Trench Warfare on the Aisne, 1914.

15th September 1914

Two small actions, both of which were fought by the Ist Corps on the right of the B.E.F., are the only incidents officially recorded in the report of the Battles Nomenclature Committee, between the Battle of the Aisne and the transfer of Sir John French's Army to the left of the Allied Line, north of the La Bassée Canal. And yet those few intervening weeks cannot be dismissed without some reference to the position which, after the 13th September, confronted the Allies; and more particularly the new kind of warfare which gradually developed once the British Expeditionary Force had crossed the Aisne.

For a period short of a month Sir John French's Army clung tenaciously to the somewhat insecure and precarious positions it had won on the northern banks of the river, living and fighting under conditions such as no living soldier had hitherto experienced.

Almost entirely unequipped for trench warfare, it was natural that at the outset the British Army was forced largely to improvise the necessary "engines of war" with which to carry on against an enemy who, with perhaps greater foresight, had already armed himself with trench mortars, hand-grenades, flares and light balls, rifle-grenades and search-lights, illuminating pistols, periscopes and high-angle guns of different calibres. It is true that the Germans had designed these principally for use in the reduction of fortresses, but they were available at once on the Aisne for trench warfare. Both in artillery and machine guns, the enemy was infinitely superior so far as numbers were concerned. But poorly equipped, relatively, as were the Artillery and Infantry units of the British Army with guns and machine guns, their marksmanship was second to none.

Thus it will be seen that the British infantry had chiefly to rely upon their prowess with the rifle, and so successful were they that long before the Aisne was reached, the German soldier had become inspired with a wholesome dread of his opponent's rifle fire. The Germans certainly mistook the latter (seeing that at this period the British soldier was firing 15 aimed shots a minute) for machine-gun fire, which gave rise to the myth that Sir John French's Army was armed with thousands of machine guns; the allotment then was two guns per battalion, the majority of which (as already instanced) had either been lost or smashed ere ever the Aisne was reached.

With practically only his rifle, in which, however, he trusted implicitly, and in the use of which he had no equal, the British soldier settled down on the northern banks of the river to trench warfare with an enemy whose trenches were cleverly sited, and often admirably concealed, armed with mortars and howitzers with which he could pound the positions of his opponents without much fear of retaliation; hand and rifle grenades which he could hurl or fire into the British trenches when the opposing lines were close enough, as they often were.

At the close of the Battle of the Aisne (the night of 15th September) the British line, from right to left, ran as follows The right of the Ist Corps lay along the line of the Chemin des Dames, as far as the Beaulne Spur, whence it dropped back in a south-westerly direction (taking in the Coeur de Soupir Farm) to just north of and between the villages of Soupir and Chavonne; the 3rd Division of the IInd Corps lay all around Vailly-east, north and west-upon whatever high ground could be conveniently entrenched, without being too much exposed to the enemy's shell fire; the 5th Division of the IInd Corps held Missy, connecting up on its left with the right brigade of the 4th Division, IIIrd Corps, who still held a line on the high ground north of Bucy le Long; the 19th Infantry Brigade held, and was in, the neighbourhood of Venizel.

16th - 19th September 1914

The 1st Middlesex passed the daylight hours of the 16th in bivouacs one mile south of Venizel, improving cover against hostile shell fire. The enemy tried to find the Battalion with 9-inch guns, but fortunately the shells all passed overhead and no casualties were suffered. At 9.30 p.m., however, the Battalion paraded and, crossing the Aisne by pontoon bridge, took over bivouacs previously occupied by the A. and S. Highlanders, 1,000 yards north of the bridge, the latter Battalion being ordered to Bucy in support of the 10th and 11th Brigades of the 4th Division.

The left flank of the 1st Middlesex was now in touch with French troops (right of the Sixth French Army) west of Bucy. The 17th, 18th and 19th were passed in the same bivouacs with no more excitement than the constant booming of artillery and the sound of rifle fire, which, like wind in the trees, rose and fell according as targets presented themselves to the opposing forces. The diary of the 1st Middlesex contains the words: "Engagement still proceeds all along our front," and for several successive days but little or no advance by British or Germans was made. Each side had assumed a defensive attitude and, with the exception of attempts made by the enemy against the Ist Corps on the dates already given (attempts quite unsuccessful), Sir John French stated in his despatches that: "The same futile attempts were made all along our front up to the evening of the 28th, when they died away and have not since been renewed."

20th September 1914

On the 20th September at 9 p.m. the 1st Middlesex (in Brigade) marched back to Septmonts and there billeted, and for the remainder of the month the Battalion remained in the village, furnishing parties for work under the 4th Division and digging trenches, mainly on the slopes from Billy down towards the River Aisne.

Not again were either the 1st or 4th Battalions Middlesex Regiment to move north across the Aisne River, for early in October the British Expeditionary Force began to move north-west to positions assigned to it between Béthune and Ypres-the "Race to the Coast" had begun.

The position on the Aisne had, by the beginning of October, become that off "stale-mate." The opposing forces had settled down to defensive action, their defences growing gradually stronger. An attempt to outflank the German right was made by the French, but as the latter extended their left in order to turn the German right, the former also extended his flank to meet the threat of envelopment. Thus, gradually, the line lengthened, moving ever north-west towards the coastal towns of France and Belgium, and on Sir John French pointing out to the French Commander-in-Chief that the natural position of the B.E.F. was on the left of the French Armies, Marshal Joffre agreed that the time had come when the British Army might be transferred to the left of the French Armies.

Arrangements for withdrawal and relief having been made by the French General Staff, the 2nd Cavalry Division marched from Compiègne for the new theatre of war on 3rd October.

The IInd Corps (3rd and 5th Divisions) was ordered to arrive on the line Aire-Béthune on 11th October, "to connect with the right of the X French Army, and, pivoting on its left, to attack in flank the enemy who were opposing the X French Corps in front. The Cavalry to move on the northern flank of the IInd Corps and support the attack until the IIIrd Corps, which had to detrain at St. Omer on the 12th, should come up. They were then to clear the front and to act on the northern flank of the IIIrd Corps in a similar manner, pending the arrival of the Ist Corps from the Aisne." (Official dispatches)

30th September 1914

On the last day of September the 1st Battalion Middlesex was (in Brigade) at Septmonts, and the 4th Bn. Middlesex (also in Brigade) at Courcelles.

5th -11th October 1914

The 1st Middlesex marched out of Septmonts at 7 p.m. on the 5th October, and bivouacked in a wood (at 2 a.m. on 6th) west of the village of St. Remy. Here the 19th Brigade lay hidden all day until 7.30 p.m., when the troops again set out, Vez (via Villers Cotterets) being their destination. Vez was reached at 3 a.m. on 7th, where the Battalion again bivouacked in woods, lying hidden throughout the day until 5.30 p.m., when a march to Bethisy St. Pierre was begun. Arriving at 10 p.m. the Middlesex men bivouacked in woods outside St. Sauveur. Eventually, on 9th, at 12 noon, the 1st Middlesex reached Estrée St. Denis, and between that hour and 2 a.m. on 10th, entrained by half-battalion for an "unknown destination." Travelling via Amiens-Abbeville- Etaples-Boulogne and Watten, the right half battalion detrained at the latter place and then had a march of 7 miles to St. Omer, where billets were obtained at Caserne d'Albert, arriving at 1 p.m. The left half battalion travelled by the same route, but detrained at St. Omer and reached billets at 1a.m. on the 11th. The whole of the 19th Infantry Brigade was now at St. Omer.

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