history · by a contemporary
The first seven divisions
Ernest, Lord Hamilton (1858–1939), 1916
Named on the page for Battle of Mons.
machine-read Machine-read (OCR) from a scanned book at the Internet Archive: expect misread words and names. The scan itself is at the library.
draft Matched to the battle automatically; not yet reviewed.
Passages that name the battle; the whole book is at Internet Archive.
23 August 1914
Battle of Mons
LIST OF MAPS
Showing disposition of troops at . Facing page 12 the battle of Mons.
BEFORE MONS
very great risk—if not certainty—of being cut off and completely isolated. In these circum- stances there was no alternative but to range our Ist A.C. along the Mons—Beaumont road, in rear of the original position contemplated, while the 2nd A.C. lined the canal between Mons and Condé. ‘The position was not ideal, the formation being that of a broad arrow, with the two Army Corps practically at right angles to one another. However, it was the best that offered in the peculiar circumstances of the case. As it turned out in the end, the entire attack at Mons fell on the znd A.C., which lay back at an angle of forty-five degrees from the general line of defence. ‘The battle of Mons may, therefore, in a sense be looked upon as an attempt at a flanking or enveloping movement on the part of the enemy, which was frustrated by the interposition of our troops.
BEFORE MONS
In the meanwhile, the enemy’s entry into Mons itself had to be delayed as long as possible, which meant that the canal salient, bad as it was, had perforce to be defended. This dangerous but most responsible duty was en- trusted to Sir Hubert Hamilton with his 3rd Division, and, as a matter of fact, the battle of Mons in the end proved to be practically con- fined to the three brigades of this division.
THE BATTLE OF MONS
Map showing disposition of troops at the battle of Mons. Approximate scale 2 miles to an inch
Public domain. Text from Internet Archive.