Current Information:

Age-33

13A Sussex Place, South Kensington

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 13th 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.

On 13th September, 1914, 9 Brigade of 3rd Division crossed the River Aisne and took up positions just beyond Vailly. At dawn on the following morning, 14th September, the enemy guns opened up.  The ground in front of the 1st Lincolnshire battalion was fairly flat for 300 yards, after which it dipped.  Here a road ran parallel to their position and its telegraph posts provided excellent range markers for the Germans who held an outpost line at this point.  4th Royal Fusiliers on their left were then attacked, an offensive that spread along the line bringing 1st Lincolnshire into the thick of it.  Because of the wet and muddy conditions many of their rifles were clogged and to add to their problems patrols could not find 2nd Division, who should have been on their right, and the intervening wood was full of the enemy.  There was in fact a 5 mile gap between 1st Lincolnshire and 2nd Division.  The Germans attacked all morning but they were all fought off despite there being little support from the British artillery which was still south of the Aisne.  D and B Companies responded to a call for assistance from 4th Royal Fusiliers and helped them drive the enemy back to their starting point but suffered heavy casualties in the process.  Now the enemy began threatening on the right where they brought their machine guns up to Rouge Maison Farm and opened up on A and C Companies.  German infantry then launched an assault from the woods on the right of 1st Lincolnshire and more heavy losses were incurred. In support, two companies of 1st Royal Scots Fusiliers were pushed up on right but they were enfiladed and repulsed. 1st Lincolnshire were then ordered to retire by platoons but the Germans rushed a machine gun into a wheat stack 50 yards away and their infantry swarmed on to the ridge.  Destructive fire was opened up on 1st Lincolnshire as they fell back across a greasy beet field.  They were rallied at the bottom of the ravine and as Vailly offered no defensive position they moved back across the river using the newly repaired railway bridge. There were more casualties here from German shell fire. Three hours later they moved back across the river to the cover of a wood where they sheltered behind a bank and at dark moved into Vailly to get what sleep they could. Herbert Dawson was one of the battalion’s casualties.