title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French's friend General Grierson, GOC II Corps, had died suddenly on the train near Amiens and French returned to GHQ on 17 August, to find that Kitchener had appointed Lieutenant-General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien to command, knowing that French disliked him, rather than Plumer (French's choice) or Hamilton (who asked for it).


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Spears arrived at GHQ (21 August) and reported to Wilson (French was out visiting Allenby) that Lanrezac did not want to leave his strong position (behind the angle of the Rivers Sambre and Meuse) and "had declaimed at length on the folly of attack". Holmes believes French was receiving very bad advice from Wilson at this time, in spite of good air and cavalry intelligence of strong German forces. French set out for Lanrezac's HQ (22 August) but by chance met Spears on the way, who told him that Lanrezac was in no position to attack after losses the previous day at the Battle of Charleroi, which Sir John did not quite believe and that Lanrezac was out at a forward command post. Brushing aside Spears' arguments that another meeting with Lanrezac would help, French cancelled his journey and returned to GHQ; "relations with Lanrezac had broken down", writes Holmes, because Sir John saw no point in driving for hours, only to be insulted once again in a language he did not quite understand.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French was then visited again over dinner by Spears, who warned him that the BEF was now ahead of the main French line, with a gap of between the British right and Lanzerac's left, exposing the BEF to potential encirclement. Spears was accompanied by George Macdonogh, who had deduced from air reconnaissance that the BEF was facing three German corps, one of which was moving around the BEF left flank (only three French territorial divisions were to the left of the BEF; Sordet's French cavalry corps was on its way to the British left but its horses were exhausted). Sir John cancelled the planned advance. Also that evening a request arrived from Lanrezac, that the BEF attack the flank of the German forces which were attacking Fifth Army, 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. French thought Lanrezac's request unrealistic but agreed to hold his current position for another 24 hours.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Despite the events of the previous evening, French had—perhaps under the influence of Henry Wilson—reverted to the belief that an advance might again be possible soon. French's and Smith-Dorrien's accounts differ about the conference at 5.30 am on 23 August. French's account in his memoirs "1914" stated that he had become doubtful of the advance and warned his officers to be ready to attack or retreat, which agrees largely with his own diary at the time, in which he wrote that he had warned Smith-Dorrien that the Mons position might not be tenable. When "1914" was published, Smith-Dorrien claimed that French had been "in excellent form" and had still been planning to advance. However, in his own memoirs, Smith-Dorrien admitted that French had talked of either attacking or retreating, although he claimed that it had been he who had warned that the Mons position was untenable. Edmonds in the "Official History" agreed that French had probably been prepared either to attack or to retreat.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French at first believed that the German attacks at Mons were merely trying to "feel" the British position and drove off to Valenciennes to inspect a French brigade. On his return he sent a letter to Lanrezac in which he talked of resuming the attack the following day. Wilson had "calculated" that the BEF was faced only by one German corps and a cavalry division, and was allowed to draw up orders for an attack the next day. Although Macdonogh warned that the BEF was faced by at least two German corps, French did not cancel the planned advance until a message from Joffre (7 pm) warned that he was faced by at least three German corps, although he still ordered Smith-Dorrien to try to hold his ground. At midnight Spears arrived with the news, which disgusted Sir John, that Lanrezac was falling back, and the French Third and Fourth Armies were also falling back after being defeated at Virton and Neufchateau. Murray summoned the Corps Chiefs of Staff at around 1 am on 24 August and ordered them to retreat. Even after Mons, French still thought that a deeper Allied thrust into Belgium would have disrupted the German advance.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Von Kluck sent von der Marwitz's II Cavalry Corps (3 cavalry divisions) around the British west flank to prevent a British retreat on the Channel ports. Sir John French sent a message (24 August), with an unmistakable tone of pique, to Lanrezac, which Spears insisted on writing down, warning that the BEF might have to retreat southwest towards Amiens on its lines of communication, although it is unclear that this would actually have been practicable if the Germans had actually been moving in force around the British left flank. However, Sir John agreed to Joffre's request that the BEF, now numbering 5 divisions as it had been joined by the 4th Infantry Division, would instead fall back on Cambrai if it had to, so that the BEF could still protect the French left flank. Joffre also sent a further two French reserve divisions to the British left flank, the beginning of the redeployment of French forces which would see Maunoury's Sixth Army form around Amiens and then fight near Paris. French considered, but rejected, the option of sheltering the BEF in the fortified town of Maubeuge, partly out of instinct that the Germans were hoping to tempt him into allowing himself to be besieged there and partly because he remembered that Edward Hamley had likened Bazaine allowing himself to be besieged in Metz in 1870 to a shipwrecked man taking hold of the anchor. French himself issued no direct written orders between 11.15 pm on 21 August and 8.25 pm on 24 August; Terraine argued that this, along with his absence during the battle of Mons (although on the German side von Kluck also played little direct role in the battle), marks the point when he and GHQ began to disengage from active command of the BEF, leaving Smith-Dorrien and Haig in effective control of their corps.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: GHQ moved back from Le Cateau to St Quentin on 25 August. French had a long discussion with Murray and Wilson (25 August) as to whether, the BEF should stand and fight at Le Cateau, a position which had been chosen for "both" I and II Corps to hold after they had retreated on either side of the Forest of Mormal. II Corps had been harried by German forces as it retreated west of the forest and Wilson and Murray were concerned about the risk of encirclement from the left. Sir John did not agree but wanted to fall back as agreed with Joffre, and hoped that the BEF could pull out of the fight altogether and refit behind the River Oise. Besides concern for his men, he was also worried that he was exposing his small force to the risk of destruction which Kitchener had forbidden. Wilson issued orders to Smith-Dorrien to retreat from Le Cateau the next day.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French was awakened at 2 am on 26 August with news that Haig's I Corps was under attack at Landrecies, and ordered Smith-Dorrien (3.50 am) to assist him. Smith-Dorrien replied that he was "unable to move a man". This angered French as he was, at that time, fond of Haig. French was woken from his sleep again at 5 am with the news that Smith-Dorrien had decided to stand and fight at Le Cateau, as the Germans would otherwise be upon him before he had a chance to retreat. Insisting that the exhausted Murray not be woken, French telegraphed back that he still wanted Smith-Dorrien to "make every endeavour" to fall back but that he had "a free hand as to the method", which Smith-Dorrien took as permission to make a stand. French's diary and memoirs omit mention of this telegram. Sir John also sent a message to Lanrezac at 5 am, asking him to assist Haig (on Smith-Dorrien's right), which he agreed to do, although in the event his help was not needed. On waking properly, French ordered Wilson to telephone Smith-Dorrien and order him to break off as soon as possible. Wilson ended the conversation by saying "Good luck to you. Yours is the first cheerful voice I've heard in three days."


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French and his staff believed that the Cavalry Division had been completely destroyed at Le Cateau (it had in fact suffered no more than 15 casualties) and that 5th Division had lost nearly all its guns, destroying II Corps as a fighting unit (in fact units reassembled after the retreat). French later (30 April 1915) told Haig that he should have had Smith-Dorrien court-martialled after Le Cateau. In his memoirs French later claimed that Smith-Dorrien had risked destruction of his corps and lost 14,000 men and 80 guns (actual losses of each were around half of this number). However, it has also been argued that the vigorous defensive action at Le Cateau relieved the pressure and allowed the troops to re-organise, gather up their supplies, and make a fighting withdrawal.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: On the morning of 26 August, while the Battle of Le Cateau was in progress, Sir John had a hostile meeting with Joffre and Lanrezac at St Quentin. This meeting, held at Joffre's insistence, was the second and last time Sir John met Lanrezac, who attended only reluctantly. He complained of Lanrezac's behaviour, to which Lanrezac "merely shrugged" and gave a vague and academic reply. Joffre talked of his "Instruction Generale No 2" which talked of a new French Sixth Army forming around Amiens, but although this had been received by GHQ during the night French had not been shown it (Holmes blames Wilson, who had taken charge of the staff as Murray had had a complete collapse). French insisted that he must retreat further, although he agreed to press Kitchener to send the remaining British division bringing the BEF up to six infantry divisions, to France rather than to Belgium. Joffre stayed for lunch (Lanrezac declined to do so), at which the atmosphere improved as he confessed that he too was dissatisfied with Lanzerac. Joffre was surprised at the "rather excited tone" in which Sir John criticised Lanrezac, unlike his calm demeanour of a few days' earlier, and came away deeply concerned at the obvious personal friction between French and Lanrezac, but also at Sir John's reluctance to stand and fight.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: GHQ fell back to Noyon (26 August). Huguet reported to Joffre (10.15 pm on 26 August) that the British had been defeated at Le Cateau and would need French protection to recover cohesion; he also reported that although the BEF's fighting spirit was undaunted, the British "Government" might order the BEF to retreat to Le Havre. Colonel Brecard, another liaison officer attached to the British staff, reported that two out of the five British divisions were destroyed and that, in Wilson's view, the BEF would need a week to refit. Sir John warned Huguet that there would be "bitterness and regret" in England over British losses, and Joffre, who had decided to order an attack by Fifth Army to take the pressure off the BEF, visited Sir John at Noyon on 27 August and gave him a message congratulating the BEF for its efforts protecting Fifth Army's flank. In fact Smith-Dorrien's staff were making intense efforts to hold II Corps together, although at a meeting (held at 2 am on 27 August, as Smith-Dorrien had found GHQ's present location with great difficulty) French accused him of being overly optimistic. GHQ moved back to Compiegne on 28 August, although Sir John was able to visit his troops on the march for the first time since 25 August, telling men who were resting on the ground of Joffre's message.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French refused Haig permission to join in an attack by Lanrezac, who wrote of French's "bad humour and cowardice". Even Spears felt Sir John was in the wrong here. The BEF also did not join in Lanrezac's attack on German Second Army at Guise (29 August). Joffre, who had spent the morning with Lanrezac, was concerned by rumours that the BEF might retreat towards the Channel Ports. He visited French in the afternoon, urging him to hold his place in the line promising that Russian successes would soon allow the Allies to attack. However, French insisted that his forces needed 48 hours of absolute rest, and Murray, whom Joffre noticed had been tugging at French's tunic throughout this, then showed an intelligence report of the strength of the German forces facing the BEF. After Joffre had departed in bad humour, French received an incorrect report that Fifth Army was falling back behind the Oise, and issued orders for the BEF to fall back to Rethondes-Soissons; when he received fresh reports that the French were holding their positions after all he replied that it was too late to cancel his orders. Sir John's opinion of Lanrezac was so low that he did not believe reports of his success at Guise (29 August) until he had sent Seely to interview the French corps commanders.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: The BEF was doing little fighting on 29 August and on 30 August had no contact with the enemy at all, and on that day III Corps (4th Division and 19th Infantry Brigade) became operational under Pulteney. On 31 August the BEF engaged in only a few minor cavalry skirmishes. Losses had indeed been high by Boer War standards, and Sir John, believing them to be greater than they were, and that the Kaiser was making an especial effort to destroy the BEF, believed he was carrying out the "letter and spirit" of Kitchener's instructions to avoid undue loss without Cabinet authority.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Spears later wrote of French's coolness and calmness on 30 August, although he also recorded that French no longer took much interest in matters unless they directly impinged on the BEF. Nonetheless a few hours after a meeting with Joffre, Sir John telegraphed him that the BEF would have to leave the line entirely and retreat behind the Seine for up to ten days to refit, tracing supply from St Nazaire and moving the forward base to Le Mans rather than Amiens. Kitchener heard of these plans from the Inspector-General of Communications, and when he demanded an explanation (Sir John's previous messages had been optimistic) French sent a long telegram (31 August) saying he had told Joffre that the BEF was unable to remain in the front line and that he wanted the BEF to move back behind the Seine, and that would take eight days if done at a pace which would not fatigue the troops unduly. He added (contradicting himself somewhat) that he would have preferred Joffre to resume the offensive, but that Joffre was giving the BEF's inability to join in as a reason for not doing so. He thought that the French Army had "defective higher leading".


