Current Information:

Enlisted-Norbiton

After the opening battles of the war at Mons on 23rd August, 1914 and Le Cateau on 26th August, the British Army (BEF), in conjunction with the French Army, began a retreat that took them all the way back to the River Marne, 200 miles to the south. With the Germans in hot pursuit they were forced to fight a series of rear guard actions as they fell back in extremely hot weather. The Great Retreat, as it became known, came to an end on 5th September, 1914 when the allied forces attacked along the River Marne and drove the Germans back to the River Aisne.

By 8th September the BEF had crossed the Marne and 2nd Division, with the 2nd Coldstream Guards of 4th (Guards) Brigade leading, headed for Boitron and the crossings of the next river, the Petit Morin. Here they ran into the enemy rearguards. In the fighting that followed 2nd Coldstream occupied the La Forge where they had a sharp encounter against German machine-guns, with the latter eventually falling back. The Petit Morin was crossed and the advance continued. Thomas Blandford was killed in action at some time during the day.