<P> The Battle of Mons was the first major action of the British Expeditionary Force ( BEF ) in the First World War . It was a subsidiary action of the Battle of the Frontiers , in which the Allies clashed with Germany on the French borders . At Mons , the British Army attempted to hold the line of the Mons -- Condé Canal against the advancing German 1st Army . Although the British fought well and inflicted disproportionate casualties on the numerically superior Germans , they were eventually forced to retreat due both to the greater strength of the Germans and the sudden retreat of the French Fifth Army , which exposed the British right flank . Though initially planned as a simple tactical withdrawal and executed in good order , the British retreat from Mons lasted for two weeks and took the BEF to the outskirts of Paris before it counter-attacked in concert with the French , at the Battle of the Marne . </P>
<P> The Battle of Mons was the first major action of the British Expeditionary Force ( BEF ) in the First World War . It was a subsidiary action of the Battle of the Frontiers , in which the Allies clashed with Germany on the French borders . At Mons , the British Army attempted to hold the line of the Mons -- Condé Canal against the advancing German 1st Army . Although the British fought well and inflicted disproportionate casualties on the numerically superior Germans , they were eventually forced to retreat due both to the greater strength of the Germans and the sudden retreat of the French Fifth Army , which exposed the British right flank . Though initially planned as a simple tactical withdrawal and executed in good order , the British retreat from Mons lasted for two weeks and took the BEF to the outskirts of Paris before it counter-attacked in concert with the French , at the Battle of the Marne . </P>
what was the first british battle of ww1
what was the first british battle of ww1
Battle of Mons
Battle of Mons