Mons Conde Canal

[paul guthrie]

In Mons John Terraine says it was not. It's 18 miles long with 16 bridges, 64 feet wide 7 deep or it was 1914. I find that a ridiculous statement but can't so easily blow off an opinion of his. Yours?

[squirrel]

Paul,

what does JohnTerraine actually say? Can you quote it?

[paul guthrie]

No great tree dwellling acrobat of the sky I can't, I am at work and book at home but that's a fair summation.

[squirrel]

Without seeing the actual wording this is just a leap in the dark so......

I reckon it would be depend on if you were attacking or defending and what forces where available.

It took the Germans slightly less than a day to be in a position where they could start to cross the canal after the BEF had started to withdraw.

In terms of the size of the German forces and the scale of their plans, I would reckon that this was not a serious obstacle but certainly a much tougher nut to crack than they had anticipated.

Had the positions been reversed, then for a small (ish) force attempting to cross the canal against a much larger force it would have been a considerable obstacle.

[Robert Dunlop]

The physical nature of the Conde Canal posed a significant military obstacle. The only direct route across was the locks and bridges, given the depth and width. In other words, infantry could not simply wade across. Given this fact, the actual width and depth become virtually irrelevant. To the west of Mons, the canal lies along the low ground astride the Hornu River. This ground is intersected with ditches. These factors made it very difficult to approach the canal, as Bloem vividly describes in his account. To the east of Nimy, the canal lies in a minor valley, with woods providing some protection in places on the northern (German) side. However, the southern side of the valley is potentially very defensible.

The real problem with the Conde Canal, from the defender's perspective, was the length. The Germans were always going to be able to outflank the BEF on the right, not just because the canal loops in a salient around Mons and Nimy which is an oft-quoted reason for the limited capacity of canal to offer protection. The BEF's left was just as vulnerable. It was only a matter of time before von Kluck's outermost corps, which was advancing in echelon, overlapped the BEF. The right flank of the BEF was (correctly) refused back from the canal. Futher east, there was a thin screen of British cavalry who could not provide protection.

The tactical effect of canals (linear bodies of water that form a barrier to normal movement of infantry) can be seen in many other circumstances during the First World War. The problems of getting signifcant numbers across were illustrated by the BEF's crossing of the Aisne, the effects of German rear guard actions on the crossings of Petit Morin, Grand Morin and Marne Rivers, and the influences of the Yser and La Bassee Canals, to quote some examples from the same period.

Robert