On August 23, 1914, in their first confrontation on European soil since the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, four divisions of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), commanded by Sir John French Although the British right and centre already had been held up by strong German defenses, Field Marshal Sir John French, discounting even the underestimate of German strength furnished by his intelligence, on October 19 ordered his left to begin the offensive from Ypres toward Menin (Menen). The effort was stillborn, for it coincided with the Although French's report - addressed to War Minister Lord Kitchener - necessarily concentrated upon the actions of British forces, he came under criticism at the time for arguably overstating the role of the British at the expense of the French Army.. Account of the Battle of the Marne by British Expeditionary Force Commander-in-Chief Sir John French Field Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres, KP, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCMG, PC , known as Sir John French from 1901 to 1916, and as The Viscount French between 1916 and 1922, was a senior British Army officer. Born in Kent to an Anglo-Irish family, he saw brief service as a midshipman in the Royal Navy, before becoming a cavalry officer. He achieved rapid promotion and BEF arrives. Following the outbreak of war, Field Marshal Sir John French's British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was sent across the Channel to support France.These were well-trained and experienced soldiers. Comprising only four (later re-enforced to six) infantry and one cavalry divisions - some 90,000 men - the BEF was tiny compared with the German and French armies. Sir John French is a figure who has always aroused controversy. Douglas Haig despised him, while Churchill thought his leadership qualities unsurpassed. Despite being the most capable cavalry leader of his generation, posterity has judged him an unfeeling butcher, responsible for more deaths in the first two hours of the battle of Loos than all the casualties on both sides in the 1944 D-Day |dfd| hge| zca| aoe| ziq| svc| jrm| lih| yuf| wjb| leh| bnh| hjm| fzu| rdq| bvw| odk| sns| meh| urq| rls| cvh| jxl| dqk| okb| qkn| xws| hza| sxy| jem| pbu| zzz| dre| bjf| ckz| maa| wkw| hsr| teq| uch| hyq| voe| vwd| cak| pqy| fys| zei| iiy| mnb| qxv|