German account of the Battle of Mons (23.08.1914):
"As we left the buildings and were extending out again, another shower of bullets came across the meadow and rattled against the walls and all about us. More cries, more men fell. In front a farm track on a slightly raised embankment crossed our direction.
Line the bank in front,' I ordered, and in a few short rushes we were there, lying flat against the grass bank and looking cautiously over the top. Where was the enemy? I searched through my glasses. Yes, there among the buildings away at the far end of the meadow was a faint haze of smoke. Then... let us get closer.
'Forward again - at the double!' We crossed the track, jumped the broad dyke full of stagnant water on the far side, and then on across the squelching meadow. Tack, tack, tack... - cries - more lads falling. 'Down! Open fire - far end of the meadow - range 1000 yards!'" "And so we went on, gradually working forwards by rushes of a hundred, later fifty and then about thirty yards towards the invisible enemy..."Where was the rest of the battalion? Nothing to be seen of them. Yes, there... a hundred yards to our left a section [of Grenadiers] was working forwards like us by short rushes.
Its leader, in front at every rush, taking giant strides... Now they were down again, this time along another broad water-drain with a barbed wire fence along the enemy's side of it. And what was [the NCO] doing? Sure enough, he was running along the whole front of his section cutting the wire fence himself, in the middle of a burst of rifle and machine-gun fire. I looked again all round. The enemy was still invisible. [The NCO] was off again with his section, another long rush. He was now level with us, if anything slightly ahead.
'Lads!' I called out, 'Did you see that? A Company is getting ahead of us. Can we allow it? 'No 1 Section - rush!' And so another thirty yards nearer the enemy, and about twelve in front of Graeser's section. I shouted down the line: 'Advance by groups from the right, in short rushes.' And then I heard Holder-Egger's voice as he led on forward. From our new line I again searched the front through my glasses. Still no sign of the enemy. To the right and left, a cry there: 'I'm hit, sir!' Behind us the whole meadow was dotted with little gray heaps. The hundred and sixty men that left the wood with me had shrunk to less than a hundred. But Grabert's section at my signal had now worked forward and prolonged our line.'
"Looking down the line I shouted; "Advance by short rushes from the right!" and the order was passed along. From now on the English fire gradually weakened, almost ceased. No hail of bullets greeted each rush forward, and we were able to get within 150 yds of the canal bank. I said to Graeser: 'Now we'll do one more 30-yard rush, all together, then fix bayonets and charge the houses and the canal banks.'"
The enemy must have been waiting for this moment to get us all together at close range, for immediately the line rose it was as if the hounds of hell had been loosed at us, yelling, barking, hammering, as the mass of lead swept in among us. 'Down!' I shouted... Voluntarily and in many cases involuntarily, we all collapsed flat on the grass as if swept by a scythe.
Sources:
-The advance from Mons 1914 by Walter Blöem,
A reservist Captain in the Grenadier Regiment Prinz Carl von Preussen.
British infantry making a stand:
https://i.imgur.com/k6tcmSm.jpg
Much of the fighting at Mons took place in built up areas from which many of the inhabitants had been unable to flee in time. (Coloured by Jon Wilkinson)
https://i.imgur.com/bx3gQP9.jpg
German casualties at Mons: Having initially employed massed attacks the British soldiers had inflicted high casualties on the German attackers. As a result the Germans started attacking in smaller, scattered groups with more success.
