Auckland Museum · Pou KanohiLetters from the front line
Landing of the British Expeditionary Force on the continent with artillery leaving for the front from the seaport of Boulogne, France, 14 August 1914.Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries: AWNS-19141015040-1

War chronicle · Ākuhata–Hepetema · Mons, Belgium

He pakanga hou

Mai i ngā tukinga tuatahi, ka rongo ngā hōia i te kino o ngā pū nunui me ngā pū mihini a te ao hou.

He pakanga hou, he hou hoki ngā tikanga whawhai. Ahakoa he hou ngā pū a te Ope Taua o Wīwī, nō mua rā anō ā rātou tikanga whawhai, arā, he rite tahi ki ō rātou kākahu nō te rautau 19.

Nō te whakapuakitanga o te riri, ka huakina e Wīwī te whenua i waenganui i a rātou me Tiamani. Ka tapaina ēnei kakari ko te Pakanga o ngā Pae (Battle of the Frontiers) mai i te 7–23 o Ākuhata.

Ka pakanga tēnā me tēnā ope taua o Wīwī ki te hoariri, engari auare ake. Kāre he pānga o te hautoa ki te kaha o ngā pū mihini me ngā pū nunui hou – e 210,000 ngā hoīa o Wīwī i mate i ngā wiki e whā i te tīmatanga o te pakanga.

Kātahi ka rere te ope taua o Wīwī ki te kaupare atu i te kōkiritanga o ngā Tiamana mā Peretiamu.

Kātahi anō te British Expeditionary Force (BEF) ka tau mai, ka tonoa rātou ki te haukoti i ngā Tiamana iPeretiamu. Kotahi rau e rua tekau mā rima mano noa iho rātou. I te 23 o Ākuhata, ka tū te pakanga tuatahi o te BEF ki Mons, engari ka āia rātou ki muri ki te Awa o Marne.