battle of mons 23rd august 1914

8/12/2019 Battle of Mons 23rd August 1914

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Battle of Mons.

The Battle of Monswas the first major action of theBritish Expeditionary Force(BEF) intheFirst World War.It was a subsidiary action of theBattle of the Frontiers,in which the

Alliesclashed withGermanyon the French borders. At Mons, theBritish Armyattempted tohold the line of the MonsCond Canal against the advancingGerman 1st Army.Althoughthe British fought well and inflicted disproportionate casualties on the numerically superiorGermans, they were eventually forced to retreat due both to the greater strength of theGermans and the sudden retreat of theFrench Fifth Army,which exposed the British rightflank. Though initially planned as a simple tactical withdrawal and executed in good order,the Britishretreat from Monslasted for two weeks and took the BEF to the outskirts ofParis

before it counter-attacked in concert with the French, at theBattle of the Marne.

Background

Britain declared war on Germany on 4th August 1914 and The Battle of Mons took place aspart of theBattle of the Frontiers,in which the advancing German army clashed with theadvancing Allied armies along the Franco-Belgian and Franco-German borders. The BEFwas stationed on the left of the Allied line, which stretched fromAlsace-Lorrainein the easttoMonsandCharleroiin southern Belgium.The British position on the French flank meantthat it stood in the path of theGerman First Army,the outermost wing of the massive "righthook" intended by theSchlieffen Planto encircle and destroy the Allies. The BEF helped toresist the German right wing and prevent the Allies from being outflanked.

The British reached Mons on 22 August. On that day, the French Fifth Army, located on the

right of the BEF, was heavily engaged with the German2ndand3rdarmies at theBattle ofCharleroi.At the request of the Fifth Army commander,General Charles Lanrezac,the BEFcommander,Field Marshal Sir John French,agreed to hold the line of the MonsCond Canalfor twenty-four hours, to prevent the advancing German 1st Army from threatening theFrench left flank. The British thus spent the day digging in along the canal.
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Prelude

British defensive preparations

At the Battle of Mons the BEF had c.80,000 men in theCavalry Division,an independentcavalry brigadeand two corps, each with twoinfantrydivisions

I Corpswas commanded bySir Douglas Haig

and was composed of the1stand2ndDivisions.
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II Corpswas commanded bySir Horace Smith-Dorrien

and consisted of the3rdand5thDivisions.
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Each division had 18,073 men and 5,592 horses, in three brigades of fourbattalions.

Each division had twenty-fourVickers machine guns two per battalion and threefieldartillerybrigades with fifty-four18-pounder guns,one fieldhowitzerbrigade of eighteen4.5-inch howitzersand a heavy artillery battery of four60-pounder guns.

The British II Corps, on the left of the British line, occupied defensive positions along theMonsCond Canal, while I Corps was positioned almost at a right angle away from thecanal along the MonsBeaumont road (see map) I Corps was deployed in this manner to

protect the BEF's right flank, in case the French were forced to retreat from their position atCharleroi. In the event, however, the fact that I Corps did not line the canal meant that it

played very little role in the battle and the German attack was faced mostly by II Corps.[14]The dominant geographical feature of the battlefield was a loop in the canal, which juttedoutwards from Mons towards the village ofNimy.This loop formed a smallsalientwhichwas difficult to defend and formed the focus of the battle.

The first contact between the two armies occurred on 21 August, when a British bicyclereconnaissance team encountered a German unit nearObourg;and PrivateJohn Parrbecamethe first British soldier to be killed in the war.

The first substantial action occurred on the morning of 22 August. At 6:30 a.m., the4thDragoon Guards

who laid an ambush for a patrol of Germanlancersoutside the village ofCasteau,to thenorth-east of Mons. When the Germans spotted the trap and fell back, atroopof the

dragoons, led by Captain Hornby gave chase, followed by the rest of hissquadron,all with
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drawnsabres.The retreating Germans led the British to a larger force of lancers, whom theypromptly charged

Captain Hornby became the first British soldier to kill an enemy in the Great War, fighting onhorseback with sword against lance. After a further pursuit of a few miles, the Germans

turned and fired upon the British cavalry, at which point the dragoons dismounted andopened fire.

