1914 Corps commander In 1914, Franchet d'Espèrey did well as a
corps commander at the
Battle of Charleroi. On 23 August, the third day of the battle, with the German Second Army pressing the French centre, Franchet d’Esperey saw an opportunity for his I Corps to counterattack from the French right. Despite repeated pleas from 10 am onward, Lanrezac refused him permission to do so. On 23 August
Fifth Army was attacked again, this time also on the flanks, by
Bulow’s
German Second Army to the north and
Hausen’s German
Third Army against Franchet to the right. At the
Battle of Guise on 29 August, the day was won by a successful attack by his I Corps in the north: leading his men on horseback, he is said to have called out "how do you like this advance, Mr Staff College Professor?" to Colonel
Philippe Pétain, who was commanding an infantry brigade. At that battle, he was ordered to rally III Corps on his left and X Corps on his right.
Army commander On the eve of the
First Battle of the Marne, Franchet d'Espèrey was given command of the
Fifth Army. When asked by
Joffre whether he was willing to accept the command he replied equivocally "the same as another". He added that the higher a man is promoted the more staff he gets. Despite being a naturally kind man, he affected a tyrannical demeanour to galvanise his officers.
Edward Spears, then a lieutenant liaising between the BEF and the Fifth Army, wrote that he physically resembled a howitzer shell and of the "galvanic effect" that he had on his staff on taking command. He ordered that any man not doing his duty was to be shot, including staff officers. When General de Mas Latrie protested at an order, Franchet d'Esperey took the telephone from the staff officer
Hély d'Oissel and told Latrie "
Marchez ou crevez." ("March or die.") before putting the phone down on him. He would break up roadblocks by firing his revolver out of the window of his car.
President Raymond Poincaré noted that Franchet d'Esperey was "a stranger to depression". His predecessor,
Charles Lanrezac, had had poor relations with the BEF commander,
Sir John French, so Franchet d'Espèrey immediately sent the British commander a telegram signed "Franchet d’Esperey
KCVO" promising cooperation. On 4 September Joffre asked Franchet d'Espèrey and
Ferdinand Foch, who was commanding the newly formed
Ninth Army, if they would be willing to give battle in a day or two. Franchet d'Espèrey met with
Henry Hughes Wilson (BEF Sub Chief of Staff) and
George Macdonogh (Head of BEF Intelligence) at Bray (simultaneous with
Joseph Gallieni and
Michel Maunoury's meeting with the BEF Chief of Staff
Archibald Murray). Franchet d'Espèrey's plan reached Joffre at 6:30 pm as he was eating his dinner with two Japanese officers. He impressed Joffre by presenting a plan for a concerted attack by the Allied armies on 6 September if Maunoury's
Sixth Army reached a certain position on the
Ourcq at a certain time ("if not the British will not march"). If not, he would retreat a little further, south of the
Grand Morin with the Sixth and the BEF l, striking
Alexander von Kluck's
1st Army in flank. That was to become the basis for
Instruction Générale No 6, the Allied plan of attack at the Marne. When asked by Franchet d'Espèrey to be ready to attack on 6 September,
General Hache of III Corps "looked as if he had been hit on the head with a club". De Mas Latrie was sacked and replaced by
Maud'huy, from
Castelnau's
Second Army. Fifth Army eventually saw the replacement of three out of five corps commanders and seven out of thirteen division commanders, and a similar proportion of brigade commanders.
1916–1917 By March 1916, Franchet d'Espérey was in command of the
Eastern Army Group and by January 1917 the
Northern Army Group. He was badly defeated by the Germans at the
Battle of Chemin des Dames in May 1918.
1918 victory in Salonika Removed from the
Western Front, he was appointed commander of the
Allied Army of the Orient at
Salonika on the
Macedonian front. Between 15 and 29 September 1918, Franchet d'Espèrey, in command of a large army of
Greeks (9 divisions),
French (6 divisions),
Serbs (6 divisions),
British (4 divisions) and
Italians (1 division), staged a
successful offensive in
Macedonia that ended by taking
Bulgaria out of the war. General Franchet d'Espèrey followed up the victory by
overrunning much of the Balkans and by the war's end, his troops had penetrated well into
Hungary. That collapse of the Southern Front was one of several developments that effectively triggered the November 1918 Armistice. == Later life ==