The Battle that Saved the BEF: Le Cateau, 26 August 1914 | Spencer Jones 

My great grand uncle Lt Vincent Fox was KIA on 26th August during the battle of Le Cateau. He was the first veterinary surgeon to be killed in action in WW1 and was treating humans (not animals) inside a church in Audencourt France.

My great uncle served with 2 KOSB at Mons and was killed in the counterattack across the canal. Thank you for keeping his and his comrades’ memory alive.

My grandfather was there with the North irish horse. Survived the war and fought in the second world war and got blinded in it. Pre ww1 in the Enniskillen horse uvf carsons army. And between the two wars B/specials and royal ulster constabulary. Lived to 82 On my parents wedding certificate in 1956 he give his occupation as a soldier at 80 years old. What a man. He was in A squadron. Lest we forget ❤

My great grand father was killed in Mons. He was a veteran of the second Boar war and thereafter a Reserve solider. So aged 36 and married with two young daughters fell in the street fighting in the town. He is still there.

My grandfather and his brothers from Belfast became known in the local press as ‘The 4 Soldier Sons’. The eldest, Richard Ruddy, had joined the 1st Bttln Royal Irish Fusiliers in 1908, William Ruddy had joined the 2nd Bttln Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in 1913. Then in August 1914, my grandfather, Jacob Ruddy joined the 4th (Service) and later 1st Bttln Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, with youngest brother Joseph joining a week later and serving in the 5th (Service) then 2nd Bttln Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. William with 2 R. Innis. Fus. marched through the night to reach their position just west of the village of Esnes, near Le Cateau and as they set up to brew tea at 6am, they were suddenly raked by German machine gun fire. At 12 o’clock, a dispatch rider found William wounded and tried repeatedly to get him onto his horse, but a German artillery barrage began ripping the road up, and the dispatch rider had to flee, William’s body was never found. His elder brother, Richard, with 1 R. Irish Fus. were just about a mile to the east of the Inniskillings and their war diary confirms hearing the machine gun attack to their left at 6am and the artillery barrage at 12 o’clock. These Irish troops had been rushed forward and told to hold the left flank without any medical, engineering or signals support. I can only imagine what Richard was thinking as he could hear his brother’s unit being attacked and overrun. That night, Richard found himself behind the lines and was taken PoW. He was held at Doberitz PoW camp in Berlin for most of the war, then moved to Chemnitz PoW camp in Saxony in 1918. He emigrated to Canada in 1926. My grandfather, Jacob, with 1 R. Innis. Fus., first served at Gallipoli, where he was shot through the left forearm, then was wounded twice more in France. I have a photograph of him in the trenches at the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917. He survived from 1914 until August 1918 in the infantry. Some miracle. His younger brother, Joseph, with 2 R. Innis. Fus. took 22 machine gun bullets to his left leg and survived, was invalided out of the Army and walked with a cane until he died. He had returned to Belfast to find that his sweetheart had married someone else and he died unmarried in 1966. My grandfather also died that year, and the family had never known what happened to William, until two weeks before he died, whilst walking in Belfast, my grandfather bumped into the dispatch rider who had tried to save William. It took me many years to piece this story together, including getting PoW records from the Red Cross archives in Geneva. Through the Western Front Association, a member who collects photographs of soldiers from Ulster, recognising the name Ruddy, he sent me a copy of a newspaper article called ‘Four Soldier Sons’. To the family’s amazement, the photos of William and Richard who we had never seen before, showed William as the spitting double of myself at that age. The likeness is absolutely uncanny. My mother is in her 80s now and has been so delighted to be told the details of what her father and uncles had experienced. Thanks for reading.

A nearly 2 hour lecture, from Spencer Jones, about Smith-Dorrien's finest hour? YES PLEASE.

The admiration I have for these men is immeasurable. Thank you for for keeping their memory alive.

My grandfather was captured at Le Cateau. He had joined the RA in 1905 but was transferred to the Lancs as a Lance Corporal during mobilisation. Fought at Mons, then Le Cateau and spent the next 4 years in a prison camp in Prussia.

