Who's Who - Francois Anthoine
Francois Paul
Anthoine (1860-1944) began the First World War as
General Castelnau's
Chief of Staff before being granted field command himself, initially at
divisional and corps level before receiving promotion as commander of the
French First Army.
In the latter role Anthoine provided assistance to the British during the Third Battle of Ypres (more commonly referred to as Passchendaele) in 1917. With an assigned role to guard the British northern flank across the Yser Canal, Anthoine caused the commencement of the attack to be delayed pending further time for First Army artillery preparations.
Later that year, in November, Anthoine received an appointment as Chief of Staff to the then Commander in Chief, Philippe Petain; however he was made scapegoat and lost his position following German successes at Matz and on the Aisne during their great push in 1918.
'Alleyman' was British slang for a German soldier.
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