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: On 31 August Sir John received messages from Joffre and President Poincare (relayed via Bertie, the British Ambassador) asking him not to withdraw. Joffre pointed out that the Germans were already shifting forces to the East. Kitchener demanded further details, and after showing French's previous message to the Cabinet telegraphed again warning that it was the manner and length of the retreat which concerned the Cabinet. Sir John then replied that the "shattered condition" of II Corps had reduced his offensive capability and that the BEF could not withstand an attack by so much as a single German corps. He wrote: "I do not see why I should again be called upon to run the risk of absolute disaster in order a second time to save (the French)." He also argued that the best solution would be for the French to counterattack and so "close the gap by uniting their inward flanks", although he agreed to halt at Nanteuil, which he expected the BEF to reach the following day, if the French halted their own retreat. Kitchener, authorised by a midnight meeting of whichever Cabinet Ministers could be found, left for France for a meeting on 1 September.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: They met, together with Viviani (French Prime Minister) and Millerand (now French War Minister). Huguet recorded that Kitchener was "calm, balanced, reflective" while Sir John was "sour, impetuous, with congested face, sullen and ill-tempered". On Bertie's advice, Kitchener dropped his intention of inspecting the BEF. They moved to a separate room, and no independent account of the meeting exists. French admitted that Kitchener had taken exception to his tone and that he had assured him that this was simply in his mind. In his diary Sir John wrote "we had rather a disagreeable time. I think K found he was making a mistake". In "1914" French later claimed that he had told Kitchener that although he valued his he would not tolerate any interference in his executive authority so long as he remained in command, and that they "finally came to an amicable understanding". Terraine dismisses as absurd Sir John's later claims that he resented being called away from GHQ (given that no battle was in progress, and that he had played little directing part in either of the two battles fought so far), and that an inspection of the BEF (by Kitchener, Britain's most celebrated soldier at the time) might have disheartened the men by the implied challenge to French's authority. Terraine suggests that Sir John was more anxious to prevent Kitchener from inspecting the BEF as he might have seen for himself that they were less "shattered" than he claimed, and that Haig and Smith-Dorrien might have criticised him if given a chance to speak privately to Kitchener. After the meeting Kitchener telegraphed the Cabinet that the BEF would remain in the line, although taking care not to be outflanked, and told French to consider this "an instruction". French had a friendly exchange of letters with Joffre.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French had been particularly angry that Kitchener had arrived wearing his Field Marshal's uniform. This was how Kitchener normally dressed at the time, but French felt that Kitchener was implying that he was his military superior and not simply a cabinet member. Tuchman argued that French was particularly conscious of this, as he was known for his own quirks of dress. At Asquith's behest Churchill attempted to act as mediator, exchanging letters with French (4 September), who replied that Kitchener was "a fine organiser but he never was and he never will be a Commander in the field". By the end of the year, French thought that Kitchener had "gone mad" and his hostility had become common knowledge at GHQ and GQG. In "1914" French claimed that Kitchener had come to Paris to try to stop him retreating, which was untrue—it was the manner of the retreat, without consultation with Britain's allies, which was the problem.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: On 1 September, while French and Kitchener were meeting, the British fought a small engagement at Néry. The gap between I and II Corps was finally closed for the first time since 25 August, but GHQ had to be evacuated from Dammartin in a hurry under threat from German cavalry, General Macready being left behind in the confusion and General Robertson having to hastily wrap up in newspaper a leg of mutton he had been about to eat.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French was pleased at Lanrezac's dismissal (3 September), thinking at first that he had been arrested, and his Military Secretary reported to the King that "the fat pompous political general" had been sacked. Franchet d'Esperey, Lanzerac's successor, immediately sent a telegram to Sir John signed "Franchet d'Esperey KCVO" promising co-operation.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: On return to GHQ, now at Melun, from visits to troops, including a talk with Haig who agreed with him that the troops needed rest and replacements (4 September) he found his staff had agreed to two plans. Murray had been visited by Gallieni (Military Governor of Paris) and Maunoury (French Sixth Army, and currently under Gallieni's command) and had drawn up plans for an attack suggested by them. Wilson, on Sir John's orders, had travelled to meet Franchet d'Esperey and had agreed to the plan which became the basis for Joffre's "Instruction Generale No 6". Gallieni was still planning, with Joffre's initial agreement, to attack south, not north, of the Marne, so the result of Murray's orders was that the BEF should fall back another day's march, putting it 15 miles south of where Joffre wanted it to be for his new plan. Sir John at first intended to study the situation before making up his mind.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Joffre sent a copy of his plan to GHQ and asked Millerand to lobby the British Government. Hearing at last that Sir John was willing to co-operate, Joffre arrived for a meeting with French at (2 pm on 5 September). According to Spears' account, he explained his plan (in French), ending by clasping his hands together tightly enough to hurt them and begging "" ("Field Marshal, France is begging you"). Sir John listened with tears rolling down his reddening cheeks and, unable to find the words in French, replied "Damn it, I can't explain. Tell him that all that men can do our fellows will do". When Murray protested that the BEF could not be ready as soon as Joffre hoped, Joffre replied that Sir John's word was good enough for him. Joffre and Gamelin recorded Joffre's words slightly differently in their memoirs, as: "" ("the honour of England (sic) is at stake"), but Spears' account more closely matches the contemporary diaries of Wilson and Clive, and so is in Prete's view more likely to be correct. Although Joffre had dealt tactfully with Sir John (he later claimed in his memoirs that his visit to Melun had simply been to congratulate Sir John on his willingness to co-operate), at a time when he sacked three of his own army commanders (including Lanrezac), ten corps commanders, and thirty-eight divisional commanders—Neillands writes that "one cannot help wonder" whether French would not have suffered the same fate had he reported directly to Joffre. Joffre believed at the time that the BEF were technically under his orders and that French's uncooperativeness was because the British government were too weak to insist that he obey orders. French was conscious that he was Joffre's senior in rank and had more combat experience.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: The BEF advanced to take part in the First Battle of the Marne on the morning of 6 September, Sir John's mood marred by a telegram from Kitchener urging him to co-operate with Joffre. This was the result of Joffre's appeal to Millerand, and Joffre repaired the damage by praising the performance of French and the BEF to Kitchener. The BEF began its advance from 20 km behind where Joffre had wanted it. Franchet d'Esperey, to the right of the BEF, was repeatedly demanding a quicker advance, and at 3.30 pm Sir John ordered Haig (I Corps, on the BEF right) to resume his advance, but by nightfall Haig was still 12 km away from his objective, having lost only 7 men killed and 44 wounded. The BEF advanced further on 7 September. Lord Ernest Hamilton recorded that "in the strict sense there was no battle ... the fighting ... was desultory". Charteris, Haig's intelligence adviser, thought the advance "absurdly slow" and noted that the cavalry moved "behind" the infantry. When the BEF reached the Petit Morin on 8 September, Marwitz's German cavalry broke off and retreated further, only for the BEF to halt because of a heavy thunderstorm. Joffre urged that it was "essential" that the BEF advance further. By 8 September, despite outnumbering the enemy by 10:1, the BEF had advanced just 40 km in three days.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: On 9 September Sir John, arriving on the spot in person, ordered I Corps to halt as soon as they had reached the main road, a mere 5 miles from the river (at midday Haig, who had halted for four hours after crossing the river after seeing aerial reconnaissance of German forces opposite him, probably Ilsemann's 5th German Cavalry Division, not IX Corps baggage train as he believed, had just given orders to resume the advance). This prevented I Corps from taking Kraewel's detachment from the east flank, which would have helped II Corps, which had halted after encountering a mixed brigade at Montreuil-sur-Lions, and was now fighting uphill through woods. On the left Pulteney's engineers did not have enough pontoons to cross the Marne (70–90 metres wide), and by nightfall half of 4th Division's battalions crossed on a makeshift floating bridge. The cavalry ("Gough's Command" on the left flank, Allenby's 1st Cavalry Division on the right, each maintaining contact with the adjacent French forces) was in Hew Strachan's words "entirely out of the equation". Sewell Tyng notes that the BEF had "exercised no effective intervention" in the battle and "remained no more than a threat which was never translated into decisive action", although Herwig points out that the men were exhausted after the long retreat, that the French cavalry performed no better and yet the advance – into the gap between the German First and Second Armies – had a decisive effect on the German commanders.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Sir John initially thought (14 September) that the enemy was only "making a determined stand" on the Aisne. He urged the importance of entrenching wherever possible (23 September) and stressed (25 September) that heavy artillery would be necessary going forward.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: After lobbying by Churchill, who was keen to bring the Channel Ports under British control, and by Wilson, French lobbied Joffre (27 September) for the BEF, which was less heavily gunned and more mobile than a similarly-sized French Army, to disengage and try to move around the Allied left flank, part of the outflanking movements known as the Race to the Sea. Joffre agreed in principle, although he had private doubts about having no French troops between the BEF and the sea and later came to believe that this move had, by using up scarce rail capacity for ten days, prevented him from reinforcing Lille and had allowed the Germans to capture it.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Throughout September and October 1914 French warned Kitchener that his forces were running dangerously short of shells, at one point being rationed to 20 rounds per gun per day. French was impressed by the first 9.2-inch howitzers, but very conscious of German artillery superiority, and wrote to Kitchener (24 September) "Krupp is our most formidable enemy at present". French took a keen interest in the development of mortars and grenades, although during his time as Commander-in-Chief more were produced at the BEF's own workshops than in the UK. He also pressed the War Office for more machine guns, believing that a battalion needed at least six or seven (as opposed to two at the start of the war).


