Battleground Early Battles 1914
2 total works
The 1914 Battle of the Aisne, officially from 12 15 September, came about as a result of the German retirement from the Battle of the Marne, which took place further south as the huge conscript armies of France and Germany jostled for position almost within sight of Paris. By the time the British arrived on the Aisne, the battle line stretched some 150 miles from Noyon in the west to Verdun in the east and it was only along a tiny fifteen-mile sector in the middle that The British Expeditionary Force was engaged. However, it fought bitter engagements, which took place in difficult conditions and casualties were heavy. The Aisne fighting was the final attempt by the allies to follow through from the success of the Marne. It also marked the successful establishment by the Germans of a sound defensive line on this part of the front."
On 23 August 1914 it was only the two divisions of General Smith-Dorrien's II Corps that were directly engaged with the German First Army along the line of the Mons-Conde Canal. As the British Expeditionary Force withdrew from Mons and bivouacked around Bavay on 25 August, Sir John French and his GHQ advisors - unsure of the condition of the routes through the Foret de Mormal - ordered the British Expeditionary Force to continue their retirement the next day and to avoid the 35 square miles of forest roads. Consequently II Corps used the roads to the west of the Foret de Mormal and Sir Douglas Haig's I Corps those to the east - with the intention that the four divisions should meet again at Le Cateau. It was an intention that was ambushed by circumstance as I Corps encountered units of the German 7th Division at Landrecies on 25/26 August. Unsure of the weight of the German attack at Landrecies, Douglas Haig hurriedly left for Grand Fayt and ordered his two divisions to immediately begin their retirement along a route that would take them west of Le Cateau. It was this decision that kept the by now five divisions of the BEF apart until 1 September and is the subject of this book.
I Corps was now coming under attack from the German Second Army and the resulting rearguard actions that Haig's men were involved in are covered in this volume: Landrecies 4 Guards Brigade Grand Fayt 2 Connaught Rangers Maroilles 1 Royal Berkshires Etreux 2 Royal Munster Fusiliers Cerizy 5 Cavalry Brigade Villers-Cotterets 4 Guards Brigade The account concludes on the Marne.
I Corps was now coming under attack from the German Second Army and the resulting rearguard actions that Haig's men were involved in are covered in this volume: Landrecies 4 Guards Brigade Grand Fayt 2 Connaught Rangers Maroilles 1 Royal Berkshires Etreux 2 Royal Munster Fusiliers Cerizy 5 Cavalry Brigade Villers-Cotterets 4 Guards Brigade The account concludes on the Marne.