Mons Commemorates World War I Battles Centenary

MONS, BELGIUM - AUGUST 23: Paper Remebrance Poppies representing soldiers killed in action stand stuck in the grass at the La Bascule memorial during World War I centenary commemorations on August 23, 2014 in Mons, Belgium. On August 23, 1914, members of the British Expeditionary Force clashed for the first time in major battles with the numerically superior German 1st Army at Mons, inflicting but also taking heavy casualties. The British troops withdrew south into France, and only when the Germans had nearly reached Paris were British, French and French colonial forces able to push the Germans back north at the Battle of the Marne, which eventually led to the stalemate and prolonged trench warfare that would characterize the Western Front throughout the rest of the war. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)