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Show "Angel of Mons" Story Made Plenty Realistic THE legend of the miraculous intervention in-tervention of angelic bowmen under the patron saint of England, St. George, during the British retreat re-treat from Mons in August 1914, was invented by the English author, Arthur Machen. He wrote a story called "The Bowmen" which appeared ap-peared in the Daily News of London on September 29, 1914. This was an entirely fictitious account of how, during the days when the British were hard pressed by the enemy, an English soldier happened to utter the motto (in Latin): "May St. George be a present help to the English." Immediately after he had spoken, he saw "beyond the trench, a long line of shapes, with a shining about them. They were like men who drew the bow, and with another shout, their cloud of arrows went singing and tingling through the air toward the German hosts." This story was immediately taken up as an authentic record, states a writer in the Detroit News. |