The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1917-07-30
KEY TO FLANDERS
Bapaume Has Been Objective of
Many Great Campaigns.
It Was Here That D'Artagnan, Then
Young Officer Of Cadets, Won Last
ing Fame.

Bapaume, which the Germans gave
up after they had striven to make
1t an impregnable fortress, has been
the scene Of manX battles and sieges. |
As the "key to Flanders" 1t was the
objective of more than a dozen great |
campaigns in the last 600 years, a
writer In the Kansas City Times re-
calls.
Strangely, the stubborn trench fight
ing that has been going on before Ba-
paume during the last year is the re-
occurrence of one of the notable fea-
lures of the ThirtyYears' war, that
| long struggle that devastated Europe
In the middle of the seventeenth CEN
| fury. The armies of Ferdinand III of
Austria and of Macmillan of Bavaria
had pushed across Germany and into
| France and held Bapaume and the
important territory which lies about it.
Marshal de la Meilleraye, with.
strong French army, laid siege to the
city. The Austrians and Bavarians
had strongly fortified it and had dug
|
three sides. French attacks were
beaten back and finally the besegers
settled down to a wearing waiting
struggle Then, as in 1916, the besieg-
ing soldiers chafed under the monot-
onOus strain of trench warfare. De
la Meilleraye, though regarded as one
of the most brilliant commanders of
his day. was freely criticized and the
imperiOus and impatient Richelieu sent
word finally in 1641 that Bapaume
must be taken.
De la Meilleraye preferred to with
hold his attack longer, but feared to
do so. He assembled his subordinate
generals for q conference as to the
method of attack. One of them said
that q young officer of cadets named
D'Artagnan had observed a point of
weakness in the citys walls. D'Arta-
gnan was called in and stated that at
the point which attracted his atten-
ton there seemed to be weaker de-
Tense than elsewhere. Stimulate an
/ attack on another part of the city and
give me company of my comrades
. 1RciIi 1o1tpShNf 4 pibbllSC SOu II Eel
/; into the place." he said.
u "Well, sir" the marshal replied, 'I'll
give you what you ask, but you will
answer with your head for the sue
cess of this audacious adventure"
/. The following day Bapaume was TAX
c en- by assault, after D'Artagnan's mer
:, had pierced the defenses at the point
? he had promised. The same D'Arta
gnan later became marshal of France
BapauIlle is position of vital i'm
n portance; 1t marks the last limit o.
the last ridge of the Artois hills Il
r which an army pressed from south ant
&c west can cling. After Bapaume com,
l. the plains of Flanders, with Cambria
e Valenciennes and Douai in plain sight
- Louis N is the first commander his
tory records as q besieger of Bapaume
,r He destroyed the city. Francois be
A. sieged and took it. Later it fell int
el the hands Of the Spaniards, and afte
lc that the AuStrians held it for awhile
IN 1t has been French since its captur
: In l641 by De la Meilleraye. In tn
!, FrancoPrussan war the French wo
one of their few victories at Bapaum
General Faidherbe checking the Gel
man advance at that point.
Though Bapaume in time of peat
had only 1000 inhabitants, it was q
n important manufacturing center wit
extensive cambria, calico, thread an
sugar industries.