DrummerEdward Thomasis reputed to have fired the first shot of the war for the BritishArmy, hitting a German trooper.
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German Offensive Preparations

Alexander von Kluck, commander of the German First Army at Mons

Advancing towards the British was the German 1st Army, commanded byAlexander vonKluck.The 1st Army was composed of four active corps (II,III,IV,andIXCorps) and threereserve corps (III,IVandIX Reserve Corps), although only the active corps took part in thefighting at Mons. German corps had two divisions each, with attendant cavalry and artillery.The 1st Army had the greatest offensive power of the German armies, with a density ofc.18,000 men per 1-mile (1.6 km) of front, or about ten per 1 metre (1.1 yd)

Late on 20 August GeneralKarl von Blow,the 2nd Army commander, who had tacticalcontrol over the 1st Army while north of the Sambre, held the view that an encounter with theBritish was unlikely and wished to concentrate on the French units reported betweenCharleroi and Namur, on the south bank of the Sambre; reconnaissance in the afternoonfailed to reveal the strength or intentions of the French. The 2nd Army was ordered to reach aline from Binch, Fontaine-l'Eveque and the Sambre next day to assist the 3rd Army across theMeuse by advancing south of the Sambre on 23 August. The 1st Army was instructed to beready to cover Brussels and Antwerp to the north and Maubeuge to the south-west. Kluck andthe 1st Army staff expected to meet British troops, probably through Lille, which made awheel to the south premature. Kluck wanted to advance to the south-west to maintainfreedom of manuoeuvre and on 21 August, attempted to persuade Blow to allow the 1st

Army to continue its manoeuvre. Blow refused and ordered the 1st Army to isolateMaubeuge and support the right flank of the 2nd Army, by advancing to a line from Lessinesto Soignies, while the III and IV Reserve corps remained in the north, to protect the rear ofthe army from Belgian operations southwards from Antwerp.

On 22 August, the 13th Division of the VII Corps, on the right flank of the 2nd Army,encountered British cavalry north of Binche, as the rest of the army to the east began anattack over the Sambre river, against the French Fifth Army. By the evening the bulk of the1st Army had reached a line from Silly to Thoricourt, Louvignies and Mignault; the III andIV Reserve corps had occupied Brussels and screened Antwerp. Reconnaissance by cavalryand aircraft indicated that the area to the west of the army was free of troops and that Britishtroops were not concentrating around Kortrijk, Lille and Tournai but were thought to be onthe left flank of the Fifth Army, from Mons to Maubeuge. Earlier in the day, British cavalry
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had been reported at Casteau, to the north-east of Mons. A British aeroplane had been seen atLouvain on 20 August and on the afternoon of 22 August, a British aircraft en route fromMaubeuge was shot down by the 5th Division. More reports had reached the IX Corps, thatcolumns were moving from Valenciennes to Mons, which made clear the British deployment

but were not passed on to the 1st Army headquarters. Kluck assumed that the subordination

of the 1st Army to the 2nd Army had ended, since the passage of the Sambre had been forcedand wished to be certain to envelop the left (west) flank of the enemy forces to the south butwas again overruled and ordered to advance south rather than south-west on 23 August.

Late on 22 August, reports arrived that the British had occupied the Canal du Centrecrossings from Nimy to Ville-sur-Haine, which revealed the location of British positions,except for the left flank.

"A" Company of the 4th Battalion,Royal Fusiliers,resting in the town square atMonsbefore entering the lineprior to the Battle of Mons. The Royal Fusiliers faced some of the heaviest fighting in the battle

On 23 August the 1st Army began to advance north-west of Maubeuge, to a line fromBascles to St. Ghislain and Jemappes. The weather had turned cloudy and rainy, whichgrounded the 1st Army Flieger-Abteilungall day, despite an improvement in the weatheraround noon. News that large numbers of troops had been arriving at Tournai by train werereceived and the advance was suspended, until the reports from Tournai could be checked.

