Rocky Ford enterprise., 1914-09-18

| Sir John French of the heroic fight
made by the British expeditionary
force to keep from being annihilated.
Like wildcat pursued by hounds. the
British force backed stubbornly to-
ward the River Disc, constantly show
Ing its teeth but realizing that 1t must
attain the river or perish.
Text Of the Report.
| The report is published in the Lon
| don Gazette, the official organ. 1t is
as follows:
THE transportation of the troops
from England by rail and sea was ef-
fected in the best order and without
check. Concentration was practi-
cally completed on the evening OF Fri
day, August 81, and l was able to
make dispositions to move the force
during Saturday to positions / con-
sidered most favorable from which to
commence the operations which Cen
eral Joffre requested me to under
take"
General French then described In
detail the position taken up by, his
forces at and on the east and west
of Mons. and the retirement of the
center behind Mons on Sunday, Au-
gust %. He continues:
Surprised by Joffre's Message
Meanwhile, about five In the after
noon, l received a most unexpected
message from General Joffre by tele-
graph. telling me that at least three
German corps we're moving on my
position in front and that another
L..
ment from the direction of Tournai.
He also informed me that the two re-
serve French divisions and the Fifth
French army corps on my right were
retiring, the Germans having on the
previous day gained possession of the
passage of the Sambre between
Charleroi and Namur.
Had Reserve Position Ready.
''In view of the possibility OF my
being driven from the Mons position
I had previously ordered position in
the rear to be reconnoitered.
when the news of the retirement
OF the French and the heavy German
threatening on my front reached me
endeavored to confirm IT by aeroplane
reconnaissance and as a result OF this
! determined to effect retirement to
the Maubeuge position at daybreek on
the oath.
Fighting on the Path.
"A certain amount of fighting con-
tiued along the whole line throughout
the night and at daybreak o, the oath
the second division from the neigh
borhood of Harmignies made q power
S,,l otr Tn rot ka
Binche. Under cover OF this demon
stration the Second corps retired on
the line of Dour. Quarouble and
Frameries. The third division on the
right of the corps suffered consider
able loss in this operation from the
enemy who had retaken Mons.
THE Second corps haltei on this
line, where they intrenched them
selves. enabling Sir Douglas Haig with
the First corps to withdraw to the
new position and he effected this with
out much further loss. reaching the
line from Bavay to Maubeuge about
seven in the evening.
About 1880 in the morning General
Allenby received message from Sir
| Charles Ferguson, commanding the
fifth division. saying he was very hard
pressed and in urgent need OF sup
port On receipt of this message Cen
eral Allenby drew In his cavalry and
end favored to bring direct support to
the fifth division.
Re-Enforeements Brought Up.
THE Nineteenth infantry brigade,
which had been guarding the line of
communications. was brought by rail
to Valenciennes on the 22d and 23d.
On tn morning of the oath they were
moved out to a position south Of
| Quarouble to support the left flank
of the Second corps.
with tho assistance of cavalry
Sir Horace Smith Dorrien was en-
abled to effect his retreat to a new
position. although having two corps
of the enemy on his front snd one
threatening his flank. He suffered
great losses In doing so.
AT nightfall a position was occu-
pied by the Second corps to the west
of Bavay, the First corps to the right.
The right was protected by the for
tress of Maubeuge. the left by the
Nineteenth brigade in positions be-
tween Jenlain and Bruay and by cav
airy on the outer flank The French
were still retiring and l had no sup
port except such as was afforded by
the fortress Of Maubeuge, and deter
mined efforts of the enemy to get
around my flank assured me that 1t
was his intention to hem me against
that place and surround me.
| Not a Moment to Be Lost.
'1 felt that not a moment must be
lost in returning to another position.
| The retirement was resumed In the
early morning of the 25th to q posi-
ton In the neighborhood of LeCateau
and the rear guard was ordered to be