I The Ourcq
VISIT TO THE LOCALITIES
in which were enacted the preliminary scenes of the
BATTLE OF THE OURCQ
from September 5 to 14, 1914
CHANTILLY
(See map on next page)
Origin and Main Historical Facts
Chantilly derives its name from that of the Gallo-Roman Cantilius, who was the first to establish himself in the locality. The Castle (a fortress during the Middle Ages) passed to the family of Montmorency in the fifteenth century and in the seventeenth to that of Condé. These two illustrious families brought Chantilly to a height of splendour which made it a rival of the royal residences.
In 1830 the Duc d’Aumale succeeded the last of the Condés and at his death (1897) bequeathed the domain, with the Condé Museum, which he had installed in the castle (see pp. 24-35), to the ‘Institut de France.’
The town itself, built in the seventeenth century, was for a long time dependent on the castle. In our day it has become a big centre for horse training and racing, the great race meetings in May, July and September attracting huge crowds.
Chantilly in 1914-1916
The Germans, coming from Creil, entered Chantilly on September 3, 1914, and occupied it for several days. The mayor was at once seized as hostage but did not suffer the same tragic fate as the Mayor of Senlis. The troops were billeted at the castle (see p. 28).
After the victory of the Marne, Chantilly became the seat of General Joffre’s headquarters and remained so until the end of 1916.
Visit to the Town
Arriving by the Paris road the tourist will pass under the railway bridge, then 600 yards further on turn to the right and come out on to the “Pelouse” (Lawn). Turning round the Grand Condé Hotel on the left, he follows the Boulevard d’Aumale as far as the Maison de Joffre, shown in the photograph below.
Joffre lived here until he was made Marshal of France.
The hundreds of officers and secretaries employed in the tremendous work incumbent on the Generalissimo were lodged in the Grand Condé hotel, near which the tourist has just passed. In contrast with this buzzing hive, Joffre’s house seemed the embodiment of silence and meditation.
Only two orderly officers lived with the generalissimo, and his door was strictly forbidden to all unsummoned visitors, whoever they might be.
On leaving his office Joffre had the daily relaxation of a walk in the forest near by. It was thanks to the strict routine to which he subjected himself that the generalissimo was able to carry the crushing weight of his responsibility without faltering. We shall see, however, when comparing the peace time photograph given on p. 1 with that on p. 22 that these years of war have counted as double.
During the tragic hours of the Marne the general headquarters were first at Bar-sur-Aube and then at Romilly. The commander-in-chief’s intense concentration of mind made him dumb and as though absent in the midst of his colleagues, who received all his orders in writing. In a few days his hair and moustache became perfectly white.
The Allies’ grand councils of war were held in this house, which has counted among its guests all the great actors of the war.
The military functions were held on the lawn. The photograph on the next page was taken during a review.
After having seen Joffre’s house we pass the few villas which separate it from the Rue d’Aumale and bear to the right, skirting the lawn; next we turn to the left into the Avenue de Condé, then to the right into the Rue du Connétable. In front of the “Grandes Écuries” (great stables), which border the extreme end of the road on the right, stands the equestrian statue of the Duc d’Aumale, by Gérome (1899).
Leaving the church we turn to the right, passing through the monumental gateway, and go towards the castle. On the lawn (still keeping to the right) we come to the principal façade of the “Grandes Écuries”, Jean Aubert’s chef-d’œuvre, built between 1719 and 1740. They are seen on the right in the above photograph.
On the opposite side of the lawn stands a little chapel, erected in 1535, by the high constable Anne de Montmorency, at the same time as six others dotted here and there about Chantilly, in memory of the seven churches of Rome which he had visited in order to obtain the indulgences pertaining to this pilgrimage. He obtained the same grant from the Pope for the chapels of Chantilly.
Of these only two now remain, that on the lawn—Sainte-Croix, and another in the park—Saint-Paul.
The photograph below gives a view of the whole of the castle. The little castle dates from the sixteenth century; the big castle is the work of a contemporary architect, Daumet, who erected it on the basement of the old dwelling, demolished during the Revolution. The Castle of Enghien, built in the eighteenth century, is now occupied by the guardians entrusted with its preservation. The water surrounding the castle teems with centenarian carp. One can get bread from the concierge and, on throwing a few crumbs into the moat, which passes beneath the entrance bridge, watch the onrush of the huge fish.
In the pages which follow we give a short historical account of the castle, referring the tourist for further details to the extremely interesting work of the curator, Mr. Gustave Macon: Chantilly and the Condé Museum.
