Postcard depicting British soldiers during the Battle of Mons with the "Angels of Mons", August 23, 1914.

Postcard depicting British soldiers during the Battle of Mons with the "Angels of Mons", August 23, 1914.

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Today 108 years ago, on August 23, 1914, the Battle of Mons began, in which a strange, mythical event known as the "Angels of Mons" occurred.
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The British troops were heavily outnumbered, but managed to hold off the German attacks time after time.

 After 48 hours, the Germans finally broke through, in part due to the sheer number of German troops and artillery overwhelming the exhausted British defenders, and the British and French withdrew to the Marne.
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On September 29, 1914, Welsh author Arthur Machen published a short story named "The Bowmen" in a London newspaper. 

The story described how phantom bowmen from the Battle of Agrincourt on October 25, 1415 in the Hundred Years' War came to the aid of the British soldiers at Mons and helped them repulse the Germans.
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Despite Machen stating it was fictional numerous times, the story went viral in the British public, and soon the entire world.

 Instead of bowmen, the popular version of the story went that it was angelic figures who had come down from above to stop the "evil Germans" from breaking through.
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The "Angels of Mons" boosted morale in the British public and turned some churches in favor for the war cause, as they believed these angels were a direct sign that God was on the British side. The military exploited this story by using it for propaganda purposes.
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The only real testimonies from British soldiers at Mons regarding such supernatural occurrences, was that of visions of phantom cavalrymen.
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Furthermore, these phantoms didn't reportedly attack or stop the Germans from advancing. These visions were reported during the retreat rather than the battle itself, when many of the British troops were exhausted, shocked, and perhaps dehydrated, leading to the natural conclusion that these visions were merely hallucinations.
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Nevertheless, the popularity of the "Angels of Mons" and its legacy never faltered through the years, and was still believed by many to be true for future generations.

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