The IX Corps divisions advanced in four columns against the Canal du Centre, from the northof Mons to Roeulx and on the left (eastern) flank met French troops at the canal, which wasconsidered to be the junction of the British and French. The corps commander, General vonQuast, had ordered an attack for 9:55 a.m. to seize the crossings, before the halt order wasreceived. The two III Corps divisions were close to St. Ghislain and GeneralEwald vonLochowordered them to prepare to attack from Tertre to Ghlin. In the IV Corps area, GeneralSixt von Arminordered an attack on the canal crossings of Pruwelz and Blaton and orderedthe 8th Division to reconnoitre from Tournai to Cond and to keep contact with the II CavalryCorps.
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The Battle

Morning

At dawn on 23 August a German artillery bombardment began on the British lines;throughout the day the Germans concentrated on the British at the salient formed by the loopin the canal. At 9:00 a.m., the first German infantry assault began, with the Germansattempting to force their way across four bridges that crossed the canal at the salient. FourGerman battalions attacked the Nimy bridge, which was defended by a company of the 4thBattalion,Royal Fusiliersand a machine-gun section led by LieutenantMaurice Dease.Advancing at first in close column, "parade ground formation", the Germans made easytargets for the British riflemen, who hit German soldiers at over 1,000 yards (910 m),mowing them down by rifle, machine-gun and artillery fire. So heavy was the British riflefire throughout the battle that some Germans thought they were facing batteries of machine-guns.

Map showing the disposition of Allied and German forces at the battles of Mons andCharleroi on 2223 August

The initial German attack was thus repulsed with heavy losses and the Germans switched toan open formation and attacked again. This attack was more successful, as the looserformation adopted by the Germans made it more difficult for the British to inflict casualties

rapidly. The outnumbered defenders were soon hard-pressed to defend the canal crossings,and the Royal Fusiliers at the Nimy andGhlinbridges faced some of the day's heaviest
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fighting; only piecemeal addition of reinforcements to the firing line and the exceptionalbravery of two of the battalion machine-gunners allowed them to hold off the Germanattacks. At the Nimy bridge, Dease took control of his machine gun after every other memberof his section had been killed or wounded and fired the weapon despite being shot severaltimes. After a fifth wound he was evacuated to the battalion aid station, where he died. At the

Ghlin Bridge, PrivateSidney Godleyoperated the other machine-gun throughout the day andstayed behind to cover the Fusilier retreat at the end of the battle. Godley surrendered afterthrowing parts of the gun into the canal to prevent its capture by the Germans. Both soldierswere awarded theVictoria Cross,the first two awarded in the First World War.

To the right of the Royal Fusiliers, the 4th Battalion,Middlesex Regiment,and the 1stBattalion,Gordon Highlanders,were equally hard-pressed by the German assault on thesalient. Greatly outnumbered, both battalions suffered heavy casualties but with the additionof reinforcements from theRoyal Irish Regiment,from the divisional reserve and effectivefire support from the divisional artillery, they managed to hold the bridges. The Germansexpanded their attack, assaulting the British defences along the straight reach of the canal to

the west of the salient. The Germans used the cover offirplantations that lined the northernside of the canal and advanced to within a few hundred yards of the canal to rake the Britishwith machine-gun and rifle fire. The German attack fell particularly heavily on the 1stBattalion,Royal West Kent Regimentand the 2nd Battalion,King's Own Scottish Borderers,which despite many casualties, repulsed the Germans throughout the day.
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Retreat

Lieutenant Maurice Dease Fusilier Sidney Godley

Lieutenant Maurice Dease was 24 years old, and alieutenantin the 4th Battalion,The RoyalFusiliers,and was awarded the VC for his actions on 23 August 1914, atMons,Belgium.

Nimy Bridge was being defended by a single company of the 4th Royal Fusiliers and amachine-gun section with Dease in command. The gun fire was intense, and the casualtiesvery heavy, but the lieutenant went on firing in spite of his wounds, until he was hit for thefifth time and was carried away.

Though two or three times badly wounded he continued to control the fire of his machineguns at Mons on 23rd Aug., until all his men were shot. He died of his wounds.

Dease won the first Victoria Cross to be awarded in theGreat War,19141918, and he also

won it on the first day of the first significant British encounter in that war. Dease is buried atSt Symphorien military cemetery,Belgium.

He is remembered with a plaque under the Nimy Railroad Bridge, Mons and inWestminsterCathedral.His name is on the Wayside Cross in Woodchester,Stroud, Gloucestershire.HisVictoria Cross is displayed at theRoyal Fusiliers Museumin theTower of London.

