The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1917-08-02

N
~ noon of August %, 1914, the
~ Germans took possession of the
city of St. Quentin on the
SOmme. Owing to the incredible
swiftness Of the enemy advance the
tiny garrison and the population were
taken completely by surprise, and no
resistance could be offered. The city
being surrounded on all sides, the en-
envy stOrmed in at every point. With
out a siege, without a battle, st. Quen-
tin was overwhelmed by the countless
hOrdeS of the Germans, who were car
rying all before them in that great re-
S~istless westward movement towards
Paris that seemed to promise complete
and dazzling victory to their arms.
Through the changes and chances of
centuries of war, st. Quentin has seen
heroes in all generations lay down
their lives in her streets and about her
walls, from the dawn of history till
present times, says e. Maxtone Ora
ham in Country Life. A prosperous
manufacturing town with 10000 in
h%abitants engaged in modern industries
does not seem suggestive of historical
day has spread over a large acreage,
and has grown to be one of the main
centers in France for railway com
~municatiOnS and for cotton and many
other useful, If unpicturesque, indus
tries.
To visualize st. Quentin in old days,
imagination must clear away all but a
few old streets and buildings, retaining
the exquisite Hotel de Vile and the
glorious Gothic church begun in the
twelfth century, with it's double tran
sept and arches soaring to incredible
height. st. Quentin lay always in the
fiery path of war, and, like all other
cities of the SOmme, ever in early days
could neve count on any lasting peace.
The pages of the old French chron-
iclers of the fifteenth century are al
most entirely taken up with records Of
the wars between the crown and the
powerful dukes of Burgundy, one I'M
ending list of personal feud and foray,
the selling and sacking of small towns,
the skirmishing Of small forces. In the
spring of 1414, Charles VI, the Mad
King of France, who "a so keen a
soldier between his attacks of insanity,
was engaged in the c%ongenial task of
turning Burgundy out of various towns
on the Somme. Having wrested Sois-
sons from the duke, after q siege, he
reduced the captured town to the last
depths of misery. A few days later
the king rode, well pleased, to st.
Quentin with his knights and found
royal lodging there.
Was Strong Frontier Town.
st. Quentin was for centuries con-
sidered the strongest frontier town of
Picardy. The wide-spreading marsh
of the Somme formed a protection on
three sides. The city lay in the direct
road of all northern invasions. Who
ever held st. Quentin held the key to
Paris. Yet in 1857 the Spanish war
found the ramparts in ruinous condi-
ton and the defenses neglected. The
resources of Spain included 10000 men
under Manuel Philibert, duke of Savoy,
and the Flemish Count d'Egmont.
Against these forces were opposed the
finest chivalry of France, hopelessly
outnumbered. Gaspard de Ccligny,
admiral of France, and Anne de Mont
morenci, constable of France, n Of
the illustrious veterans of Francois /,
both men full of wisdom, courage and
greatness of soul, are the outstanding
names in the story of the battle and
siege of st. Quentin, which was des-
tined to be for France n of those de-
feats which add iuster to her lame.
At the outset Coligny forced the
Spanish lines and got into st. Quentin
with 900 men, before the first attack
could be delivered. Once inside, he
realized the desperate condition of af-
fairs, the ruined ramparts, the lack of
provisions and of munitions. Unless
help could be got from outside, the
place could not hold out for a week.
The constable was at La Fere with the
French army. The Spanish host was
gathered ~threateningly on the n side
OF St Quentin that was unprotected by
the marshes. Some of the inhabitants
Of St Quentin told Coligny that