Current Information:

Age-26

Born-Camberwell

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.

The 2nd Scottish Borderers battalion of 13 Brigade, 5th Division began their march north from the Aisne at the beginning of October, 1914 and by the 12th of the month they had reached Verquin, just to the south of Bethune. Here they took over a line of shallow trenches facing Vermelles which was in German hands. At 4pm, after the rest of the Brigade had arrived, 2nd Scottish Borderers launched an attack which made little ground and cost a lot in casualties. This was repeated on the following day, 13th October and 13 Brigade ended in a position south of the Canal d’Aire. George Ludlow was killed in the fighting on 13th October.