Audregnies Commemorates WWI Centenary

AUDREGNIES, BELGIUM - AUGUST 24: General Andrew Sharp of the former British Cheshire Regiment (L) and current soldiers of the Mercian Regiment, 1st Battalion, the successor to the Cheshire, attend a commemoration ceremony at the village cemetery to honour members of the Cheshire Regiment and other soldiers who died fighting the German Army exactly 100 years before during World War I on August 24, 2014 in Audregnies, Belgium. Of the 25 officers and 925 men of the 1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment who fought that day only a total of 207 would survive after two messengers with instructions for the unit to retreat failed to make it through. The battle came on the heals of the Battle of Mons the day before, which was the first major engagmement between British and German forces in the war. The British, French and Belgian armies were forced to continue their retreat until weeks later, when only a short distance from Paris they managed to reverse the tide of the war and push the Germans back north. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)