrezac agreed to obey , at which point Joffre had his aide Major Gamelin draw up a written order and signed it in Lanrezac ’ s presence . Joffre later wrote of the difference in aggression between Lanrezac and de Langle de Cary , whose Fourth Army , originally intended to be the spearhead of the attack into the Ardennes , was a strong force and had made several counterattacks . French refused Haig ( commanding British I Corps ) permission to join in an attack by Lanrezac ( 28 August ) , who wrote of French ’ s “ bad humour and cowardice ” . The BEF also did not join in Lanrezac ’ s attack on the German Second Army at Guise ( 29 August ) . Joffre spent the morning at Lanrezac ’ s headquarters to supervise his conduct of the battle ( 29 August ) – willing to give Lanrezac a final chance but if necessary to sack him there and then . In the event he was impressed by Lanrezac ’ s cool demeanour and handling of the battle , before departing for an afternoon meeting with Sir John French . The westward attack towards St Quentin failed , but the day was won by a successful attack by Franchet d ’ Esperey ’ s I Corps in the north at Guise . As a result of the battle of Guise , von Kluck ’ s German First Army broke off its attacks on Maunoury ’ s Sixth French Army and swung south - east , inside of Paris . However , Lanrezac ’ s victory had left him in an exposed forward position , and he had a telephone conversation with General Belin at GHQ , warning him that he had been directly ordered to hold his position and attack if possible , and that his army was in danger of being cut off and encircled . Permission to retreat finally reached him at 7am the next morning . On 31 August German cavalry , hampered by lack of fresh horseshoes and nails , almost penetrated behind French Fifth Army ( almost capturing the British politician J . E . B . Seely , then serving as a liaison officer ) and came close to capturing the Aisne bridges , which would have cut off its retreat . On 1 September Fifth Army retreated across the Aisne in some confusion , with Lanzerac at one stage being heard to exclaim " “ Nous sommes foutus ! Nous sommes foutus ! ” " ( roughly : " We ' re shafted ! " ) . Dismissal . Lanrezac ' s harsh criticism of his superiors in the Staff Corps overshadowed his impressive ability to avoid envelopment by the Germans and he was replaced by Louis Franchet d ' Espérey just before the opening of the First Battle of the Marne . Joffre later recorded that ever since the Battle of Guise Lanrezac ’ s normal tendency to criticise and argue about his orders had been exacerbated by fatigue , to the detriment of Fifth Army staff ’ s morale . As he could not be counted upon for the planned counterstroke , it was necessary to relieve him on the afternoon of 3 September . The accounts of Lanrezac , Joffre ( who claimed that Lanrezac immediately agreed and cheered up when relieved of command , in his own office ) and Spears ( who recalled seeing them having a lengthy and strained conversation in the playground of the school where Fifth Army HQ was currently based ) do not agree with another . Joffre and Spears both claimed in their memoirs that , whatever his intellectual accomplishments , Lanrezac had been overwhelmed by the strain of command , Spears adding that he had done little to prepare the Charleroi position for defence and had never once in the entire campaign willingly engaged the enemy . Much of Lanrezac ' s poor reputation in English comes from Spears ' memoirs ( " Liaison 1914 " ) published in 1930 . Coming after criticism of the British in the memoirs of Huguet and Foch , the book was a great success , Harold Nicolson writing that he had especially enjoyed the " satirical " portrait of the " conceit ( ed ) . . . arrogant and obese " Lanrezac . However , General Macdonogh , who had been Head of BEF Intelligence in 1914 , thought Spears had been unfair to Lanrezac , whilst Lanrezac ' s son disputed the accuracy of his account of the Rethel meeting , writing that Lanrezac ' s most scathing comments about the British had been directed at his own staff afterwards ( Sir John French had in fact been complimentary about Lanrezac in his diary after the meeting , although his feelings appear to have soured thereafter ) . Lanrezac stayed in retirement for the rest of the war , refusing an offer of re - employment in 1917 . In 1921 , he published a book on the campaign - " Le Plan de campagne française et le premier mois de la guerre , 2 août - 3 septembre 1914 " . In recogntion of his initially unappreciated prudence in the opening month of the war that helped save France , he was made an officer of the Légion d ' honneur in July 1917 , awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown by Belgium in 1923 , and awarded the Grand Cross of the Légion d ' honneur in 1924 . Following his death in January 1925 , he was , at his request , buried without military honours . The city of Paris honored Lanrezac by naming a street after him near the Place de l ' Étoile . The Rue de Général Lanrezac , one block from the Arc de Triomphe , is a side street connecting Avenue Carnot with Avenue MacMahon . Other streets bearing Lanrezac ' s name are to be found in Marseilles , Nantes , Neuilly - sur - Seine and Saint Malo .