The Battle of Mons will be remembered for the first engagement that British forces took place in during the Great War. It was actually a side engagement to the wider ‘Battle of the Frontiers’, which saw the French and Belgian armies pitted against the German invading army. With the British taking up positions close to Mons, which would be to the left of the frontline, they stood in the way of the German push toward Paris having swept through Luxemburg and Belgium over the previous days and weeks.

 

The first clashes of the Battle of Mons took place on the 22nd August 1914. Following skirmishes between patrols in the early morning, hostilities increased throughout the day. By 9am the following day there was intense German shelling from their artillery on British positions, but German troop advances left them with heavy casualties. Fighting spread across the line with units on either side engaging; this resulted in British battalions having to fall back to the other side of the canal at Terte, which was a natural defensive barrier.

 

Further pressing by the German forces saw the 4th Royal Fusiliers having to withdraw from Nimy, which allowed the attacking army to cross the canal and gain a foothold. Despite the British reinforcing positions along the line with reserve units, by mid-afternoon the Germans had also crossed the canal between Jemappes and Frameires and began outflanking the 2nd Royal Irish Regiment, which led to the battalion being withdrawn along with the 4 Middlesex and 8th Brigade.   

 

By late evening word had been received of the intention of the French Fifth Army to begin withdrawing in the early hours of the following day. Cracks had already developed on the frontline between the French and British armies and this withdrawal would further expose the British flank and leave them susceptible. As a result, the decision was made for the British to fall back and reform the frontline at Cambrai.  

 

The ‘Retreat from Mons’ would continue till the 5th September where the German advance was finally halted to a position on the Aisne River following a desperate counter attack by the French.

​

Archibald was taken prisoner on the 26th August 1914 when the Germans entered Landrecies. Reports state:

 

“From letters received by Mrs Sutcliff from a brother officer it appears that in the retreat from Mons Capt. Sutcliff did noble work in convoying the wounded to Landrecies, finding them quarters and food, and seeing them placed in the hospital at one end of the town. The Germans, however, rushed the place and took them all prisoners.”[2]

 

His movements from this point can be summed up in a letter by his mother, who still resided in Great Torrington in 1915 (living in a house named Dalderse, New Street), in a letter to the Telegraph. The extract reads:

​

“But the treatment of Captain Sutcliff was very different in the earlier days of his captivity. He was taken prisoner at Landrecies and forwarded to Aix-la-Chapelle in a second-class carriage, and had nothing to complain about on the road; but at that city a German officer came up to the party of the RAMC and, turning round to the mob which surrounded the carriage, said: “These people are the English who call themselves the Royal Army Medical Corps, but they are not; they are devils. Instead of attending to our wounded they have put there (sic) eyes out. Do what you like with them.”

​

The result was that a number of orderlies were murdered in cold blood, and the crowd was already in the railway carriage with the intention of making Captain Routh and Captain Sutcliff share their fate when these two gentlemen were rescued by the interference of a German officer of rank who happened to be passing by.

​

After this incident they had nothing further to complain of for the rest of the journey. About their treatment while in captivity I know nothing.

 

From here, Archibald was transported to Germany and interned at the prisoner of war camp at Torgau. However, on the 10th February the Captain, along with five other medical officers, volunteered to be moved to the Wittenberg prisoner of war camp to treat soldiers there.

 

I should say that the use of the word ‘volunteered’ should be used with caution. The Wittenburg camp had been infested with an outbreak of typhus and German medical staff had refused to treat prisoners. The conditions at the camp were appalling, often barbaric. The men there were inadequately clothed for the bitter winter months (many of them had had their coats taken from them on capture and never returned), food was insufficient, particularly for the ill, there was overcrowding, the washing facilities were inadequate and there was a lack of heating. To add to this, the treatment from the guards was savage. Savage dogs were often used to terrorise the prisoners, the POWs would be flogged by guards or struck with no provocation and they were often tied to posts for hours. It was reported that one of the behaviours most difficult for the prisoners to bear was when local inhabitants from the nearby village were permitted to stand along the fence and jeer the mounting coffins. The full report, which was put together by the three surviving British medical officers (Major Priestly, Captain Vidal and Captain Lauder) can be read here.

 

Captain Sutcliff was not as fortunate. Shortly after arriving at the camp he contracted typhus and died on the 12th March 1915 aged 33. He was buried at the Berlin South-Western Cemetery. His children were aged three and one at the time. As well as the Great Torrington war memorial, the Captain is also listed on the Epsom College Roll of Honour.   

​

Whilst researching this soldier, I found an article in The Guardian newspaper relating to Captain Sutcliff, which was written by freelance writer Camilla Palmer who is his great-grandchild. I will be using exerts of her article [3] to piece together Archibald’s life. Camilla wrote: 

 

It was Mum who told me about Archie and Natalie. She can’t remember anyone ever, ever mentioning Archie to her as she was growing up, let alone discussing what happened. He was certainly never spoken of by Natalie, his once young and happy wife. “She was dour, cold and utterly terrifying,” remembers Mum. “She couldn’t smile again after he died.”

 

Natalie spent her final years in the 1950s with her son, Edward, and his young family, on the Isle of Mull in a remote cottage with no electricity, running water or heating.

 

Archie’s diary touches on his time there before petering out in February, when he was clearly sickening himself. The camp “beggars description”, writes Archie. There were 1,300 British among the 13,000 prisoners and typhus was “raging”. In what I’ve learned is a typically understated response from this gentle, clever man, he remarks, “There is much to do.” Just two weeks before he died, he reported how nice the weather was.

 

The last letter home to Natalie is beautiful – short and to the point and completely of its time – this is an Edwardian man of stiff upper lip, who stands to attention in full military regalia. Knowing he’s going to die, he mentions that he “doesn’t feel very well” and that some of the men have typhus. He reminds her where his will is and who to turn to for financial and legal advice, before launching into what is, essentially, his goodbye to her and his family. “Tender heart, may God guard you, comfort you, and give you happiness all through your life. Your husband loves you with his whole soul and his two babies too.”

 

You can read the full article by Camilla Palmer by clicking here.

​

More recently, I have been contacted by a lady from Yarnscombe who kindly pointed out that one of Archie's nieces was Rosemary Sutcliff, who was an English novelist best known for her children's books. Amongst her career achievements were awards such as the Carnegie Medal, the Horn Book Award and the Phoenix award.

​

[1] RAMC in the Great War. www.ramc-ww1.com

[2] North Devon Journal. ‘Death of Torrington Soldier in Germany”. August 12th 1915

[3] ‘A visit to my great-grandfather’s grave, 100 years to the day after his death in a POW camp’, Camilla Palmer. The Guardian newspaper, Sat 2nd May 2015