24/08/2026
in 1914 during WW1, the 1st Battalion of the 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment were ordered to take up a defensive position outside the Belgian village of Audregnies. Their role was to delay the advance of the German IV Corps.
Despite the fact that more than half of the men were reservists and being abandoned by the rest of the Allied Army, they delayed the advance by four hours.
In the end it took four German Regiments, each of three Battalions, to surround the Battalion, which was by now standing alone. A senior German officer is reputed to have said, “I have captured a Division, but have nothing but Cheshires.”
On the same day, another antecedent Regiment of The Mercian Regiment was in action at Mons, with the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of The Worcestershire Regiment in Frameries.
Artwork by: David Rowlands
