Current Information:

Born-Kensington

Le Cateau 26^th August 1914

By the evening of the 25th August, after their withdrawal south following the Battle of Mons on 23rd August, II Corps of the BEF, commanded by General Smith-Dorrien, had reached Le Cateau, in France. They had been retreating, but still fighting rearguard actions for two long days and they were done in. The Commander-in-Chief, Sir John French ordered them to continue the next day but Smith-Dorrien chose instead to stand and fight.  He reasoned that with the Germans on their heels a retreat would be disastrous without first halting the enemy advance. So, on the next day II Corps turned and faced the enemy. The town of Le Cateau saw little of the actual fighting on 26th August, the main actions taking place along the line of the road running between Le Cateau and Cambrai. A fierce battle ensued when the Germans began an artillery bombardment at dawn. Their infantry followed up in the wake of this barrage and became the targets of both the British artillery and infantry. The Germans were held at bay until the afternoon but by then they were threatening the flanks of II Corps which withdrew, whilst the enemy reorganised. British casualties for the day, killed, wounded or taken prisoner, were nearly 8,000.

At 6am on 26th August, 1914, the 4th Royal Fusiliers battalion of 9 Brigade, 3rd Division fell back through the village of Inchy, just to the west of Le Cateau on the road to Cambrai, and began digging in. When the battle began they were moved back into reserve but a burst of shrapnel hit them as they crossed a sunken road, killing and wounding over twenty of their number. They moved back to Troisville and a hot meal. At 2pm, the enemy were seen passing through the British lines about one mile to the right and the retirement continued with 4th Royal Fusiliers acting as rearguard of the 3rd Division. Being in reserve the battalion was spared the heavy losses suffered by other British units at Le Cateau but there were some casualties, one of whom was William Collins.