Edward Gleichen

Infantry Brigade: 1914-The Diary of a Commander of the 15th Infantry Brigade, 5th Division, British Army, During the Retreat from Mons Edward Gleichen

The retreat from Mons by men from some of from Britain's finest county regiments

The author of this book was a relative of Queen Victoria and a regular soldier. He had served in the Sudan with the Camel Corps and eventually became a Divisional commander during the Great War. Placed in command of a brigade of regulars in 1914, he took the 15th Infantry Brigade consisting of the first battalions of the Bedfordshire, Norfolk, Cheshire and Dorsetshire Regiments as part of the 5th Division into action in Belgium as part of the 'Contemptible Little Army' in an unequal attempt to stop the waves of German attacks which herald the beginning of the Great War on the Western Front. This largely day by day account covers a period from August 1914 to March 1915 and chronicles a hard and bitterly contested campaign of dogged retreat. Losses were appalling as the attrition decimated the tough but outnumbered British regulars. The actions and disposition of his troops are described here in cool detail by Gleichen as casualties mounted and his once proud battalions were whittled down to mere fragments and other remnants of regiments British and French were put under his command to be thrown in their turn into the maelstrom of battle.