Current Information:

Born-Peckham

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 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 fought  in October 1914. It was part of the Race to the Sea and it took place between the Comines-Ypres canal  and  the River Douve. It involved the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Divisions and elements of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Divisions as well part of the Indian Division.

In the early morning of 31st October, the day on which Frederick Ewens lost his life, there was a strong German attack at Messines and just further to the north at Wytschaete where 2nd Cavalry Division held a front of over three miles between Wytschaete and the Comines canal.  Trenches were blown in and men buried alive but there was no serious German attack during the morning.  British artillery fire proved very effective in stopping the Germans except near the canal where a large body of Germans tried to advance from Hollebeke to the bridge north of it.  Lack of explosives had prevented this bridge being blown.  This force was enfiladed by 4th Hussars of 3 Cavalry Brigade, 2nd Cavalry Division from woods 700 yards away and they abandoned their attempts.  At 6.30 pm, all became quiet and 2nd Cavalry Division’s line was reorganised. At 10.15 pm a further attack against the whole front of 2nd Cavalry Division again came to nothing.  From Messines to the canal the line had been held intact except for the salient around Messines.