Arizona republican., 1917-04-01
PAUME' STALL
END Of: YEAR Of
HARD FIGHTING

WASHINGTON, D: c., March 81
Bapaume, fallen at last after nearly /
years offensive in which it has
is-or was, if, as reported, the re-
treating Germans have destroyed the i
country over which they have at
length fallen hack-a village of some |
three thousand souls. the center Of a
flourishing agricultural trade and a |
community OF some note for nearly (
a thousand years.
1t lies in the department of Pas de !
Calais, in the plateau which stretches (
between the Escaut and the Somme
1T a distance of about 1s0 miles from
Paris. to the north and east. OF
the place the National Geographic |
Society in a bulletin issued from its
headquarters here says
Here, IN 1885, at the Chateau
which, even thus early. it seems, was
distlnguishabla by the name of the
town, occurred the marriage of Phil
lppe- AuSuste son of Louis VII, and
k,llZs .6h. daughter of Baldwin V and
niece of the Count of Flanders, who
richly lowered the bride with terri (
tory much coveted by her young hus-
band. At the time of the feudal
coalition against Philippe, Bapaume
was one of the cities of Artois where
the Count Of Flanders operated In
conjunction with an invasion to the
north understaken by Richard Occur
de Lion; and from time to time in
the intervening centuries the village
has figured in nearly every import
ant war which French sterritoTy has
staged.
In 1S47 it was besieged by the
Princes of Orleans. who destroyed
tho ancient ramparts, which remained
dismantled because of q natural fear
that in the hands of an energy, the
remnants, even, of the Bapaume for
tifications would be source Of
danger to France.
Twice, since then. has this fear
been realiZed-in 1871. when one OF
| the ploodiest engagements of the
! Franco Prussian war took place here;
/ and now when the possession of Ba-
/ paumc has afforded q strong base
/ for the Teuton invader during the
/ long months since the advance upon
! Paris was first checked.
''This earlier battle Of Bapaun'~
/ between F1ench and Germans COM
/ pr;sed one of the few successes won
/ by the army of the north while Paris
/ law besieged; but, as French
/ chronicier sadly records it was Il
success without a morrow Faid
/ herbe, the French commander, dared
not shell the town, as that would
entail the devastation of q French
! city by French troops-an excess of
] consideration which has found no
place in the present war-and his
young trooDs were incapable of the
/ effort necessary to follow up the VIC
/ tories which they had won in the
/ territory to the north of the town.
In commemoration of their prOwess,
1 however, the French caused to be
set uD, on one of the fields of battle,
/ inst below Favreuil and a. little to
the north of Bapaume on the road =
Arras, a monument of blue stone
suitably inscribed and surrounded b.
a hedge It is not 10 be assumed
| that the lcrg German occupation of
the place has left this monument
! standing.
"Bapaumc is well served by rail-
road, and its natural position made
it the market center for wide region
Of Artois. Picardy and even of Cam
bresis. The agricultural products of
the region are chiefly Of olives and
the sugar beet. Though in the town
were soap factories, breweries, tar
neries and machine shops.
THE town was regularly laid out
and it's prime ri streets all conferred
in the great square, where a statue
of F'aiGheTbe further siSnalized the
successes of 1871. In this square also
stood the city hall, dating from the
epoch when Artois was an appanage
of Spain and ornate with it's colon
made and arches and its square
brick bell tower IN the campanile
style
THE cathedral was another strik-
1 ing edifice its clock tower being
especially notable for the fine gallery
Which surrounded IT. while the in
terror was charmngly decorated, the
stored scenes which the ancient fres-
Goes had depicted.
Near to the Cathedral the rem
nant of an old snonastic establish
ment was utilized as a college; and
with the verdule of the centuries,
formed the boundaries for a public
garden, 'genteely laid out as the
French guide book quantity says
From here a fine view can be had
not only of the town but of the wide
fields which sustained it.
"A third memorial to the gallant
| days of seventy-one stood in the
cemetery IT. the memory of the vic
tins of the battle of the third of
January most Of whom are buried
there
To these, however, will one day
be added others commemorative OF
the past two years when Bapaume
lay once more IN the hands of the
invader. whence the sword of France
has taken her in course of the most
persistent and deadly warfare which
| the world has seen"
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