Current Information:

Born-St Giles

Houplines Communal Cemetery, France

The Race to the Sea     September-October 1914

By the middle of September 1914, the Aisne battlefield had stagnated into trench warfare and in order to break this impasse, both sides tried to outflank each other in a general movement northwards. Moving up through Picardy, Artois and Flanders the race was over by 19^th October when the North Sea was reached. The Western Front, a line of trenches stretching from Belgium to Switzerland, was now a reality. Initially it was the French army that conducted this movement whilst the British Expeditionary Force remained on the Aisne but by 6 October British reinforcements were needed to help beat off German attacks around Lille. They moved north and along with reinforcements from Britain, they took up new positions in Flanders, on the left of the Allied line and much closer to the Channel ports.

The Battle of Armentières  12th October-2nd November 1914

The official History pinpoints the battle of Armentières to a series of battles that took place between the river Douve and a line between Estaires and Foumers. It was part of the Race to the Sea and it determined the line of the Western Front in that sector. It was fought by III Corps which consisted of 4th and 6th Divisions as well as 19 Brigade.

On 20th October the 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers and the 2nd Seaforth Highlanders, both of 10 Brigade, 4th Division attacked east along the River Lys from Armentières towards Frelinghien. On the outskirts of the village they had some initial success and captured a German trench but here a shortage of shells and increasing enemy resistance combined to halt their progress and they dug in as best as they could.  The fighting continued on the following day, 21st October, and despite the strength of some of the enemy attacks they stood their ground. One of the casualties was Gordon McEvoy of 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers.