1914

[Aardvark154]

Today August 23 is the Centenary of the first engagement by the BEF in World War I - the Battle of Mons.

Due to the blundering of Field Marshal John French who refused to believe both his Intelligence Staff and the reports of Royal Flying Corps pilots, the BEF were frankly lucky to have been able to successfully retreat.

 

[Aardvark154]

The retreat from Mons also marked the beginning of the two week long over 400 km/250 mile Great Retreat which only ended with the First Battle of the Marne in early September.

 

[Aardvark154]

Today August 25 is a utterly tragic centenary. On this date the town and the historic library of Louvain, Belgium were burned by the German Army.

 

[mandrill]

A worthy thing to fight for.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mons_pubis

You must surely have this topic confused with the Third Pubic War, fought between Rome and Carthage.

 

[mandrill]

Today August 23 is the Centenary of the first engagement by the BEF in World War I - the Battle of Mons.

Due to the blundering of Field Marshal John French who refused to believe both his Intelligence Staff and the reports of Royal Flying Corps pilots, the BEF were frankly lucky to have been able to successfully retreat.

They were certainly lucky to get away from Mons. But IIRC, the icing on the cake was the Battle of Le Cateau which took place during the Great Retreat. 1 of the two British corps commanders, Smith-Dorrien took it upon himself to fight an unauthorized rear guard stand against vastly superior German forces with not one, but TWO flanks open and undefended against German maneuvers!!

They say God is an Englishman. Well, there's your proof. S-D made his stand and got away again.

 

[Aardvark154]

They were certainly lucky to get away from Mons. But IIRC, the icing on the cake was the Battle of Le Cateau which took place during the Great Retreat. 1 of the two British corps commanders, Smith-Dorrien took it upon himself to fight an unauthorized rear guard stand against vastly superior German forces with not one, but TWO flanks open and undefended against German maneuvers!!

They say God is an Englishman. Well, there's your proof. S-D made his stand and got away again.

The anniversary of which is tomorrow the 26th.

Smith-Dorrien really didn't have much choice, the II Corps has been in continuous contact with the German Army since they had withdrawn from Mons, his troops were exhausted, attempting to deliver a stopping blow was really all he could do. The French saved one of his hanging flanks as did the German OHL (supreme Headquarters) continually preventing General von Kluck from moving right to search for the British flack. On the other hand it was Field Marshal French who managed to get I Corps on the other side of the Oise River (the two Corps were not in direct contact for a week).

The Cavalry Division commanded by General Allenby (later famous in the Middle East) found that the Germans were in a position to attack at first light and to avoid that the II Corps would have to attempt to withdraw immediately - they were just not in a position to do that and so had to fight. Although French bad-mouthed Smith-Dorrien to the point that he was recalled in 1915, at the time he had to admit "The saving of the left wing of the army under my command on the morning of the 26th of August could never have been accomplished unless a commander of rare and unusual coolness, intrepidity and determination had been present personally to conduct the operation."

 

[Aardvark154]

Anyone of us who has walked/marched for an extensive distance thinking that our shoes/boots were well broken in, to discover to our pain that this was untrue, can very much sympathize with the troops of August 1914!

 

[Aardvark154]

Heligoland Bight

Today August 28, is the centenary of the Battle of Heligoland Bight the first naval battle of World War I. Although a decisive British victory with a profound influence on Geman naval strategy it was far more closely run than a simple narrative would indicate, and was marked by some spectacularly dunderheaded planning (or lack thereof).

 

[Aardvark154]

By the way today was the centenary of the Battle of Néry the first time since Le Cateau that the German Army had caught up to the BEF.

Three men Captain Edward Bradbury, Battery-Sergeant Major Dorrell and Sergeant Nelson received the V.C. servicing the above gun which is now in the Imperial War Museum, London, during the action.


http://www.express.co.uk/news/world-war-1/506202/First-World-War-hero-finally-honoured

 

[Aardvark154]

Today August 5 is the Centenary of the first day of the First Battle of the Marne. This Battle proved the end of the von Scheflin Plan and any hope of a rapid German victory in the West.

It was about a week and half latter that the trench warfare which epitomized World War I in the West for almost the next four years, all the way to the late Summer of 1918 began.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ans-100th-anniversary-First-Battle-Marne.html

 

[Aardvark154]

Today September 15 marks the beginning of the the Trench Warfare that marked the vast majority of the rest of World War I on the Western Front.

 

[Aardvark154]

Today October 14, 1914 the CEF disembarked in the U.K. and was then in training there for a number of months.

 

[Insidious Von]

On this day in 1917, Mata Hari was executed as a German spy.

 

[Aardvark154]

But it wasn't 100 years ago. Wait till 2017.

I notice nobody is doing 75 years ago, I guess nothing happened back then.

Plenty happened in 1939, I merely decided that a centenary is a centenary.

 

[Insidious Von]

But it wasn't 100 years ago. Wait till 2017.

I notice nobody is doing 75 years ago, I guess nothing happened back then.

You're right, let's see if I can do better. Amidst a giant cesspool a rose sprout.

In 1914, 68 days ago, on the eve of one of humanity's worst disasters Carlo Maria Guilini was born.

 

[Insidious Von]

On this date Albert Einstein, troubled by the impending end off his marriage and the outbreak of war, takes a vacation in Tuscany. He would begin to develop his General Theory of Relitivity.

 

[Insidious Von]

October 16 1793

Marie Antoinette is guillotined.

October 16 1970

Prime Minister Trudeau imposes The War Measures Act.

 

[Aardvark154]

It has nothing whatsoever to do with the first year of World War I. But today is the anniversary of the death by burning at the stake in Oxford - at the order of Bloody Mary (Queen Mary I) of the Right Reverend Hugh Latimer and the Right Reverend Nicholas Ridley.

Foxe's Book of Martyrs: "Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man! We shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out."