Amiens Before and During the War 1

Amiens Before and During the War 1

Amiens Before and During the War

: Michelin & Cie

 

ORIGIN

 

In the days of the Gauls, Amiens, then known as Samarobriva, or "Bridge

over the Somme," was the capital of the Ambiani, a tribe of Belgian

origin. Later it passed under Roman domination, and in the fifth century

under that of the Franks. Christianity was first preached there at the

beginning of the fourth century, by St. Firmin, first bishop and martyr

of Amiens. After the death of Charlemagne, the town became the property

of the counts and bishops. The latter were unable to defend it against

the Normans, who ravaged it on several occasions. In 1185, it was

annexed to the royal dominions, under Philippe Auguste. On account of

its position, between Paris and the sea, Amiens acquired great

importance at that time, and became the store-house for all the goods

sent down the river Somme for distribution over the whole of northern

France. The manufacture of cloth and linen, and the preparation of

"woad" (vegetable dye-stuff used on a very large scale in the Middle

Ages) caused Amiens to become as rich and flourishing as the Flemish

towns.

 

 

BRIEF DEscRIPTION

 

Built on the Somme, at the confluence of that river with its

tributaries, the Avre and the Selle, and at the junction of nine

different railways, Amiens is divided, topographically, into three

parts.

 

To the south, is the higher or new town, bounded by two lines of

boulevards planted with fine chestnut and linden trees, and occupying

the site of the ancient ramparts. Between this double belt, rise the

suburbs of Noyon, Henri-Ville, and Beauvais, with their straight

streets, handsome mansions, and brick-built residences.

 

In the centre, extending as far as the river Somme, is the business part

of the town, containing the shops, public buildings, and ancient

monuments.

 

On the right bank, from the Somme to the lateral canal, which describes

a large semi-circle between the "ports d'Amont et d'Aval," lies old

Amiens or the lower town, with its narrow winding streets, wooden

houses, workshops and factories, situated between the many arms of the

river.

 

This quarter is dominated by the ancient citadel, and prolonged by the

new suburbs of St. Maurice and St. Pierre, where the working population

of the spinning mills and factories lives.

 

 

AMIENS DURING THE WAR

 

Twice during the War, the strategical importance of Amiens caused it to

become the objective of the German armies.

 

[Illustration: GERMAN FOOT-SOLDIERS ENTERING AMIENS.]

 

 

How the Germans occupied Amiens in 1914

 

After the battle of Charleroi, and in consequence of von Kluck's

manifest intention to outflank the left wing of the retreating Allies,

Amiens became threatened.

 

At that time a group of divisions under General d'Amade, comprising the

81st, 82nd, 84th, and 88th territorials, and the 61st and 62nd reserves,

was stationed between Dunkirk and Mauberge, with orders to check enemy

cavalry raids.

 

However, the front allotted to these troops was so long that they formed

merely a thin curtain, which was obliged to retire before the approach

of the first German army.

 

Amiens was then occupied by Moroccan troops, which were hurriedly

despatched in the direction of Comon and Villers-Bretonneux, to organise

defensive positions.

 

General d'Amade arrived on August 27th.

 

[Illustration: "NACH PARIS" GERMAN FIELD KITCHEN.]

 

His territorial divisions were sent by train to a point below the town,

with orders to prevent the Germans from crossing the Somme. On the same

day, the 61st and 62nd reserve divisions marched towards Péronne, their

ultimate destination being south of the Somme. However, on debouching

from Bapaume, they had an extremely violent engagement with a German

army corps. The battle continued until the following day, eventually

turning in favour of the enemy, and the two divisions were thrown back

northwards.

 

Further to the east, General Sordet's cavalry corps, which was

supporting the left wing of the British army to the east of the line Le

Catelet-Roisel, sought to check the German advance, but was unable to

prevent the enemy from reaching the outskirts of Péronne on the evening

of the 27th. The cavalry accordingly withdrew to the south of the Somme.

 

On the 28th, the enemy took Péronne, and marched on Amiens. The cavalry

corps fell back towards the south.

 

On the 29th, General Maunoury, in command of a new army (the 6th), made

the necessary dispositions to prevent his left from being out-flanked,

and to check the enemy, whose advance-guards nearest Amiens had reached

Bray-sur-Somme, Chuignolles and Framerville. In the first line were

placed:

 

A brigade of Moroccan chasseurs;

 

The 14th division of the 7th corps, from Alsace, which had

detrained at Villers-Bretonneux on the 27th;

 

The 45th and 55th battalions of chasseurs.

 

On the right, in the direction of Nesle, were units of the 55th

division.

 

The French attacked during the morning, inflicting heavy losses on the

enemy, and capturing the village of Proyart. At the same time, the four

territorial divisions moved up the Somme and established themselves in

Amiens.

 

In the evening, the enemy counter-attacked in superior numbers. The 7th

corps lost the positions won that morning, and withdrew to the south.