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: The Germans opened fire on the Antwerp outer forts (28 September) and over the opposition of French and Joffre the British 7th Division was earmarked for Antwerp (1 October) instead of for the BEF. Rawlinson's force at Antwerp was not placed under Sir John's command until 9 October, but managed to escape to the southwest the following day. French, who did not get on with Rawlinson, was once again suspicious that Kitchener was attempting to usurp operational control of the BEF.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: After a temporary stay in Abbéville for five days, GHQ was established in St Omer (13 October) where it was to remain for the rest of French's tenure. When asked to help shore up the Belgian line on his left French said (16 October 1914) "he would be d——d if he would be dictated to by Foch who had better mind his own business".


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French had thought in mid-October of establishing an "entrenched camp" large enough to hold the entire BEF around Boulogne, but was soon persuaded by Foch and Wilson to move around the German flank towards Roulers, rebuking Rawlinson, his command now numbered IV Corps, for failing to take Menin (18 October). The following day he ordered Rawlinson to move on Menin (southeast of Ypres) and Haig's I Corps to move on Roulers (northeast of Ypres), despite reports that there were at least 3 German corps facing Haig. Sir John had believed the Germans were running out of men (19 October), but instead the BEF ran into German forces also trying to turn the Allied flank. At a meeting on 21 October Joffre refused ("his face instantly became quite square") to lend him enough men to construct a fortified camp around Boulogne; Joffre instead ordered a French corps (under d'Urbal, whom French was pleased to find was "the old Murat type of beau sabreur") to the BEF's left, and French ordered the BEF to hold its positions.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French at first reported to Kitchener that the German attacks by Fourth and Sixth Armies were their "last card" and the BEF were holding them off. He was unimpressed by Smith-Dorrien telling him (midnight on 25 October) that his Corps "might go during the night", although he did send reinforcements. Generals Macdonogh and Radcliffe later testified to the Official Historian Edmonds in the early 1920s that French "believed what he wished to believe" and "never could believe that the Germans were not at their last gasp". He thought "everything was going splendidly" and "the Germans were exhausted" until warned of the arrival of German reinforcements, at which point he (allegedly) grew angry and banged his fist on the table shouting "How do you expect me to carry out my campaign if you carry on bringing up these blasted divisions?"


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Falkenhayn now ordered a new attack south of Ypres, between Gheluveld and Ploegsteert Wood, by "Army Group Fabeck". IV Corps was broken up (27 October) and Rawlinson and his staff sent home to supervise the arrival of 8th Division. French still expected to attack, turning the German western flank, on 29 October, and even after the Germans had pressed I Corps hard SE of Ypres that day (he later claimed in "1914" to have realised that the BEF could now do no more than hold its ground, but he, in fact, issued orders for the flanking attack to go ahead on 30 October). Sir John supervised the arrangement of reinforcements from Smith-Dorrien and Dubois' French corps to Haig's and Allenby's hard pressed forces at Ypres (30 October). Once again, the British planned to counterattack, but French was roused from his sleep (12.30 am on 31 October) by Foch, who warned him that his staff had spotted a gap in the British lines at Hollebeke Chateau; Foch advised him to "hammer away, keep on hammering" and promised to send a further 8 French battalions and 3 batteries. Sir John spent the crisis day of 31 October visiting Allenby and Gough, and was with Haig when they learned that a single battalion of the Worcesters had retaken Gheluveld ("The Worcesters saved the Empire" French later wrote). He then met Foch at the town hall at Ypres to warn him that he had no more reserves apart from "the sentries at his gate"—the next day (1 November) Haig's I Corps held its ground, with cooks, grooms and drivers pressed into the line, and aided by French counterattacks which drew off German reserves. The line stabilised, although there was a final day of crisis on 11 November.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: The fighting at Ypres, the last before major trenching began, destroyed the last of the original BEF. Since the outbreak of war the BEF had suffered 90,000 casualties, 58,000 of them in October and November, compared to an initial infantry strength (the first seven divisions) of 84,000. Of those who had landed in August, an average of one officer and thirty men per battalion remained. French was particularly disturbed at the lack of company commanders, and extremely reluctant to send trained officers and NCOs home to train the New Armies.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Sir John was unable to get away during the Battle of Ypres to attend the Dunkirk conference (1 November) between Kitchener and Joffre, Foch and Millerand. There Kitchener offered to replace French with Ian Hamilton, but Joffre declined, saying this would be bad for BEF morale and he worked "well and cordially" with Sir John. Foch told Wilson of this on 5 November) French sent Captain Freddy Guest to complain to the Prime Minister, who refused to believe it, and both Asquith and Churchill wrote French reassuring letters. French went to see Foch (6 November) to thank him for his "comradeship and loyalty". This did not stop him writing to Kitchener on 15 November that ", they are a low lot, and one always has to remember the class these French generals come from". French talked of inciting H. A. Gwynne to start a press campaign against Kitchener.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Over lunch on 21 November Haig noted that French looked unwell—French told him he thought he had had a heart attack and had been ordered to rest by his doctors. The King visited France (30 November – 5 December) and passed on his concerns that the Germans were about to invade Britain with 250,000 men, a rumour which French assumed to have been concocted by Kitchener. French's aides made inquiries—apparently in vain—about an increase in "table money" (expenses for entertaining visiting dignitaries) on top of his official salary of £5,000 per annum.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: In late November and early December the Germans moved forces to the East, and French expected the Russians to defeat them soon. In December he offered limited assistance to French attacks, out of affection for Foch and fear that Joffre would otherwise complain to Kitchener, and despite his concerns that the ground on Smith-Dorrien's front was too wet. Foch said of French (8 December 1914) "How he likes to cry, this Baby".


