Current Information:

Age-37

 21, Southwick Street, Bayswater

Soupir Communal Cemetery, France

The Battle of the Aisne 13 -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.

The 1st Irish Guards of 4 (Guards) Brigade, 2nd Division were in action during the Battle of the Aisne and were still in the trenches there at the start of October, 1914. On 3rd October they moved into the front line near Vailly and that afternoon three shells burst on the road near battalion HQ as George Brooke was passing, severely wounding him. He died from these wounds two days later.