Current Information:

Age-41

Perreuse Chateau Franco-British National Cemetery, France

The Great Retreat

After the opening battles of the war at Mons on 23rd August, 1914 and Le Cateau on 26th August, the British Army (BEF), in conjunction with the French Army, began a retreat that took them all the way back to the River Marne, 200 miles to the south. With the Germans in hot pursuit they were forced to fight a series of rear guard actions as they fell back in extremely hot weather. The Great Retreat, as it became known, came to an end on 5th September, 1914 when the allied forces attacked along the River Marne and drove the Germans back to the River Aisne.

Percy Hastings died of wounds on 2nd September, 1914, during the Great Retreat back to the River Marne. He was wounded in the thigh the previous evening when an outpost line, north of Crépy-en-Valois, held by 1st Royal West Kent battalion of 13 Brigade, 5th Division, was attacked.