Aisne
Aisne ( , ; ; ) is a French departments of France, department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne (river), Aisne. In 2020, it had a population of 529,374.
Geography
The department borders No ...
Hauts-de-France
Hauts-de-France (; ; ), also referred to in English as Upper France, is the northernmost region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its prefecture is Lille. ...
in northern
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
in August 1914, resulted in what became known as the
Great Retreat
The Great Retreat (), also known as the retreat from Mons, was the long withdrawal to the River Marne in August and September 1914 by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French Fifth Army. The Franco-British forces on the Western F ...
during the
Battle of Mons
The Battle of Mons was the first major action of the British Expeditionary Force (World War I), British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in the First World War. It was a subsidiary action of the Battle of the Frontiers, in which the Allies of World W ...
, in the course of which a strategic rearguard action was called for in order to allow the BEF to escape.
Tasked with holding their ground under all circumstances, the 2nd
Royal Munster Fusiliers
The Royal Munster Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1922. It traced its origins to the East India Company, East India Company's Bengal European Regiment raised in 1652, which later became the 101st Regiment ...
, in their first action in France, achieved a military feat seldom paralleled in modern warfare. A brigade may occasionally have the task of trying to delay a whole enemy division. A division may perhaps be deployed in an attempt to turn aside or halt an advancing army corps – but for a single battalion to stem the advance of an entire army by their sole action was unprecedented. In fact, less than a battalion strength, just 3 companies of the 2nd. Battalion of The Munsters halted the advance of the German Army for fourteen hours in the area of Oisny & Étreux during the retreat from Mons on 27 August, thus enabling the rest of the British Army to withdraw to a safe distance of twelve miles.
In their action at Ètreux the 2nd Munsters were decimated, with only five officers and 196 other ranks surviving. Nevertheless, the Battalion's action effectively prevented German pursuit of the BEF I Corps.Bowman, Timothy: ''Irish Regiments in the Great War'' "Regular regiments at war" p.49, Manchester University Press (2003) Notes to Bowman above Ch.2: McCance, S.: ''The History of the Royal Munster Fusiliers, vol.II, From 1861 to 1922'' p.119, Gale and Polden, Aldershot (1927) Jervis, H.S.: ''The 2nd Munsters in France'' p.8 & p.12, Gale and Polden, Aldershot (1922) Johnstone, T.: ''Orange, Green and Khaki'' The Story of Irish Regiments in the Great War, 1914–18 pp.27–34, Gill and Macmillan, Dublin (1992) Staunton, M.: ''The Royal Munster Fusiliers in the Great War'' p.26, MA thesis, University College Dublin (1986) They were outnumbered at odds of over 6 to 1, and when finally defeated, the survivors were congratulated on their supreme bravery by the German soldiers they had fought.
In 1922, a cross was erected in an orchard in Étreux, just behind the railway station, to the memory of 120 men of the Munsters's 2nd. Battalion who fell there in their last stand on 27 August 1914. The officers and men of the Regiment who died in that battle are buried there alongside the carved monumental cross dedicated to their memory. Part of the inscription reads " In proud and lasting memory of ..... the officers, warrant officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the 2nd. Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers ..... who laid down their lives during The Great War in the cause of Freedom and Justice, 1914–1918"
The Great War occupation by the Germans soldiers in Etreux has been recorded by Albert Denisse (1868 – 1946)