Mons: The Retreat to Victory Book

A good standard account of the start of the war. The book doesn't solely concentrate on Mons as per the title but the wider campaign up to the end of the battle of the Marne.

The author was a greatly respected military author, who defended Haig in his books and writings, and was a founder member of the excellent Western Front Association and a key contributor to the BBC's ground breaking First World War series.

This book is now over 50 years old and has to this reviewer's mind been surpassed by other accounts, but it remains an important account and I would suggest people read it if interested in the early open campaign prior to the trench warfare that has become synonymous of WWI.

He does the BEF a good service and positions the British high command's position in and with France as the campaign moves from early engagements to wholesale retreat.

He is in the main generous to both French and British commands as they grapple with commanding large scale armies in modern war that is yet to come to grips with all arms engagements and communications.

He is also, to my mind, too fair on British commanders (although I must emphasise I do not subscribe to Chateau generals nor Lions led by Donkey viewpoints). Also to Sir John French, I feel he is less critical than he could have been, although the author does criticise him and point to errors and indeed how the field marshal outlined his views and tweaked events and accounts post-war. My suspicion here is that some of those men in divisional, corps and army command, or at least their direct descendants, were still alive and 1960s writing was less critical of those in authority.

The old contemptible army served her country well and this account will set you on the path to understanding them, the conditions they operated in and the battles they fought; and the later difficulties in 1915 because to a large part of the loss of so many BEF officers and NCOs in 1914.
For those asking why this might be it is worth noting that casualties in the early stage were very high, with some regiments, squadrons and batteries suffering loss rates more readily recognised by the general public at the Somme in 1916.

I would have liked to have seen a chapter with Mr Terraine detailing the wider take-up of static warfare and the evolution of command, but perhaps this is because I heard him speak and know his future standing, as neither he nor his publisher did in 1960.