Current Information:

Born-St Georges-in-the-East

Villeneuve-St Georges Old Communal Cemetery, France

The Battle of the Aisne  13-28 September, 1914

After the Germans were defeated on the Marne they fell back to the River Aisne, closely pursued by both the British and the French. The new German line was a very formidable defensive position. To attack it meant having to cross the Aisne and then climb up a 500 foot high ridge on top of which was the Chemin des Dames, a road that gave the Germans an easy way to move troops along the top of the hills. On 13th September the Aisne was crossed by both British and French troops but after that progress became slower, until there was no progress at all. Both sides dug in and the fighting settled down into trench warfare. The fighting on the Aisne continued for two weeks at the end of which both sides realised that frontal attacks on entrenched positions were both costly and non-productive, not that this deterred them from continuing with this tactic throughout the war.

The 1st Royal West Surrey (Queens) battalion of 3 Brigade, 1st Division remained in the Aisne trenches for the first two weeks of October, 1914 occupying the front line trenches at Coup de Soupir. During this time the battalion suffered as number of casualties, mainly from shell fire, including Thomas Cahill who died on 15th October.