Current Information:

Born-St Pancras

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.

The 2^nd Scottish Borderers battalion of 13 Brigade, 5^th Division held part of the line between Le Cateau and Troisvilles where they were reasonably well dug in and had little problem with German shelling at first.  In the afternoon the battalion retired unmolested except for one company who did not receive the order to withdraw and were surrounded and captured.  By 5pm the main body of 2^nd Scottish Borderers had fallen back to Troisvilles where they turned to cover the retreat of 15 Brigade. At this stage they came under heavy German artillery fire which forced them back to open country. One of their casualties during this day was Ronald McKay.