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193, Victoria Dock Road, Custom House

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 and in order to attack it they had 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. This 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 2pm on 13th September, 1914 the 2nd Highland Light Infantry battalion of 5 Brigade, 2nd Division crossed the Aisne on a pontoon bridge near Bourg and took up an outpost position near Verneuil. The battalion diary recorded that they had to contend with some shelling and it is likely that this accounted for the death of Frederick Newton.