The Angel of Mons. Myths, Morale & Misinformation
This story is not directly founded in November 1915 but its ripples did.
On 29th September 1914 Arthur Machen published a ghost story, titled “The Bowman”. The story is based on the retreat from Mons. It tells how a British soldier suddenly remembers dinner plates used in a London restaurant that were decorated with the figure of St George**. The soldier then sees a “long line of shapes… that resemble archers”. The bowmen then “let fly a cloud of arrows at the advancing Germans, who fall dead in their thousands.”
The newspaper account
In a later interview Mathen claimed to have forgotten the detail of the newspaper account of (the retreat). He did however say it was a tale to make the heart sink. It told of the British army in headlong, desperate retreat, on Paris. The newspaper correspondent rather pictured an army broken to fragments scattered abroad in confusion. It was hardly an army any more; it was a mob of shattered men. Machen suppose that in the first place it was to comfort myself that I thought of the story of the Bowmen, and wrote it in the early days of September.” So much for the background.
Some suggest that the myth of “The Angels of Mons” was created by by Brigadier-General John Charteris, Chief Intelligence Officer at GHQ. It was, in fact, an attempt by military intelligence to spread morale-boosting propaganda and disinformation. If we look more closely at Charteris’s career it demonstrates the significance of propaganda, disinformation and rumour in 1914. At that time the only means for the public to obtain news other than through personal contact with soldiers was through newspapers, magazines and letters from the front. This was usually days , if not weeks, out of date. More importantly all news was strictly controlled by the authorities. Many alleged eye-witness accounts were entirely false as reporters were not allowed near the front. They relied almost exclusively on information provided by the army and the War Office. As a result there was a huge appetite for information and unsurprisingly news and rumour spread rapidly by word of mouth. This rumour was clearly beneficial to the Allied cause, and had the added advantage of official deniability without any loss of credibility.”
The real eye witness.
Frank Richards was one of the soldiers on the retreat from Mons. He absolutely denied seeing any angels. In fact he later said: “If any angels were seen on the retreat they were seen that night. Marching for hour after hour, without a halt. This was the fifth day of continuous marching with practically no sleep in between. There was nothing there. Very nearly everyone was seeing things, we were all so dead beat.”
The myth and others like it endured and were repeated throughout the war.
** St George’s motto is Adsit Anglis Sanctus Georgius (“may St George be a present help to the English”). Think Henry V onwards no dragons slain but plenty of fine young men. When we hear the call to war we should beware the first casualty of the conflict will be truth.
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