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: The Foreign Office (9 December) formally asked the French government for the BEF to move to the coast where it could co-operate with the Royal Navy and the Belgian Army, but this was rejected by Millerand on Joffre's advice, and Foch regarded the plan "with the greatest contempt", although on a visit to GHQ (11 December) he found Sir John only mildly in favour. A German counterattack (20 December) mauled the Indian Corps, who could not handle the cold, so badly that they had to be pulled into reserve.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French was still dissatisfied with Murray's performance as BEF Chief of Staff, but Asquith and Kitchener (20 December) forbade him to replace Murray with Wilson. The BEF was split into Haig's First Army (I, IV and Indian Corps) and Smith-Dorrien's Second Army (II and III Corps and 27th Division), effective 25 December. Allenby's Cavalry Corps and Rimington's Indian Cavalry Corps continued to report directly to French.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: At the Chantilly Conference (27 December 1914) French agreed with Joffre that the British Cabinet was mad. They discussed the relative merits of shrapnel and high-explosive shell, and events on the Eastern Front. Joffre told Sir John of his plans for twin offensives at Arras and Rheims in 1915, the former offensive to be assisted by the BEF, and then a further thrust towards the Rhine from Verdun and Nancy. He agreed that the British could take over line up to the coast but only as further reinforcements arrived, which would not be until much later in 1915.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French had hoped to incorporate the Belgian Army into the BEF, but the King of the Belgians vetoed this (2 January). French instead demanded that the New Armies be sent out as battalions and incorporated into existing units (perhaps with battalions combining to form regiments like in continental armies). All the senior commanders agreed that to have the New Armies fighting under their own inexperienced division and corps staff would be folly.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French was further irritated by an "incomprehensible" letter from Kitchener (2 January) stating that no more troops should remain on the Western Front than were necessary to hold the line, and seeking GHQ's views as to which other theatres British troops should be redeployed. French replied that given sufficient resources he could break the German front, that to attack Turkey would be "to play the German game" and that he preferred an advance into Serbia via Salonika, or preferably an attack to clear the Belgian Coast, and that if Russia collapsed the government would have no choice but to send all available troops to France. French also had Murray hand-deliver a copy of this letter to the Prime Minister, earning French a rebuke from Kitchener for not using the normal channels of communication.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: The War Council (7–8 January) discussed French's demand that 50 Territorial or New Army battalions be sent to France, but in the face of Kitchener's strong opposition it was agreed instead to examine the possibilities of other fronts. French, having sent Wilson and Murray on ahead to raise support, himself lobbied the War Council (13 January), informing them that he was stockpiling ammunition, expected only 5,000–8,000 casualties in his forthcoming offensive, and that the Germans were short of manpower and would have reached the end of their resources by November 1915. Although he expected Joffre's offensives in 1915 to be successful, he "relied on the Russians to finish the business". Kitchener agreed, but the War Council was then swayed by Churchill arguing for an attack on the Dardanelles, and it was agreed to send French only two Territorial Divisions by mid-February.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: The mooted Flanders Offensive was then cancelled altogether after further lobbying of Kitchener by Joffre and Millerand, who visited England especially to demand that the BEF instead take over more French line. Sir John agreed (15 January), as soon as he was reinforced, to relieve two French corps north of Ypres to allow Joffre to build up French reserves for his own offensive. Murray was sent off sick for a month (24 January) and French demanded his resignation, despite Murray insisting that he only needed to take a few days off. Robertson replaced him.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: At the War Council in London (9 February) French learned that the regular 29th Division was to be sent to the Near East rather than to France as he had been promised. French opposed this transfer, and passed on Joffre’s opposition to the British and French politicians' idea of a Balkan Campaign. His advice was not adopted by the War Council (the 29th Division would eventually be deployed to Gallipoli).


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Sir John believed (13 February) that the Russian withdrawals were "only a strategic move" designed to overextend the Germans. He ordered Haig to prepare for an attack at Aubers Ridge, rather than an attack by Smith-Dorrien at Messines-Wytschaete Ridge, as he had more confidence in both Haig and his troops than he had in Smith-Dorrien. GHQ then learned (16 February) that Joffre wanted de Maud'huy's French Tenth Army to attack at Vimy, with which attack Haig was ordered to co-ordinate his efforts.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Joffre wrote a letter of complaint (19 February) that the BEF might not be carrying out Sir John's promise to take over more line; in reply French summoned the liaison officer Victor Huguet to complain of Joffre's claims that the British had "demanded" French participation in the offensive and that they had more men per mile of trench than the French did (much of the French front, as Sir John pointed out, required smaller garrisons as it was of less tactical importance or rougher terrain).


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Sir John complained (21 February 1915) that Joffre "treated him like a corporal", although he thought the French "gloriously brave". When he had calmed down he sent Robertson and Wilson to smooth things over with Joffre, writing that Joffre's rude letter had probably been written by "some upstart young French staff officer". Even so, Joffre was angered by French's formal reply (23 February) and thought that he ought to be able to carry out the planned relief as he was receiving the 46th (Territorial) Division. Haig visited de Maud'huy (28 February) and learned that he would be lending only limited artillery support to the offensive. Joffre told GHQ (7 March) that the offensive must be postponed. Millerand wrote to Kitchener to complain, enclosing another letter of complaint from Joffre. Kitchener (3 March) forwarded both letters to Sir John, along with a letter of complaint of his own (which French described as "might be written by an old woman ... silly trash"). Joffre thought French (6 March 1915) a "liar" and "a bad comrade".


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French genuinely hoped for a breakthrough at Neuve Chapelle (10–12 March 1915) and personally briefed the cavalry commanders Allenby and Rimington beforehand, although, aware of the effect of modern firepower on cavalry, he cautioned Rimington against getting too close to the enemy. He believed that victory would prove to Kitchener that British efforts should be concentrated on the Western Front, and that it would be merely a prelude to a much larger Battle of Lille. French moved to a forward headquarters at Hazebrouck during the battle.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: A renewed attack was planned for 22 March, but French was told by Lieutenant-General Maxwell (Quartermaster General) that sufficient shell was available only for a bombardment half the intensity of Neuve Chapelle, and he was warned by du Cane of defective fuses causing guns to explode (14 March). To some extent the shell shortage was an excuse, as French was also critical of planning errors in First Army's attack. Kitchener told Asquith (18 March) that French was "not really a scientific soldier; a good capable leader in the field, but without adequate equipment and expert knowledge for the huge task of commanding 450,000 men."


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French's almost daily letters to his mistress in 1915 reveal his wish to see Kitchener sacked, his concern at lack of high explosive shells, his ambivalent relations with the French (although sympathetic at the political interference which French generals suffered), his anger (shared with many other Western Front generals) at the way scarce men and shells were being sent to Gallipoli, and his belief that the German advance into Russia in 1915 would ultimately fail; he hoped that Germany would sue for peace by the summer of 1915 or spring 1916.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Joffre once again (24 March) renewed negotiations for an Anglo-French offensive in Artois, and once again asked Sir John to relieve the two French corps north of Ypres. He agreed to do so by 20 April, prior to another attack by Haig's First Army. It was still unclear whether or when New Army divisions would be deployed to France.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French was rebuked by the King for an interview with the Havas News Agency (24 March), in which he had warned that the war would be long (Northcliffe warned him that this would encourage "slackers" at home). French wrote to Northcliffe (25 March) thanking him for his view that efforts should be concentrated on the Western Front rather than dissipated to other fronts as Kitchener wanted. French gave an interview to "The Times" (27 March) calling for more ammunition.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French breakfasted with Kitchener (31 March) who told him that he and Joffre were "on ... trial" over the next five weeks, and that the Allied governments would reinforce other theatres unless they made "substantial advances" and "br[oke] the German line". There were rumours in both British and French circles, probably baseless, that Kitchener coveted French's job for himself. French also objected (2 April 1915) to rumours that Joffre was trying to put the BEF under Foch's command.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: A GHQ memorandum (4 April) on the lessons of Neuve Chapelle emphasised registration of artillery. The French had achieved better results at Vimy by a long and methodical bombardment. French and Kitchener discussed ammunition (14 April). By April 1915 the BEF had grown to 900,000 men in 28 divisions.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French continued to be dissatisfied at Smith-Dorrien's grip on his army and in March was concerned that the rate of sickness was running at three times the rate in Second Army as in First.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: The Germans attacked (22 April) ground which Smith-Dorrien had recently taken over from the French, using poison gas, causing some French units to break on the British flank. Sir John spurred on Smith-Dorrien in costly counterattacks, but thought the French had made "a horrible mistake" and "Joffre ... really deceived me" in holding the line so thinly. French was angry (26 April 1915) that French troops had broken under German gas attack, commenting that French troops had also failed to hold their positions in the retreat of 1914. Smith-Dorrien suggested withdrawing to the so-called "GHQ Line". French privately agreed, but was angered that the suggestion came from Smith-Dorrien. Plumer was the given responsibility for the Ypres Salient (27 April). Smith-Dorrien was finally relieved of command of Second Army (6 May).


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: On 2 May French, who appears to have persuaded himself that a short sharp bombardment might work once again, assured Kitchener that "the ammunition will be all right", a declaration which Kitchener passed on to Asquith. This caused Asquith to claim in a public speech that there was no munitions shortage in the BEF.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: The attack at Aubers Ridge, against stronger German positions (9 May), failed. French watched the battle from a ruined church and attributed the failure to lack of HE shelling ("it's simple murder to send infantry against these powerfully fortified entrenchments until they've been heavily hammered", he wrote to his mistress). He returned to GHQ to find an order to send shells to Gallipoli, although after protest replacement shells were sent from the UK within days.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Fighting still continued at Ypres, and Sir John was under pressure from Joffre to renew the attack at Aubers Ridge. Although he would have preferred (10 May) to stand on the defensive until more high explosive was available, he agreed to Joffre's pressure to take over more French line and renew the attack. Haig also (11 May) favoured a "long methodical bombardment".


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: After Aubers Ridge Repington sent a telegram to "The Times" blaming lack of high explosive shell, which despite being heavily censored by Macdonogh was printed after Brinsley Fitzgerald assured him Sir John would approve. French had, despite Repington's denial of his prior knowledge at the time, supplied Repington with information, and Fitzgerald and Freddy Guest were sent to London to show the same documents to Lloyd George and the Opposition leaders Bonar Law and Balfour. Repington's article appeared in "The Times" (14 May 1915). Kitchener wrote to French that day that Repington should not be allowed out with the Army, to which French replied that Repington was a personal friend and he (French) "really ha(d) no time to attend to these matters".


