26 August 1914

Elements of the British Expeditionary Force which took part in this engagement:

2nd Connaught Rangers (5th Brigade, 2nd Division)

War diary

The above is an extract from the battalion war diary, which is Crown Copyright and held at the National Archives, piece WO95/1347.

Le Grand Fayt is some 20km east of Le Cateau. The map above is an extract from modern-day IGN map of the area, displayed on the excellent Geoportail website.

The weary retreat continues

Over the course of the next week, the BEF continued the long slog of retreat, often fighting sharp rearguard ctions. Eventually the force was south of the Seine and effectively our of the battle line.