The Angels of Mons


Read by R. S. Steinberg

(3.9 stars; 9 reviews)

The Angels of Mons is a popular legend about a group of angels who supposedly protected members of the British army in the Battle of Mons at the outset of World War I. The story is fictitious, developed through a combination of a patriotic short story by Arthur Machen, rumours, mass hysteria and urban legend, claimed visions after the battle and also possibly deliberately seeded propaganda. (Summary by Wikipedia) (1 hr 6 min)

Chapters

Introduction 20:24 Read by R. S. Steinberg
The Bowmen; The Soldiers' Rest; The Monstrance 27:32 Read by R. S. Steinberg
The Dazzling Light; The Bowmen and Other Noble Ghosts; Postscript 18:18 Read by R. S. Steinberg

Reviews

Interesting in a metanarrative sort of way


(4 stars)

A clever little book I enjoyed, not so much for the story it contained, but for the author’s pieces both before and after it. It shows Machen, accidental father of an urban myth, trying to strangle the story. Instead, it roamed free and, because people believed it to be true, Machen was rarely credited for it, or paid for it. His career, although well thought of in certain circles, never reached the stellar heights might be expected of the writer of one of the best known of the stories of the First World War.