Philippe Pétain led the French army to victory during World War One and was hailed a hero for doing so.
But decades later he collaborated with Nazi Germany during their extermination of the Jews.
Mr Macron plans to pay tribute to him and honour the soldier alongside other marshals who directed military campaigns to end World War One.
Speaking in the eastern town of Charleville-Mezieres, famed for being the frontline between French and German troops, he announced: “I consider it entirely legitimate that we pay homage to the marshals who led our army to victory.
“Marshal Pétain was a great soldier in world war one.”
The decision sparked a flurry of criticisms from Jewish groups and political opponents.
Francis Kalifat, president of Crif, a body that represents France’s 400,000 Jews, said: “It is shocking that France can pay tribute to a man deemed unworthy of being French in a trial held in the name of the people.”
Head of the left-wing France Insoumise Party, Jean-Luc Melenchon, added: “Marshal Joffre was the military victor of the 1914-18 war. Pétain was a traitor and an antisemite. His crimes and his betrayal cannot be erased from history. Macron, this time, you’ve gone too far.”
Mr Pétain was promoted to commander-in-chief in 1917, following a victory at Verdun, the longest battle of the war resulting in the deaths of more than 300,000 French and German soldiers.
Two decades later, he was made prime minister following an administration based in then-unoccupied Vichy and joined forces with Nazis to deport and exterminate Jewish people.
Pétain was sentenced to death for treason after World War Two.
But President Charles de Gaulle, who admired Pétain, reduced his punishment to life in prison.
He died aged 95.
Referring to Mr Pétain, Mr Macron said: “He was a great soldier”, although he had made “disastrous choices” during the Nazi occupation of France.
Mr Macron defended his comments and said Mr Pétain was “complicit in grave crimes”.
He also said: “I’m not forgiving anything, but I’m not going to erase anything from our history.”