{"id":1539,"date":"2025-02-14T21:24:41","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T21:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/greatwarbattlefields.com\/?page_id=1539"},"modified":"2026-07-26T10:07:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T10:07:17","slug":"aubers-ridge-ypres","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/greatwarbattlefields.com\/?page_id=1539","title":{"rendered":"The Aisne 1914 & 1918"},"content":{"rendered":"

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10th to 13th May\u00a0 2027<\/strong><\/p>\n

The beautiful countryside around the River Aisne north-east of Paris, which bore witness to repeated but very different actions by the British Army during the Great War, forms the background to this three-day tour. A key topographical and strategic feature is the Chemin des Dames ridge running 20 miles east-west, dominating the slopes north of the river; Napoleon\u2019s final battle victory, in March 1814, was won near its eastern end at Craonne.<\/p>\n

In the last week of August 1914, the Retreat from Mons saw the highly professional but badly outnumbered British Expeditionary Force cross the area for the first time, pursued south by the Germans while the French were losing vast areas of ground and incurring massive casualties.<\/p>\n

A fortnight later, after the Battle of the Marne wrecked the Germans\u2019 plan to win the war in six weeks, the BEF pushed back up to the Aisne: here the Germans halted the rout by digging in on the northern heights overlooking the river. Unwittingly, this resulted in establishing that iconic feature of the next four years, trench warfare.<\/p>\n

There was then little territorial movement on the Aisne for nearly four years despite murderous fighting: major offensives were launched here in the spring and autumn of 1917 by the French, the first a ghastly failure leading to mutinies in their ranks, the second successful but won at a terrible cost in lives. In May\/June 1918 came a German offensive, which included rolling back three weakened British Divisions, as the third phase of their desperate last push to win the war before American troop numbers could tilt the balance in favour of the Allies. And again the war crossed the Aisne later in 1918 during the Advance to Victory.<\/p>\n

While concentrating on the involvement of the British Army, the tour will also recognise actions fought by our allies. Along the way we halt at key battle-sites, recount the experiences of our local soldiers and the story of a British spy, admire poignant memorials \u2013 individual and collective \u2013 and cemeteries for all the nations concerned, visit an underground wartime base, and enjoy panoramic views of locations repeatedly fought over for their strategic value.<\/p>\n

Cost: \u00a3TBC<\/b><\/p>\n

Includes guides, handbook, travel, hotel, three <\/b>dinners, three breakfast and four lunches.<\/b><\/p>\n

Subject to Change<\/em><\/p>\n

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              10th to 13th May\u00a0 2027 The beautiful countryside around the River Aisne north-east of Paris, which bore witness to repeated but very different actions by the British Army during the Great War, forms … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1539","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatwarbattlefields.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatwarbattlefields.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatwarbattlefields.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatwarbattlefields.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatwarbattlefields.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1539"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/greatwarbattlefields.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1643,"href":"https:\/\/greatwarbattlefields.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1539\/revisions\/1643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatwarbattlefields.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}