During August 1914, the Germans had advanced deep into France. The Battle of the Marne, which was to halt the German advance and prevent them from capturing Paris, began on 5 September.

On 6 September, the 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers, under the command of Major A R Burrows, led the advance of the 4th Division in the battle to drive the Germans back over the River Marne.

The German invaders would retreat some 50 miles by 17 September and then turn to the northeast and begin the ‘Race to the Sea’. The so-called race would really be a series of attempts to envelop the other side’s northern flank. Neither side would succeed and when they reached the coast around 19 October, the stalemate would begin and trench warfare would be the pattern for fighting over the next four long and bloody years.