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Kitchener, reluctant to deploy the volunteer New Armies to the Western Front, wired French (16 May 1915) that he would send no more reinforcements to France until he was clear the German line could be broken, although at the end of May he agreed to send two divisions to keep Joffre happy. the King wrote of French at this time to his uncle the Duke of Connaught: "I don't think he is particularly clever and he has an awful temper" (23 May 1915). Another offensive at Festubert began on the night of 15–16 May and dragged on until 27 May. Some ground was gained (1,000 yards over a 3,000 front) and the Germans had to rush in reserves. French was still optimistic that with sufficient high explosive a breakthrough for cavalry could be achieved. Whigham (BEF Sub-Chief of Staff) "was very sick as (at French's behest) he had to cancel & then rewrite his orders" (Wilson Diary 27 May 1915).


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: The shells scandal contributed to the fall of the Liberal Government. Although French's involvement was widely rumoured, many, including the Prime Minister, refused to believe it. At the time Esher and others thought a clique of people were acting in what they believed to be French's interests; Margot Asquith and Lord Selbourne suspected French's American friend George Moore. French later claimed in "1914" that he had leaked information to Repington to "destroy the apathy of a Government which had brought the Empire to the brink of disaster". By the time he wrote "1914" he had come to regard Asquith and Haig as responsible for his removal at the end of 1915, but at the time French was still on good terms with Asquith and wrote to him (20 May 1915, the day before the "Daily Mail" attacked Kitchener, and whilst Asquith was forming his new coalition government) urging him "as a friend" to sack Kitchener. Holmes believes French's object was to bring down Kitchener rather than the whole government.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Joffre often wrote to Kitchener complaining about French. Sidney Clive noted (6 June 1915) that meetings between French and Joffre could be counterproductive as "the former is irritable & the latter silent" and that it was best if their staffs agreed on plans beforehand before putting them before the two generals. French thought French War Minister Millerand "a damned socialist little cad" (7 June 1915).


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Joffre planned once again for attacks by the BEF and French Tenth Army, combined with another French offensive in Champagne. Cavalry, and infantry in buses, were to be ready to exploit as far as Mons and Namur. He wrote to GHQ (12 June) that the ground at Loos (where a British attack could unite with a French attack on Vimy Ridge) was "particularly favourable", although Haig reported (23 June) that the planned ground at Loos was unsuitable for an attack. French visited London (23 June) to talk to Kitchener, with Robertson, whose relations with French were breaking down, remaining behind. At a conference at Chantilly (24 June) French and Joffre agreed that further attacks on the Western Front were needed (to do otherwise was "unfair to Russia, Serbia and Italy") and that they should ask their governments to send all available troops to France rather than other fronts.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Asquith had a lengthy discussion (26 June) about the desirability of sacking French. Wilson thought French "ridiculously optimistic about the German state of collapse" and "convinced that the Boches are coming near the end of their reserves" (diary 28 June 1915) while General Haldane thought him "obstinate and unreasonable" (Haldane diary, 30 June 1915). After a "long talk" with Robertson (1 July) the King became convinced that French should be removed. Margot Asquith warned French (2 July) that his aides Freddy Guest and Brinsley Fitzgerald (whom she thought "wonderfully unclever") were making trouble between himself and Kitchener. Kitchener also opposed a major British offensive (Calais Conference, 6 July). Sir John expressed his concern that, although a successful attack was possible, his artillery had less than the 17 rounds per day which he deemed necessary. He was initially sceptical of Haig's reluctance to attack and inspected the ground himself (12 July). Although he felt that the high ground already in British hands would provide good observation, he broadly concurred with Haig's analysis. Robertson also opposed the attack.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Haig discovered (14 July) that the King had lost confidence in French, and discussed the matter with Kitchener. Wilson noted that relations between French and Robertson were breaking down by the summer, and suspected (correctly) that Robertson was blackening French's reputation by sending home documents which French had refused to read or sign. French told Clive (20 July) to inform GQG that ammunition shortage only permitted "holding" attacks and then (25 July) announced that there would be no attack at all. However, after an unsatisfactory meeting with Foch the previous day, he wrote a personal letter to Joffre (28 July) leaving the decision in his hands, although he noted concerns in his diary that night that the French attack at Arras would not be "decisive". He also noted (diary, 29 July) that the French were annoyed at British strikes and failure to bring in conscription, and might make a separate peace if Britain did not pull her weight, and may also have agreed to the attack because he had learned that his own job was under threat. Kitchener, who had changed his mind, eventually (19 August) ordered the attack to proceed.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French went sick in September, Robertson acting as Commander-in-Chief BEF. Both GHQ and First Army persuaded themselves that the Loos attack could succeed, perhaps as the use of gas, whose use by the Germans at Second Ypres had been condemned by Sir John, would allow a decisive victory. Sir John decided to keep a strong reserve consisting of the Cavalry Corps, the Indian Cavalry Corps and Haking's XI Corps, which consisted of the Guards Division and two New Army Divisions (21st and 24th) just arrived in France. French was privately doubtful that a breakthrough would be achieved and was concerned that in the event of failure the government would want to "change the bowler" (letters to Winifred 18 and 21 September). Haig (and Foch) wanted the reserves close to hand to exploit a breakthrough on the first day; French agreed to deploy them closer to the front but still thought they should be committed on the second day.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: On the day of the attack, the engineers manning the poison gas cylinders warned not to use them, citing the weakness and unpredictability of the wind. When overruled by Lt-General Hubert Gough the gas drifted back into the British lines and caused more British than German casualties. Though one division did break through the German defences on the first day (25 September), French had positioned reserves too far to the rear, and they only reached the front line by night. Wanting to be closer to the battle, French had moved to a forward command post at Lilliers, less than 20 miles behind First Army's front. He left Robertson and most of his staff behind at GHQ and had no direct telephone link to the First Army. Haig's infantry attacked at 6.30 am on 25 September and he sent an officer by car requesting release of the reserves at 7 am—he did not hear until 10.02 am that the divisions were moving up to the front. French visited Haig between 11 and 11:30 and agreed that Haig could have the reserve, but rather than using the telephone he drove to Haking's headquarters and gave the order personally at 12:10 pm. Haig then heard from Haking at 1.20 pm that the reserves were moving forward, but by the time the men, already exhausted from an overnight march in the rain, reached the front line through the chaos of the battlefield they were committed against strengthened German positions the following morning.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Joffre sent a letter of congratulation (26 September)—Clive sensed that Joffre did not really believe the British attack would succeed but wanted it kept going as a diversion from Champagne, although after complaints from Sir John that the French Tenth Army were not doing enough Foch ordered them to take over some line from the British around Loos. When the British reserves were ordered to attack on the second day (26 September), the advancing divisions found unbroken barbed wire and intact and ungassed German defenses. The slaughter that day resulted in 7,861 British casualties without a single German casualty.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Sir John was still keen for a concerted Anglo-French attack, telling Foch (28 September) that a gap could be "rushed" just north of Hill 70, although Foch felt that this would be difficult to co-ordinate and Haig told him that First Army was not in a position for further attacks at the moment. Charteris wrote that "Sir John French is played out. The show is too big for him and he is despondent."


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: The Battle of Loos was a strategic and tactical failure and has become one of the epitomes of a Great War battle in which generals showed complete disregard for the situations on the front lines the soldiers were facing. With only 533 guns and a shortage of shells to cover a wide 11,200 yard front with two German trench lines to bombard, the British would likely be attacking positions that had not been disrupted enough to allow a breakthrough. The British commanders at this time did not grasp that German tactical doctrine called for the second line of machine gun nests to be situated on the reverse slope of their hillside defenses; destroying them would need artillery with higher trajectories and shells with high explosives. By the time the Battle of Loos ended, around 8 October, the British suffered anywhere between 41,000 and 61,000 casualties, with most estimates for German casualties around 20,000.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Criticism of French, especially for his slow release of the reserves on the first day (25 September), began to mount even while the battle was still under way. Haig wrote of French in his diary (2 October) "It seems impossible to discuss military problems with an unreasoning brain of this kind". Even French's trusted secretary Brinsley Fitzgerald recorded in his diary (5 October 1915) that French's "sudden moods are weird and marvellous but we never now even have explanations". Haig told Haldane (9 October) that French's handling of the reserves had lost the battle. Kitchener demanded an explanation (11 October). Haig told Rawlinson (10 and 22 October 1915) he could no longer be loyal to French after Loos. Haig also wrote to GHQ (21 October) claiming that fresh forces could have pushed through with little opposition between 9 am and 11 am on the first day.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: To French's annoyance the King arrived in France (21 October) to sample opinion for himself—French met him at Boulogne but was summoned to London for talks with Kitchener and the Dardanelles Committee. Gough and Haking visited the King after tea (24 October) and told him "everyone has lost confidence in the C-in-C" while over dinner that evening Haig told the King that French was "a source of great weakness to the Army, and no one had any confidence in him any more".


