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Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery, Armentieres, 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 19^th 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 Messines    12th October-2nd November 1914

The Battle of Messines was one of the actions that took place during the Race to the Sea and it took place between the Comines-Ypres canal and the River Douvre. It involved the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Divisions and elements of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Divisions as well part of the Indian Division.

On October 12th, the 2nd Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers battalion of 12 Brigade, 4th Division arrived at Longeuil and on the following morning they moved forward six miles with the rest of the brigade to attack Meteren. On 16th October they reached Ploegsteert and the following day moved forward again to Le Gheer, where at 7am on 20th October the enemy attacked their positions and continued to do so for the rest of the day. They moved to trenches near Armentières on 23rd October and remained there for a week during which time they were regularly shelled as well as having to repel infantry attacks. Frederick North died from wounds on 28th October but the exact date on which he was wounded is not known.