The following starts to set the scene for my game at AshLAM '19 entitled
'Gentlemen, We Will Stand and Fight'.
My apologies for the shameless plagiarism from first Antony Hope's excellent book
'Gentlemen, We Will Stand and Fight' and secondly from the Middlesex Regiment's War Diary. The uncomfortable night spent in the railwayman's tool shed was in fact the story of Captain Cunningham, commander of 'C' Company and his batman, Private McDonald. My rather silly names for characters is in no way intended to be derogatory to the men who fought that day in August 1914. As this game will take place over the Remembrance Sunday weekend it will be a poignant reminder of the horrors of the Great War.
“Gentlemen, we will stand and fight.”
General Sir
Horace Lockwood Smith-Dorrien, 25th August, 1914
General
Sir Horace Lockwood Smith-Dorrien
General Alexander Heinrich Rudolph von Kluck
In the early
hours of 26th August 1914, as the British Expeditionary Force (the
Old Contemptibles, as they liked to refer to themselves) retreated in the
aftermath of the Battle of Mons, Lieutenant General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien’s
Second Corps was facing the most extreme danger. It’s 60,000 fighting troops,
exhausted and scattered, were spread out to the north and west of the town of
Le Cateau. BEF C-in-C Sir John French’s orders were to continue the Retreat at
all costs, while von Kluck was desperate to bring the British to battle.
Sir Horace
decided to stand and fight, trusting to the skill, courage and marksmanship of
the men who had already proved themselves at Mons three days before, reckoning
this preferable ‘than to turn our backs on the enemy in daylight’. He
was outnumbered three to one, and some of his fighting battalions and field
artillery batteries had only an hour or two to dig in and prepare for battle.
And yet by the end of that day the men and officers of Second Corps, with only
1,200 of their own killed, had inflicted casualties on the enemy of nearly
9,000 and delivered him such a blow that the BEF was able to continue the
Retreat almost unmolested for the next ten days. It has been called ‘one of
the most remarkable British feats of arms of the whole war’. Yet while two
brigades of infantry and two brigades of artillery were fighting for their
lives on a hill by Le Cateau, only ten miles away the rest of the BEF – Haig’s
First Corps – was marching steadily away from them.
Le Cateau, 04.00am, 26th
August 1914
In Le Cateau
the 19th Brigade were having the devil of a time even before the
first shots were fired. The four battalions of the 19th Brigade had
come to France to man the lines of communication and they had been hastily
pressed into fighting service at Mons. Now, although they came nominally under
the orders of the Second Corps under General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, like
many other units they had received no orders cancelling the retreat. No one had
been able to find them. They had reached Le Cateau very late and had bivouacked
near the railway station. Captain Kenwood-Chef, in command of ‘C’ Company, the
1st Middlesex was fortunate in having Lance-Corporal Spankhurst as
his batman and Spankhurst was a very resourceful soldier. Nothing got him down
and the news from home that his wife was with child gave him an even sunnier
disposition. His cheerful demeanour had been a distinct comfort to Kenwood-Chef
on the long retreat from Mons. When the company had settled down in the station
yard for the night, Spankhurst had taken it upon himself to find a billet for
the Captain. It was no palace, merely a railwayman’s shed between the points a
little way along the tracks. It was impossible to stand upright and since the
hut was a dumping ground for tools it was not too easy to lie down, but
Kenwood-Chef had been grateful. Spankhurst had even managed to produce a mug of
hottish tea (and a dash of ration rum) when he poked his head into the shed
with the unwelcome news that it was time for Kenwood-Chef to arise from his
slumbers. It was a quarter to four in the grey dawn of Wednesday, 26th August and already the exhausted and sleepy
Battalion was rousing reluctantly to move off before full daylight. The 1st Middlesex would be the last of the four battalions to move, for this morning
they were to be the rear guard to the Brigade and, as rear guard to the
Battalion itself, the men of ‘C’ Company were to be the last out of Le Cateau.
Captain
Kenwood-Chef summoned the acting commander of 1 Platoon, Colour Sergeant
‘Neddy’ Snapcase, to his tool shed. Neddy had taken over the platoon after the
death of Lieutenant Strangely-Brown at Mons. The platoon was now understrength
with no hope of replacements at present. The only consolation Neddy thought, as
he saluted Kenwood-Chef was that he had a 4-man Vickers machine gun team,
attached to his platoon. Including himself, a total of 31 men fit to fight.
“Now then,
Snapcase, good man, good man. 1 Platoon have fought bravely and now I have a
very important job for your lads”.
“Sah!”
replied Snapcase, always a good answer when replying to an officer.
“Our orders are
to be clear of the town by 05.30am this morning. It’s now 04.00am and I see no
way that 1st Middlesex as rear guard will be able to quit Le Cateau
until about 06.30am”.
Neddy
glanced about at the chaos in the railway yard and further afield and could
only agree. The RAMC boys were still trying to evacuate the last of the wounded
by stretcher and ambulance. The roads were blocked by BEF General Service
wagons as the other companies of the 1st Middlesex tried to leave
nothing behind for the enemy. Civilian carts with panicked drivers interfered
with the process and there were abandoned stores, ammunition and battalion
transport everywhere.
“As you know
Snapcase, ‘C’ Company are to be the rear guard to protect 1st Middlesex, I want Number 1 Platoon to be ‘C’ Company’s rear guard. You are to
defend the eastern edge of Le Cateau, specifically the following buildings;
L’Oeuf de Canard, the bicycle repair shop, the church, the Boulangerie de
L’Eglise and of course, the vital crossroads they command. All clear so far?”
“Sah!”
replied Neddy.
“Good show,
Colour Sergeant. I want you to deny the enemy those buildings and the
crossroads until you are sure the Brigade has cleared the town. Once you are
sure the Brigade is clear, you may effect a fighting retreat and re-join ‘C’
Company as soon as possible. I want you to take Lance Corporal Spankhurst with
you to act as your runner. Pip, pip.”
“Sah!”
replied Neddy, as he saluted and about-faced. At the double, he ran back to 1 Platoon,
closely followed by Spankhurst clutching his .303 Lee Enfield and a snap-sack
with all his worldly goods.
So there we have to leave the brave lads of 1 Platoon for the moment as they assess how they will defend their sector of Le Cateau to give the rest of the battalion a chance to establish their battle lines in the open country behind Le Cateau.
These are the buildings and crossroads which Colour Sergeant Snapcase and his under-strength platoon, must defend.
