Current Information:

Age-28

1, Scarborough Road, Leytonstone

Born-Poplar

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 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.

The 2nd Sussex battalion along with the rest of 2 Brigade, 1st Division crossed the Aisne on 14th September but in the face of an entrenched enemy and heavy fire they were unable to continue their advance and dug-in themselves. 2 Brigade remained in these trenches until relieved on 19th September when they moved back to Pargnan in reserve from where 2nd Sussex were sent to take up an outpost position near Paissy. Shortly after dawn on 20th September the enemy launched a heavy artillery barrage on their new positions and there followed a day of heavy fighting as the line surged backward and forward but due to the efforts of  2nd Sussex and other units it was not broken. The battalion was relieved on 22nd September and moved back to Pargnan but early in the morning of the next day, 23rd September, the day Charles Jones was killed, they were sent to Moulins to support a French attack and came under shell fire as they made their way there.