British Expeditionary Force Lands in France

The British Expeditionary Force—100,000 professional soldiers under Field Marshal Sir John French—landed at Boulogne, Calais, and Rouen and moved to take position on the French left flank near Maubeuge. They were the best-trained and best-equipped British army ever sent abroad but represented a tiny fraction of the forces France and Germany were mobilizing. Lord Kitchener was already warning the Cabinet the war would last three years and Britain would need an army of millions.