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Title
Le Bois Haut
Description
At 6 pm the Gordons were still holding their line on the Faubourgd'Havré-Malplaquet road, defying the enemy who seemed to have reverted to their tactics of pressing forward in massed, closed ranks. But the pressure was telling. The 18 pdrs …
Subject
Source
Publisher
Date
1914-08-23
Scenario#
19
Scenario Description
At 6 pm the Gordons were still holding their line on the Faubourgd'Havré-Malplaquet road, defying the enemy who seemed to have reverted to their tactics of pressing forward in massed, closed ranks. But the pressure was telling. The 18 pdrs on the Le Bois Haut hill had to be rescued and a platoon under the command of Lieutenant I.B.N. Hamilton was sent to extricate them. The only way to extract the guns was down the back of the hill. But as they moved, they ran into an enemy reconaissance force. The leading horses were killed and the guns fell off the road into a ditch. Nothing daunted, one group of Gordons chased off the Germans at the point of the bayonet, whilst another helped the gunners drag the horses and the guns back up onto the road. Once the guns were saved, the Gordons withdrew with dark.
Location
Mons , Belgium
Battle Name
Battle Narrative
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 1st 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 lasted for two weeks and took the BEF to the outskirts of Paris before it counter-attacked in concert with the French, at the Battle of the Marne.
Narrative Source
Wikipedia: Battle of Mons
External Link
Combatants
German
British
Collection: