The Angel of Mons

The Angel of Mons In June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, were assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a Yugoslav patriot, in Sarajevo. This seemingly small event triggered a massive crisis between the great powers of Europe – Italy, France, Germany, Britain, Austria-Hungary and Russia. By 28 July, war had broken out between these powers. Austria-Hungary had competed with Serbia and Russia for territory and influence in the Balkans and, through each side’s various alliance and treaties, dragged the rest of the great powers into a conflict which became known as the Great War. This led to armies totalling millions moving across northern France and Belgium in August 1914. The great powers of Europe in 1914 Kaiser Wilhelm II of Tsar Nicholas II of King George V of Germany Russia Britain Victor Emmanuel III President Raymond Franz Joseph I, of Italy Poincar é of France Emperor of Austria, (1913-1920) and King of Hungary The Battle of Mons The summer of 1914 was a hot one, the sun blazing down on vast columns of weary, sleep-deprived soldiers, lacking essential supplies. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) were attempting to hold the line of the Mons-Condé Canal against the advancing German First Army led by General Alexander Von Kluck. The BEF was an all-volunteer British soldiers resting on 22 August 1914 in the force – as such, they were a much square at Mons, Belgium, before moving into smaller army than the conscript position at Nimy on the bank of the Mons-Condé armies of Europe’s main powers. Canal. There were around 80,000 men in the BEF while the German force numbered 160,000. Kaiser Wilhelm disparagingly described the BEP as ‘a contemptible little army’, as he believed the force was too small to cause his German troops any real problems. The BEF decided to take the slur as a compliment and adopted the nickname, ‘Old Contemptibles’. Despite being vastly outnumbered however, the British army managed to inflict greater casualties upon the German army. Eventually though, the British were forced to fall back, partly due to being so outnumbered, and partly due to the sudden retreat of the French Fifth Army under the command of General Charles Lanrezac, which exposed the British right flank. The German army clashed with the Allied army along the Franco-Belgian and Franco-German Borders. The BEF had been stationed on the left of the Allied line which stretched from Alsace-Lorraine in the east to Mons and Charleroi in southern Belgium. The BEF stood in the path of the German First Army, who intended to encircle and then destroy the Allies. The British Army’s job had been to repel the Germans and prevent the allies from being outflanked. Private John Parr was the first British soldier to be killed in the conflict. He was a member of a bicycle reconnaissance team who came across a German unit near Obourg – this was the first contact between the two armies on 21 August. The BEF reached Mons on 22 August. The French Fifth Army was positioned to the right of the BEF and engaged in heavy fighting with the German Second Army and the German Third Army at the Battle of Charleroi. Field Marshal Sir John French, commander of the BEF, had agreed to hold the line of the Mons-Condé Canal for 24 hours at the request of General Charles Lanrezac, to try and prevent the German First Army from advancing and threatening the French left flank. The BEF spent the day digging in along the canal. At dawn on 23 August, German artillery began bombarding the British lines. The Germans had 600 guns compared to the British 300. At 9.00am, the German infantry began their assault. As the German infantry advanced, they made easy targets for the British riflemen, machine gunners and artillery fire. So many German soldiers were cut down that the infantry advance had to be re-evaluated and changed. Sir John French By 3:00pm however, the German assault upon the British forces was so ferocious, the BEF had no choice but to fall back. Although this was initially planned as a tactical withdrawal, to be executed in good order, the retreat took two weeks, with soldiers fighting for their lives every step of the way as they withdrew to the outskirts of Paris. A number of battalions were faced with fierce rearguard action as the German army advanced towards them, resulting in much death and injury. By the end of the Battle of Mons, BEF casualties and losses totalled 1,600. However, German casualties and losses totalled 5,000. British troops at the Mons-Condé Canal British troops retreating after the Battle of Mons A legendary battle One of the legends that has arisen out of the Battle of Mons as an explanation for the discrepancy in the number of German casualties and losses compared to British casualties and losses is the story of the Angel of Mons. During their retreat from Mons, British soldiers claimed they were saved from annihilation by angels. The soldiers had been under fierce bombardment without let-up since dawn. The British soldiers fought well, firing with accuracy at the advancing German infantry. British guns had also placed the German army under bombardment, and despite the German army being far superior in number and having double the amount of guns, the British soldiers displayed much bravery and courage. The battlefield at Mons All morning, the German guns thundered and blasted the British soldiers. As the day progressed, the bombardment became more and more ferocious. The shells shrieked overhead then tore into the ground, shattering the ranks of British soldiers to smithereens. Blood and mud- spattered men bravely held their ground as hell erupted around them and shells and bullets destroyed their comrades. Through the choking smoke, a sea of grey uniforms moved slowly and inexorably towards them in vast waves. The waves fell as British bullets and shells took their toll, but even as the waves crashed into the mud, more and more swelled up behind them. The British soldiers must have felt as ancient King Canute did in his vain attempt to hold back the tide. The sea of German soldiers advanced further and further towards the British soldiers. Column after column of German infantry bore down upon them. By 3:00 pm, the British commanders realised that, not only were they unable to repel the German advance, they British inf antry receive the German attack a t Mons, 23rd August 1914, from ‘ The Red Book Of The War’ by Herbert Strang were in danger of becoming surrounded by the enemy forces. The order for retreat was given. It was a large scale retreat for the British. Battalion after battalion moved out. The last to leave faced the fiercest rearguard fighting, yet miraculously, so it seemed, the German advance was checked for one day. To try and block out the screams of the injured and dying which could be heard even though the guns pounded the air, one soldier claimed he repeated the words he had read on a plate in a London restaurant. On the plate was printed a picture of St George. Underneath the picture was the motto ‘Adsit Anglis sanctus Georgius’ – may St George be a present help to the English. Some of his comrades repeated the chant as they retreated towards Paris under a dark sky, a sky so dark it was impossible to tell where the smoke ended and the sky began. It was during the retreat they felt a shudder, not from the pounding guns but from the clouds covering the starlit sky above them. An angel, clothed in white, mounted on a white horse and brandishing a flaming sword, appeared in a parting of the clouds, during what was felt to be the worst moments in the battle. The angel rallied the troops, faced the advancing German army and halted their advance. This apparition soon became known as the Angel of Mons. Shining angels throw a protective curtain around men from the Lincolnshire Regiment at Mons, by Alfred Pearse. Many soldiers later claimed to have seen the angel who saved the left wing from the Germans when they came right upon them during the BEF retreat from Mons. The ferocity of the battle on 23 August, combined with the British victory over a far superior force, helped promote the rumour that swept back home to Britain – some form of divine intervention had taken place. It was seen as a divine indication that God was on the side of the Allies and, in the end, they would prevail over their enemies. ‘The Angel of Mons’ legend gave hope and encouragement to the soldiers and their families back home. It wasn’t long before an alternative version of this story began circulating in Britain – a long line of Agincourt archers shot the advancing Germans down with arrows, yet no wounds were later found on the dead Germans. The story, entitled ‘The Bowmen’, was written by Arthur Machen and published in a London paper, The Evening News, on 29 September. In his story, there was a vivid description of a large-scale British retreat in the face of a German advance. Suddenly, a line of phantom bowmen from the Battle of Agincourt (a decisive British victory during the Hundred Years’ War with France, and famous for the use of the English longbow) appeared on the battlefield and shot down the Germans in their thousands. Machen maintained for the duration of his life that ‘The Bowmen’ was a work of fiction, despite readers and religious followers claiming that the incident involving the Agincourt Arthur Machen took great archers had actually occurred.

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