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Robertson, visiting London in early October, had discussed French's replacement with Murray (now CIGS) and the King. After he returned to France and conferred with Haig, Haig recorded (diary 24 October) "I ha[ve] been more than loyal to French and did my best to stop all criticism of him or his methods ... I ha[ve] come to the conclusion that it [i]s not fair to the Empire to retain French in command. Moreover, none of my officers commanding corps had a high opinion of Sir John's military ability or military views; in fact "they had no confidence in him". Robertson quite agreed and left me saying he knew how to act, and would report to Stamfordham". Robertson thought (24 October) that French's "mind was never the same for two consecutive minutes" and that his ideas were "reckless and impossible" and that he had poor relations with Joffre.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French's friends in London reported that Asquith still wanted French to remain in office but Bonar Law was opposed; Wilson claimed that "cordial relations with the French" were Sir John's trump card and lobbied Carson in his favour. Walter Long reported that French's dismissal had never been openly discussed by the War Council, but Charles Callwell recorded that Asquith, Grey and Lloyd George were overheard by the waiters discussing it in a railway restaurant car. French himself believed that Kitchener's departure on a tour of the Mediterranean would save him.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: GHQ suggested that according to Haking's own report the reserves had been held up by "avoidable delay" and pointed out the futility of "pushing reserves through a narrow gap". Haig denied that there had been any "avoidable delay" and Haking now changed his mind and sent a new report (27 October) blaming the slowness of his troops' march on their inexperience. French's despatch was published (2 November) claiming that the reserves had been released at 9.30 am (the telephone log does show a call from GHQ at this time). Haig, who wrote to his wife that the despatch was "full of lies", demanded amendments and another interview between French and Haig ensued. Even though Charteris doubted that the quicker arrival of the reserves would have made much difference, the dispute revolved around the deployment and release of the reserves, rather than why Haig had demanded their release into a battle he thought already lost. Robertson told the King (27 October) that Haig should replace French. French's policies were attacked in the House of Lords (9 November) and again on 16 November when Lord St Davids complained of "the presence of ladies" at GHQ.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Haig sent copies of the relevant orders and a critique of GHQ's conduct of the battle to his wife, who showed them to Stamfordham (10 November) for the King to see. Robertson was working against French, telling Haig (15 November) that "the first thing is to get you in command". The Prime Minister discussed the matter with the King and Kitchener (both of whom thought French not up to the job, although Kitchener thought the time not right for a change), and, on 23 November, Haig. Asquith then asked Esher to convey to French in person the news that he must resign, but that he was being offered a peerage and the newly created job of Commander-in-Chief Home Forces. However, French insisted on seeing Asquith again (29 November) at which meeting Asquith told him that he must take the first step and that he was not being "recalled" (sacked). French's official critique of Haig's performance at Loos finally reached the War Office on 1 December. He wrote to Asquith (2 December) suggesting that Kitchener be removed to be replaced by a civilian Secretary of State to avoid friction with the new job of Commander-in-Chief Home Forces, and writing that he would await Asquith's decision on this point. He returned to France (3 December), but Asquith had been exchanging further letters with Stamfordham and they agreed that French must now be pressed to quit. Walter Long telephoned French (4 December) passing on the Prime Minister's message that he "must" resign.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Kitchener told Esher (4 December) that the government intended to appoint Robertson Commander-in-Chief of the BEF, but Haig was appointed instead. French's resignation, recommending Robertson as successor, reached Asquith on the morning of 6 December. It was announced in the press on 17 December and took effect at noon on 18 December. French and Haig had an awkward handover meeting (Fitzgerald told Wigram that Haig "never for one moment unbent"), at which French requested that Winston Churchill – then on active service with the BEF after his recent resignation from the Cabinet – be given command of a battalion (Haig had no objection). French was cheered onto the boat home by an escort of 19th Hussars.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French returned to England to be appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Home Forces in December 1915, and in January 1916, he was created Viscount French of Ypres and of High Lake in the County of Roscommon. Robertson prevented him having the same powers as the old Commander-in-Chief of the British Army or having a seat on the Army Council.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Despite estimates that the Germans could land up to 170,000 men, French thought an invasion unlikely unless the Germans had first won on the Western Front, and favoured fighting on the coast rather than a strong central reserve. He was energetic about inspecting defences, and appealed to Asquith to obtain the services of Arthur Paget and Bruce Hamilton.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: After discussions in February and March 1916 with Chief Secretary Augustine Birrell—who did not believe press talk of an armed Irish uprising but wanted more troops as a deterrent—Friend (Commander-in-Chief, Ireland) and Wimborne (Lord Lieutenant), French said that he could spare only a single cavalry brigade as reinforcements, and later offered an extra reserve infantry brigade, although in the event Friend declined (7 April) to make formal application for the brigade to be sent. French thought little more could be done unless the government changed its assessment of the threat.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French's term of office saw the suppression in 1916 of the Easter Rising, which briefly coincided with a German invasion scare. An intelligence report on 21 April warned of collaboration between the Irish and the Germans, causing French to mutter "I don't believe a word of it". French received news of the insurrection at noon on 24 April 1916 (Easter Monday), and at once sent two infantry brigades to Ireland and put other formations on standby—the Admiralty warned that the German fleet was out. Woken at 4 am on 25 April with the news that the Germans were shelling Lowestoft, French ordered the commanders of the two Home Defence Armies to prepare for action and ordered two divisions in the Midlands to be prepared to move to the coast. Later that day he was informed that Macready had been deputed to handle the War Office's side of the Irish uprising. French rejected Kitchener's suggestion that he go to Ireland that very evening and take personal command, a decision with which the Prime Minister concurred (despite their previous antagonism, French recorded that Kitchener "expressed no annoyance at my visit to the PM!"). The military authorities reported from Dublin that they had the situation well in hand.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: On the evening of 26 April, told that the government had decided to send out a new general to Ireland, French selected Maxwell (who had been military governor of Pretoria) from a shortlist of two. French had already told Asquith that he had ordered the 60th Division to be ready to move, but would not send it without the concurrence of the General Staff. On 27 April, French visited Robertson who agreed with him that to send more troops to Ireland would be "playing the German game". However, the next day after visits from Midleton (on instructions from Asquith) and Carson French agreed to send three extra battalions, as well as the cavalry brigade from Aldershot which Maxwell now requested. The rebellion was crushed by 29 April. On 3 May Asquith recorded his concerns that the shooting of rebels might antagonise Irish opinion, but French, despite having been advised by John Redmond that Sinn Féin had little support outside Dublin and that the Army should not use more than minimal force, passed on these concerns with the caveat that he would not interfere with Maxwell's actions. In the opinion of one biographer French's views had not moved on since his hanging of the Cape Colony Boers, and he bears some responsibility for the shootings.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French became increasingly critical of Haig's Western Front Offensives. One biographer writes that "French's office at Horse Guards became a clearing house for gossip from France". French was critical of the choice of Rawlinson to command the Somme and in August 1916 Robertson warned Haig that "Winston, French and various 'degommed people' are trying to make mischief".


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: In October 1916, Lloyd George (then War Secretary) sought French's advice about recent press criticism of British artillery and discipline, then sent him to France to sound out the opinion of the French generals about why the French had gained ground with fewer losses on the Somme. Foch (C-in-C French Army Group North) refused to be drawn, although he confessed to Wilson that Haig's methods invited criticism, and Haig refused to meet him, sending an aide Lt-Col Alan Fletcher, telling him "I would not receive Viscount French in my house. I despise him too much personally for that, but he would receive every attention due to a British Field Marshal". Haig and Robertson were both concerned that Lloyd George might appoint French CIGS in Robertson's place. On 25 November 1916 the King summoned French to Buckingham Palace and warned him to stop criticising Haig. In January 1917 French refused an invitation from Derby to dine with Haig, but on 22 June, after pressure from the King, a meeting was arranged for French and Haig to bury the hatchet, at which, by Haig's account, French confessed that in his bitterness at being removed from command he had "said things then which he was ashamed of now". Haig, according to his own diary, congratulated him for "speaking out like a man" and they shook hands as they parted, but their rapprochement was short-lived.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French took on responsibility for air defence, although he agreed with Repington that it was "a damnosa hereditas". He was frequently lobbied by local groups for better air defences. In January 1917 anti-aircraft guns were reallocated to anti-submarine warfare. After the Gotha raids in July 1917 French was able to make a fuss at the War Cabinet (Robertson complained he could not get a word in edgeways) and show letters he had written urging greater priority for air defence. A War Cabinet sub-committee was set up, nominally chaired by the Prime Minister but effectively run by J. C. Smuts, and French urged that air be treated as a separate department going forward (which eventually became the RAF). More guns and fighter squadrons were provided, and Brigadier E. B. Ashmore was appointed to command London's air defence, reporting to French.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: In July 1917, French asked to advise the War Cabinet, fully aware that this was breaking the monopoly of advice on which Robertson insisted. Lloyd George had French and Wilson to lunch in August, then on 11 October 1917, following the precedent of Asquith's War Council of August 1914, they were invited to the War Cabinet and invited to give their opinions (a note from Hankey asking French to submit his paper via the CIGS was apparently ignored). French's paper criticised GHQ's inflated estimates of German casualties compared to War Office figures, pointed out that there was no firm evidence that German losses were commensurate with Allied, and that any further Western Front Offensive "has become more of a 'gamble' than anything else we have undertaken" and that any future plans and forecasts by Haig should be most carefully examined. He recommended the "Petain solution" (i.e. standing mainly on the defensive on the Western Front until the Americans arrived in force) and urged the creation of an Allied Supreme War Council. Wilson, who was more amenable to Western front offensives, made some handwritten amendments to French's paper as well as submitting one of his own.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Hankey met French and Wilson on 24 October and urged them to reconsider, concerned that if Robertson resigned the Conservatives might bring down the government. French refused, saying Haig was "always making the same mistake" and "we shall do no good until we break down the Haig-Robertson ring". Hankey thought that "there was envy, hatred and malice in the old boy's heart as he spoke". Haig regarded French's paper as "the outcome of a jealous and disappointed mind".


