Fernand Louis Armand Marie de Langle de Cary (4 July 1849 – 19 February 1927) was a French general during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He commanded Fourth Army when the war began.

Early life

Fernand Louis Armand Marie De Langle De Cary (1849-1927) was born at Lorient July 4, 1849, entered the St. Cyr military school in 1867 and left at the head of his class in 1869, being commissioned to the Chasseurs d'Afrique. He participated in the Franco-Prussian War, during which he was wounded and given a medal for bravery. After the war he received army staff training and served for a time as a professor at the French military academy. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1900 and given the command of a cavalry brigade in Algeria.In 1912, he was made a member of the

Conseil Supérieur de la Guerre The Conseil supérieur de la guerre (CSG, Superior War Council) was the highest military body in France under the Third Republic. It was under the presidency of the Minister of War, although vice presidents presided in his absence and took care of ...

which carried with it the command of an army in war.

World War I

Commands

At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, de Langle de Cary was placed in command of the Fourth Army. In concert with general

Pierre Ruffey Pierre Xavier Emmanuel Ruffey (19 March 1851 – 14 December 1928) was a French Army general who commanded the Third Army during the opening of World War I. Biography He was educated at Saint-Cyr, graduating 1873, and after that was posted to Ma ...

and his Third Army and general

Charles Lanrezac Charles Lanrezac (31 July 1852 – 18 January 1925) was a French general, formerly a distinguished staff college lecturer, who commanded the French Fifth Army at the outbreak of the First World War. His army, originally intended to strike the Ger ...

and his Fifth Army, he was ordered by

Joseph Joffre Joseph Jacques Césaire Joffre (12 January 1852 – 3 January 1931) was a French general who served as Commander-in-Chief of French forces on the Western Front from the start of World War I until the end of 1916. He is best known for regroupi ...

to attack the approaching Germans advancing south through the heavily forested and ravined Ardennes. They were badly outnumbered by the Germans facing them attacking from above and were defeated with very heavy losses in the

Battle of the Ardennes The Battle of the Ardennes took place during the First World War fought on the frontiers of France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg from 21 to 23 August 1914. The German armies defeated the French and forced their retreat. The battle was part of ...

but managed to withdraw and form a line of defense strong enough to halt the German counter-offensive. Unlike generals Ruffey and Lanrezac, Langle de Cary was not relieved of his command. He continued at the head of Fourth Army (though its strength was greatly reduced for the benefit of

Ferdinand Foch Ferdinand Foch ( , ; 2 October 1851 – 20 March 1929) was a French general and military theorist who served as the Supreme Allied Commander during the First World War. An aggressive, even reckless commander at the First Marne, Flanders and Art ...

's newly created Sixth Army) in the

Marne Marne can refer to: Places France *Marne (river), a tributary of the Seine *Marne (department), a département in northeastern France named after the river * La Marne, a commune in western France *Marne, a legislative constituency (France) Nethe ...

and Aisne operations and in the trench warfare fighting of 1915. He commanded the French forces in the

Second Battle of Champagne The Second Battle of Champagne ( or Autumn Battle) in World War I was a French offensive against the German army at Champagne that coincided with an Anglo-French assault at north-east Artois and ended with French retreat. Battle On 25 Septemb ...

, another failed and costly French offensive ordered by Joffre.

Verdun blame and forced retirement

Nevertheless, he replaced Edouard de Curieres de Castelnau as commander of the

Central Army Group Headquarters Allied Force Command Heidelberg (HQ FC Heidelberg) was a formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) responsible for providing deployable joint staff elements (DJSE) in support of NATO operations worldwide. It was hea ...

in December, 1915, when Castelnau was promoted as Joffre's second-in-command. In this capacity, de Langle de Cary became responsible, among other duties, for overseeing the defensive readiness of Verdun. The German attack erupted onto Verdun in February, 1916, and the fears that he had expressed earlier about conditions there proved to be only too well founded, thus the army command was radically reorganized by Joffre who wanted more aggressive commanders, and Langle, who had already reached the age limit for retirement, was replaced by

Philippe Pétain Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), commonly known as Philippe Pétain (, ) or Marshal Pétain (french: Maréchal Pétain), was a French general who attained the position of Marshal of France at the end of World ...

. He had only been in command two months. The official reason for his being removed was his age, 66. He was retired (removed from the officer Active List) the following year. He died on 19 February 1927

Notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Langle De Cary, Fernand De 1849 births 1927 deaths Military personnel from Lorient French generals French military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War French military personnel of World War I Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France)