Current Information:

Born-St Luke's

Le Cateau Military Cemetery, France

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 1^st Royal Scots Fusiliers battalion were part of 9 Brigade, 3^rd Division which, on 26^th August, held the line west from Troisvilles to Audencourt, two villages just to the south of the L Cateau-Cambrai road. They had had early enough warning to be able to improve some straight French trenches and had little problem with German shelling.  But the pressure began to mount and at 3.30pm, 9 Brigade began their withdrawal and moved to the ridge between Bertry and Montigny to cover the retreat of the rest 3^rd Division. Compared with other battalions who fought at Le Cateau, 1^st Royal Scots Fusiliers did not suffer many casualties but one of their number who did not survive the battle was William Howe.