From that moment, the town became exposed; the territorials evacuated it

on the 30th, during the day, their rear-guard having several skirmishes

with enemy patrols near Cagny.

 

[Illustration]

 

 

Occupation of Amiens

 

The enemy entered the town on August 31st, and immediately made

requisitions of all kinds, including food and money. These requisitions,

of a total value of about 500,000 frs., had to be complied with the same

day.

 

[Illustration: _Retreat of the German Artillery_

 

(PLACE DE LA GARE).]

 

Twelve town councillors and the Attorney-General were taken as hostages,

and were only released on September 11th after much anxious suspense and

annoyance.

 

At first, the Imperial army merely passed through Amiens on its forced

march "nach Paris." From the 1st to the 9th of September there were

practically no Germans in the town. Occasionally, officers paid hurried

visits, exacting further requisitions, and breaking open the safes of

the Savings Banks.

 

On September 9th, a garrison was installed, and a major appointed

Kommandant of the town. Injunctions, prohibitions, and requisitions

became more severe immediately. It was forbidden to be in the streets

after 8 p.m., or to sell newspapers. Motor vehicles were seized, and

Frenchmen residing in Amiens who had not been mobilised, were ordered to

the Citadel. Two-thirds of them were eventually released, but about a

thousand young men were sent away into captivity. They had scarcely

left, when the Germans withdrew precipitately from the town.

 

On September 11th, only a few laggards remained. The effect of the

defeat on the Marne was making itself felt.

 

On the 12th, General d'Amade's advance-guards, returning from the

vicinity of Rouen, re-entered the town and took a few prisoners. The

territorial divisions occupied Amiens until the 17th, when they left in

a north-easterly direction, taking part at the end of the month in the

battles at Péronne and Fricourt, which again fixed the front line

positions. Relieved and protected by lines of trenches, Amiens was safe

from the enemy until March, 1918.

 

 

How Amiens was saved in 1918

 

In 1918, a new onrush of the German armies brought them almost to the

gates of Amiens. On March 21st, Ludendorff opened his great offensive by

hurling a million fanatical troops against the 5th British Army.

Bapaume, Péronne, and Montdidier fell in a few days; a stretch of

territory, sixty kilometres broad, was occupied by the enemy, who

captured enormous booty. For a moment, the road to long-coveted Paris

seemed open. Thanks, however, to the prodigious resistance of the French

troops, who barred the valley of the Oise, the breach was promptly

closed. It was then that the enemy returned to his first objective,

_i.e._, the separation of the two Allied armies. On March 27th the

Germans hurled themselves at Amiens, which formed the hinge of the

Allies' front.

 

[Illustration]

 

For several days the struggle continued to be extremely violent; the

enemy gained some ground, but was unable to break through. Démuin,

Moreuil, Marcelcave, and Hangard were fiercely disputed until March

31st. These villages mark the extreme line reached by the enemy--_i.e._,

17 kilometres from Amiens.

 

On April 4th, the Germans attacked again, determined to break through at

all costs. Against the French front alone, 15 kilometres in length,

eleven divisions were hurled. Crossing to the left bank of the Avre,

they took the villages of Morisel and Mailly-Raineval from Debeney's

army, and threatened the railway from Clermont to Amiens, which was

their objective. At Hangard, the British, shoulder to shoulder with the

French, repulsed all attacks. Further to the north, they withdrew to the

west of Hamel, and during the night were forced back to the

Villers-Bretonneux plateau. However, vigorous counter-attacks enabled

them to win back the lost ground next day.

 

From the 15th to the 19th of April, local offensives enabled the French

to clear the railway. However, the Germans had not given up their plan,

and after a violent bombardment during the night, they again attacked,

on April 24th at 5 a.m., the Franco-British junction between

Villers-Bretonneux, held by the British, and a point west of Moreuil.

Villers-Bretonneux fell, but the French troops were able to hold

Hailles. Bayonet fighting took place in the streets of Hangard, which

was lost during the night.

 

[Illustration: RAILWAY STATION, ST. ROCH.]

 

On the morning of the 26th, the French and British counter-attacked from

Villers-Bretonneux to the valley of the Luce, and drove the enemy back

to their starting-point of the 24th.

 

Once again, Amiens had escaped, but it remained within range of the

German heavy guns. The town, which had previously suffered on various

occasions from air bombardments, was now continuously and violently

bombarded, especially by artillery, from April to June. Ruins

accumulated in the town and suburbs, both of which had been evacuated by

the inhabitants on April 9th.

 

 

Liberation of Amiens

 

The final liberation of the town began on August 8th, with the great

Allied offensive. The 4th British army (Rawlinson) and the 1st French

army (Debeney), in liaison on the road from Amiens to Roye, attacked at

dawn from Braches to Morlancourt, the respective positions of Von der

Marwitz and Von Hutier. The Australian and Canadian infantry, supported

by numerous tanks, completely surprised the panic-stricken enemy. In a

few hours, Villers-Bretonneux was cleared, and in the evening the

British reached Chépilly, Framerville, Caix, and Beaucourt-en-Santerre.