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Although French was responsible for training, the demands of the Western Front left him very short of fit troops. There were about 1.5 million troops in the UK, but many of these were in hospital, in training, too young (under 19), too old, or medically unfit for combat. At the start of 1917 French had a defensive force of 470,000 men, of whom 232,459 (including ten infantry divisions) were "mobile" reserves and 237,894 on beach and anti-aircraft defence. By January 1918 the total had been reduced to 400,979, of whom 190,045 (eight divisions) were "mobile". In January 1918 Robertson favoured breaking up four divisions to send 50,000 reinforcements to France, leaving the remaining four divisions consisting mainly of "lads" under 19. There were around 16,000 "mobile" troops in Ireland, not counting the 62,000 "infantry performing a gendarme role" (in Terraine's description). There were around 600,000 Category "A" men in Britain, of whom in the event 372,000 were sent to France between January and November 1918 when the government were doing all they could to reinforce the BEF—by May 1918 even troops with medical grade of B1 were sent to France.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French's reputation had recovered (by this time, writes Holmes, "the losses of Loos looked almost nostalgically trivial") and he had come to be regarded as one of the government's leading advisers. In spring 1918 French wrote Lloyd George a long letter complaining of how Haig had intrigued against him in 1915, including criticising him to his subordinates, and how Haig and Robertson had (allegedly) conspired to gain military supremacy over the civil power. French was pleased at the removal of Robertson and Derby early in 1918, and during the German Spring Offensive urged that Haig be sacked and replaced by Plumer. In May 1918 he again suggested to Wilson (now CIGS) that Haig be appointed his successor as Commander-in-Chief Home Forces.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French noted that Irish divisions could no longer be kept up to strength by voluntary recruitment, and in March 1918, when the Cabinet planned to extend conscription to Ireland, French claimed that "opinion was about evenly divided" on the issue, and thought it would remove "useless and idle youths—between 18 and ... 25"—and would cause opposition but not "bloodshed". In the event the threat of Irish conscription provoked great opposition, even from the Catholic Church, and contributed to the growth in support for Sinn Féin.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Lloyd George intended to replace the Lord Lieutenant—normally something of a figurehead position, with real power exercised by the Chief Secretary—with three "Justices": James Campbell, unionist Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, Midleton and French himself. The three men met on 30 April 1918 and jointly demanded immediate conscription and martial law in Ireland. When Lloyd George refused, Campbell declined any further involvement and Lloyd George also dropped Midleton when the latter demanded the right to "advise on policy". French eventually accepted appointment as sole Lord Lieutenant in May 1918 on condition it was as a "Military Viceroy at the Head of a Quasi-Military Government". French also arranged for Shaw, his chief of staff at Horse Guards, to replace Mahon as Commander-in-Chief, Ireland and that Irish Command should become a separate command, rather than under Home Forces.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French also set up an Executive Council and a Military Council to which senior officers of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) were sometimes invited. He also set up an Advisory Council, with the support of the King, Haldane and Carson, which he hoped might contain representatives of all strands of Irish opinion but in practice its members were all well-connected wealthy men. Sinn Féin were not involved despite Haldane's hopes and the proposal angered the existing administrators at Dublin Castle. The body provided useful advice on commercial and industrial questions, and advised that Home Rule could work as a federation of separate assemblies in Belfast and Dublin (also French's view), but ceased to meet regularly after April 1919.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French was convinced that the Sinn Féin leaders had little support amongst the majority of the Irish people. He wanted Home Rule to be implemented, provided the violence was stopped first. In July 1917 he had been pleased to be given a "vociferous" welcome by the women of Cork, but less so in Dublin and Galway. In 1917 he had bought a country house at Drumdoe in Frenchpark, County Roscommon, but in practice was seldom able to visit the place as the situation in Ireland deteriorated.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: On the night of 17/18 May 1918 French had Sinn Féin leaders arrested and documents were seized, but even supporters like Repington and Macready were disappointed at the lack of clear evidence of collaboration with the Germans and the flimsy legal grounds for the arrests, which caused endless legal wrangles. Michael Collins and Cathal Brugha escaped arrest and increased their own power in the vacuum created by the arrest of more moderate leaders.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: The Irish Volunteers and Sinn Féin were proclaimed "dangerous organisations" in certain areas (3 July 1918), with meetings banned except under permit, and West Cork was declared a Special Military Area in late September. French obtained a cash bonus for Irish policemen, and pressed for them to receive decorations. He also came down hard on senior Irish police officers whom he thought useless, threatening resignation unless the Inspector-General of the RIC, Brigadier-General Joseph Byrne, was removed.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French, who like many generals of his generation believed that the government owed a moral duty to those who had served, urged that a "Comrades of the Great War (Ireland)" be set up to prevent returning Irish war veterans joining the Sinn Féin-dominated "Soldiers' Federation"; he also recommended that soldiers be given cash and land grants, perhaps in "Soldiers' Colonies". This plan was stymied by cash shortage and inter-departmental infighting.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French clashed with the Chief Secretary Edward Shortt over his insistence that he exercise executive authority in Dublin, and when Lloyd George formed a new government in January 1919 Shortt was replaced by the more pliable Ian Macpherson. French was appointed to the British Cabinet (when it was restored to normal peacetime size in late 1919), but while in Ireland liaised with the Cabinet not through the Chief Secretary as would have been usual but through the Colonial Secretary, his Unionist friend Walter Long.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French also secured the appointment of Sir James Macmahon as Under-Secretary at Dublin Castle. Macmahon was Roman Catholic, which caused Walter Long and to some extent, French himself concerns that this would increase the power of the Church Hierarchy over Irish government. In practice Macmahon was frozen out of decision-making by Macpherson while French was ill with pneumonia between February and April 1919, and despite warnings from French of administrative chaos at Dublin Castle it was not until 1920 that the highly able John Anderson was appointed as Joint Under-Secretary with Macmahon.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: The shooting dead of two Catholic constables of the RIC in an ambush at Soloheadbeg, County Tipperary (21 January 1919) caused French to call off tentative talks between Haldane and the recently elected Irish Dáil (Haldane blamed Walter Long who was opposed to the talks).


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French and Macpherson wanted Sinn Féin declared illegal and pressed for a free hand to deal with the militants, although the issue received little priority while Lloyd George was away at Versailles in the first half of 1919. Sinn Féin was declared illegal on 5 July 1919 after District Inspector Hunt was killed in broad daylight, in Thurles (23 June). By October 1919 French was urging the imposition of martial law. By December he was furious at the government's lack of support (like being asked to "fight with one arm tied up") and their insistence that the RIC buy army surplus vehicles (the Army was reducing dramatically in size after World War I) on the open market instead of simply being given them.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Shaw was sceptical about the legality of martial law and thought it might be impractical in cities like Dublin and Cork. French was advised that 15 army battalions and 24 cycle units (half a battalion in size) were needed to keep order, but British strength did not reach these levels until the summer of 1920. In November 1919, Irish Command listed its minimum requirement as 25,000 "bayonet strength"—at the time there were just over 37,000 troops in Ireland, many of them non-combatants. Even in January 1920 only 34 battalions were available, rather than the 36 required. This was symptomatic of the Army as a whole, which was trying to meet global commitments while demobilising. British military strength in Ireland reached 51 battalions during the martial law period early in 1921.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: IRA intimidation caused traditional RIC sources of information to dry up. By late 1919, with French's approval, the RIC was recruiting in England: first the "Black and Tans", then the Auxiliary Division (ex-army officers with the powers of police sergeants) from July 1920.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French had been receiving death threats since January 1919, which he believed were a sign that government measures were having an effect. On 19 December 1919 a group of eleven IRA men, including Seán Treacy, Seamus Robinson, Seán Hogan, Paddy Daly, Joe Leonard, Martin Savage and Dan Breen (who later said that the threats were not based on "personal animosity"), sought to ambush and kill French as he returned from Ashtown railway station (he was returning by train from Drumdoe) to the Vice-Regal Lodge in Phoenix Park, Dublin. Savage, Kehoe and Breen were interrupted by a RIC officer as they pushed a hay-cart halfway across the road blocking the path of French's car. He was dragged off the road after one of them lobbed a grenade at him, which did not go off but knocked him unconscious. When French's car convoy appeared minutes later the IRA unit focused their attack upon the second car on the basis of incorrect intelligence: French was actually in the first car. In the ensuing crossfire, Breen was hit in the leg and Savage was killed by a bullet in the neck. French's own bodyguard was wounded, and he was saved in part by the quick thinking of his driver. A grenade, which would almost certainly have killed him, exploded in the back seat of the second car.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: The Cabinet agreed that the Irish Government could impose martial law whenever it pleased, although in the event this did not happen for almost another year, by which time executive authority had been returned to London. Suspects could now be interned under Defence of the Realm Act 1914 s. 14B on warrants signed by the Chief Secretary and French pressed Macpherson, who had been shocked by the attempted assassination, to intern as many as possible, although he advised against interning politicians like Arthur Griffith "simply for making seditious speeches".


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Political support from London for internment wavered. French opposed the release of hunger strikers under the "Cat and Mouse" Act and wanted them simply left to die, but eventually in April 1920, under pressure from London, the hunger strikers were released on parole.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French lost a good deal of executive power as substantial control over Irish affairs was given back to a new Chief Secretary, Hamar Greenwood, in April 1920, with Macready as the new Commander-in-Chief, not Robertson whom French did not want. French again urged the introduction of martial law in Ireland and the use of Ulster Volunteers as peacekeepers in Southern Ireland. Wilson and Macready expected French to be sacked in the spring of 1920. Wilson wrote: "Poor little man he is so weak and pliable and then has such inconsequential gusts of illogical passion. He is an Imperialist, a Democrat, a Home Ruler all at the same time. Poor man", although Wilson also thought him "brave as a lion". H. A. L. Fisher thought French in July 1920 "a shadow of his former self and quite useless".


