 Ruffey’s chief of operations, Colonel Tanant, said he was clever and full of a thousand ideas, one of which was magnificent, but the question was which one.His army was forced to retreat to Verdun after heavy fighting; Joffre found Ruffey “very nervous” and “bitter” about the performance of his subordinates, and so dismissed him from command and replaced him by Maurice Sarrail.Ruffey blamed his defeat on the holding back of two reserve divisions to the Army of Lorraine (40,000 men).