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The Battle of treuxThe memorable rear-guard action by 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers, in which the battalion heldup the German advance for much of the day

Date: 27th August 1914.

Place: In North East France, to the east of St Quentin.

War: The First World War also known as The Great War.

Contestants: The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) against the German First Army. Thisbattle was an action by a small British force, acting as rearguard for the BEF I Corps, againstthe pursuing German formations from the German First Army.

C Company 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers marching to PT in Aldershot before leavingfor France. Within 1 month of arriving in France in August 1914, all the members of C

Company were either dead or prisoners following the Battle of treux on 27th August1914

Generals: Field-Marshal Sir John French commanding the British Expeditionary Force(BEF) with Lieutenant-General Sir Douglas Haig commanding I Corps and General SirHorace Smith-Dorrien commanding II Corps, against General von Kluck commanding theGerman First Army and General Blow commanding the German Second Army.

Size of the Armies:

The BEF comprised 2 corps of infantry, I and II Corps, the 4th Division, the 19thIndependent Infantry Brigade and the Cavalry Division; 110,000 men and 330 guns.

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The British formation engaged in the Battle at treux was: 1st Guards Brigade of the 1stDivision of I Corps: 1st Coldstream Guards, 1st Scots Guards, 1st Black Watch and 2ndRoyal Munster Fusiliers with 1 troop from 15th Hussars and 1 section comprising 2 gunsfrom 118th Battery RFA.

2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers comprised A, B, C and D Companies and the battalion MachineGun Section.

The German troops engaged were from X Reserve Corps of the 2nd Army.

The BEF at this stage in the Great War comprised around 30% current regular soldiers and70% reservists with previous service in the Regular British Army. The British Army was theonly major European army with recent experience of active service; in South Africa in theBoer War from 1899 to 1901 and on the North West Frontier of India. The German Armyhad not fought a war since the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-1.

In these early battles of the Great War, the British soldiers outfought the Germans, althoughforced to retreat by pressure of numbers and the withdrawal of the French armies on theirflanks. The British units ability to move about the battlefield in cover, and their facility todeliver high rates of accurate rifle fire repeatedly enabled them to repel attacks by massedGerman infantry. The British artillery units consistently provided support to the infantry withaccurate gunfire, while manoeuvring about the battlefield with speed and resource.

This was the force the Kaiser described as a Contemptible Little Army. German officerswere stunned by the way the British troops brought the German attacks to a standstill timeand again.

During the course of 1914, the old British army melted away as the casualties caused byartillery, machine gun and rifle fire mounted, until the Contemptibles were largely gone, to

be replaced by the new mass British Army of war-time volunteers and conscripts.

The courage and technical ability of the units in the BEF during 1914 is striking.

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Battle of treux 27th August 1914 at 1pm : Map by John Fawkes

Account:The II Corps of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) spent the 26th August 1914 contesting

the area to the west of Le Cateau with the pursuing Germans, assisted by the CavalryDivision, the 19th Infantry Brigade, and the newly arrived 4th Division.

During the 26th August, the I Corps, comprising 1st and 2nd Divisions, commanded byLieutenant-General Sir Douglas Haig, marched south from the area of Landrecies, on theedges of the Forest of Mormal, towards the town of Guise. This route was essentially downthe east bank of the Sambre and the Oise Rivers and canal.

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Anaerial photograph showing the field layout on either side of the Sambre and Oise Canal

at Oisy

In order to pass through Guise, the only available route south lying on the east side of theOise River, the I Corps transport was channelled through the town in 2 streams under carefulsupervision by corps staff officers. Only once the transport was clear of the town could thefighting formations pass through to the south.

The pursuing Germans were reported to be in significant strength and closing in on I Corpsfrom the north and the north east.

An erroneous report put the Germans just to the north of St Quentin, to the west of I Corps,adding to the urgency to pass the Corps through Guise as quickly as possible.

The fighting formations of I Corps were due to pass through the town of treux, 5 miles tothe north of Guise, where they were to be re-supplied. These formations spent the night ofthe 26th/27th August 1914 in the area around and to the north of treux.

The I Corps rear guard was deployed to the north of treux, in order to keep the Germans offthe high ground between Wassigny, to the west of the Oise Canal, and Fesmy, just east of theroad to Guise. The rear guard was expected to keep the Germans to the north of treux untilthe 1st and 2nd Divisions were clear of this town and heading south towards Guise, whichwas expected to be during the course of 27th August.

