 His brigade distinguished itself at the battle of the Mangiennes, 10 August 1914 and the battle of the Ardennes.He directed the 3rd Division at the battle of the Marne, the advance to Sainte-Menehould and the Argonne, being wounded on 15 September 1914.By December 1914, after being made an officer of the Legion of Honour, he led his division in bitter trench warfare in the Argonne, later being in command of a group of divisions at Alsace in January 1914.