Mons, 1914. Just over a thousand men of the 1st Battalion 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment faced two German divisions. The Cheshires managed to stop the German advance and came out of that battle with around 150 men left. Ever Glorious!

" *The men all chilled to the bone, almost too exhausted to move and with the depressing consciousness of defeat weighing heavily upon them. A bad defeat, there can be no gainsaying it ... we had been badly beaten, and by the English - by the English we had so laughed at a few hours before* " German novelist and infantry officer: Walter Bloem.

That’s the first time I’ve properly understood that series of battles. Also the part character, human failings, strengths and happenstance played in the battle. Thank you for your detailed descriptions and clarity.

Dr Spencer Jones is great at these. Well worth the watch.

The war of movement has always captivated me. The last of the traditional Napoleonic style combat.

I listened to the whole of this, it was fascinating and I thoroughly enjoyed it and glad I found it or rather glad RU-vid pointed me in this direction. I will now be listen ing to more of your content. Consider myself a history buff particularly interested in The Hundreds Years war and The Mongol Conquests, but love learning about anything from Hastings up to the end of The War of the Roses and then from The Zulu wars and everything up to the present. Also enjoy learning about pre and post Roman invasion. The tribes had such great names The Ordivices, The Brigantes, The Trinovantes, The Catuvellauni. What fabulous stories our ancestors gifted to us. Lastly and most importantly it is my fervent hope that war remains something for Historians to write about and film makers to make films about. War belongs in the past. BTW Blair Paddy Mayne is my hero and should be posthumously awarded the VC.

I'm a Yank. Having a hard time finding videos about Individual Battalions or Individual Divisions of the BEF or Germans. Suggestions appreciated, Thanks. Bless all Vets.

This is why its so important for soldiers to be physically fit. Reading Lyn MacDonald’s books the BEF upped their physical training for weeks before this. Same in Ambrose’s Band Of Brothers the soldiers complained that all they did was run and exercise before going into action.

I really enjoyed the lectures of Spencer Jones, thanks

Very informative and very well delivered account of this battle. I felt we were watching it unfold before our eyes.

I want more Dr. Spencer! One of the best speakers. Thank you.

A superb presentation, packed with information and told with verve. Dr Jones's delivery reminds me of the late, great Prof Richard Holmes.

When I saw a photo of Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien for the first time, I thought to myself "that's the face of a fighter". Le Cateau certainly proves it and of Kitchener's choice for the replacement of Sir James Grierson as commander of II Corps. I'd like to add that at the time that Horace Smith-Dorrien was commanding II Corps in the BEF, Sir Edmund Allenby was in command of the Calvalry Division and therefore Smith-Dorrien was serving alongside the only general in the entire British Army who out-tempered him. Thank goodness they got along well during the early Western Front battles, especially at Le Cateau.

Horrace Smith Dorrien maybe the best General we ever had , he was not a fan of Attrition so was no good from 1915 onwards , but the retreat from Mons was very orderly , and stretched the Germans to the limit by the time they reached the French forces there were big gaps in the German line

Thank you Dr Jones and Western Front Association for a very informative presentation (and also to the audience for their questions, especially the FSR one.). Does make me wonder if Gen Smith-Dorrien had remained in post, would the doctrinal culture have been better positioned to develop cohesive combined arms doctrine; he just seems a bit less hidebound then his cavalryman contemporarys.

I am very grateful to see General Sir Hugh Smith-Dorrien's vital decision getting the recognition he, and the men, deserve. Haig's panic, let's be honest....Butcher Haig was crapping himself.....put the entire BEF at risk. Without S-D's decision to turn and fight the entire BEF could have been engulfed. Thank you for giving S-D and the men who fought at Le Cateau their well deserved credit.

Fabulous video thank you Spencer.

My great grandfather was there with the 1st Rifle Brigade. Was awarded the MM during the Somme and survived the war as a Sergeant.

This is a battle that I know nothing about. Thank you for this lecture.

