Battle of Mons The Battle of Mons was the first major action of the British Expeditionary Force ( BEF ) in the First World War . It was a subsidiary action of the Battle of the Frontiers , in which the Allies clashed with Germany on the French borders . At Mons , the British army attempted to hold the line of the Mons - Condé Canal against the advancing German First Army . Although the British fought well and inflicted disproportionate casualties on the numerically superior Germans , they were eventually forced to retreat due both to the greater strength of the Germans and the sudden retreat of the French Fifth Army , which exposed the British right flank . Though initially planned as a simple tactical withdrawal , and executed in good order , the British retreat from Mons ultimately lasted two weeks and took the BEF to the outskirts of Paris before it was finally able to counterattack , in concert with the French , at the Battle of the Marne . Background . Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914 , and on 9 August the BEF began embarking for France . By the standards of Continental European armies , the BEF was , in 1914 , exceedingly small . Whereas at the beginning of the war the German and French armies numbered well over a million men each , divided into eight and five field armies , respectively , the BEF initially numbered only about 80 , 000 soldiers divided into two corps . Unlike the largely conscript armies of Germany and France , however , the BEF was an entirely professional force made up of long - service volunteer soldiers . As a result , the BEF was , on balance , probably the best trained and most experienced of the European armies of 1914 . In particular , pre - war British Army training emphasized rapid marksmanship , meaning that the average British soldier was able to hit a man - sized target fifteen times a minute at a range of 300 yards with his Lee - Enfield rifle . This ability to pour out rapid , accurate rifle - fire would play an important role in all of the BEF ' s battles of 1914 . The Battle of Mons took place as part of the Battle of the Frontiers , in which the advancing German army clashed with the advancing Allied armies along the Franco - Belgian and Franco - German borders . The BEF was stationed on the left of the Allied line , which stretched from Alsace - Lorraine in the east to Mons and Charleroi in southern Belgium . The British army ' s position on the French flank meant that it stood directly in the path of the German First Army , the outermost wing of the massive " right hook " intended by the Schlieffen Plan to encircle and destroy the Allies . The BEF , small as it was , thus had the crucial role of holding back the German right wing and preventing the Allies from being outflanked . The British reached Mons on 22 August . On that day , the French Fifth Army , located on the immediate right of the BEF , was heavily engaged with the German Second and Third armies at the Battle of Charleroi . At the request of the Fifth Army commander , General Charles Lanrezac , the BEF ' s commander , Field Marshal Sir John French , agreed to hold the line of the Mons - Condé Canal for twenty - four hours to prevent the advancing German First Army from threatening the French left flank . The British thus spent the day creating entrenched positions along the canal . Prelude . Disposition of forces and first contact . At the Battle of Mons the BEF consisted of two corps , each with two infantry divisions , plus an additional five brigades of cavalry – a total of approximately 80 , 000 men . I Corps was commanded by Sir Douglas Haig and was composed of the 1st and 2nd Divisions . II Corps was commanded by Sir Horace Smith - Dorrien and consisted of the 3rd and 5th Divisions . Each infantry division consisted of three brigades , each with four battalion s . It was armed with twenty - four Vickers machine gun s – two per battalion – and was supported by three field artillery brigades totalling fifty - four 18 - pounder gun s , one field howitzer brigade of eighteen 4 . 5 - inch howitzers , and one heavy artillery battery of four 60 - pounder guns . The British II Corps , on the left of the British line , occupied defensive positions along the Mons - Condé Canal , while I Corps was positioned almost at a right angle away from the canal along the Mons - Beaumont 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 at Charleroi . In the event , however , the fact that I Corps did not line the canal meant that it played very little role in the upcoming battle , and the German onslaught was faced almost exclusively by II Corps . The dominant geographical feature of the battlefield was a loop in the canal , which jutted outwards from Mons towards the village of Nimy . This loop formed a small salient that would , inevitably , be difficult for the British to defend . Consequently , this salient formed the focus of the battle . Advancing towards the British was the German First Army , commanded by Alexander von Kluck . The First Army was composed of four active corps ( II , III , IV , and IX Corps ) and three reserve corps ( III , IV , and IX Reserve Corps ) , although only the active corps took part in the fighting at Mons . German corps , like British corps , consisted of two divisions each , with attendant cavalry and artillery . Of all the German field armies , the First Army had the greatest offensive power , with a density of about 18 , 000 men per mile of front , or about 10 per metre – higher than any other German army . The first contact between the two armies occurred on 21 August , when a British bicycle reconnaissance team encountered a German unit near Obourg . One of the cyclists , Private John Parr , was killed , thereby becoming the first British fatality of the war . The first substantial action occurred a day later , on the morning of 22 August . At 6 : 30 a . m . , the 4th Dragoon Guards laid an ambush for a patrol of German lancer s outside the village of Casteau , to the northeast of Mons . When the Germans spotted the trap and fell back , a troop of the dragoons , led by Captain Hornby , gave chase , followed by the rest