Current Information:

Age-29

Born & Enlisted-Oxordshire

Vailly British Cemetery, France

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.

On 15th September, 1914, the 2nd Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry battalion of 5 Brigade, 2nd Division, were at Soupir where things were relatively quiet. Things changed on the following day, 16th September, when the early morning heavy mist and rain lifted at 8am, allowing the enemy artillery to fire on them. Some of the battalion were sent forward to La Cour de Soupir, a farm, where they joined some of the  Guards of 4 Brigade in a large cave in a nearby stone quarry. At 5pm they moved out of this quarry to confront a enemy infantry attack just as an 8 inch high explosive shell arrived causing heavy casualties among 2nd Grenadier Guards  and killing 11 officers and men from 2nd Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry. One of the battalion’s casualties on this day was William Wheeler.