The Battlefields of Mons, the Marne and the Aisne. He began by arranging with General Hubert Hamilton, commanding the 3rd Division at Mons, for the preparation of the second line of defence behind the salient. The new line was to run from a bridge over the canal west of Mons, along a road which sloped away south- east through Wasmes, Paturages, Frameries and Bougnies to Givry.
The bridge itself was at Pommereul, and was laid with explosives ready for demolition; it was in charge of a detachment of the Cornwalls. These arrangements were all well made, and when supplemented as you will hear later, they worked very satisfactorily. Sir Horace started on his return journey some time after midday and was lunching in his car when a tremendous explosion was heard about a hundred yards in front. The artillery fire increased in violence from this moment onwards, and it soon became clear that von Kluck must have five or six hundred guns in action along the twenty-five miles of front.
But it had no intention of giving up the position. The General now returned to his Army Headquarters at Saar-le-Bruyere to receive reports from his divisional commanders. The first thing which happened was what he had expected. They proved, once for all, the superiority of our infantry to the German in field fighting. The Kaiser's men came on in droves, firing from the hip, making a tremendous noise and hitting nothing.
King George's men lay in a thin line sweeping them away with rifle and machine-gun fire, line after line, drove after drove, bunch after bunch, till the survivors broke and made way for a fresh mass. Nothing but the overwhelming weight of their artillery fire saved the Germans from a total repulse. They only succeeded after the machine-gun teams of the Royal Fusiliers had been wiped out time after time, and when one by one the guns themselves had at last been blown to pieces.
Lieutenant Maurice Dease, the machine-gun officer, stayed till the end, though mortally wounded, and both he and Private Godley, who was also badly hit, were awarded the V.
