Current Information:

Born-Brockley

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.

On 26th August, the 1st Royal West Kent battalion of 13 Brigade, 5th Division battalion were in reserve trenches on the right of the British line and saw little of the action. They suffered some casualties, from German artillery fire and in the afternoon withdrew from the battlefield. According to the records, John Branch was killed on 29th August, by which time, 1st Royal West Kent had reached La Pommeray  as the British Army retreated south to the Marne. The battalion diary has no record of any fighting, nor of any casualties for the rest of August after Le Cateau so it is likely that he became a casualty during that battle but that his death was not recorded until later. That he is commemorated on the La Ferte Memorial to the Missing is further evidence of this.