THE BATTLE OF MONS 23 AUGUST 1914 and GOOGLE MAP

The battle of Mons This was the first battle of the war for the BEF which faced the invading German armies along a defensive line along the Conde Canal running through the northern outskirts of the Belgium town of Mons. The German attack began at 0830 from the north & by mid-afternoon the British were forced to withdraw with 1,600 casualties. German casualties are variously estimated at between 3,000 and 15,000.During the fighting the first two VCs of the war were won near the bridge over the canal at Nimy and by odd coincidence when the fighting stopped on 11 November 1918 allied forces were once again in the Mons area prompting a memorial to the first and last British shots of the war. The battlefield tour This takes two and a half hours and includes a visit to the unusual and particularly beautiful St Symphorien Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and to Ville sur Haine where there is a memorial to Pte Price the last Canadian soldier to die on the Western Front.  We also take a look at the story of the Angels of Mons - were there any? Mons is about 120 miles from Calais and connected all the way by motorways. There are detailed travel directions, historical notes, an in-text map and coloured photographs.

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View The Mons Battlefield in a larger map

If you enlarge the Google map you can see descriptions of three of the memorials in the Mons battlefield area and also exactly where they are located. There are also memorials to the 4th RF, the 4th Middlesex, the 2nd RIR and 56th Coy RE. There are British graves in the local cemetery and a somewhat peripatetic War Museum in the town itself. We suggest and give details for a walking tour of the town. Main advice is to visit the Tourist Office in Mons square.