Unbelievable speaker -- excellent presentation

Dr Spencer Jones gives an excellent talk. Highly recommended. WFA videos are well worth viewing. Many appreciative comments in evidence.

Outstanding presentation. Thoroughly enjoyed it and learned so much….

so Genl. Smith-Dorrien fought the Zulu wars too! OMG what an eventful life.

bravo, excellent presentation

First time i watch the channel, Very good 👍

Absolutely excellent ! I really enjoyed that. I have walked the Mons battlefields and retreat and watching this has made me want to get back out there and do it again...

This is so good

Outstanding. Thank you for this. I have been fascinated by this campaign for many years, especially since reading the WWI-era book "The 1st Seven Divisions". Smith Dorrien has been a hero of mine for years and I enjoyed reading "The Man Who Disobeyed : Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien and His Enemies".

Very enjoyable and engaging.

My Grandfather was in the RAMC and we have have his Diary covering this period and the retreat described in this video !

The General foreman building The Aeronautics bld at Southampton was an " Old Contemptible " called Wally Scot - I asked him if he had seen The angels at Mons - he laughed and told me, we ran as far as we could - then turned the Germans back with rapid fire with our Lee Enfields !

Wonderful lecture

wonderful informative video thankyou for posting it , i often wonder how i would measure up against the toughness of that generation and my greatest fear is that i would fall well short.

Erudite as always, Dr Jones.

Listening to this as I'm putting some linseed oil on the stock of my 1917 SMLE III*.

Interesting comment about issues with reserves dental fitness. Still a significant cause of concern wrt reservists at RTMC Chillwell 90-100 years later.

Smith Dorrien was one of the very few people to escape the Zulu Victory at Isandlwhana. The Battle At Rorkes Drift was a day later.

The question that arises from this lecture is - If Smith-Dorrien had been appointed C-in-C of the BEF instead of French, would his command have reduced the WW1 butcher's bill incurred by French and Haig? Any regard for Haig is tainted by his back-stabbing and job-seeking collusion with French to ditch Smith-Dorrien.

The British army fielded in 1914 was one of the best armies the British ever put into the field!

Very personally interesting as my great uncle Job Drain was one of the Royal Artillery VC's

I’d love to see a presentation of the Battle at Audrignes. It was where Edith Cavell helped soldiers retreat

On the morning of 1 September 1914 the German 4th Cavalry Division attacked 1st Cavalry Brigade and L Battery, who had been camped in the village of Néry. In the action that followed, L Battery, less for one gun, was all but destroyed. The 13-pounder gun manned by Captain Bradbury, WO2 Dorrell, Sergeant Nelson, and Gunners Osbourne and Darbyshire, managed to keep the single gun in action against the three German Batteries located a thousand yards away. The Artillery fire put down by this gun allowed the 1st Cavalry Brigade to deliver a successful Counter attack. For this action Captain Bradbury, WO2 Dorrell, Sergeant Nelson, were all awarded the Victoria Cross. On the anniversary L (Nery) Bty RHA fire one round at 06.00.

Excellent. Thoroughly enjoyed. I had been struggling to get a more detailed text or documentary on the retreat from Mons. I am a novice armchair historian whose interest in The BEF 2nd core and Smith Dorrien was sparked by Sir Max Hastings Catastrophe and other snippets. Dorriens's sacking was always a mystery to me. He seemed to have borne the brunt of the Schiffen plan and nullified its effect on the war. My interest has been reignited and will dive into the books suggested. BTW. Was it true that Sir John was falling to pieces and wanted to run to the coast? His staff officers had to stiffen his resolve and talk him out of it?? Im fascinated by the characters involved.

Excellent.

Fascinating .... tough being a Tommy in 1914. It was a stunning bloody nose for the Krauts and a retreat in order against overwhelming odds. Although I am not quite sure why it`s called a victory for the BEF,

Very apt in mentioning how new boots are not what you want to wear on a long march. The reservists of course had no time to break them in.

