LANREZAC, CHARLES LOUIS French soldier, was born at Pointe-h-Pitre, Guadeloupe on July 31, 1852. While at the Ecole de Guerre, the new French doctrine of strategy and tactics was being established under the influence of Maillard, Langlois and Bonnal. To this doctrine Lanrezac himself contrib uted in his study La manoeuvre de Lfitzen. He became colonel in 1902, general of brigade in 1906, and general of division in 1911. In 1912 he commanded the XI. Corps, and on April To, 1914 succeeded Gallieni as a member of the Conseil Superieur de la Guerre and commander-designate of the V. Army. His theories as summarized in the article Strategie of the Dictionnaire mili taire were not in accordance with the modern theory of an inces sant and universal offensive, of which plan 17 was an example. This plan assumed that the V. Army would attack east of the Meuse towards Neufchateau. Lanrezac pointed out in his report of July 31, 1914, that if the extreme German right crossed the Meuse north of Givet the V. Army at Neufchateau would be turned. Neither he nor Joffre anticipated the magnitude of the German attack, though he feared an enemy attack between Namur and Givet aimed at Chimay and the sources of the Oise and the direct road to Paris. He therefore sought and obtained permission on Aug. 12 to place the I. Corps (left) in the Dinant region, and to make preliminary arrangements for moving the rest of his army towards the northwest. On Aug. 15 the Germans hav ing endeavoured to cross the Meuse at Dinant, General Joffre ordered the transfer of the army on the left bank.
On Aug. 21 Lanrezac asked Joffre whether he should attack the following day, but was then violently attacked by Von Billow's army, and the battle of Charleroi began. The arrival of the III. German Army forced the I. French Corps to fall back on the Meuse, while the III. Corps had to yield. On the evening of the 23rd Lanrezac was obliged to order a retreat, which lasted from Aug. 24 to Sept. 5. On Aug. 27 orders were given to renew the offensive at Saint-Quentin in order to assist the British. This order provoked a violent disagreement between Joffre and Lan rezac. Nevertheless Lanrezac renewed his offensive on the 29th and at the battle of Guise, won a brilliant tactical success. But the retreat continued, and on Sept. 3, Gen. Lanrezac was relieved of his command. In 1917 he was offered the post of Major Gen eral of the armies by M. Painleve, but he refused and suggested Gen. Petain. "He is one of my own children," he said, "and I can answer for him." On July 3, 1917 he was made grand officer of the Legion of Honour and on Aug. 29, 1924 was given the grand cross of the same order. He died on Jan. 18, 1925.
See Lanrezac, Le plan de campagne francais et le premier mois de la guerre (1920) ; Jules Isaac, Joffre et Lanrezac (1922) ; F. Engerand, Lanrezac (1926) . (H. BO