of his squadron , all with drawn sabre s . The retreating Germans led the British to a larger force of lancers , who they promptly charged , and Captain Hornby became the first British soldier to kill an enemy in the Great War , fighting on horseback with sword against lance . After a further pursuit of a few miles , the Germans turned and fired upon the British cavalrymen , at which point the Dragoons dismounted and opened fire . Drummer Edward Thomas is reputed to have fired the first shot of the war for the British Army , hitting a German trooper . Battle . Morning . The Battle of Mons opened at dawn on 23 August with a German artillery bombardment of the British lines . Understanding that the salient formed by the loop in the canal was the weak - point of the British defences , throughout the day the Germans focused their primary efforts on attacking the British there . At 9 : 00 a . m . , the first German infantry assault began , with the Germans attempting to force their way across the four bridges that crossed the canal at the salient . Four German battalions attacked the Nimy bridge , which was defended by a single company of the 4th Battalion , Royal Fusiliers , as well as a machine gun section led by Lieutenant Maurice Dease . Advancing at first in close column – " parade ground " formation – the Germans made nearly unmissable targets for the well - trained British riflemen ( who were evidently making hits at over ) , and were mown down by rifle , machine gun , and artillery fire . Indeed , so heavy was the British rifle fire throughout the battle that the Germans thought they were facing batteries of machine guns . The initial German attack was thus repulsed with heavy losses . Quickly realising the folly of attacking in close order , however , the Germans switched to an open formation and attacked again . This attack was more successful , as the looser formation adopted by the Germans made it more difficult for the British to inflict casualties rapidly . As a result , the outnumbered defenders were soon hard - pressed to defend the canal crossings . The Royal Fusiliers , defending the Nimy bridge and the Ghlin bridge , faced some of the day ' s heaviest fighting , and only the piecemeal addition of reinforcements to the firing line as well as the exceptional bravery of two of the battalion ' s machine gunners allowed them to hold off the German attacks . At the Nimy bridge , Dease took control of his machine gun after every other member of his section had been killed or wounded and continued to fire the weapon despite being shot multiple times . Only after being wounded for a fifth time was he evacuated to the battalion aid station , where he died . At the Ghlin bridge , Private Sidney Godley operated the battalion ' s other machine gun tenaciously throughout the day , ultimately staying behind to cover the Fusiliers ' retreat at the end of the battle . He only surrendered after disassembling his gun and throwing the pieces into the canal to prevent its capture by the Germans . Both soldiers were awarded the Victoria Cross , the first two earned in the First World War . To the right of the Royal Fusiliers , the 4th Battalion , Middlesex Regiment and the 1st Battalion , Gordon Highlanders were equally hard - pressed by the German assault on the salient . Greatly outnumbered , both battalions suffered heavy casualties but , with the addition of reinforcements from the Royal Irish Regiment ( which was acting as the divisional reserve ) and effective fire support from the divisional artillery , they managed to hold the bridges . At this point , the Germans expanded their attack , assaulting the British defences along the straight reach of the canal to the west of the salient . The Germans attackers were aided by fir plantations that lined the northern side of the canal , allowing them to advance under cover to within a few hundred yards of the canal and to rake the British defences with machine gun and rifle fire . The German attack fell particularly heavily on the 1st Battalion , Royal West Kent Regiment and the 2nd Battalion , King ' s Own Scottish Borderers , but , although these battalions suffered heavy casualties , they managed to repulse the Germans throughout the day . Retreat . Under the weight of continuing German attacks , by the afternoon the British began to realize that their position in the salient was untenable . Many of the battalions defending the salient had taken heavy casualties – the 4th Middlesex , for example , had suffered 15 officers and 353 other ranks killed 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 British right flank . And at Nimy , a German private , August Neimeier , had swum across the canal under British fire to operate machinery closing a swing bridge . Although he was killed , his actions allowed the Germans to increase pressure against the 4th Royal Fusiliers . In consequence , at 3 p . m . the British 3rd Division was ordered to retire from the salient to positions a short distance to the south of Mons . This retirement necessitated a similar retreat towards evening by the 5th Division , and by nightfall II Corps had established a new defensive line running through the villages of Montrœul , Boussu , Wasmes , Paturages , and Frameries . By this point , however , the Germans had built pontoon bridges over the canal , and were approaching the British positions in great strength . Additionally , news had arrived that the French Fifth Army was retreating , dangerously exposing the British right flank . At 2 a . m . on 24 August , II Corps was ordered to retreat southwest into France with the goal of reaching defensibile positions along the Valenciennes to Maubeuge road . The unexpected order to retreat from prepared defensive lines in the face of the enemy meant that II Corps was required to fight a number of sharp rearguard actions against the pursuing Germans . For the first stage of the withdrawal , Smith - Dorrien detailed the 5th Brigade of the 2nd Division , 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 . Elsewhere , at Wasmes , elements of the 5th Division faced a heavy assault . German artillery began