Today we mark the 110th anniversary of the Battle of Mons.

On 24 August 1914 they took part in The Battle of Mons.
At this battle the 1st Battalion of the 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment, as part of 15th Brigade, 5th Division stood outside the Belgian village of Audregnies, near Mons, with orders to take up a defensive position together with the 1st Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment. The role of these two Regiments, together with L Battery RA, the 9th Lancers and the 4th Dragoon Guards was to provide cover for the withdrawal of the British 5th Division. Their action delayed the advance by four hours and in the end it took 4 German Regiments, each of 3 Battalions to surround the Battalion, which was by now, standing alone.

A senior German officer is reputed to have said “I have captured a Division, but have nothing but Cheshire’s”.
Throughout the battle, the Battalion laboured under great disadvantages with great fortitude and morale. In addition, the Battalion suffered severe losses, and perhaps worst of all, they had been abandoned by the rest of the Allied army and left to fight to the death against an enemy sweeping down on their positions from all directions.
A total of 40 men from the battalion remained unwounded. Of the 25 officers and 952 other ranks of the 1st Battalion who had been present at the start of the battle, only 7 officers and 200 other ranks remained alive.