Short Historical Account of the Castle
In the Roman epoch Chantilly was the dwelling place of Cantilius. In the Middle Ages it became a fortress belonging to the “Bouteiller” (cupbearer), so named because of his hereditary functions at the court of the Capets. (The “bouteille de France,” originally in charge of the king’s cellars, became one of the greatest counsellors of the crown).
The castle then became the property of the d’Orgemonts, who rebuilt it in the fourteenth century. In the fifteenth century it passed to the Montmorency family. Towards 1528 the high constable Anne de Montmorency had it transformed by Pierre Chambiges. Chambiges’ work no longer exists in Chantilly, but the tourist will be able to judge of his talent when he sees the beautiful façades of the transept of the cathedral of Senlis (p. 57). The little castle was built thirty years later by Jean Bullant. From that time Chantilly has been famous. Francis I. often stayed there. Charles V. declared that he would give one of his Low Country provinces for such a residence. Henry IV. asked his “compère,” the high constable Henri, to exchange it for any one of his royal castles. Montmorency, much embarrassed, extricated himself from this awkward situation by answering, “Sire, the house is yours, only let me be the lodge-keeper.”
Henri II. of Montmorency, drawn into a revolt against Richelieu, died on the scaffold in 1632. His property was confiscated and Louis XIII., attracted by the hunting at Chantilly, kept the place for his personal use.
It was there that he drew up with his own hand the “communiqué” to the press, concerning the taking of Corbie (1636): “The king received news, at 4 o’clock this morning, of the surrender of Corbie. He immediately went to church to give thanks to God, then ordered all to be ready by 2 o’clock to sing the Te Deum, the queen and everyone else to be present, and ordered despatches to be sent commanding thanksgiving services in all the churches of this kingdom....”
In 1643, the queen, Anne of Austria, wishing to make some recognition for the splendid victories won by the Duc d’Enghien (the future “Grand Condé”) gave Chantilly back to his mother, Charlotte de Montmorency. The latter, married at fifteen, had been obliged to leave France with her young husband in 1609, to escape from the attentions of Henri IV., still gallant despite his fifty-six years.
A gay life began again in Chantilly, interrupted in 1650 by the revolt of Condé, his exile and the confiscation of the domain, which then returned to Louis XIV. until the Treaty of the Pyrénées (1659). The prince then came into his own again but for long kept aloof from public affairs and devoted himself to the embellishment of Chantilly with the same ardour and mastery that he formerly gave to military operations.
In 1662, the transformation of the park and forest was placed in the hands of the great architect, Le Nôtre. The work continued until 1684. The result was a masterpiece, of which a great part is still in existence, but of which the finest features (particularly the Great Cascades which spread over the actual site of the town) disappeared during the Revolution. Below, we give a view of these “Jeux d’eau” (fountains), which were considered one of the wonders of the day.
In 1671, Louis XIV. spent three days at Chantilly, with all his court. Marvellous festivities were held on this occasion. The guests of the château alone filled sixty large tables; all the adjoining villages were full of officers and courtiers, boarded and lodged at the prince’s expense. In one of her letters, Mme. de Sévigné tells of the tragic death of the superintendent, Vatel, who had the responsibility of this vast organisation. Desperate at the thought that fish would be lacking at the king’s table, he went up to his room, leant his sword against the wall, and transfixed himself upon it.
All the great men of the seventeenth century visited Chantilly. Bossuet, the intimate friend of the great Condé, presented to him Fénelon and La Bruyère, who became tutor to the Prince of Condé’s grandson. Molière and his company came to play (Condé was his patron, by whose intervention the production of Tartufe was allowed). Boileau, Racine and La Fontaine were habitual guests.
The development of Chantilly continued under Condé’s successors, and the castle was modified by Mansart. The Duc de Bourbon caused the “Grandes Écuries” to be built by Jean Aubert. He established the manufacture of porcelain there (ceased in 1870), the remaining pieces of which are greatly sought after in our day.
In 1722, Louis XV. stayed at Chantilly on his way back from his coronation at Rheims. The festivities lasted four days; 60,000 bottles of wine and 55,000 lbs. of meat being consumed.
It was Prince Louis-Joseph who saw the Revolution. He had spent enormous sums in embellishing Chantilly, besides the twenty-five million francs which it cost him to build the Palais-Bourbon in Paris, the present seat of the Chamber of Deputies. He erected the Castle of Enghien, named after his grandson, the Duc d’Enghien, who was the first to inhabit it. (Early marriages were usual in these great families: at the birth of the Duc d’Enghien his father was sixteen years old and his grandfather thirty-six.) The Duc d’Enghien died in 1804, shot in the moat of Vincennes.