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French had supported the use of armoured cars and aircraft in Ireland. Shaw had recommended one air squadron per province (i.e. four) in an "Entrenched Air Camp", but only one squadron was available and it was unclear exactly what they could do. By June 1920 the military situation had escalated considerably and French suggested that they should be permitted to strafe and bomb freely into areas from which civilians had been removed.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French resigned as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland on 30 April 1921 and was replaced by Lord Edmund Talbot, a Catholic.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French was president of The Ypres League, a veterans' society for those who had served at the Ypres Salient. He was also colonel of the 19th Hussars from 14 February 1902 (retaining this position when French persuaded Wilson to amalgamate them with the 15th to become the 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars), colonel of the 1st Battalion, The Cambridgeshire Regiment from 22 April 1909 and colonel-in-chief of the Royal Irish Regiment from 26 March 1913, succeeding Wolseley. The Royal Irish Regiment was disbanded along with the four other Southern Irish regiments, in 1922. He was Colonel of the Irish Guards from June 1916.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Stung by press attacks in February 1917 (a Smith-Dorrien interview in the "Weekly Despatch"—"How the Old Army Died"—and a book "The Retreat from Mons" by Major Corbett-Smith—Smith-Dorrien had worked on the proofs), French published his memoirs "1914", ghosted by the journalist Lovat Fraser, in April and May 1919. The unauthorised publication of the book technically laid him open to prosecution as he was holding office as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at the time. The King was angered, and Bonar Law warned French that the government could not defend him if the House of Commons demanded his resignation as Irish Viceroy. Smith-Dorrien, as a serving officer, was not permitted to reply. Haig, Asquith and Bertie complained of inaccuracies and it was attacked by Sir John Fortescue in the "Quarterly Review" as "one of the most unfortunate books ever written". Smith-Dorrien, in a private written statement, called "1914" "mostly a work of fiction and a foolish one too".


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French left an uncompleted autobiography, which was used by Gerald French in his 1931 life of his father. In 1972 the ownership of French's war diaries was disputed following the bankruptcy of the 3rd Earl of Ypres.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French retired from the British Army in April 1921 and was elevated to the Earldom of Ypres in June 1922.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Drumdoe was looted early in 1923, for which French received an apology and a promise of an armed guard for the place from Governor-General T. M. Healy. Despite a gift of £50,000 in 1916, and receiving field marshal's half pay, owning two properties in Ireland which he could not use left French again short of money, although he did not improve matters by staying often at the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris. He left £8,450 (net total) in his will.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French lived at 94 Lancaster Gate, London, which provided a useful base for his amorous activities, on which he often embarked together with a wealthy American friend, George Moore. In August 1923 Lord Beauchamp offered him the honorary post of Captain of Deal Castle, which gave him a home in Britain once again.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French died from cancer of the bladder at Deal Castle on 22 May 1925, aged 72. On 25 May, his body was taken by motor hearse from Deal to London for cremation at Golders Green Crematorium. The ashes then remained overnight in the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks until the funeral service at Westminster Abbey in the evening of 26 May. After the service, the ashes were escorted by a military procession to Victoria Station by six battalions of infantry, one battery of artillery, eight squadrons of cavalry and a detachment from the Royal Navy.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: The procedure of burying ashes in an urn was still unfamiliar at the time, and it was transported in a coffin during the funeral ceremonies. An estimated 7,000 people, including many veterans of the retreat from Mons, filed past the coffin during the first two hours it lay in state before the funeral. Haig, Robertson, Hamilton and Smith-Dorrien (who had travelled from France to pay his respects to a man with whom he had clashed badly) were pall bearers at the funeral at Westminster Abbey – the first of a major First World War leader. The ashes were buried in a private service in the graveyard of St. Mary the Virgin Church at Ripple, Kent, five days after his death.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French was "a man about whom there were extremes of opinion, ranging from loyalty and affection to disgust". He had a hot temper and swings of mood, would address friends effusively as "dear old boy", and was a womaniser and often short of money. He wore an unusually long tunic which emphasised his relatively short stature. He was—at least during the Boer War—idolised by the public and during the First World War was loved by his men in a way that Douglas Haig never was. French was also an avid reader of Dickens, from whose works he was able to recite long passages from memory.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Opinions vary as to French's military abilities. Edward Spears, then a subaltern liaising between French and Lanrezac, later wrote of the former: "You only had to look at him to see that he was a brave, determined man ... I learnt to love and to admire the man who never lost his head, and on whom danger had the effect it has on the wild boar: he would become morose, furious for a time, harsh, but he would face up and never shirk. He knew only one way of dealing with a difficulty, and that was to tackle it ... If he had once lost confidence in a man, justly or unjustly, that man could do no right in his eyes. He was as bad an enemy as he was a good friend ... once he had lost confidence in (Lanrezac) he ignored him and acted as if he and his Army did not exist." Spears also recorded that at a conference with Joffre on 30 August 1914 French, the back of his tunic wet with sweat from riding hard to reach the meeting, was "one of the coolest and calmest people at GHQ". This was at the time when he had decided that the BEF would have to retreat behind the Seine to refit.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French was severely criticised by those close to Haig, including General Sir Hubert Gough, who thought him "an ignorant little fool" (in a letter of 29 January 1916; he was more charitable in his 1954 memoirs "Soldiering On" (p. 127)) and Duff Cooper in Haig's official biography. The Official Historian Edmonds called him "only " of the old fashioned sort—a vain, ignorant and vindictive old man with an unsavoury society backing" and claimed that French once borrowed Sir Edward Hamley's "Operations of War" from the War Office library but could not understand it. His admiring biographer Cecil Chisholm (1914) claimed that as a young officer French had had a reputation as a reader of military books (Jomini, von Schmidt), a claim treated with some scepticism by Holmes, although Beckett uses it to cast doubt on Edmonds' "magnificently malicious" story, pointing out that he remembered enough of Hamley's doctrines not to take shelter in Maubeuge after the Battle of Mons, although Spears later wrote that had Hamley not employed such a penetrating metaphor it might not have lodged in French's mind. During his time in command in France his subordinates recognized him as a poor worker with a constant stream of guests, while General Smith-Dorrien remarked that there were "Too many whores around your headquarters, Field-Marshal!"


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: General Macready (in 1919) thought French "one of the most lovable men I have ever met ... one of the most loyal and true-hearted individuals you are ever likely to come across". Field Marshal Chetwode, reflecting on the hostility between Haig and his former patron French, wrote that "French was a man who loved life, laughter and women ... a man who might have done big things in open warfare. He was a lucky general and inspired the greatest confidence in his troops" and that Haig was his opposite in most of these respects. Churchill (in "Great Contemporaries") wrote that French was "a natural soldier" who lacked Haig's attention to detail and endurance, but who had "deeper military insight" and "would never have run the British army into the same long drawn-out slaughters". Seely and Esher thought highly of him. Haldane thought he had "been a great Commander-in-Chief, a soldier of the first order, who held the Army as no other could". Lloyd George praised him as "a far bigger man" than Haig and regretted that he "had fallen by the daggers of his own colleagues", although perhaps as an ally against Haig in 1916–1918.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: French was ridiculed as "a weak-willed man of medium height" by Alan Clark in the widely read "The Donkeys" (1961). His modern biographer Richard Holmes wrote that "he remains ... a discredited man" but "history has dealt too harshly" with him. He argues that French was an emotional man who was deeply moved by casualties and identified too closely with his soldiers, even in August 1914. Holmes quotes with approval John Terraine's verdict that French was the most distinguished English cavalry leader since Oliver Cromwell, and argues that although he did not achieve victory, his personality inspired the BEF in 1914 (this was acknowledged at the time by Robertson and by Smith-Dorrien, who informed the King's adviser Wigram (6 November 1914) that in situations where other men would have panicked "Sir John is unmoved and invariably does the right thing"). Holmes acknowledges that French's qualities were marred by his "undisciplined intellect and mercurial personality", but concludes by quoting Churchill's verdict that "French, in the sacred fire of leadership, was unsurpassed".


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Brian Bond described French as "a brave fighting general who proved out of his professional depths" in 1914–15. Ian Senior offers a critical view of French in 1914: although he was "essentially a generous and warm-hearted man" as seen in his pre-Marne meeting with Joffre, his "excitable temperament, uncertain judgement based on rumour and personal experience and his tendency to over-exaggerate problems did not suit him to be in command of the army. At best, his more questionable decisions led to a lack of support for his ally at critical moments in the campaign; at worst, they threatened to wreck Joffre's carefully laid plans for the counteroffensive." Senior is critical of his vetoing – out of excessive concern to avoid BEF losses – of Haig's orders to attack on 29 August, his decision to pull the BEF out of the line on 30 August, only a few hours after promising to assist Fifth Army by delaying his retreat, and his countermanding of Haig's order to advance on 9 September. He also criticises him for his lack of any realistic appraisal of the state of II Corps after Le Cateau, and "lack of urgency" in advance at the Marne, and writes that French would not have cooperated without the "brutal" intervention of Lord Kitchener.


title: John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

text: Max Hastings is even less kind, arguing that French used his instructions from Kitchener (to husband the strength of the BEF and to avoid major engagements without French participation unless given Cabinet authority) as an excuse for "pusillanimity". He criticises him for lack of "grip" and for "moral collapse" during the retreat after Le Cateau, and describes him as "a poltroon", although also pointing out that his failings were no worse than those of many French and German generals in that campaign.