Current Information:

Age-17

40, Brookfield Road, Chiswick

Vauxbuin French National Cemetery

The Battle of the Aisne 13th September -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.

During the night of 14th/15th  September, 1914, two platoons of the 4th Royal Fusiliers battalion of 9 Brigade, 3rd Division, occupied Rouge Maison Farm just below the crest of the Chemin des Dames ridge where they beat off some enemy attacks. On the next day, the 15th September they clung to these positions but the actual farm was relinquished during the day and re-occupied at night. Over the next three days the position was held and strengthened. Frederick Johnson was killed during the fighting on 15th September.