Postcard by Willi Scheuermann of the British coming to the continent, spreading rumors, and then being kicked back to England. After their defeats in the Battles of Mons and Le Cateau on August 23 and 26, 1914, the German First Army lost contact with the British Expeditionary Force and assumed they had withdrawn to the channel coast if not to England.
Er kam---Er sah---Er log---Er flog.[Signed] WSRussen vor BerlinFranzosen in MünchenHelgoland in die Luft geflogenHe cameHe sawHe liedHe flew[the lies:]Russians at BerlinFrench in MunichHelgoland blown upReverse:Logo: W S S B 577
"From the 9th to the 22nd of August the Army was crossing the Channel. This was a period of great anxiety to us. All the most fateful possibilities were open. We were bound to expect a military descent upon our coasts with the intention of arresting or recalling our Army, or a naval raid into the Channel to cut down the transports, or a concentrated submarine attack upon these vessels crowded with our troops. The great naval battle might begin at any moment, either independently or in connection with any of these operations. It was a period of extreme psychological tension."
On August 5, 1914, the British War Council had decided to send the British Expeditionary Force — Britain's Army — to France.
The World Crisis 1911-1918 by Winston Churchill, page 139, copyright © by Charles Scribner's Sons 1931, renewed by Winston S. Churchill 1959, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 1931, 2007
British Expeditionary Force, BEF, 1914-08-09, Churchill
