Current Information:

Mons (Bergen) Communal Cemetery, Belgium

Born-Hammersmith

The Battle of Mons  August 23, 1914

This was the first battle fought by the British Army (BEF) in the war. Since landing in France ten days earlier the four infantry divisions and five cavalry brigades of the BEF had advanced to a position on the left flank of the French Armies only to find themselves directly in the line of the advance of the German First Army as they swept through Belgium and headed for Paris.

With orders to hold the German advance for 24 hours and outnumbered two to one, the BEF dug in along the Mons-Conde canal. The battle commenced at 9 am and lasted all day. By nightfall the BEF had withdrawn to the Valenciennes-Maubeuge road, a position from which the Great Retreat began the next day. British casualties, killed, wounded or missing, amounted to 1600 for the battle. German casualties were higher.

3rd Division, which included the 56th Field Company of the Royal Engineers were heavily involved in the fighting on 23rd August after which they began their withdrawal that took them back eventually to the River Marne. However it is difficult to determine the exact date of the death of Robert Tegg. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission recorded it as 25th August whereas the Grave Registration Report Form have it as the 3rd September. That he is buried in a cemetery in Mons suggests that he was wounded and captured at some stage and died later.