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HISTORY On August 22 -23 1914 , the first major engagement of the British Expeditionary Force in the First World War occurred at the Battle Of Mons . Advancing German forces were thrown back by heavily outnumbered British troops, who also suffering casualties and being outflanked were forced into rapid retreat the next day. The retreat and the battle were rapidly perceived by the British public as being a key moment in the war, despite the censorship going on it was the first indication that defeating Germany would not be as easy as some had thought. Considering the numbers of the German forces the British ability to hold them off seemed remarkable and recruitment to the army shot up in the weeks that followed. Arthur Machen and The Bowmen On . The story was reprinted a number of times over the next six months. The Angels On . Kevin McClure's study describes two types of stories circulating, some more clearly based on Machen, others with different details. Kevin Maclure, Visions of Bowmen and Angels In a time of intense media interest all these reports confirming sightings of supernatural activity were second-hand and some of them were Hoaxes created by soldiers who were not even at Mons. A careful investigation by the Society For Psychical Research in 1915 said of the firsthand testimony, "we have received none at all, and of testimony at second-hand we have none that would justify us in assuming the occurrence of any supernormal phenomenon." The SPR went on to say the stories relating to battlefield "visions" which circulated during the spring and summer of 1915, "prove on investigation to be founded on mere rumour, and cannot be traced to any authoritative source." David Clarke, Rumours of angels: a legend of the First World War – detailed study Given the Society for Psychical Research believed in the existence of supernatural forces the conclusions of this report are highly significant. The sudden spread of the rumours in the spring of 1915 six months after the events and Machen's story was published is also puzzling. The stories published then often attribute their sources to mysterious anonymous British officers. The latest and most detailed examination of the Mons story by David Clarke suggests these men may have been part of a covert attempt by military intelligence to spread morale-boosting Propaganda and Disinformation . As it was a time of allied problems with the Lusitania sinking, Zeppelin attacks and failure to achieve a breakthrough on the Western Front the timing would make miltary sense. Some of the stories conveniently claimed that sources could not be revealed for security reasons.David Clarke, The Angel of Mons: Phantom Soldiers and Ghostly Guardians, (2005) The only real evidence of visions from actual named serving soldiers provided during the debate stated that they saw visions of phantom cavalrymen, not angels or bowmen, and this occurred during the retreat rather than at the Battle itself. Furthermore these visions did not intervene to attack or deter German forces a crucial element in Machen's story and in the later tales of Angels. Since during the retreat many troops were exhausted and had not slept properly for days such visions may have been Hallucinations . David Clarke, Rumours of angels: a legend of the First World War – detailed study According to the conclusion of the most detailed study of the event it seems then that Machen's story provided the genesis for the vast majority of tales of Angels at the time. The stories of angels themselves certainly boosted sightings. Machen's role, though not deliberate, can be compared to Orson Welles part in the The War Of The Worlds (radio) hoax. POST WAR DEVELOPMENTS After the war the story continued to be frequently repeated but no evidence to prove the Angels existed was ever revealed by those who were there. The best evidence provided was in Brigadier-General John Charteris ' memoirs ''At G.H.Q.'', published in 1931, which said the story of the Angels of Mons was a popular rumour amongst the troops in September 1914 , this was the earliest any account said the rumour was in circulation. However it appears from examination of his original letters he wrote those entries after the war and falsified the dates.http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2386/is_1_115/ai_n6118622/pg_1 "Rumours of Angels: a response to Simpson" Folklore, April, 2004 by David Clarke Given his association with pieces of allied propaganda like the story of the German corpse factory Kadaververwertungsanstalt this might indicate Charteris had been behind an attempt to use the Angels for propaganda purposes. Machen was associated with the story for the rest of his life and grew sick of the connection as he regarded The Bowmen as a poor piece of work. He made little money from the story then or later. The sudden revival of interest in appearances of angels from the 1980s onwards, especially in the United States, not only amongst Christians, but those interested in the . The Friends Of Arthur Machen frequently publish articles on developments in the case. The William Doidge Hoax In 2001 an article in The Sunday Times claimed that a diary, film and photographic evidence proving the existence of the Angels of Mons from a World war one soldier named William Doidge been found. The article discussed a long involved story in which Doidge was involved with an American GI and an angel seen years later in Woodchester Mansion . It was claimed Marlon Brando and Tony Kaye (director) were going to spend 350,000 pounds sterling to buy the evidence to make a film. Other papers like Variety and the Los Angeles Times and television programmes soon followed up the story and a website connected to the mystery became very popular. The footage was supposedly found in a trunk in an antique shop by Danny Sullivan (writer) in Monmouth , close to Machen's birthplace of Caerleon . In 2002 in a BBC Radio documentary ''The Making of an Urban Myth'' Sullivan admitted the story was a complete hoax to drum up interest in Woodchester Mansion, the footage and soldier never existed. David Clarke, Angels on the Battlefield (Fortean Times article} SEE ALSO NOTES EXTERNAL LINKS
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