MONSERRAT 



MONSERRAT 



thin force, iii c i icration with 



ir'.s .Mil l-Yrin-li army 'li its 

 and \\illi French territorial 



I On its U-ft, sllnlll'l all.uk 



and, if poiMf. envelop tl 

 ni. in ri^lit (Kluck's 1st HI my). 

 Mritif.li cavalry covering the ad- 

 i eaclu-d Soignies (10 in. N. K. 

 -lid lit Villors-St <;his- 

 l.iin mill. ! d heavy loss on a small 

 Ct-nnaii cavalry detachment.v 



.eiich molored to l.ann-y.ac's 

 darters early on the 22nd he 

 namben of French 

 moving S. in retreat. His 

 intelligence dept. that evening 

 <l that at least three Ger- 

 man r.n-p-; were marching against 

 tin- Kriti^h, carrying out a wide 

 turning mm emeiit. He took up a 

 position which was held by the 2nd 

 POZTM along the canal from Conde 

 to Mons, and thence, after following 

 a dangerously exposed loop in the 

 canal, turned S. to Harmignies, 

 so that his right flank (where the 

 1st corps was posted) was at right 

 angles to the rest of his front. His 

 position was chosen rather for 

 attack than for defence, and in case 

 a defensive battle had to be fought, 

 he intended to fall back to a line a 

 little farther south. 



The French troops who should 

 have prolonged the British left had 

 not arrived, and the left was in 

 the air ; by the night of the 22nd 

 the Germans were near Tournay 

 threatening that flank ; they also 

 drove back the British cavalry and 

 penetrated between the British 

 right and Lanrezac's left at Ander- 

 lues. They attacked Lanrezac with 

 such violence and superiority of 

 force, threatening his communica- 

 s from S.E., that his position 

 untenable. 



The British troops were ordered 

 to entrench and stand on the de- 

 fensive until French progress in 

 other directions gave the signal for 

 nil advance. At daybreak 

 of Aug. 23, German artillery began 

 to shell the exposed loop on the 

 canal N.E. of Mons; at 8 a.m. 

 German infantry advanced in this 

 quarter, violently assailed Nimy 

 bridge, and developed a turning 

 movement against the British right. 

 Soon after midday a very large 

 force of German guns was in action. 

 The !)tli (Jerman corps began to 

 force hack the right of the British 

 -'ml corps, E. of Mons, and Smith- 

 1> inien, commanding that corps, 

 withdrew from the canal loop, 

 blowing up the bridges over tlu- 

 canal. At other points along the 

 canal the Germans attacked in 

 force, but suffered heavily ; the 

 1-th Brandenburg Grenadiers of 

 the 3rd corps were roughly 

 handled and appear to have lost a 

 large part of their strength. So 



MONS BATTLE 1914 



English Miles 



British mmum Germans 



B. - Brigade Car. Ca.va.try 



British second Line 



German Army Cons - 40,000 men 



F RAA Nfl (T E 



Herman Army Lorps - nf.uuume 

 British Infurttry Brigade -4.000 



.. CaraJry .. .1,600 

 Roods = ffaitirajfi -~~ Canals 



Mons. Map showing the general disposition of the opposing armies and the 

 British first and second lines 



vigorous was the British fire that 

 the Germans reported they had 

 been opposed by masses of machine 

 guns. At Jemappes bridge the 

 fighting was particularly furious ; 

 the bridge was blown up by the 

 gallantry of a corporal who worked 

 90 minutes under fire. 



Early in the afternoon both 

 British flanks were threatened by 

 greatly superior German forces. 

 At 5 p.m. Sir J. French was in- 

 formed by Gen. Joffre that at 

 least 4 German corps (160,000 men) 

 were attacking him or turning him, 

 and that the French 5th army was 

 in retreat. French ordered an im- 

 mediate retirement of the British 

 to his second position, which had 

 been prepared a little to the S. 

 The British troops had punished 

 the Germans badly and had fought 

 superbly ; but by nightfall the 

 Germans had bridged the canal 

 and were advancing in great 

 strength. Sharp fighting went 



Monserrat, Spain. West side of the 

 mountain monastery 



on about them for many hours, 

 but not until dawn were the 

 British ordered to retreat. 



At Frameries the British rear- 

 guard put up so good a defence 

 that it compelled the Germans to 

 carry out a formal attack in which 

 at least nine battalions of the 6th 

 German division were engaged 

 and suffered heavy loss. The British 

 3rd division played the chief part 

 in this rearguard action. The 

 extrication of two British corps 

 from the enveloping attack of four 

 German corps (with a fifth in re- 

 serve) was a remarkable feat all 

 the more remarkable as the Ger- 

 mans were amply supplied with 

 motor transport, which at this date 

 the British force lacked, and with 

 aircraft. 



The battle of Mons was not 

 fought to a finish, but it illus- 

 trated the German superiority 

 in heavy artillery (especially 6-in. 

 howitzers), and the fine quality of 

 the British troops. The British 

 loss may be provisionally estimated 

 at 4,000 or 5,000 ; the German at 

 double that figure. 



The 1914 Star, given for services 

 in France and Belgium between 

 Aug. 5 and Nov. 22-23, 1914, is 

 popularly known as the Mons Star. 

 See Medal. H. w. Wilson 



Bibliography. The Retreat from 

 Mons, H. W. C. Davis, 1914; 1914, 

 Viscount French, 1919; The March 

 on Paris, H. R. G. vonKluck, HIL'O; 

 Forty Days in 1914, F. B. Maurice, 

 2nd ed. 1920. 



Monserrat OR" MONTSERRAT. 

 Mountain and monastery of Spain, 

 in the prov. of Barcelona. Near 

 the right bank of the Llobregat, 

 it is 21 m. direct N.VV. of Barce- 

 lona. A remarkable serrated 

 mountain mass (Lat. w>?. serra- 

 tus), its highest point, Turo do 