I have fallen asleep while on the march, many times in fact, and I’m always surprised how soldiers in that state seem to stay in formation. Very odd thing.

good work

The Old Contemptables must have been a key factor in the slowing of the German advance and the failure of their Schliefen Plan?

Leaker Two - my dad told me how Grandad, who’d been there in 1914, was so disappointed when it fell so quickly in 1940.

Sangat bagus cerita nya...

Great video. It's so refreshing to see an accurate account of the battle, with that Zuber-obsessed Wikipedia article making me wince every time I remember it. His awful book has done a lot of damage to the legacy of this battle, since what he appeared to do was seek out German sources that he simply takes as gospel.

Mr Great Great Uncle Adam Peebles of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders was killed at Le Cateau.

The BEF in Aug 1914 was a minor force on the Western front. The British where recruiting at good pace and the French where many many more (and in France). BEF was hit hard but even if it had compeltely dissapeared what mattered was that the French did not panic and that the Germans advancing through Belgium could not push on unoppsoed (as the BEF and French armies was between them and Paris).

A fine presintation

One of my friends was in the Cameronians and told me how tired they all were during the retreat.

I'm massively impressed by the quality of the lectures you present, but, for the love of all things holy, can you please change the title music? It has to be the most irritating ear-worm I've ever heard!

Peculiar that Dr. Jones draws a line between these actions and the rearguard action of the 2nd Bat. Royal Munster Fusiliers on the following day, 27th August 1914 at Etreux where the Munsters with others held back this same massive advance of Germans for a day to the last round of ammunition before being overrun but receive no mention here. My Granduncle Pte. john O'Connell was killed in action on this day and is buried in a mass grave with his fallen comrades at Etreux.

Any recommendatiions on battlefield guides?

Saying someone dying before the battle, as did General 'Fatty' Grierson, left an Army II Corp leaderless is to suggest there was no-one to replace that fella, whether it be an understudy or someone coming up through the ranks. In all my career I realised long ago that no-one is irreplaceable. There is always someone who can replace YOU or that person that has left a position...from floor sweeper to Field Marshal. In many cases a replacement did a better or even more sterling work than the original. Outside of that it's an interesting discussion. Cheers!

My grandfather Harry Griffin ,was at Mons aged 20, I think he might have been with Smith Dorien but I'm not certain he was in the 4th middlesex regiment. He was wounded shot through both thighs jan.1915. Would anyone know if the 4th middlesex were with Smith Dorien.

I don't have time to watch this entire video right now. I wonder whether this particular tale is in it. There was a battle at about this time, when the Germans were advancing but one British serviceman with a machine gun held them up for several hours. He remained at his post until the end, when he was fatally shot. The serviceman's name has never been discovered, but his sacrifice saved the BEF from being surrounded and destroyed. Not an exaggeration to claim that this one bloke prevented the Germans from winning the war that summer. And we don't know his name.

French and Haig seem to have been working together, politically, until the day Haig knifed French after Loos: a battle as seriously and deliberately misrepresented as Le Cateau. Haig's large brigade of modern admirers gloss over these events.

Link to where I could find the painting please of the British in line of battle.

Me: Meh, this video is too long!!! Also Me: (1:52 later) That was fascinating!! :)

I've always been a fan of 1914 and the Marne etc. I am sure I read a couple of books recently and they seem to show that Haig' First Corps did not do much fighting in the retreat, and Haig even had morale collapses. And yet he went on to replace French

to the men who carried out the decisions made by the generals!

Issuing brand new boots of very stiff leather with nailed soles to men about to march a few hundred miles some of it on the pave. Can’t imagine how that will go well.

FEB 1915 my grandfather was captured in France he was Suffolk Regiment just arrived in theatre what battle or skirmish was this I thought he may have been captured Suffolk Hill but he was captured later. He was Arthur Lloyd apparently a sniper. Captured until war end.

My Grandfather was in the Buffs, East Kent regiment, he was taken prisoner at this time, does any one know what part the Buffs played in this battle ?, unfortunately he is long gone and so is his story.

