Battle of Le Cateau

Battle of Le Cateau
Part of the Great Retreat on the Western Front (First World War)
British dead at the Battle of Le Cateau.
Date 26 August 1914 Location Le Cateau-Cambrésis, France Result Successful retreat by the Allies
Belligerents
United Kingdom  France	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien  Michel-Joseph Maunoury	Alexander von Kluck  Karl von Bülow
Strength
40,000	Unknown
Casualties and losses
7,812 (700 killed, 2,500–2,600 captured) 38 guns	c. 5,000

The Battle of Le Cateau was fought on 26 August 1914, after the British and French retreated from the Battle of Mons and had set up defensive positions in a fighting withdrawal against the German advance at Le Cateau-Cambrésis.

Contents

• Battle
• Aftermath
• See also
• Footnotes
• References
• Further reading
• External links

BattleEdit

On the morning of 26 August, the Germans arrived and heavily attacked the British forces commanded by General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien. Unlike the Battle of Mons, where the majority of casualties inflicted by the British were from rifle fire, Le Cateau was an artilleryman's battle, demonstrating the devastating results which modern quick-firing artillery using airbursting shrapnel shells could have on infantry advancing in the open.^[1] The British deployed their artillery in the open, about 50–200 metres (55–219 yd) behind their infantry, while the German artillery used indirect fire from concealed positions.^[2]