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The Sambre and Oise Canal north of Oisy

The covering units for I Corps, all taken from the 1st Division, were 1st (Guards) Brigade as

the rear-guard, 2nd Brigade posted to the west of the canal, in the area of Wassigny, and the2nd Welch Regiment, from 3rd Brigade, with 46th Battery RFA, as a guard to the east. The5th Cavalry Brigade was marching down the west bank of the Oise.

With this cover, the Corps moved, with the 2nd Division leading the 1st Division, throughtreux and on through Guise south-west down the east bank of the Oise River.

Of the 4 battalions of 1st (Guards) Brigade; 1st Coldstream Guards, 1st Scots Guards, 1stBlack Watch and 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers, the Royal Munster Fusiliers were given the

post of ultimate rear guard for the Corps.

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D Company 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers at Tidworth in 1912 (this D Company will not

have been the same D Company that fought in 1914, as in 1913 the companies ininfantry battalions were doubled in size and halved in number, so that each battalion

had 4 companies instead of the previous 8; each new company absorbing 2 of theprevious companies, with a company sergeant major as the senior non-commissioned

rank in place of the colour-sergeants)

The Royal Munster Fusiliers bivouacked on the night of 26th/27th August at Fesmy, on theroad that ran south east from the main Landrecies to Guise road. D Company of the

battalion, commanded by Captain Simms, was positioned at the cross roads at a village calledHautrve. This village is called in all the main accounts Chapeau Rouge (and will be in thisaccount from here on), although Chapeau Rouge is in fact a village some quarter of a milewest of the cross roads.

1st Scots Guards lay in positions towards Wassigny on the west side of the canal. 1stColdstream Guards held positions on both sides of the canal, at the point where the roadcrossed the canal to the west bank and ran south for about 2 miles, before crossing back to theeast bank at treux.

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The Machine Gun section of 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers at Aldershot immediatelybefore the outbreak of war in August 1914. Lieutenant Chute is in the centre with

Sergeant Johnson to his right

1st Black Watch lay in reserve on the west bank of the canal at treux, where they dugentrenchments along the railway embankment; entrenchments later used by German troops tohold back the Royal Munster Fusiliers.

2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers comprised A, B, C and D companies and a 2 gun Machine GunSection. With the Royal Munster Fusiliers was a 2 gun section from 118th Battery, RFA, anda troop of the 15th Hussars, the divisional cavalry regiment (the Official History refers to 2troops, but accounts from officers present refer to only 1 troop).

The Royal Munster Fusiliers and the accompanying units were commanded by Major PaulCharrier, the acting commanding officer of the battalion. Charrier was a large, livelypersonality, who wore a hot weather service topee helmet, with a green and white Munstershackle on the side, rather than a conventional service cap.

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The memorial marking the grave of the Royal Munster Fusiliers officers killed on 27th

August 1914, erected soon after the battle.

The Welch Regiment, with its accompanying battery, lay to the south east of Bergues, thenext village to the south east of Fesmy. Bergues itself was occupied overnight by Frenchtroops.

The countryside was agricultural and divided into small fields, bordered by thick hedges insetwith wire. For the troops of both sides this was extremely difficult countryside to cross,forcing attacks to be made principally down the roads. Considerable use was made of thedrainage ditches along the roadsides for movement in cover.

The weather on the morning of the 27th August was misty, with heavy rain storms followingduring the day.

At 4am on 27th August, Major Charrier sent D Company, under Captain Jervis, to re-enforceC Company at the Chapeau Rouge cross-roads.

The Royal Munster Fusiliers got under arms at dawn, as did the rest of the brigade.

At 8am, battalion scouts reported to Major Charrier that the French had left Bergues and thatthe village was unoccupied. Charrier sent of A Company, under Captain Woods, to holdBergues.

At 9am German cavalry vedettes came down the Landrecies road towards the ChapeauRouge cross roads. However they fell back without engaging.

At around the same time, a German column of all arms was seen advancing from Le Sart tothe north east of the main battalion positions, but also retreated.

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By 9.30am, all was again quiet on the battalions front. Charrier received a message from thecommanding officer of the 2nd Welch, that his battalion was retiring to Bou to the south ofFesmy.

Charrier also received orders from Brigadier-General Maxse, commanding 1st (Guards)

Brigade, that the Royal Munster Fusiliers were to stay in place around Fesmy untilspecifically ordered to retreat or they were forced out.