The more I hear about Sir John French, and even taking into account whatever his better qualities may have been, the more I think he was a petty, envious, spiteful little twerp. Thank goodness he was replaced, and what a pity it did not happen earlier.

THe Flower of the British Army

Considering the amount of Alcohol consumed Daily by Officers, Raging Ruperts must have been the Norm, For Smith Doriens Consumption and Rage to be Exceptional, He must have been a Berserker.

You got a gun you got ammo fight to the death. Why surrender. You're there for a reason. Yeah the rage will get you.

Great - though it would have been nice to also hear about the German side of the story at the same time.

Best watched with Google earth map open; good talk, but not enough maps.

First!

Enjoyed this highly interesting presentation.But why do modern speakers pronounce words that begin with an S ,as if they begin with an SH,like Shtrong instead of Strong? It's one of the peculiar modern fads for which there is no linguistic logic.

For goodness sake, how can a battle be close to the heart, as in a romantic attachment? War is a bloody business.

Good thing the Germans didn't have dinghies.

they may have been well-trained but not in modern warfare New tactics were unknown but ideas were not followed.examples machine guns,garnades

The first Germany army had about 130 k men

Wasn't le Cateau a holding action?

Ah,Hastings😂

Excellent historical presentation, but dry and for nerds. Needs more maps and moving/changing positions marked and maybe some examples of the personal gallantry and bravery. Thanks anyway but not a gateway to the public. Nevertheless it is a great historical video.

Some of these claims 💀 “the British army of 1914 was the best army that ever went to war” honestly it’s good to be a patriot but claims like this are absolutely mental. The BEF was decimated by the end of the year. It was indeed a good army and probably was man for man the best in terms of infantry skills, but it was out gunned and argument had some short comings in areas that other armies were better in such as artillery and leadership. The army was certainly very good man for man i simply cannot understand how historians like Edmund can suggest it was the best in history

Britain should never have got involved in that stupid war, a Russian German War over foolish actions in the Balkans. The war that ruined this country The War for Civilisation I didn’t believe in it then and I believe in it less now JRR Tolkien Having said that It was a great presentation

BEF took the German right flank head on.

Terrence Zuber wrote 2011 on Mons and Le Cateau and he used in contrast to most UK historians sources from bothe sides, therefore, it is a little bit confusing to get in 2022 a version that again only recycles strange opinions instead of presenting relevant facts. The 2 Corps of the BEF was saved at Le Cateau by a mistake the German 1. Army made a day before, as a result it was only hit by the flanking units, which were outnumbered by the British defenders. At Le Cateau the outnumbered Germans defetaed the 2 Corps of the BEF and inflicted 2.5 times the losses, 3000 vs. 7500 soldiers, the BEF lost in addition 38 artillery pieces on the battle field due to tactical mistakes.

Casualty summary at 1:07:22. Jones is quite critical of Terry Zuber, but that's somewhat undermined by the faults in his own presentation. where the German units are identified by number on his maps but are otherwise a faceless undifferentiated mass. If he's consulted any of Zuber's German sources it is not in evidence. Jones refers, with what appears to me to be considerable un-self-awareness, to "patriotic" narratives" which however seems to be exactly what he what he's retailing here. That this much more costly battle even took place (not to mention the also more costly than Mons intervening Brit defeat at Audregnies) seems to me to put paid at least to the myth that Mons was any check on the German advance, and as well I find unconvincing, to say the least, the characterization of Le Cateau as a "strategic victory". It's nice that the BEF was still available to stick in at the Marne, but Jones admits that that battle was "overwhelmingly" a French victory which did not necessarily require the existence of the BEF. And avoiding utter disaster, even when the peril is self-created, is better than the alternative, but calling it "victory" is a bit much.

The title for this talk is about as historically accurate as saying "Kursk: The Battle that saved the German Army". The British were beaten at Le Cateau by a German force of roughly equal size to their own. Read "Catastrophe" by Max Hastings for a detailed account.