In August, 1914 the British Expeditionary Force faced off against the rampaging German army in Belgium. Outnumbered and outflanked, the British made a stand at Mons on Aug. 23. The rapid-firing British riflemen slaughtered the Germans and they were aided by divine intervention. At one point, ghostly figures armed with bows and led by a tall figure on a horse led a British counterattack. Or three angels hovered over the lines as the British held off the Germans. The stories coalesced into the Angel(s) of Mons and gave inspiration to the British army and the British public. Both were in need of it because as valorous as the stand at Mons was, it still resulted in a retreat and the first month of the war was pretty bleak. The story took on a life of its own and was read into history by some. But was there any truth to it? It turns out the story actually originated a month after Mons. On Sept. 29, 1914 a writer named Arthur Machen published a short story in the London Evening News entitled “The Bowmen”. He told it in first person as an example of a “false document”. It told the story of a British soldier who saw St. George leading a phantom army of bowmen from Agincourt. Their arrows accounted for many of the slaughtered Germans. The newspaper ran it without specifying it was fiction. Soon after, it was published in a parish magazine and it was so popular it was republished and then turned into a pamphlet. The pamphleteer contacted Machen to find out his sources and was told firmly that the story was not true. The Father insisted it was! The story went “viral” and created “Angelmania” in 1915. Artists painted it and composers made music based on it. Machen worked to disprove it, but he was pilloried as unpatriotic and unchristian. Coincidentally, sources emerged that relied on second and third accounts. No proof was ever produced for the appearance of angels at Mons. But people insisted on believing the story and even some historians bought it.
http://www.worldwar1.com/heritage/angel.htm
https://allthatsinteresting.com/angels-of-mons
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_of_Mons
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