Retreat to Victory

In August 1914, when Britain decided to lend a hand in defeating the Germans, the British Expeditionary Force was headed by Sir John French. Divided in two, his Corps were in the charge of Douglas Haig and a chap called James Griegson. Both experienced army men, both not long out of South Africa.

This was the beginning of a webinar tonight given by Spencer Jones for the WFA. It was titled: The Battle that Saved the BEF: Le Cateau. I last saw one of his webinars back in December. He was excellent then and was just as good tonight.

The thing about Spencer Jones is his amazing portraits of the leading characters in his lectures. He paints them vivid and large. He breathes life into long dead personalities. Tonight he had ample material.

While he was no doubt an excellent officer, Griegson had a bit of a weight problem. He was awfully fond of food. He was not so much gourmand as glutton. His face would turn deep red whenever he bent over. He was on a train, headed for Amiens on 17 August 1914 when he had a sudden heart attack and died.

Sir John French then had to quickly find a replacement to command the second Corps. He chose a man he hated, Horace Smith-Dorrien.

The two men had had a falling out and had been feuding for many years. Why French decided to give Smith-Dorrien the command is not clear but he did and it was a good thing given the situation his half of the army found itself in.

First up was the Battle of Mons. Usually divided into one day of battle and three days of skirmishes, Dr Jones prefers to think of it as four days of battle.

The British, joining up with the French, were greatly outnumbered by the Germans and the battle was fierce and furious. It ended up with the British retreating about 25 miles south, to just beyond Le Cateau. It was here that they made a stand in what is now called the Battle of Le Cateau.

The fighting was once more full on and, eventually, the British retreated again. They retreated such a long way that it has become known as the Great Retreat. They wound up at the First Battle of the Marne and, together with the French fifth army, managed a decisive victory.

Dr Jones’ talk was very exciting. It was like a stampede of history. I love his style. My perfect idea of what a lecturing historian would be, would be a lot like Dr Spencer Jones. He really knows his subject and his excitement in sharing his knowledge is an absolute delight.

This is no less displayed by his in depth answers to the excellent questions asked at the end of the lecture.

It made a great change to see a young woman asking a question. I sometimes despair that the WFA has only old grey haired and gruff old men as members. Then, out of the blue, Dominica Nala turns up and brightens my day.