August 26 - Le Cateau

British dead at Le Cateau

The Allied retreat continues. At the Battle of Cateau - a successful rearguard action - the engagement allows the BEF to continue their withdrawal.

Edward Croft, with the RFA, marches from Dompierre to Fesmy.

German Togoland surrenders to the British.

Austria-Hungary declares war on Japan.

SMS Magdeburg

The German cruiser SMS Magdeburg runs aground off the Estonian coast and is captured by the Russians.

They recover three intact German code books, one of which is passed to the British.

This code book is used by the Admiralty's Room 40 to identify movements of German warships.



The German transatlantic liner, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, now acting as an auxiliary cruiser, is sunk by HMS Highflyer.


Punch publishes another Bernard Partridge cartoon. Clearly influenced by recent events in Louvain and Antwerp (depicted in the background), the theme is now much more sinister. Here the Kaiser is depicted as being wholly evil. Punch is using these cartoons for propaganda purposes, to maintain civilian morale.

THE TRIUMPH OF "CULTURE"

August 9

Flag of German Togoland

British and French troops invade German Togoland in West Africa. The German Governor surrenders less than three weeks later.

For further details of this campaign click here.




German troops enter Liege.

The Liege forts

The King's Message is approved for wider circulation. A copy of this message was issued to each member of the BEF before they left British shores. It read:

"You are leaving home to fight for the safety and honour of my Empire. Belgium, which country we are pledged to defend, had been attacked, and France is about to be invaded by the same powerful foe. I have implicit confidence in you, my soldiers. Duty is your watchword, and I know your duty will be nobly done. I shall follow your every movement with the deepest interest, and mark with eager satisfaction your daily progress. Indeed your welfare will never be absent from my thoughts. I pray God to bless you and guard you, and bring you back victorious.
George RI
9th August, 1914"

The King's Message

The soldiers also received the following instructions from Lord Kitchener:

Lord Kitchener

"You are ordered abroad as a soldier of the King to help our French comrades against the invasion of a common enemy. You have to perform a task which will need your courage, your energy, your patience. Remember that the honour of the British Empire depends on your individual conduct.

"It will be your duty not only to set an example of discipline and perfect steadiness under fire, but also to maintain the most friendly relations with those whom you are helping in this struggle. The operations in which you are engaged will, for the most part, take place in a friendly country, and you can do your country no better service than by showing yourselves in France and Belgium in the true character of a British soldier.

"Be invariably courteous, considerate, and kind. Never do anything likely to injure or destroy property, and always look upon looting as a disgraceful act. You are sure to meet with a welcome, and to be trusted. Your conduct must justify that welcome and that trust.

"Your duty cannot be done unless your health is sound, so be constantly on your guard against any excesses. In this new experience you may find temptations, both in wine and women. You must entirely resist both temptations, and, while treating all women with perfect courtesy, you should avoid any intimacy. Do your duty bravely. Fear God. Honour the King."


The German submarine U15 is sunk by the British light cruiser HMS Birmingham.

U15 - the first German submarine lost in the war

HMS Birmingham