The other Sidney Godley was 25 years old, and aprivatein the 4th Battalion,The RoyalFusiliers,British Army, during theBattle of Monsin the First World War when he performedan act for which he was awarded theVictoria Cross.On 23 August 1914, atMons,Belgiumon the Mons-Cond Canal, LieutenantMaurice Deaseand Sidney Godley offered to defend

theNimyRailway Bridge while the rest of the British and French armies retreated for a betterdefence line on theRiver Marne.When Lieutenant Dease had been mortally wounded and
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killed, Private Godley held the bridge single-handed under very heavy fire and was woundedtwice. Shrapnel entered his back when an explosion near him went off, and he was shot inthehead. Despite his injuries he carried on the defence of the bridge while his comradesescaped.

His citation read:

For coolness and gallantry in fighting his machine gun under a hot fire for two hours after hehad been wounded at Mons on 23rd August.

Godley defended the bridge for two hours, until he ran out of ammunition. His final act wasto dismantle the gun and throw the pieces into the canal. He attempted to crawl to safety, butadvancing German soldiers caught him and took him to a prisoner of war camp. His woundswere treated, but he remained in camp until theArmistice.Originally it was thought that hehad been killed, but some time later it was found that he was aprisoner of warin a campcalled Delotz atDallgow-Dberitz.It was in the camp that he was informed that he had been

awarded the Victoria Cross. Godley left the camp in 1918 after the guards fled their posts. Hereceived the actual medal fromKing George V,atBuckingham Palace,on 15 February 1919

By the afternoon the British position in the salient had become untenable; the 4th Middlesexhad 15 officer and 353other rankskilled or wounded. To the east of the British position,units of the German IX Corps had begun to cross the canal in force, threatening the Britishright flank. At Nimy, Private Oskar Neimeyer had swum across the canal under British fire tooperate machinery closing a swing bridge. Although he was killed, his actions re-opened the

bridge and allowed the Germans to increase pressure against the 4th Royal Fusiliers.

At 3:00 p.m. the British 3rd Division was ordered to retire from the salient, to positions ashort distance to the south of Mons and a similar retreat towards evening by the 5th Divisionto conform. By nightfall II Corps had established a new defensive line running through thevillages of Montrul,Boussu,Wasmes,Paturages andFrameries.The Germans had built

pontoon bridges over the canal and were approaching the British positions in great strength.News had arrived that the French Fifth Army was retreating, dangerously exposing theBritish right flank and at 2:00 a.m. on 24 August, II Corps was ordered to retreat south-westinto France to reach defensible positions along theValenciennesMaubeugeroad.

The unexpected order to retreat from prepared defensive lines in the face of the enemy meantthat II Corps was required to fight a number of sharp rearguard actions against the Germans.

For the first stage of the withdrawal, Smith-Dorrien detailed the5th Brigadeof the 2ndDivision, which had not been involved in heavy fighting on 23 August, to act as rearguard.The 5th Brigade fought a holding action at Paturages and Frameries, the Brigade artillery in

particular inflicting heavy casualties on the Germans. At Wasmes, elements of the 5thDivision faced a big attack, German artillery began bombarding the village at daybreak, andat 10:00 a.m. infantry of the German III Corps attacked. Advancing in columns, the Germanswere immediately met with massed rifle and machine-gun fire and were "mown down likegrass." For a further two hours, soldiers of the 1stWest Kents,2nd Battalion,King's OwnYorkshire Light Infantry,2nd Battalion,Duke of Wellington's Regiment,and 1st Battalion,Bedfordshire Regiment,held off German attacks on the village despite many casualties andthen retreated in good order to St. Vaast.
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On the extreme left of the British line, the14thand15thBrigades of the 5th Division werethreatened by a German outflanking move and were forced to call for help from the cavalry.The2nd Cavalry Brigade,along with the 119th BatteryRFAandL Battery RHA,were sentto their aid. Dismounting, the cavalry and the two artillery batteries screened the withdrawalof the 14th and 15th Brigades in four hours of intense fighting.

