Commemorations to mark WW1's First Battle of Mons

Special events are staged this weekend to mark the anniversary of the First Battle of Mons on 23 August, the first major action of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in World War One. 

A commemoration service will also take place on Monday 24 August, starting at 13.00 at the Hôtel de Ville in Mons’ Grand-Place.

Representatives of RBL Brussels branch will lay a wreath at the city's British Empire Memorial which was first unveiled by King Baudouin in 1952.

The RBL delegation is Captain (retd) Dennis Abbott (RBL Brussels Chair); Colonel (retd) William Bache (ex-US Special Forces, Vietnam veteran and Co-Chair Brussels Battles and Books Club) and Lieutenant-Colonel (retd) Matt Hill.

Others present include Matt Hill (ex-US Marine Corps); Andrée Ferrant (RBL Brussels Joint Secretary); Mireille Picron (RBL Brussels Joint Secretary); Freddy Roiseux (RBL Brussels Standard Bearer); Professor Jean-Francois Husson (RBL Brussels committee, Namur representative) and Ela Nora Fidan (Brussels Battles and Books Club).

Wreaths will be laid at the Hôtel de Ville, the nearby Nimy railway bridge where Lieutenant Maurice Dease and Private Sidney Godley each won the Victoria Cross and Saint Symphorien military cemetery where both Allied and German soldiers are buried.

Further upcoming commemorations in Brussels and Antwerp will mark the anniversary of the Liberation of the two cities at the end of WWII (3-4-5 September).

Speaking about the significance of the commemoration, Abbott said, “The Battle of Mons has gone down in the annals of British military history thanks to the heroic stand by troops of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in their first major engagement of 1914. Outnumbered three to one by the Germans, they held out for hours before withdrawing, preventing the enemy from outflanking French positions.”

He continued: "Wilhelm, the German Kaiser, is said to have dismissed the BEF as a 'contemptible little Army' before the battle, but the British fought tenaciously, none more so than Lieutenant Maurice Dease and Private Private Sidney Godley who were each awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry, for their defence of the railway bridge over the canal at Nimy." 

Four German battalions attacked the bridge, which was defended by a company of the Royal Fusiliers. Despite being seriously injured, Dease held the position until he was overcome by his wounds. Godley took over and even though he sustained a head wound, the soldier covered the withdrawal before disabling the weapon.

Abbot added, "The branch lays a wreath at the position they held, which is marked by a plaque recalling their exploits."

Lance-Corporal Charles Jarvis and Captain Theodore Wright of the Royal Engineers were also each awarded the VC for preventing the enemy from seizing a bridge at nearby Jemappes. Wright was fatally wounded less than a month later. 

The British suffered over 1,600 casualties (killed, wounded or missing) at Mons with around half of them coming from two battalions – the 4th Middlesex and 2nd Royal Irish. The German army figures was around 5,000 men (killed or wounded).

The Germans later established the St Symphorien Military Cemetery, which contains the graves of  284 German and 229 British and Commonwealth soldiers.

Among them are the graves of the first and last Commonwealth soldiers killed during the First World War, Private John Parr and Private George Price.

After the war, the veterans who took part in the Battle of Mons proudly called themselves the "Old Contemptibles" in response to the Kaiser's slur. 

At the inauguration of the British Empire Memorial in Mons, the British Defence Minister, Field Marshal Lord Alexander of Tunis, recalled his "baptism of fire" in his first action as a young lieutenant in the battle on 23 August 1914. 

The memorial was originally erected in the Belfry Park, but was moved to the original frontline at La Bascule crossroads and re-dedicated in 1986. It is close to the Celtic Cross Memorial, which honours the Irish soldiers who fought in the First Battle of August 1914 and the Second Battle of Mons in November 1918.

Photos: (c)Saint-Symporien military cemetery/Ville de Mons