The English garden and the hamlet are due to Louis-Joseph.
In 1789, after the Prince of Condé had gone into exile, the Parisians came and removed the cannon from the castle (see reproduction of engraving below, in which the castle appears as altered by Mansart). Thirty guns taken from the enemy during the Seven Years’ War, which were never used except for firing salutes during fêtes, were brought in triumph to the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, whence La Fayette had them sent to the arsenal.
The great cascades, the menagerie, the orangery and the theatre disappeared during the revolutionary era.
Of the great castle nothing remained but the basement, whilst the town grew and encroached on the park.
In 1814, the Prince de Condé returned to Chantilly and commenced the restoration of the domain, a work continued by his son. The latter came to a tragic end in 1830; he was found hanging from the fastening of a window in his castle of Saint-Leu, and with him died the great family of Condé.
In his will he bequeathed Chantilly to one of his great-nephews: Henri of Orleans, Duc d’Aumale, fifth son of King Louis-Philippe. After distinguishing himself in the Algerian campaign, where he carried off the Smalah of Abd-el-Kader in 1843, the Duc d’Aumale was exiled in 1848. He established himself at Orleans House, at Twickenham, near London, where he remained until 1871. It was during that time that he began the splendid collections which later went to enrich the Condé Museum. On his return to France he presided at the tribunal entrusted with the trial of Marshal Bazaine.
In order to house his collections, the Duc d’Aumale had the big castle rebuilt, on plans made by the architect Daumet, from 1875 to 1882.
He died in 1897, bequeathing to the “Institut de France” the domain of Chantilly and the Condé Museum, of which he was the founder.
The Castle in 1914
About 500 Germans stayed at the castle for twenty-four hours. These reserve troops had not yet fought and did not take part in the battle. They committed no excesses during their short stay. The great moral firmness shown by the curators, Messrs. Élie Berger and Macon had great influence on the conduct of the German soldiers. The troops were lodged in the big castle, whilst the officers established themselves in the various suites of the small castle.
The curators had sent the gems of the collection to Paris and sheltered as many of the works of art as possible in the basement. This proceeding caused some ill humour on the part of the German officer in command. As seen in the photograph (page 28) straw was spread in the rooms of the museum, on which the Germans slept. At the end of the room Chapu’s touching Jeanne d’Arc overlooks the scene of desolation. The Germans were much impressed by the copy of the Duc d’Aumale’s tomb in the museum, where he is represented in the uniform of a divisional general. Many gave the military salute when crossing the room. However, this did not prevent the commandant from warning the curators that if his troops were fired on, the castle would be burnt and they themselves shot.
Sylvie’s House
If the tourist makes this journey on a day when the castle is closed, or if he has not time to visit it, he will at least be able to glance at the charming corner of the park where stands Sylvie’s House. He need only take the path of Avilly (it is the road which is on the right of the main entrance) and skirt the park railings. After five minutes’ walk he will reach the place from where the view below is taken. He can return to the gates by the same road.
This little shooting lodge, at first called the “Park House,” was built in 1604 by the high constable Henri de Montmorency for King Henri IV.
Sylvie is the poetical name given by Théophile de Viau to his patroness Marie-Félicie Orsini, who in 1612, at the age of fourteen, married Henri II. of Montmorency, aged sixteen. The poet, Théophile de Viau, persecuted in 1623 for the licentious publication of the Parnasse Satirique, was given shelter at Chantilly and lodged in the Park House.
Condemned to be burnt alive, he was only executed in effigy through the intervention of the Montmorencys.
In his Odes to the House of Sylvie, he extolled the grace and goodness of the young duchess:
Mes vers promettent à Sylvie
Ce bruit charmeur que les neveux
Nomment une seconde vie....
The wish expressed by the poet in these lines was fulfilled and the name of Sylvie became attached to the house and park surrounding it. The great Condé rebuilt the house as it is to-day. (The rotunda seen in the photograph, page 29, was added by the Duc d’Aumale.)
