No diary entries.

After weeks of marching and fighting throughout the great retreat, Sir John French was given consent by General Joffre to take the BEF [British Expeditionary Force] back to Flanders.The 4^th Division, including the 1st Royal Warwickshire Regiment were transferred to St Omer by forced march and train.

No diary entries.

Deadlock. For the next ten days the wet weather set in. In the trenches of the Valley of the Aisne the Germans were being reinforced and their defences strengthened. Continue reading →

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14th September saw the beginning of stagnation which was soon to develop into trench warfare. British trenches above the Aisne consisted of longish burrows with a little earth or chalk shaped out with a grubber. Continue reading →

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After another day of marching in the rain the troops moved towards the River Aisne. It was a 30 mile march with little or no food for the troops for 24 hours. Continue reading →

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III Corps came up near La Ferte-sous-Jouarre, the point of junction of the River Petit Morin and the Marne. The 4^th Division (including Beck’s battalion, the 1^st Warwickshires) came up against strong opposition and had to wait for artillery support. By evening a portion of the town was in British hands. It is reported that there was a huge thunderstorm at 6pm.

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The cavalry hassled German retreating rearguards to the River Grand Morin. British Infantry made 7-8 miles during the day.

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There was more marching in store for Beck and his battalion, along with tedious halts and checks due to the congestion of traffic and the chaos in the villages that had been entered, despoiled and abandoned by the enemy. The troops crossed the Marne river at Charly. There was some confused fighting during the day, with the Warwickshires in the 4^th Division on the left flank.

No diary entry.

The 5th September was the last day of retreat for the British and the first of a counter strike by the French. The Marne was to be a gigantic action on a scale that the world had never seen yet, in which the British were only a small fraction of the total allied forces employed. The 4^th Division, including the Beck’s battalion, had begun to march south.