Mons to the Marne

[Terry Carter]

hello Folks

Can anyone help please.

A friend of mine is planning 14 day trip next year and hopes to follow the footsteps of the BEF from the Battle of Mons to the retreat to the Marne.

Has anyone got any maps, that they could copy, showing the troop movements of this period.

Thanks very much

Terry Carter

[John_Hartley]

Terry

I recall that our Pal, Trenchwalker, walked this route with his re-enactment society last year. Might be worth a PM to him to see if he's got anything of use.

John

[Paul Reed]

Terry - probably the best maps are the 1914 Volume 1 Official History maps. I understand these are now available on CD from N&MP.

[Staffsyeoman]

Walk it? Wow. We did it in a car five years ago (admittedly in 4 1/2 days) and even not being shot at, staying in comfort every night we were absolutely shattered at the end of it, as following the plan, the route etc etc was relentless. It brought it home, certainly.

The only 'hint' is that if you follow the route (depending on which Corps you follow) it is STILL fairly sleepy and not over endowed with facilities -shops and the like. But good luck!

[Terry Carter]

Thanks for all the replies.

My friend intends to do it with a support vehicle on hand and hopes to raise some money for a charity. Once he has sorted out everything, I will keep you posted.

Regards

Terry

[Tony Lund]

Perhaps the dairy of Sergeant Sanderson, 2nd KRRC, might help. He gives a day by day account of the retreat with place names, for First Corps.

It is online Here.

Tony.

[Guest wrinklyone]

And (if not already studied) perhaps Prof Richard Holmes's 1995 book 'Riding the Retreat' would be useful preparation. It covers exactly what is now planned. There a couple of smallish sketch maps of the route, plus some of the 1914 locations. Of course he had an equine companion. If I recall correctly Holmes took ten days over the venture.