Current Information:

Born-Stratford

Vendresse British Cemetery, France

The Battle of the Aisne 13^th September -28 September

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 13^th 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.

At 5am on 14th September, 1914, 2nd Division began crossing the pontoon bridge over the River Aisne at Pont Arcy and pushed on towards Braye up the long valley between the Oise and Aisne canal. A German counter attack was  stopped but there was no further advance until the following day. At some stage during the day Henry Davey of the Royal Engineers lost his life.