Current Information:

Born-Islington

Enlisted-Stratford

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 13^th 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.

At 3am on 14th  September, 1914,  2 Brigade of 1st Division and two batteries of artillery moved off to capture the top of the Chemin des Dames ridge from Cerny to Courtecon. At 6.30am 2nd Sussex moved up and deployed on the left of 2nd King’s Royal Rifle Corps with each battalion holding about 800 yards of front. Meanwhile two companies of the 1st Northamptonshire battalion had moved to the next spur on the east so as to be able to bring fire on to the Germans. From here, according to the battalion diary, they attacked Hill IV of Noyon village and suffered some casualties while doing so. That night the other two companies moved up to fill gaps in the line. One of their casualties on this day was William Griggs.