German 1st Army

On 23 August, the 18th Division of IX Corps advanced and began to bombard the Britishdefences near Maisires and St. Denis. Part of the 35th Brigade, got across the canal east of

Nimy with light casualties and reached the railway beyond in the early afternoon but theattack on Nimy was repulsed. The 36th Brigade captured bridges at Obourg againstdetermined resistance, after which the defenders at Nimy gradually withdrew; the bridges tothe north were captured at 4:00 p.m. and the town stormed. Quast ordered the 18th Divisionto take Mons and push south to Cuesmes and Mesvin. Mons was captured unopposed, exceptfor a skirmish on the southern fringe and by dark the 35th Brigade was in the vicinity ofCuesmes and Hyon. On higher ground to the east of Mons, the defence continued. On thefront of the 17th Division, British cavalry withdrew from the canal crossings at Ville-sur-Haine and Thieu and the division advanced to the road from St. Symphorien to St. Ghislain.At 5:00 p.m. the divisional commander ordered an enveloping attack on the British east ofMons, who were pushed back after a stand on the MonsGivry road.

By 11:00 a.m. reports from the IV, III and IX corps revealed that the British were in St.Ghislain and at the canal crossings to the west, as far as the bridge at Pommeroeuil, with notroops east of Cond. Intelligence reports from 22 August had noted 30,000 troops headingthrough Dour towards Mons and on 23 August 40,000 men had been seen on the road to

Genlis south of Mons, with more troops arriving at Jemappes. To the north of Binche, theright flanking division of the 2nd Army had been forced back to the south-west by Britishcavalry. In the early afternoon the II Cavalry Corps reported that it had occupied the area ofThieltKortykTournai during the night and forced back a French brigade to the south-east ofRoubaix. With this report indicating that the right flank was clear of Allied troops, Kluckordered the III Corps to advance through St. Ghislain and Jemappes on the right of IX Corpsand the IV Corps to continue towards Hensis and Thulies; the IV Corps was already attackingat the Canal du Centre and the II Corps and the IV Reserve Corps were following on behindthe main part of the army.

III Corps had to advance across open meadows to an obstacle with few crossings, all of

which had been destroyed. The 5th Division advanced towards Tertre on the right, which wascaptured but then the advance on the railway bridge was stopped by small-arms fire fromacross the canal. On the left flank, the division advanced towards a bridge north-east ofWasmuel and eventually managed to get across the canal against determined resistance,

before turning towards St. Ghislain and Hornu. As dark fell Wasmuel was occupied andattacks on St. Ghislain were repulsed by machine-gun fire, which prevented troops crossingthe canal except at Tertre, where the advance was stopped for the night. The 6th Division wascounter-attacked at Ghlin, before advancing towards higher ground south of Jemappes. TheBritish in the village stopped the division with small-arms fire, except for small parties, whofound cover west of a path from Ghlin to Jemappes. The isolated parties managed to surprisethe defenders at the crossing north of the village, with the support of a few field guns around

5:00 p.m., after which the village was captured. The rest of the division crossed the canal andbegan a pursuit towards Frameries and Ciply but stopped as dark fell.
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The IV Corps arrived in the afternoon, as the 8th Division closed on Hensies and Thulin andthe 7th Division advanced towards Ville-Pommeroeuil, where there were two canals blockingthe route. The 8th Division encountered the British at the northernmost canal, west ofPommeroeuil and forced back the defenders but then bogged down in front of the secondcanal, under machine-gun fire from the south bank. The attack was suspended, after night fell

and the British blew the bridge. The 7th Division forced the British back from a railwayembankment and over the canal, to the east of Pommeroeuil but was pushed back from thecrossing. Small parties then managed to cross by a footbridge built in the dark and protectedrepair parties at the blown bridge, which allowed troops to get across and dig in 400 metres(440 yd) south of the canal, on either side of the road to Thulin.

Late in the day, the II Corps and the IV Reserve Corps rested on their march routes at LaHamaide and Bierghes, after marching 32 and 20 kilometres (20 and 12 mi) respectively, 30and 45 kilometres (19 and 28 mi) behind the front, too far behind to take part in the battle on24 August. In the mid-afternoon of 23 August, IV Corps was ordered to rest, as reports fromthe front suggested that the British defence had been overcome and the 1st Army

headquarters wanted to avoid the army converging on Maubeuge, leaving the right (western)flank vulnerable. In the evening Kluck cancelled the instruction, after reports from IX Corpsthat its observation aircraft had flown over a column 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) long, movingtowards Mons along the Malplaquet road. Two more columns were seen on the MalplaquetGenly and the QuevyGenly roads, a large force was seen near Asquillies and cavalry wasfound further east, which showed that most of the BEF was opposite the 1st Army. It wasconsidered vital that the second canal crossings were captured along the line, as had beenachieved by the IX and part of III corps. IV Corps was ordered to resume its march and movethe left wing towards Thulin but it was already engaged at the canal crossings. The III and IXcorps attack during the day had succeeded against "a tough, nearly invisible enemy" but theoffensive had to continue, because it appeared that only the right flank of the army could get

behind the BEF.

