The Battle of Mons and the Old Contemptibles

0:00Luna: We've talked a lot about 1914 in earlier episodes, but I don't think we've ever zeroed in on the very first clash between the British and German armies. Lucas: You're right — and it's a fascinating one. The Battle of Mons, on August 23, 1914, was the British Expeditionary Force's first major engagement. The BEF had arrived in France just days earlier, and they were thrown into the path of the German First Army under General Alexander von Kluck. Lucas: Now, the British troops were professional soldiers — many of them veterans of colonial campaigns — but they were massively outnumbered. The Germans had around 160,000 men in the First Army, while the BEF at Mons numbered about 70,000. And yet, the British put up a stubborn fight that surprised the Germans. Luna: I've heard the phrase 'Old Contemptibles' before. Is that from this battle? Lucas: Great catch. According to legend — and it's almost certainly a myth — Kaiser Wilhelm II issued an order in August 1914 referring to the British Expeditionary Force as a 'contemptible little army.' The British troops latched onto that and proudly called themselves the 'Old Contemptibles.' The thing is, there's no surviving written record of the Kaiser saying that. It might have been British propaganda to boost morale. Lucas: Regardless, the BEF at Mons proved anything but contemptible. The British infantry were armed with the Lee-Enfield rifle, and they were trained to deliver rapid, accurate fire — about 15 aimed rounds per minute. The Germans advancing in dense formations were mowed down. One German soldier later wrote that they faced 'a withering fire that seemed to come from nowhere.' Luna: So the British held their ground at first? Lucas: They did, but not for long. The Germans had overwhelming numbers and heavy artillery. By the afternoon, the British were forced to retreat. But it was a fighting retreat, conducted with discipline. The 4th Royal Fusiliers and the 2nd Royal Irish Regiment in particular covered the withdrawal, holding key bridges over the Mons-Conde canal. Lucas: And then there's the other famous story from Mons: the Angels of Mons. According to a short story published by Arthur Machen in September 1914, the ghosts of medieval English archers — or angelic figures — appeared to protect the retreating British soldiers. The story spread like wildfire, and many people came to believe it was a true miracle. Luna: But it was fiction, right? Lucas: Machen himself insisted it was fictional, but that didn't stop the legend. Chaplains and soldiers reported seeing strange lights or figures, and the myth became part of British folklore. It really shows how desperate people were for signs of divine intervention in those early, chaotic weeks of the war. Lucas: The retreat from Mons lasted two weeks and ended at the Marne, where the French and British turned and fought. That was the Battle of the Marne, which saved Paris. But Mons was the beginning — a small, bloody introduction to industrial warfare. Luna: And the British lost about 1,600 men there, right? Lucas: Around 1,600 casualties, yes. The Germans lost about 2,000 to 5,000, but the real impact was psychological. The British realized they were facing a modern, professional enemy — not colonial irregulars. And the Germans realized the British were tougher than they'd expected. Lucas: One detail I love: during the retreat, a British officer named John Lucy wrote about how his battalion, the 2nd Royal Irish, marched through the night with 'the sound of guns growing louder, and the sky glowing red.' He described the exhaustion, the confusion, but also the camaraderie. It's a very human window into those first weeks. Luna: It's interesting how the myths — like the Old Contemptibles and the Angels — have outlasted the facts for so many people. Lucas: And that's part of why we're here, right? To untangle the reality from the stories. But also to appreciate why those stories mattered. The Old Contemptibles gave the BEF a badge of honour. The Angels gave comfort to a nation in shock. Lucas: We've been exploring these layers of World War I together, episode by episode — and we keep going because there's always more to uncover. We deliberately don't run ads on these conversations. If you want to support that choice, the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it's a small way to keep this ad-free, and it really helps. Lucas: So after Mons, the BEF fell back to the Marne, and the war shifted into the trench stalemate we've discussed in other episodes. But those first few weeks set the tone — the professionalism of the British regulars, the scale of the German assault, and the birth of legends that still echo today. Luna: And we still have so many battles and stories left to cover. Lucas: That's the thing about World War I — it's vast. But we'll keep unpacking it, one conversation at a time.