Bapaume

French commune
name=Bapaume
View of Bapaume
region=
departement=
arrondissement=Arras
canton= Bapaume
insee=62080
cp=62450
maire=Jean-Paul Delevoye (UMP)
mandat=2008-2014
intercomm=Communauté de communes de la Région de Bapaume
longitude=2.85194444444
latitude=50.1044444444
alt moy=122 m
alt mini=108 m
alt maxi=137 m
hectares=576
km²=5,76
sans=5000
date-sans=2006
dens=751|

Bapaume is a commune and the chief town of a canton in the Pas-de-Calais "département" in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.

Geography

A farming and light industrial town located 10 miles (16km) south of Arras at the junction of the A1 autoroute and the N17 and N30 national roads.

Population

History

The position of the town of Bapaume is a crossing point between Artois and the plains of Flanders on the one hand and the valley of the Somme and the Paris basin on the other. Many routes pass through Bapaume, ancient roads between the two regions an more recently an autoroute in 1965. The railway link was put into service in 1871 and upgraded to TGV in 1993.
The position of Bapaume meant it was subjected to many wars. Defences were built: a Roman camp, later, a feudal motte, then a castle on top of the feudal motte. It seems that Queen Matilda of Artois stayed there and that Joan of Arc did too.In 1335, Bapaume was fortified outside the castle walls. However, these fortifications were not very effective, the city was taken repeatedly. In 1540, Charles Quint ordered a fortified place to be built, with thick walls and bastions, including defensive systems developed such as tunnels and galleries. These fortifications were later reinforced by Vauban.

By the 19th century, Bapaume was no longer regarded as a fortified town. In 1847 the dismantling of the fortifications was therefore undertaken. It was conducted by the Army as part of manoeuvres and the testing of explosives. The walls and bastions were blown-up and the moats were filled in. Only the tower and part of the bastion of Dauphin are still visible. Work has been done recently to restore the underground galleries and make them accessible at the stronghold of La Reyne south-east of the city and at the bastion of Dauphin. These were used as underground shelter during both world wars.

The Battle of Bapaume

The Battle of Bapaume (1871) took place on the 2nd – 3rd January 1871, during the Franco-Prussian War in and around Biefvillers-lès-Bapaume and Bapaume. The Prussian advance was stopped by Genéral Louis Léon César Faidherbe at the head of the ‘’Armée du Nord’’.

World War I

In 1916, Bapaume was one of the objectives during the Battle of the Somme.

World War II

During World War II, Bapaume was a combat zone. The mayor, Monsieur Guidet, a member of the Resistance, was arrested and sent to the camp at Gross-Rosen where he died on the 27th November, 1944. In 1948, a monument that shows the time of his arrest was created in his memory. The town hall has an urn containing soil from Gross-Rosen and a tableau featuring the mayor.

Places of interest

The statue of General Faidherbe

Inaugurated on September 27th 1891 and sculpted by Louis Noel. During the First World War, on September 29th 1916, the statue was requisitioned by the Germans, believing that it was bronze. The pedastal, pitted by shrapnel remained empty for 13 years. It was not until 1926 that the town decided to ask the sculptor Dechin to recreate the statue from the original plans. The new monument was inaugurated on August 18, 1929 by Paul Painlevé, then Minister of War. During the redevelopment of the square in 1997, the statue was moved a few metres along.

Monument de Briquet et Taillandier

A monument was erected in front of the town hall in memory of Albert Taillandier and Raoul Briquet. They were both elected representatives of the Pas-de-Calais but of different opinions, Albert Taillandier was Conservative, Raoul was a Socialist. On an inspection mission to the fighting front on behalf of the National Assembly of France] . They wanted to spend the night in the building but they were trapped and killed by an explosion in the town hall on March 25, 1917.

The church

The origin of the parish of Saint-Nicolas merges with the origin of the town. The first church was built when the town became important in the year 1085. The second church was built around the year 1600 but destroyed during the First World War. It was rebuilt on the same foundations between 1924 and 1929. The only part of the old church surviving is a statue of Our Lady of Mercy.

Twinned with

flagicon|GER Moers in Germany.

See also

Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department

External links

* [http://www.quid.fr/communes.html?mode=detail&id=26579&req=Bapaume Bapaume on the Quid website] fr

Notes

*"This article is based on the equivalent article from the French Wikipedia, consulted on June 2nd 2008."