Current Information:

Age-33

26, Ocean Street, Stepney

112, Barchester Street, Poplar

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 19th 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.

From 25th September until mid-October, 1914, 2nd King’s Royal Rifle Corps of 2 Brigade, 1st Division were in the front line near Troyon where, the battalion diary recorded, they were constantly shelled as they tried to improve their position. They were relieved on 15th October by French troops and began their journey north to Flanders, arriving at Cassel on 19th October. The battalion diary recorded that on the following day the battalion marched to Elverdinghe and halted on the way until the situation was cleared. There is no clue to what this situation may have been, nor to how it was cleared up but perhaps it was a factor in the death of John Olive who was killed on 20th October.