The situation remained unclear at the 1st Army headquarters in the evening, becausecommunication with the other right flank armies had been lost and only fighting near Thuin

by VII Corps, the right-flank unit of the 2nd Army had been reported. Kluck ordered that theattack was to continue on 24 August, past the west of Maubeuge and that II Corps wouldcatch up behind the right flank of the army. IX Corps was to advance to the east of Bavai, IIICorps was to advance to the west of the village, IV Corps was to advance towards Warnies-le-Grand 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) further to the west and the II Cavalry Corps was to headtowards Denain, to cut off the British retreat. During the night there were several British

counter-attacks but none of the German divisions was forced back over the canal. At dawnthe IX Corps resumed its advance and pushed forwards against rearguards until the afternoon,when the corps stopped the advance due to uncertainty about the situation on its left flank andthe proximity of Maubeuge. At 4:00 p.m. cavalry reports led Quast to resume the advance,which was slowed by the obstacles of Maubeuge and III Corps congesting the roads.

On the III Corps front to the west, the 6th Division attacked Frameries at dawn, which heldout until 10:30 a.m. and then took La Bouverie and Pturages, after which the British beganto retreat; the division turned west towards Warquignies and the 5th Division. St. Ghislainhad been attacked by the 5th Division behind an artillery barrage, where the 10th Brigade hadcrossed the canal and taken the village in house-to-house fighting, then reached the south end

of Hornu. A defensive line had been established by the British along the DourWasmesrailway, which stopped the German advance and diverted the 9th Brigade until 5:00 p.m.,


14/17

when the British withdrew. The German infantry were exhausted and stopped the pursuit atDour and Warquignies. During the day Kluck sent liaison officers to the corps headquarters,stressing that the army should not converge on Maubeuge but pass to the west, ready toenvelop the British left (west) flank.

The IV Corps headquarters had ordered its divisions to attack over the canal at dawn butfound that the British had blown the bridges and withdrawn. Repairs took until 9:00 a.m. andthe 8th Division did not reach Quivrain until noon; the 7th Division reached the railway atThuin during the morning and then took louges late in the afternoon. As the 8th Divisionmoved on, the vanguard was ambushed by British cavalry before an advance to Valenciennescould begin and then attacked a British rearguard at Baisieux, which then slipped away toAudregnies. The rest of the division skirmished with French Territorials south-west ofBaisieux. The IV Corps attack forced back rearguards but inflicted no serious damage, having

been slowed by the bridge demolitions at the canals. The cavalry divisions had advancedtowards Denain and theJgerbattalionshad defeated troops of the French 88th TerritorialDivision at Tournai and then reached Marchiennes, after a skirmish with the 83rd Territorial

Division near Orchies.


15/17

Air Operations

German air reconnaissance detected British troops on 21 August, advancing from Le Cateauto Maubeuge, and on 22 August from Maubeuge to Mons, as other sources identified halting

places, but poor communication and lack of systematic direction of air operations led to the

assembly of the BEF from Cond to Binche being unknown to the Germans on 2223August.

British reconnaissance flights had begun on 19 August with twosortiesand two more on 20August, which reported no sign of German troops. Fog delayed flights on 21 August but inthe afternoon German troops were seen near Courtrai and three villages were reported to be

burning. Twelve reconnaissance sorties were flown on 22 August and reported many Germantroops closing in on the BEF, especially troops on the BrusselsNinove road, which indicatedan enveloping manoeuvre.

One British aircraft was shot down and a British observer became the first British soldier tobe wounded while flying.

By the evening Sir John French was able to discuss with his commanders the Germandispositions near the BEF which had been provided by aircraft observation, the strength ofthe German forces, that the Sambre had been crossed and that an encircling move by theGermans from Grammont was possible.

