On 22nd August 1914, near Peronnes, E Battery of the Royal Horse Artillery fired the first British artillery round of the war on the day preceding the Battle of Mons. Peronnes is shown here in the first picture in August, the same month as the battle in 1914, after the harvest. The slag heaps from the coal mines are now covered in trees. The coal mining industry which dominated the area in 1914 is now gone.

The first major action between the British and Germans was fought at Mons, in Belgium, on August 23rd 1914. The railway bridge at Mons crosses the Mons-Conde canal. Under the bridge is a plaque commemorating the defence of the bridge by soldiers of the 4th Battalion Royal Fusiliers, an action which led to the first awards of the Victoria Cross in the war. Unlike later trench battles this was an open battle of movement so little trace on the land remains as the armies left the scene on the same day only to return in 1918.

The British were overwhelmed by superior numbers, but managed to withdraw in good order through the Foret de Mormal to the south where the next major action was fought at Le Cateau, just into France, on August 26th. Although, as at Mons, the British inflicted heavy losses on the Germans the result was another retreat which stopped at the Marne, a little to the north of Paris. The author's Great Uncle fought in his first battle as a young soldier of the First Battalion Hampshire Regiment at Le Cateau, aged just 17.