Battle of Mons (aug 23, 1914 – aug 23, 1914)

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Battle of Mons, (August 23, 1914) engagement between the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the German army at Mons, Belgium, during the Battle of the Frontiers in the opening weeks of World War I. The German victory forced the BEF into a retreat that was not checked until the First Battle of the Marne.

Britain declared war on Germany on August 4, 1914, and the lead elements of the BEF began arriving in France just days later. The British, after concentrating near Maubeuge, France, had moved up to Mons on August 22, ready to advance farther into Belgium as part of an offensive by the Allied left wing. BEF commander Field Marshal Sir John French soon learned that the French Fifth Army under Charles Lanrezac had been checked on August 21 and deprived of the crossing of the Sambre River. Although thus placed in an exposed forward position, French agreed to stand at Mons with his two corps to cover Lanrezac’s left.

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