the Battle of Mons on the Western Front in August 1914.
Numerous soldiers claimed to have seen visions in the sky of St George surrounded by angels, horsemen and cavalry.
The visions, which were subsequently charitably attributed to the extreme tiredness of the British troops, most
of who had not slept in days, oringinated in a short story published by the journalist 'Arthur Machen( an author of
occult fiction) in London Evening News at the close of the month following the battle, entitled 'The Bowmen'
It was in the period of hectic retreat , when the British troops would have been so vulnerable to a pursuing
enemy, that something extraordinary occurred. British troops claimed that they had seen an apparition in the
Sky of three angelic figures who appeared to ward off the attacks of the enemy.
The retreat was successfully accomplished and the British troops lived to fight another day.
British Expeditionary Force were in retreat; Mons itself was not mentioned. However the BBF was save in Machen's
story by the appearance of St. George et al.
Bizarrely veterans of the battle subsequently lent support to Machen's story, ensuring that the apparent visions took
on a legendary quality both during and after the war.
For a while towards the end of 1914 and into 1915 many people in Britain apparently gave Machen's story some
credence, somewhat to the embarrassment of the latter, who repeatedly denied any element of fact in his story,
"writing the itself is nothing"- a stance which merely heaped sceptical disbelief upon Machen ( with one cleric
refusing to believe Machen's word).
If nothing else, the fantasy never the less proved a remarkable morale booster in Britain at a time when military
success on the battlefield was proving elusive.
