Angels-ANGELS OF MONS

At the beginning of the first World War, a battle occurred near the town
of Mons, Belgium, in which German troops were able to defeat the allied
British, French, and Belgian forces. Between August 23 and 28, 1914, a
number of apparitions appeared to these soldiers on the battlefield.
The German attack was so heavy and the British so outnumbered
that complete annihilation was expected. The battle took a turn,
however, when a vision appeared between the lines of the two fighting
factions. According to an account by two British officers, while the
British were retreating, the German army suddenly ceased fire and
stood in amazement as “a troop of angels” stood in their way.Another account during the same battle
from Captain Cecil Hayward of the British
Army states that while the British were retreating
through Mons under heavy fire, the shelling
from both sides stopped dead and amazed
British soldiers witnessed four or five large
white-robed beings appear between the lines,
arms outstretched. At that point, the German
army began to retreat. Captain Hayward also
recounted another vision that, just as the
British forces were about to be surrounded, the
sky opened and luminous figures floated
between the two warring armies.
Toward the end of the retreat from Mons,
there were a number of other mysterious sightings.
A letter from a British lieutenant-colonel
appearing in the London Evening News gives his
account of August 27, at which time he and a
number of other officers witnessed a large
amount of cavalry on either side of the road at a
distance, trotting at the same pace. One officer
took a small party out to reconnoitre, but did
not see the horsemen when they approached
the point at which the mysterious cavalrymen
had appeared. While all of the officers and men were over-fatigued, all
agreed to witnessing the apparition.
Another related account occurred on August 28. A British noncommissioned
officer related to the Evening News that during the
British retreat from Mons, as he was standing guard with a number of
other soldiers, an excited officer approached him inquiring if they had
witnessed anything peculiar. The officer and soldiers then observed in
the sky a strange light above the German line from which three robed
figures appeared, the center one larger and with outspread wings. The
figure remained for about 45 minutes.
On September 29, the Evening News published a story written by
celebrated author Arthur Machen entitled “The Bowmen.” The story
tells of British soldiers saved from total defeat by spirits of English
bowmen from centuries before, called upon by the spirit of St. George.
Machen stated that the story was fictional, and that he had written it
to raise the spirits of the British citizens in light of the defeat at Mons.
However, as reports of the apparitions began to appear at the same
time, Machen’s fictional bowmen soon became known as “The Angels
of Mons.” (See also Battlefield, Angels on the)