First World War.com - Who's Who

First World War.com - A multimedia history of world war one

Photograph of Douglas Haig with Francois Anthoine (pictured right) Who's Who: Francois Anthoine
Updated - Sunday, 18 November, 2001

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.

The first zeppelin raid on London was on 31 May 1915. Earlier raids in January 1915 had avoided London. The London raid resulted in 28 deaths and 60 injuries.