 

To the south, the French, by clever manœuvring, advanced 8 kilometres,

and established themselves on the line

La-Neuville-Sire-Bernard-Plessier-Rozainvillers-Villers-aux-Érables.

That night, Debeney and Rawlinson joined hands at Mezières, both having

captured enormous booty.

 

On the 9th, progress was maintained, in spite of the growing resistance

of the enemy. The British took the line of exterior defensive works of

Amiens, and reached Le Quesnel, Rosières-en-Santerre, Rainecourt, and

Morocourt. Debeney encircled Montdidier; to the north, his troops

captured Arvillers and Pierrepont, while to the south, an attack made in

the evening forced the enemy to evacuate the town on the following

morning and to retreat to La Bossière. During the same day (10th), the

British captured Proyart and approached Chaulnes.

 

[Illustration: 280mm. GUN WHICH BOMBARDED AMIENS CAPTURED BY

AUSTRALIANS. RANGE: 30 MILES.]

 

From that moment Amiens was safe from further aggression, as the

Germans, harried by the victorious Allied armies, retreated each day.

 

VILLE D'AMIENS

 

=Douze otages pris parmi les membres du Conseil Municipal auxquels

s'est joint M. le Procureur-Général, répondent sur leur vie= de

l'engagement pris par la Municipalité qu'aucun acte d'hostilité ne

sera commis par la population contre les troupes allemandes.

 

Le 31 Août 1914.

 

_Le Sénateur-Maire_,

 

A. FIQUET.

 

 

 

 

(Translation)

 

Twelve hostages chosen from the town councillors, and the Attorney

General, will answer with their lives for the undertaking entered into

by the Municipality that no hostile act will be committed by the

population against the German troops.

 

31st August, 1914.

 

Senator-Mayor: A. FIQUET.

 

[Illustration: EFFECTS OF AN INCENDIARY SHELL NEAR THE BOULEVARDS]

 

[Illustration: CENTRE OF AMIENS

 

1. Place Samarobrive.

2. Rue Pingré.

3. Rue des Chaudronniers.

4. Passage Gossart.

5. Rue St.-Martin.

6. Rue du Bloc.

7. Rue St. Firmin the Confessor.

8. Rue de la Malmaison.

9. Rue de Metz-l'Évêque.

 

A--Old Water-Works (Museum); B--Hôtel Morgan de Belloy; D--St.

Germain's Church; E--Belfry; F--House of the White Gable; H--Hôtel

de Ville; K--Archer's house; L--Bailliage; S--Logis du Gouverneur

du Roi.

]

 

[Illustration: MAP OF AMIENS

 

POPULATION: 93,207 ALTITUDE: 27 metres

 

SCALE:

 

|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|--------------------------|

0 100 200 300 400 500m 1 Kilom.

 

BUILDINGS:

 

A. École de Médecine

 

B. Église St Germain

 

D. Temple Protestant

 

Ec. Écoles

 

F. {Halle au Blé

 

{Salle des Fêtes

 

G. Gendarmerie

 

H. Hôtel de Ville

 

T. Théâtre

 

SQUARES AND STREETS:

 

1. Pl. de Château d'Eau

 

2. Pl. de la Tuerie

 

3. Pl. Samarobrive

 

4. Pl. au Feurre

 

5. Pl. Fauvel

 

6. R. des Sœurs Grises

 

7. Pl. au Fil

 

8. R. des Chaudronniers

 

9. R. St Martin

 

10. Pl. Florent Caille

 

11. R. Henri IV

 

12. R. Cormont

 

13. R. Adadat-Lefèvre

 

14. R. de l'Oratoire

 

15. R. Gloriette

 

16. R. des Vergeaux

 

17. R. Delambre

 

18. R. Duméril

 

19. Pl. d'Aguesseau

 

20. R. Allart

 

HOTELS:

 

a HOTEL DE L'UNIVERS.

 

b HOTEL DU RHIN.

 

c BELFORT-HOTEL.

 

[symbol] General Post Office

 

[symbol] Streets or roads to be avoided

by motor-cars

]

 

[Illustration: ITINERARY starting from the cathedral: follow the arrows

 

EXPLANATION OF THE ARBITRARY SIGNS USED IN THE ITINERARY, AND THE

CORRESPONDING PAGE-NUMBERS IN THE GUIDE.

 

The Cathedral, pp. 9-34.

 

U--Theatre, p. 35.

 

S--Logis du Gouverneur du Roi en Picardie], p. 36.

 

--Rue des Trois-Cailloux. p. 36.

 

--St. Rémy church, p. 37.

 

--Museum, pp. 38-44.

 

--Prefecture, p. 45

 

1--corner of bombarded streets, p. 45.

 

H--Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall), p. 45.

 

L--Bailliage (Bailiwick), p. 46.

 

F--Maison du Blanc Pignon (House of the White Gable), p. 47.