certciinly felt that, at this stage, the British force should not be called upon to take part in any wide offensive action* He was angry that 'The very sudden change of plain and headlong retire- ment of the French 5th army ” had placed the British army in an unnecessarily isolated situation. He writes:
Lanrezac appeared to treat the whole affair as quite normal andmerelyincidentaltothecommonexigenciesofwar. Ho offered no explanation and gave no reason for the very un- expectedmovesthathehadmade. Thediscussionwasappar- ently distasteful to him, for he only remained a short time at my headquarters and left before any satisfactory understand- ing as to frontier plans and dispositions had been arrived at.
Joffreremainedvdthmesomeconsiderabletime. Igathered from him that he was by no means satisfied with the conduct of the subordinate general. No very definite plans were
decided upon, the understanding, as the French commander- in-chief left, being that the retreat was to be continued as slowly and deliberately as possible, until we found ourselves in a favourable position to make a firm stand and take the
offensive.
There was, however, one very definite decision arrived at, and that was on the part of Sir John French, who refused point-blank tocooperateinanyimmediateoffensive. Butinspiteofcertain asperities, excusable at the moment, he did, in fact, retain touch and cooperate with the French throughout the succeeding weeks. General Joffre in his ttwn showed himself most sympathetic and "understanding," and promised that the French 5th army should be-directed to take energetic action in order to relieve the pressure on the British.
On the morning of the 27th this army was still retiring over the Oise above Guise and was prepared for further retirement to (he line Montcoriiet-Marles-Ribemout. In the early afternoon, however, General Lanrezac received verbal orders to make a vigorous attack immediately towards St. Quentin. The move- ment of the army into its battle positions necessarily took time, for on the evening of the 27th the 5th army was behind the Oise with its left below Guise and its right above Rumigny. It was
necessary to transfer the bulk of the army below Guise and establish it opposite St. Quentin facing west. This and other factors made it impossible to open the offensive before the 29th. Lanrezac's difficulties, which included the exposure of his right flank, do not seem to have appealed to General Joffre, and an interviewbetweenthemwasmarkedbyill temperandexaspera-
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THE FRENCH IN RETREAT