Pierre Xavier Emmanuel Ruffey (19 March 1851 – 14 December 1928) was a

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

who commanded the Third Army during the opening of

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 ...

Biography

He was educated at Saint-Cyr, graduating 1873, and after that was posted to

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. Following that he was a professor at the Ecole de Guerre. He was promoted to colonel in 1901, rising to divisional commander four years later and appointed to the French Supreme War Council in 1913. Ruffey was an apostle of aircraft and heavy artillery. Ruffey, like Lanrezac (and Gallieni before

) warned of the danger of a German thrust westward through Belgium. French Commander-in-Chief

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 ...

, who planned to attack into the Ardennes, bluntly told him “you are wrong”. Ruffey was given command of the Third Army at the outbreak of war and charged with attacking along the line from Montmedy to

Rocroi Rocroi () is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France. The central area is a notable surviving example of a bastion fort. Population History Rocroi was fortified by Francis I of France and expanded by Henry II of France. Bec ...

. Third Army consisted of IV, V and VI Corps, the 7th Cavalry Division and a group of three reserve divisions. His army came under heavy German pressure from mid-August, suffering a defeat at 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 o ...

, a part of the

Battle of the Frontiers The Battle of the Frontiers (, , ) comprised battles fought along the eastern frontier of France and in southern Belgium, shortly after the outbreak of the First World War. The battles resolved the military strategies of the French Chief of Staff ...

. On 23 August Ruffey warned his corps commanders not again to send infantry on bayonet charges without fire support from artillery or even small arms. Ruffey’s chief of operations, Colonel Tanant, said he was clever and full of a thousand ideas, one of which was magnificent, but the question was which one. His army was forced to retreat to

Verdun Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...

after heavy fighting; Joffre found Ruffey “very nervous” and “bitter” about the performance of his subordinates, and so dismissed him from command and replaced him by

Maurice Sarrail Maurice Paul Emmanuel Sarrail (6 April 1856 – 23 March 1929) was a French general of the First World War. Sarrail's openly socialist political connections made him a rarity amongst the Catholics, conservatism, conservatives and monarchism, mo ...

. Ruffey blamed his defeat on the holding back of two reserve divisions to the Army of Lorraine (40,000 men). He later told Joffre that if he had these two divisions and the 7th Cavalry Division, he could have rolled up the enemy’s left – Joffre replied ''“chut, il ne faut pas le dire”'' ("one musn't say that") – it is unclear whether or not Joffre agreed with Ruffey.Tuchman 1962, p376 Ruffey held no other active commands during the war and died in 1928.

Biography

References

Further reading