26 August

Great War events that took place on 26 August.

1914 (Wednesday)

Western Front	▶ Battle of Le Cateau:^[a] British forced to retreat: Louvain destroyed by the Germans.	▶ End of French attempt to recover Alsace-Lorraine: French fall back in St. Dié region.
Eastern Front	▶ East Prussia: Soldau retaken by the Germans.	▶ Samsonov's communications cut: beginning of the Russian debacle known as Battle of Tannenberg (25 miles south-west of Allenstein).	▶ Galicia: Beginning of operations against Lemberg.
Southern Front	Novi Bazar evacuated by the Austrians.
Naval and Overseas Operations	Togoland conquered by the Allies: town of Atakpame occupied.

Notes

↑ Battle of Le Cateau – The close pursuit by von Kluck's 1st Army caused the British 2nd Corps (3rd and 5th Divisions) to halt in its retirement from Mons and give battle on the hight ground west of Le Cateau. Strengthened by most of the 4th Division on its left and the 19th Brigade on its right, the 2nd Corps (Sir H. Smith-Dorrien) withstood terrific artillery fire from violent attacks by the enemy till about 3 p.m., when, its right being penetrated and rolled up, it continued the retirement on St. Quentin in good spirits, the Germans being too exhausted by their losses to pursue in force. Sordet's French Cavalry Corps came up during the battle and assisted on the left.

Sources: Various material contemporary with the war have been used to compile The Great War On This Day and its associated Compendium.

On This Day pages are styled as timelines and have been transcribed from two out-of-copyright sources: Chronology of the War (1918-1920), and History of the Great War – Principle Events 1914-1918 (1922). The spelling of place-names is a particularly convoluted subject. Some names were spelt differently depending on source, others have changed over time for various political or geographical reasons. In general, spelling of place names are original to British use at the time of, and shortly after, the war. Some typos have been altered or corrected for consistency. Similar events between these sources have been amalgamated; as a result the date and wording may differ to their original texts.

Compendium entries form the central hub of (a) An index-like collection of places, people, ships, battles, political events, etc., and (b) Words and phrases of the Armed Forces of Great Britain during the Great War. The majority of these have been transcribed from Chronology of the War (1918-1920) and Soldier and Sailor Words and Phrases (1925) respectively, the later which is reflected in the language used and some may seem derogatory by today's standards.

Images come from scans or photographs of original sources, Wikimedia Commons, and the Imperial War Museum's online collections under the IWM Non-Commercial Licence. Attribution is given separately to the latter and does not come under the general licence of this site. Please be aware that some images, although very few, may depict distressing scenes.

Advisory note: The information in these sources may not accurately represent updated histories, present-day spellings, or geographical borders. It is also written from a British perspective, and words such as "enemy" are used extensively. For further details and a full list of sources, click here.

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[1] Battle of Le Cateau – The close pursuit by von Kluck's 1st Army caused the British 2nd Corps (3rd and 5th Divisions) to halt in its retirement from Mons and give battle on the hight ground west of Le Cateau. Strengthened by most of the 4th Division on its left and the 19th Brigade on its right, the 2nd Corps (Sir H. Smith-Dorrien) withstood terrific artillery fire from violent attacks by the enemy till about 3 p.m., when, its right being penetrated and rolled up, it continued the retirement on St. Quentin in good spirits, the Germans being too exhausted by their losses to pursue in force. Sordet's French Cavalry Corps came up during the battle and assisted on the left.

[a]