At 10.30am, the German attacks on the Royal Munster Fusiliers began. The first attack wason A Company at Bergues. There was also a build up of German troops on the roadapproaching the Chapeau Rouge cross roads. The 2 gun section from 118th Battery, RFA,

began firing to the north west on the German concentrations menacing Chapeau Rouge. Atthe Chapeau Rouge cross-roads B and D Companies were well dug in.

Major Paul Charrier, officer commanding2nd Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers atthe Battle of treux on 27th August 1914.Major Charrier was killed in the action. Charrierhabitually wore his pith helmet, from tropicalservice, rather than a conventional service cap.

Charrier sent the troop of 15th Hussars to reinforce A Company at Bergues. He also sentfurther platoons from A Company. Of these only the cavalry and Captain Emmerson withsome of the A Company men managed to get through to Bergues.

At 11am, 3rd Brigade moved south from Oisy towards treux, as part of the 1st Divisionscontinuing retreat towards Guise. At around this time 2nd Welch reached Bou on their waysouth.

In the centre of the Royal Munster Fusiliers positions the Germans began what was describedat the time as a brisk attack. The Munsters replied with heavy rifle, machine gun and gunfire. This attack continued to build up from the direction of Le Sart in the north east.

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At midday, instructions arrived from Brigadier-General Maxse, directing that the battalioncould withdraw via Bou, when the time came. Charrier had informed Maxse that this washis preferred route. No time was given for the withdrawal.

Also at around midday, a German aeroplane flew over the battalion positions, attracting a

considerable amount of small arms fire which did it no apparent damage. It began to rainheavily.

At 12.20pm, treux finally cleared of transport and the I Corps fighting formations were freeto continue the retreat. At 1pm Brigadier-General Maxse sent out orders to his 4 battalions toretreat at once. 2 copies were sent to each battalion, apparently by cyclist, but neither copyreached the Royal Munster Fusiliers.

At 1pm the Germans began a heavy attack on the Chapeau Rouge cross-roads. B and Dcompanies fell back down the road to the main battalion positions around Fesmy, withoutsuffering loss. The guns of 118th Battery were now firing on the German troops in the areaLe Sart.

At around 1.15pm the Germans launched an attack on Fesmy from the direction of Le Sartwith artillery support. The Royal Munster Fusiliers responded with gun and rifle fire andwith the fire of their 2 gun machine gun section, commanded by Lieutenant Chute.

During the ensuing battle, Chutes machine guns were at the forefront in holding off therepeated German attacks, firing down the roads at the advancing columns.

To try and shield themselves from the heavy small arms fire from the Munsters, the German

infantry advanced down the Le Sart road behind herds of cows. All the Germans whopenetrated into the Munsters positions became casualties or prisoners.

Transport section 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers in Tidworth in 1912

At 1.15pm Charrier sent a message to Brigadier-General Maxse: Am holding on to positionnorth of Fesmy village, being attacked by force of all arms. Getting on well. The Germansare driving cattle in front of them up to us for cover. We are killing plenty of them.

At this time Charrier despatched a platoon from A Company to join the Munsters/15thHussars at Bergues. The platoon was driven back by the Germans and failed to reach

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Bergues. By this time the party in Bergues was itself being driven out of the village and wasfalling back towards Bou.

At around 1.50pm Charrier sent a message to Brigadier-General Maxse saying: We haveGerman wounded prisoners, who say that about two regiments are opposing us and some

guns. They belong to the 15th Regiment.

In fact the German regiment was the 15th ReserveInfantry Regiment.At around 2pm, 2nd Brigade marched from Wassigny to Hannapes, to the south of treux,taking the road down the west bank of the canal. This left the 1st (Guards) Brigade as the lastunits facing the Germans advancing on treux.

At 2.30pm, although neither of the messages from Maxse had reached the Munsters, Charriermade the decision to withdraw towards Oisy. His original plan, approved by Maxse, to takethe route through Bergues and Bou was no longer possible due to the German occupation ofBergues.

2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers at Tidworth in 1912

The withdrawal began with D Company out as a left flank guard and B Company out on theright. Munster casualties at this stage were still light. Progress was slow due to the difficulthedging surrounding each of the small fields in the area.

C Company brought up the rear and was subject to vigorous German attacks. The rear guardwas engaged closely and fell well behind the rest of the companies, finally catching up ataround 5.45pm.