During the battle on 23 August, the aircrews flew behind the battlefield looking for troopmovements and German artillery batteries.
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Aftermath

Both sides had success at the Battle of Mons: the British had been outnumbered by about 3:1but managed to withstand the German First Army for 48 hours, inflict more casualties on theGermans and then retire in good order. The BEF achieved its main strategic objective, whichwas to prevent the French Fifth Army from being outflanked. The battle was an importantmoral victory for the British; as their first battle on the continent since theCrimean War,itwas a matter of great uncertainty as to how they would perform. In the event, the Britishsoldiers came away from the battle with a clear sense that they had got the upper hand duringthe fighting at Mons. The Germans appeared to recognise that they had been dealt a sharp

blow by an army they had considered inconsequential. The German novelist and infantryCaptain Walter Bloem wrote:

The men all chilled to the bone, almost too exhausted to move and with the depressingconsciousness of defeat weighing heavily upon them. A bad defeat, there can be no gain

saying it... we had been badly beaten, and by the English by the English we had so laughed

at a few hours before.

For the Germans the Battle of Mons was a tactical repulse and a strategic success. The staff atKluck's headquarters claimed that the two-day battle had failed to envelop the British, due tothe subordination of the army to Blow and the 2nd Army headquarters, which had insistedthat the 1st Army keep closer to the western flank, rather than attack to the west of Mons. Itwas believed that only part of the BEF had been engaged and that there was a main line ofdefence from Valenciennes to Bavai, which Kluck ordered to be enveloped on 25 August.The 1st Army was delayed by the British and suffered many casualties but crossed the barrierof the MonsCond Canal and began its advance into France. The Germans drove the BEFand French armies before them almost toParis,before being stopped at theBattle of theMarne.

Casualties

The British Official Historian J. E. Edmonds recorded "just over" 1,600 British casualties,most in the two battalions of the 8th Brigade which had defended the salient, and wrote thatGerman losses "must have been very heavy", which explained German inertia after dark,

when the 8th Brigade was vulnerable, several other gaps existed in the British line and theretirement had begun.

John Keeganestimated German losses to have been c.5,000 men.In1997 D. Lomas recorded German losses from 3,0005,000 men. In 2009 Herwig recorded1,600 British casualties and c.5,000 German casualties, despite the fact that Kluck and Kuhl

did not reveal 1st Army casualties.

Legacy

The Battle of Mons has attained an almost mythic status. In British historical writing, it has areputation as an unlikely victory against overwhelming odds, similar to the English victory at

theBattle of Agincourt.Mons gained a myth, a miraculous tale that theAngels of Mons
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angelic warriors sometimes described as phantomlongbowmenfrom Agincourt had savedthe British army by halting the German troops.

Soldiers of the BEF who fought at Mons became eligible for a campaign medal, the1914Star,often colloquially called the Mons Star, honouring troops who had fought in Belgium or

France 5 August 22 November 1914. On 19 August 1914,Kaiser Wilhelmallegedly issuedanOrder of the Daywhich read in part: "my soldiers to exterminate first the treacherousEnglish; walk over Field Marshal French's contemptible little Army." This led to the British"Tommies"of the BEF proudly labelling themselves "The Old Contemptibles". No evidenceof the Order of the Day has been found in German archives and the ex-Kaiser denied givingit. An investigation conducted by GeneralFrederick Mauricetraced the origins of the Orderto the BritishGHQ,where it apparently had been concocted for propaganda purposes.

The Germans established theSt Symphorien Military Cemeteryas a memorial to the Germanand British dead. On a mound in the centre of the cemetery a grey granite obelisk 7 metres(23 ft) tall was built with a German inscription: "In memory of the German and English

soldiers who fell in the actions near Mons on the 23rd and 24th August 1914".Originally, 245German and 188 British soldiers were interred at the cemetery. More British, Canadian andGerman graves were moved to the cemetery from other burial grounds and more than 500soldiers were eventually buried in St. Symphorien, of which over 60 were unidentified.Special memorials were erected to five soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment believed to be

buried in unnamed graves. Other special memorials record the names of four British soldiers,buried by the enemy in Obourg Churchyard, whose graves could not be found. St.Symphorien cemetery also contains the graves of the two soldiers believed to be the first(Private John Parr, 4th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, 21 August 1914) and the last (PrivateGordon Price,Canadian Infantry, 11 November 1918) Commonwealth soldiers to be killedduring the First World War. A tablet in the cemetery sets out the gift of the land by JeanHouzeau de Lehaie.
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battle of mons 23rd august 1914

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