An incident in the retreat from Mons

Painting by Chevalier Fortunino Matania (1881-1963), originally featured in The Sphere. The retreat from Mons witnessed many deeds pf quiet heroism which afford striking testimony to the glorious humanity and chivalry of the British Tommy – deeds which show that war on the one hand tears the thin veneer of civilisation and reveals it in all of its barbarous brutality, on the other hand it can transcend to heights of sublimity. A number of wounded were sheltered in a church over which the Red Cross flag was flying. The Germans began to shell the building, so that the unfortunate wounded, bearing the still more unfortunate wounded as best they could, had to seek safety in flight.