stubborn fighting the French effort to hold Audigny broke down; the fighting drifted back to the neighbourhood of Sains, and it was the intelligence of this set-back which led Gen. Lanrezac to give up the attack upon St. Quentin. The German Guard Corps was endeavouring to outflank the right of the X. Corps, and by three o’clock in the afternoon the situation for the French was distinctly unfavourable. Relief, however, was afforded partly by the action of Gen. Abonneau on the right, and still more by the intervention of the I. Corps, which came into action on the left and in front of the X. Corps and eventually got into touch with the III. Corps on the left and with Gen. Abonneau on the right. The situation of the French was now sensibly relieved as a result of the orders issued by Gen. Lanrezac about 11 a.m., and about five o’clock the general offensive prescribed therein took place along the 18 m. from Origny-Vervins towards Guise. Success crowned the efforts of the French. Bertaignemont, Clanlieu, Pusieux, Richaumont and Colonfay were retaken, and the Germans were driven back towards the Oise, although on their left they still held out stubbornly. During the night the two German corps fell back across the river.
This success was, however, neutralized by the events between the Oise and St. Quentin, where the situation took an unfavourable turn for the French. The reserve divisions of Gen. Valabrègue occupied Urviller, but were in turn attacked and forced to fall back behind the Oise. The leading units of the XVIII. Corps had meanwhile reached the neighbourhood of St. Quentin, but as its left was uncovered by the retirement of the reserve divisions Gen. de Las Latrie deemed it advisable to make preparations for a withdrawal of the XVIII. Corps to the Oise, an operation which was carried out by evening.
When morning broke on the 30th Gen. Lanrezac was under no illusions as to his position. The British army had been compelled to rest throughout the 29th on the line Noyon–La Fère, and was not likely to assume the offensive on the 30th; while on the right it was probable that the French IV. Army was again in retreat. If, therefore, the V. Army should remain during the 30th in the region Vervins-Guise-Ribemont it might find itself isolated with its flanks uncovered, and also forced to face simultaneously north. west and east. Gen. Lanrezac was prepared to take the risk, but in the evening of the 30th a telephonic message (apparently in confirmation of a written order which had gone astray) arrived directing the V. Army to fall back. The commander of the V. Army therefore issued orders for his troops to gain during what was left of the 30th the high ground N. of the lower Serre and Souche. This was carried out and by the 3ist the V. Army was disposed in a great semicircle round Laon.
It is admitted that the French V. Army ably carried out its task of delaying the Germans; and Sir John French, writing of the battle later, said: “On the 29th (August) a very brilliant and successful attack by the French V. Army at Guise heavily defeated three German corps and threw them back with severe loss. This had a great effect in assisting the retreat, for it not only enabled the V. Army to hold its own for some time on the Oise, between Guise and La Fère, but it considerably relieved hostile pressure on the British and on the French troops on our left.” Gen. Lanrezac, however, was apparently not in favour with French general headquarters, and within a few days he was relieved of his command. (F. E. W.*)
GUITRY, LUCIEN GERMAIN (1860–), French actor (see 12.705). In 1920 he came to London, with his son Sacha, and made an immense success in Pasteur, playing himself the eminent scientist, and in his son’s play Mon Père avait Raison.
Sacha Guitry (1885–), also a distinguished .actor, was born at Petrograd. He was the author of a number of brilliant modern comedies, of which Tel Père Tel Fils. (1909); Nono (1910); Le Veilleur de Nuit (1911); La Prise de Berg-op-Zoom (1912) are other examples. He married Yvonne Printemps, herself an actress of distinction. Jean Guitry, another son of Lucien Guitry, and a promising actor in modern comedies, was killed in a motor accident near Deauville Sept. 11 1920.
GÜNTHER, ALBERT CHARLES LEWIS GOTTHILF (1830–1914), German biologist, was born in Württemberg Oct. 3 1830 and educated at Tübingen, Berlin and Bonn universities. He entered the British Museum in 1856 and became keeper of the zoölogical department in 1875, holding that post for 20 years. He made a special study of fishes and reptiles, and published various works on the subject, as well as contributing a section of the article Ichthyology to the E.B. He received the gold medal of the Royal Society in 1878 and of the Linnean Society in 1904. He died at Kew Feb. 1 1914.
GURKO, VASILI (1864–), Russian general, was born in 1864. He was educated in the Corps of Pages, and in 1885 was given a commission in the Grodno Hussar Regiment. On finishing his course at the Academy of the General Staff, he was appointed a general staff officer. During the S. African War of 1899–1902 he was one of the foreign military attachés on the Boer side. In the war with Japan 1904–5 he commanded a cavalry brigade and also served on the general staff. He distinguished himself and was promoted to the rank of general. Later he presided over the military-historic commission which in 1911 published “An account of the Russo-Japanese War” in seven volumes. In 1911 he was the chief of the 1st Cavalry div., with which in Aug. 1914 he advanced into Eastern Prussia. Inigishe was the commander of the VI. Corps. His pronounced gifts and energy ensured his promotion. In 1916 he was commander of an army, and at the end of 1916, during Gen. Alexeiev’s illness, he fulfilled the duties of chief of staff to the supreme commander-in-chief. Later, after the revolution, he was deprived of his appointment as commander-in-chief by Kerensky, owing both to his objections to risking an offensive with the army in its then condition of ferment and to his outspoken opinions as to the causes of this condition. Gurko was imprisoned, released, imprisoned again and finally sent out of Russia by way of Archangel, with his wife, who at once volunteered for service with the French Red Cross. She was killed in action at a dressing-station on the front on March 23 1918. General Gurko published his war memories (English edition) in 1918.
GUSTAVUS V. (1858–), King of Sweden (see 12.738), succeeded his father on the throne in Dec. 1907. As Crown Prince he had interested himself greatly in sport and music, and he continued as King to patronize them. When the World War broke out in 1914 and neutral countries were impelled to take counsel together, King Gustavus took the statesmanlike action of inviting the kings of Norway and Denmark to a meeting at Malmö, and on a later occasion he himself journeyed to Christiania where he had once sat as regent. During the war he exerted himself personally to ensure the maintenance of a policy of honourable neutrality. His eldest son, the Crown Prince Gustavus Adolphus (b. 1882), also devoted much time and energy to sport, and interested himself in archaeology. The Crown Princess Margaret (b. 1882), a daughter of the Duke of Connaught, died on May 1 1920; she had won the love of the Swedish people, and when she died a fund of nearly 1,500,000 kronor was quickly subscribed to consecrate her memory. King Gustavus’s brother, Prince Karl (b. 1861), was president of the Swedish Red Cross; and another brother, Prince Eugene, became known as a painter of much distinction.
GUTHRIE, CHARLES JOHN GUTHRIE, Baron (1840–1920), Scottish lawyer, was born at Edinburgh April 4 1849, the son of the Rev. Thomas Guthrie, editor of the Sunday Magazine. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy and University, and in 1875 was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates. He was from 1881 to 1900 legal adviser to the Church of Scotland, and in 1897 became a Q.C. In 1907 he was appointed a judge of the court of session and created a life peer. Lord Guthrie was a member of the royal commissions on historical monuments in Scotland (1908) and on divorce (1909), and was chairman of the houseletting commission (1906–7). From 1910 to 1919 he was president of the Boys’ Brigade of Great Britain and Ireland, and was a member of various antiquarian societies. He had been in youth a friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, and published in 1914 an appreciation of “Cummy,” Stevenson’s nurse. His other works include John Knox and his House (1898), and an edition of Knox’s History of the Reformation in Scotland (1898),
