The withdrawal was orderly and disciplined; the German command mistakenly believed the British force was shattered and so neglected to aggressively harass them as they withdrew.

[1] On 31 August, the Expeditionary Force continued falling back to the south-west, crossing the river Aisne between Soissons and Compiègne, with a rear guard provided by the brigades of the Cavalry Division.

The day's march was cut short by the warm weather, which exhausted the already fatigued infantry, and they halted for the night just south of the Aisne.

[2] This left a gap of around five miles between the II and III Corps, which was filled by the 1st Cavalry Brigade, stationed at the village of Néry.

The brigade had spent the day scouting for the German vanguard to the north-west of Compiegne, and did not reach its rest area until dusk, around 8.30pm.

[3] The British plan for the following day was for a march of ten to fourteen miles southwards to a new defensive line, which called for an early departure from their rest areas; the III Corps rearguards were expected to pass through Néry by 6 am, which would already have been vacated by the cavalry.

[6] They pressed on regardless of fatigue; one regimental commander responded to complaints that his men were being pushed too hard with the curt remark that "sweat saves blood".

If they had proceeded in a southeasterly direction they would have only reached the rear of the retreating French, On his own initiative, he redirected his command to the south in an attempt to catch them on the flank.

Heaing the familiar sounds of a camp and initially thinking it was another German regiment, Michael, exercising caution, dismounted, moved closer and after removing their helmets peered over a wall, and found himself within two meters of an English Corporal shaving.

By the time Bradbury's gun stopped firing, the first reinforcements from III Corps had arrived; the 4th Cavalry Brigade with I Battery RHA, and two battalions of infantry.

At 9:00 a.m. Garnier heard reports that Crépy and Béthisy were occupied and broke off the engagement to rally east of Néry, having lost a battery of artillery.

[22] L Battery was almost destroyed as an operational unit in the engagement, losing all five officers and a quarter of its men and was withdrawn to England in order to reform.

[10] The three cavalry regiments of 1st Brigade suffered less, taking eighty-one casualties between them, one of whom was Colonel Ansell, the commanding officer of the 5th Dragoon Guards.

[25] Bradbury was fatally wounded at the end of the fighting, dying shortly afterwards; Nelson was killed in action in April 1918, whilst Dorrell survived the war.

Its actual casualties are unknown, though were thought to be greater than the British losses, and eight of their twelve guns were captured by the counterattack of the Middlesex Regiment.

The brigades were ordered to disperse – according to one officer, they "had to withdraw or be destroyed" when the strength of the British reinforcements became apparent, and scattered in various directions.

The Germans either moved north into the Compiègne Forest or east towards Crépy-en-Valois, but hearing fighting at Crepy doubled back to the south-east.

They halted in the forests around Rosières, south of Néry; however, they were forced to abandon their remaining four guns, and most of their food and ammunition in the process.

That afternoon, the cavalry observed the British columns retreating south along the roads, but were unable to attack them because of their lack of supplies.

[f] Nineteen identifiable British dead from the action, all from L battery bar Cawley, are buried at Nery Communal Cemetery.