At 3pm, the cyclist from 1st (Guards) Brigade Headquarters reached Oisy, after a substantialOdyssey around the countryside looking for the Munsters, pursued and shot at by various

parties of German troops. The cyclist delivered Maxses retreat at once order of 1pm to 2ndColdstream Guards and the Coldstream prepared to march south towards treux.

At around this time, the A Company of the Munsters arrived from Bergues with the troopof the 15th Hussars at Oisy. The Coldstream handed over the guard on the 2 canal bridges, 1

permanent and 1 built by the Royal Engineers, to the A Company Munsters, before marchingsouth to treux. The 2 bridges had been prepared for demolition, but were not destroyed as

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this was now the only route for the main body of the Munsters, the Bergues-Bou road beingoccupied by the Germans.

The machine gunners of 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers

The withdrawal and march south from Oisy by the Coldstream began at 3.30pm.

At around 4pm, strong German cavalry forces were seen to the west of Wassigny and wereengaged by the British guns at Maison Rouge. The Germans were now hard on the heels ofthe 1st (Guards) Brigade.It is not clear at precisely what time Charriers main body of Munsters (B, C, D Companiesand the remainder of A Company and Chutes Machine Gun section with the 2 gun section of118th Battery, RFA) crossed the canal and reached Oisy. It was probably around 5pm.

C Company was left as the bridge guard, with a detachment under Lieutenant Awdry holdingthe north of Oisy.

Charrier continued south towards treux with A, B and D Companies, the machine guns, andthe 2 RFA guns. To his rear, C Company withdrew down the road from Oisy, under coveringfire from Chutes 2 machine guns.

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Battle of treux 27th August 1914 at 6.30pm : Map by John Fawkes

At around 6pm, Charriers leading troops approached the outskirts of treux. Germansoldiers were in the road ahead of them. It was clear that the Munsters were cut off.

The road into treux was blocked by 6 battalions of the German 73rd and 77th ReserveInfantry Regiments supported by a number of machine guns. The German infantry hadoccupied and loop-holed the first house in treux, on the west side of the road, and were

positioned in and around the other houses in the northern outskirts of treux. SeveralGerman battalions were holding the trenches dug by the Black Watch earlier in the day alongthe railway embankment, which cut across the road. There were further German infantry andguns on the far bank of the canal a mile to the east. More German infantry and cavalry wereclosing in from the west. Substantial German forces were following up behind C Companyfrom the North.

A farmhouse on the east side of the Oisy-treux road burst into flames. This seemed to act asa signal to the various German forces surrounding the area. It would be a fair description tosay that all hell was now let loose as the German troops opened fire on the Munsters fromsouth, east and west.

The 2 guns of 118th Battery came into action against the German batteries on the far side ofthe canal, but after a full day of firing they were low on ammunition. Positioned on the roadthe guns had no cover, and a number of British gunners and horses were quickly shot down.

To escape to the south, Charrier decided that his only course was to attack into treux, andtry to clear the Germans from his path to the bridge and into the main part of the town.

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Second Lieutenant OMalley was sent to direct C Company to hold the rear, which he did bybicycle, managing to avoid the storm of fire being laid on the road. 2 ammunition carts weresent back to re-supply C Company with ammunition.

Lieutenant Chute brought his machine guns up from the rear to support the attack and D

Company moved into an orchard on the east side of the road.

Charrier, with his adjutant Captain Wise, led B Company in an attack on the loop-holedhouse. of A Company came up in support. B Company was heavily engaged with firefrom both sides of the road. The attack failed and Charrier was wounded. Wise managed toreach the house and fired his revolver through a loop-hole before being stunned by fallingmasonry.

In spite of his wound, Charrier led a second attack on the loop-holed house. This attack alsofailed, under the heavy fire from the house and the German infantry around the house and inthe entrenchments along the railway embankment. Captain Simms, the company commanderof B Company, was killed.

Company Sergeant Major McEvoy, the CSM of B Company, went back to bring up re-enforcements, calling Come on boys. The Irish never lost a Fridays battle yet.

Charrier led a third attack on the loop-holed house which also failed in the face of the heavyfire.The Munsters were now suffering heavy casualties under the relentless fire from all sides byrifles, machine guns and field guns.

While directing his machine guns, Lieutenant Chute ran across the road. He was struck by 2bullets and killed. Sergeant Johnson continued in command of the 2 machine guns, firinguntil all the ammunition was exhausted, whereupon Johnson and his gunners smashed theguns.

