28th August 1914, Mons-Condee Canal.
Sir Douglas Haig had responsibility for the command of the British 2nd army, which was made up of the original II Corps comprising 3rd and 5th divisions and a new Corps (IV) made up of two territorial divisions, the North Midland Division and the Home Counties Division. 2nd Army was responsible for holding almost 16 miles of frontage between Mons and Trazegnies. Haig’s initial plan had been to hold the line with only his regular troops but that would have resulted in each division being required to hold 8 miles of Line. Instead he intended to have IV Corps hold the line from Trezegnies along the Canal to La Louviere, whilst II Corps would hold the line from La Louviere to Mons. Every effort would be made to deny any crossing points to the Germans, already the bridges and locks on the canal were wired for destruction. The Territorial Engineers were just as keen to blow things up as their regular counterparts.
They had not yet encountered the Germans, but British Cavalry squadrons both Regular and Yeomanry were scouting forward of the defensive line, both to tackle the wide ranging German Cavalry and also to provide the most up to date information to their commanders that they could.
In the air the Royal Flying Corps was also active, it had aircraft operating as far forward as practicable, they were reporting directly to the BEF commander Smith-Dorien. From BEF command the reports were disseminated down to Army commands and Corps Command, the system was a relient on motor cycle couriers as it was on the French and Belgian Telephone system but it did give the BEF a fair idea on when to expect first conflict with the German Army.
From the British Perspective the key to holding the line was the performance of the French troops holding Charleroi, Namur and Dinant, if they held the Germans the British right would be secure, if they failed the British army would have to retire towards Maubeuge.
The Cavalry Corps was forming, the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Divisions had already deployed to France, the 3rd Cavalry Division was in Belgium. The Yeomanry had also sent 3 Divisions to war, 1st and 2nd Mounted Divisions were to operate in Belgium, whilst the newly formed 3rd Mounted Division was to join the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Divisions in the Cavalry Corps. Sufficient Yeomanry regiments remained to form one additional division and one independent brigade, these units would be retained in Britain along with the remaining 8 Territorial Infantry Divisions which were continuing to train and would deploy to France as they were able.
Haig was reasonably confident that the Territorials would fight well in a defensive battle, his main concern was their poor artillery and also the overall fitness both of the officers and men. He had every unit that was not in the line undertaking rigourous training to bring them up to the highest standards possible, he was also pushing the officers hard, once battle was joined he knew he would have to replace many of them but he would see who was fit to fight and who would be better positioned in the rear. Training battalions required officers as did they myriad of other administrative units already springing up.
One area in which Haig and his fellow senior commanders had no complaints was stores and supplies. Girouard, who had been placed appointed Lieutenant General and given command of the Rear Echelon for the BEF was working miracles. The steady transfer of munitions and equipment from Britain to France and Belgium was taking place. The French railways were operating under joint control in the British sector and it was anticipated that as more men joined up the British would run their own train companies to ensure that the Logisitics situation did not worsen.
2nd Army of the BEF and it’s commander Sir Douglas Haig were as ready as they could be, all that was needed was someone to fight, and that someone was marching through Belgium with blood in their eye.