Current Information:

Age-26

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 19th 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 6th 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 Armentières  12th October-2nd November 1914

The official History pinpoints the battle of Armentières to a series of battles that took place between the river Douve and a line between Estaires and Foumers. It was part of the Race to the Sea and it determined the line of the Western Front in that sector. It was fought by III Corps which consisted of 4th and 6th Divisions as well as 19 Brigade.

On 14th October, 1914, the 1st Leicestershire battalion of 16 Brigade, 6th Division arrived at Cassel, after their journey northward from the Aisne. On 19th October they moved forward to Bois Grenier and the following day took up defensive positions near Rue du Bois where they were heavily shelled that evening before moving to relieve the West Yorks at a chemical factory near Rue de Bois. They held the trenches here  throughout the next day, 22nd October, heavily shelled by shrapnel and howitzers which resulted in nearly 40 casualties including Theodore Prain who was killed. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission recorded his death as 21st October but the battalion diary confirms it as being a day later.