1 of the 118th Battery field guns was knocked out by the gunfire from the east side of thecanal. Charrier brought the second gun up to fire on the loop-holed house, but all the guncrew and team horses were shot down by rifle and machine gun fire from the town.

Charrier now ordered C Company up in support of B and A Companies, in their assault onthe loop-holed house, and directed D Company, under Captain Jervis, to launch an attack on

the Germans in the entrenchments along the railway embankment.

It may be that Charrier hoped to clear an alternative route to the bridge, or still intended tocapture the loop-holed house, once its support was driven off.

Jervis took his men along a sunken lane towards the embankment and launched his attackfrom the cover of the lane, moving forward by alternate rushes to within 70 yards of theGermans, and then charging, supported by the fire of one of the A Company platoons. Allthe officers and soldiers in D Company were shot down in the attack, except Jervis himself,who was captured.

Charrier was wounded for a second time as he directed his troops from the road. Shortlyafterwards he was in the road by the disabled gun, when he was shot again and killed.

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The time was 7pm. The Munsters were under heavy attack from the south, east andwest. The battalion, under the command of Captain Hall, fell back to the orchard, where Hallwas wounded.

Command now fell on Lieutenant E.W. Gower, the senior unwounded officer. The battalion

resisted repeated attacks on the orchard until 9.15pm, when, with ammunition virtually spent,the battalion was overwhelmed and the survivors taken prisoner.

Colours and the battalions colour sergeants of 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers with thethen commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Boyle, in Tidworth in 1912

Casualties:The casualties in the battle on the British side were substantially from 2nd Battalion RoyalMunster Fusiliers.

Of the Munsters, 4 officers and 256 soldiers, wounded and unwounded, were captured in theorchard, when the battalion was finally overrun. In the whole battle, 6 officers and around

500 soldiers of the battalion were made prisoner, many of them incapacitated by wounds.

It is not known what casualties were suffered by the 15th Hussars troop or the section of118th Battery. Probably most, if not all, of the hussars and gunners were either casualties orcaptured.

The next day the Germans caused parties of Munsters to collect the battalions dead andwounded from across the battlefield. The Germans permitted the Munsters to create agraveyard in the orchard and a memorial was built for the dead officers.

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Tug of War team of 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers in Tidworth in 1912

The Munsters officers killed in the battle and buried in the orchard were: Major Charrier,Captains Simms MVO and Barrett, Lieutenants Styles, Chute, Phayre and Awdry and SecondLieutenants Crozier and Sullivan. 82 soldiers from the battalion were buried in the orchard.

The soldiers from 118th Battery buried in the orchard comprised Battery Sergeant Major

Strutt and 6 others. 1 private from the 15th (Kings) Hussars is buried in the orchard.

The Musters officers wounded in the battle were Captains Hall, Wise and Rawlins,Lieutenant Deane-Drake and Second Lieutenants Moseley, Thomas, Green and WhiteHaddon.

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A platoon of 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers in Tidworth in 1912

Munsters reported that, after the battle, many buildings in treux were used to house Germanwounded, which seemed to number around 1,500. It would be reasonable to assume that theGermans suffered around 2,000 casualties in all during the battle. This would have beenmore than double the size of the Munster force.

The Munster prisoners reported that the German Corps Commander was furious when herealised the size of the force he had been fighting. Lower ranking German soldiers werecomplimentary of the conduct of the Munsters in resisting for so long and with such vigour.

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Lieutenant Harry Newsom, 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers, an unwounded officer

captured at the Battle of treux: photographed after his capture and while a prisoner ofwar in Torgau, Saxony

After the battle, 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers assembled 5 officers and 196 soldiers.

Aftermath:

Brigadier Edmonds, the British Official Historian of the Great War, records that the Munstersfight at treux delayed the German pursuit of the BEF I Corps for 6 hours, enabling the rearformations to get through the Guise bottleneck and retreat south.

treux is not a battle honour. Decorations for the battle were awarded after the War, in1920. Little was known of the circumstances of the battle on the British side at the time, aseveryone involved was either killed or captured, although reports began to be sent to Britain

by captured officers and soldiers. Captain Wise received the Military Cross. A number ofsoldiers, including CSM McEvoy, received the Military Medal.

It would be reasonable to suppose that Major Paul Charrier would have received the DSO,

had he lived. The DSO is an order, not strictly a decoration for bravery, and there is noprovision for its award posthumously.

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A German poster announcing the execution of Private George Lay of 1st Royal

Berkshires