The Battle of the Aisne

September 12, 1914

After their decisive victory at the Marne, the triumphant allies
immediately began to advance towards the German army's newly-dug entrenchments. These defenses were formidable. Lying along the far side of the river, the entrenched German army carried hundreds of modern MG-08 machine guns. In front of them lay open farmland that served no natural cover for the pursuing allied forces. Not only that, but they also placed their numerous artillery pieces behind their lines, giving them additional support. To make matters worse for the allied attack, the bridges along the Aisne were all blown up by German engineers, so even getting to the German trenches would be extremely difficult.

Despite all of these dangers, the bolstered allied forces pressed on, undeterred, towards the river. To get across, the B.E.F. utilized makeshift pontoon bridges, all the while getting pelted with shells from German artillery. Finally making it across the river, the British forces charged the German fortifications. Predictably, they were unsuccessful, and were met with steep casualties. The French, assaulting the German defenses further east fared little better, making only negligible progress. The Germans launched a counterattack, but that too was inconclusive.

With neither side able to gain a foothold, they both dug in, with the impasse quickly degrading into a stalemate. The B.E.F., unprepared for trench warfare, had great difficulty in improvising their equipment to fit the situation. In fact, when Sir John French ordered the B.E.F. to entrench on September 14th, little to no trench digging tools were available. This forced the British soldiers to search inside of abandoned farmhouses to acquire any pickaxes or shovels that might be stored inside.

The Germans, on the other hand, improvised their equipment in brilliant new ways to meet the situation. For example, flares and periscopes, now made famous by their significant utilization in the war, were both part of the German Army's issued equipment designed for a mobile war, but now adapted to trench warfare.

From the Aisne, all the way up to the English Channel, both sides dug in, each one trying to outpace the other in order to flank them. Soon, the entire western front was locked in a hardened stalemate. The war of mud and blood had now truly begun.

The Battle of the Aisne (September 12th - September 15th)