bombarding the village at daybreak , and at 10 a . m . infantry of the German III Corps attacked . Advancing in columns , however , the Germans were immediately met with heavy rifle and machine gun fire , and were " mown down like grass . " For a further two hours , soldiers of the 1st West Kents , 2nd Battalion , King ' s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry , 2nd Battalion , Duke of Wellington ' s Regiment , and 1st Battalion , Bedfordshire Regiment held off repeated German assaults on the village despite taking heavy casualties , and then retreated in good order to St . Vaast . On the extreme left of the British line , the 14th and 15th Brigades of the 5th Division were particularly hard - pressed by the Germans , who were attempting to outflank them , and were forced to call for help from the cavalry . The 2nd Cavalry Brigade , along with the 119th Battery RFA and L Battery RHA , were sent to their aid . Dismounting to fight , the cavalry , protected by the two artillery batteries , successfully screened the withdrawal of the 14th and 15th Brigades during four hours of intense fighting . Aftermath . By nightfall on 24 August , the British had successfully retreated to what was expected to be their new defensive lines on the Valenciennes to Maubeuge road . Their retreat did not stop there , however . Significantly outnumbered by the German First Army , and with their French allies also falling back , the BEF had no choice but to continue to retire – I Corps retreating to Landrecies and II Corps to Le Cateau . The chaos and confusion was most graphically illustrated in Landrecies on 25 August where a senior officer " apparently took leave of his senses and began firing his revolver down a street . " Ultimately , the retreat would last for two weeks and cover over 250 miles . Throughout the retreat , the British were closely pursued by the Germans , and were forced to fight a number of rearguard actions , including the Battle of Le Cateau on 26 August , the Étreux rearguard action on 27 August , and the Action at Néry on 1 September . The BEF suffered heavily : whole units disappeared and " [ m ] ore guns were lost than at any time since the American War of Independence . " In a way , both sides were victorious at the Battle of Mons . The British , outnumbered by as much as 3 to 1 , managed to hold off the German First Army for 48 hours while inflicting significantly heavier casualties on their enemies , and were then able to retire in good order . They thus achieved their main strategic objective , which was to protect the French Fifth Army from being outflanked . Additionally , the Battle of Mons was an important moral victory for the British . As their first battle on the European continent since the Crimean War almost 60 years earlier , it was a matter of great uncertainty as to how they would perform . In the event , the British soldiers came away from the battle with a clear sense that they had gotten the upper hand during the fighting at Mons . The Germans , likewise , seem to have understood that they had been dealt a sharp blow by an army they had previously considered inconsequential . The German novelist and infantry captain Walter Bloem , for example , wrote his thoughts on the outcome of the battle : For the Germans , the Battle of Mons was a tactical defeat , but nonetheless a strategic victory . Although the First Army was temporarily held up by the British and suffered heavy casualties , it still managed to cross the barrier of the Mons - Condé Canal and begin its advance into France . Ultimately , it would drive the BEF and French armies before it almost to Paris before finally being stopped at the Battle of the Marne . Legacy . Over time , the Battle of Mons has attained an almost mythic status . In the British historiographic tradition in particular , it has been given a reputation as an upset victory against overwhelming odds of the same order as the English victory at the Battle of Agincourt . Indeed , Mons spawned its own famous myth : a miraculous tale claiming that the Angels of Mons – angelic warriors sometimes described as phantom longbow men from Agincourt – had saved the British army by halting the German troops . Soldiers of the BEF who fought at Mons later became eligible for a campaign medal , the 1914 Star , often colloquially called the Mons Star , honouring troops who had fought in Belgium or France between 5 August and 22 November 1914 . On 19 August 1914 , Kaiser Wilhelm allegedly issued an Order of the Day which read in part : " my soldiers to exterminate first the treacherous English ; walk over Field Marshal French ' s contemptible little Army . " This led to the British " Tommies " of the BEF proudly labelling themselves " The Old Contemptibles " . However , no evidence of the famous Order of the Day was ever found in the German archives after the war , and the ex - Kaiser denied having given it . An investigation conducted by General Frederick Maurice traced the origins of the Order to the British GHQ , where it apparently had been concocted for propaganda purposes . After the battle , the Germans established the St Symphorien military cemetery as a memorial to the German , British , and Irish dead . On a mound in the centre of the cemetery was erected a grey granite obelisk , tall , 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 , 245 German and 188 British and Irish soldiers were interred at the cemetery . Subsequently , additional British , Canadian , and German graves were moved to the cemetery from other burial grounds , and there are now over 500 soldiers buried in St . Symphorien . Of these , over 60 are unidentified , and special memorials have been 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 . Poignantly , St . Symphorien cemetery also contains the graves of the two soldiers believed to be the first ( Private John Parr , 4th Battalion , Middlesex Regt . , 21 August 1914 ) and the last ( Private Gordon Price , Canadian Infantry , 11 November 1918 ) Commonwealth soldiers to be killed during the First World War . A tablet in the cemetery sets out the gift of the land by Jean Houzeau de Lehaie .