Current Information:

Age-25

9, Sloane Gardens, Belgravia

Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez, 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 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 Battle of La Bassée

This was fought by II Corps (3rd and 5th Divisions) between 10th October and 2nd November 1914 and as the name suggests it focused on an area around the town of  La Bassée in northern France. It was part of the Race to the Sea and it determined the line of the Western Front in that sector. There were some initial British successes but La Bassée remained firmly in German hands. German reinforcements arrived and  the village of Neuve Chapelle was captured by them. Towards the end of October, the fighting on this front died down as the attention of both armies switched to Ypres.

On 16th October the 1st Bedfordshire battalion of 15 Brigade, 5th Division occupied the village of Givenchy where they remained until falling back to a new line five days later. This occurred on the morning of 22nd October when 1st Bedfordshire were heavily shelled and at noon moved to Chapelle St Roch and then at midnight fell back to a new line running from Givenchy towards Festubert. They remained here until relieved on 26th October all the time having to fend off persistent enemy attacks which they did successfully but not without cost. St John Alan Charlton, who was killed on 26th October, was one of their casualties.