In the eighteenth century Sylvie’s House was the scene of the romance of Mlle. de Clermont and Louis de Melun. The head of the house of Montmorency objected to the marriage of his sister, Mlle. de Clermont, with this nobleman, whose rank he considered insufficient. The young girl disregarded this and made a secret marriage, soon ended by the tragic death of Louis de Melun, who was killed by a stag at bay in the course of a hunt in Sylvie’s park. These various episodes in the history of Sylvie’s House are recalled in the paintings of Luc-Olivier Merson, installed by the Duc d’Aumale when he turned the old house into a museum.
Visit to the Castle
The Castle, Sylvie’s House, the Jeu de Paume, and the “Grandes-Écuries” are open to the public from April 15 to October 14:
1, On Sundays, Thursdays and legal holidays, from 1 to 5 p.m., free;
2, On Saturdays, the same hours, one franc charged for each visitor.
The Park is open to the public all the year round on Thursdays, Sundays and holidays: from 1 to 6 p.m., from April 15 to October 14, and till 4 p.m. for the rest of the year.
The Condé Museum is extremely interesting.
We advise tourists to obtain the guide book sold at the entrance, which gives all useful information for the details of the visit. The plan (p. 31) makes it easy to find one’s way about the museum. By following the numbering in this plan the various rooms will be seen in the order in which they are marked in the guide book.
The several photographs which follow can give but a faint idea of the richness and interest of the collections made by the Duc d’Aumale.
The following view shows the Gallery of the Stags, formerly the dining room.
The picture on page 32 represents the magnificent carved and inlaid chest (the work of Riesener, the great cabinet-maker), which stands in room 24 (plan p. 31).
The Duc d’Aumale gathered the gems of his collection together in the room that he named the Santuario (No. 19 on plan, p. 31).
They are: The Virgin by Raphael, described as “of the House of Orleans,” having belonged to that family for a very long time. This little panel, painted about the year 1506, was bought for 160,000 francs in 1869. It is reproduced on p. 32.
The Three Graces, another small panel painted by Raphael at about the same time as The Virgin, was bought for 625,000 francs in 1885.
Esther and Ahasuerus, panel of a marriage chest, executed by Filippino Lippi, was bought for 85,000 francs in 1892.
Forty Miniatures by Jehan Fouquet, taken from the Book of Hours, by Estienne Chevalier: this leading work of the French school of the fifteenth century was acquired for the sum of 250,000 francs in 1891.
We must also mention the collection of portraits painted or drawn in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, divided between the Gallery of the House (7 on plan), the Clouet room (17 on plan) and the Gallery of Psyche (18 on plan). In the Gallery of Psyche, the visitor will notice, besides the pictures, the forty-four sixteenth century windows, representing the legend of Cupid and Psyche. There is also a cast of the head of Henri IV.
Lovers of jewels should visit the treasure tower (20 on plan). Tn the Monkey Parlour (26 on plan) will be seen the screen painted by Huet, representing the Monkey’s reading lesson, and on the panels a charming eighteenth century decoration, attributed to the same painter.
In the Prince’s Gallery (27 on plan) the great Condé had a series of pictures painted representing the battles he had fought.
In the trophy containing his sword and pistols there is also a flag taken in the Battle of Rocroi in 1643. It is the oldest standard captured from the enemy that exists in France.
In the middle of the gallery stands the Table of the Vinestock, carved out of one piece taken from an enormous vine, for the Connétable de Montmorency.
In the modern chapel (31 on plan), the Duc d’Aumale placed a beautiful altar, carved by Jean Goujon, also some sixteenth century wainscoting and stained glass windows taken from the chapel of the Castle of Ecouen.
In the apse stands the funeral urn which holds the hearts of the princes of the House of Condé.
Visit to the Park
This takes from three-quarters of an hour to an hour and a quarter.
On coming out of the museum we cross the Terrasse du Connétable, in the middle of which stands the equestrian statue of Anne de Montmorency, by Paul Dubois (1886). Leaving the Château d’Enghien on the right we enter the covered way by the avenue which passes before the little chapel of Saint-Paul. Saint-Paul and Sainte-Croix are all that remain of the seven chapels erected by Anne de Montmorency (see p. 23). A little further on, on the left, we come to the Cabotière, a building dating from the time of Louis XIII. It derives its name from that of the barrister Caboud, an enthusiastic amateur horticulturist, who made a magnificent flower garden in the park for the great Condé.
The avenue ends at Sylvie’s House (see p. 29). In the interior can be seen paintings, tapestries, pieces of furniture, and beautiful panelling of the seventeenth century, which have been placed in the rotunda. From Sylvie’s House there is a lovely view of the pond and park (see p. 29).
Leaving Sylvie’s House on the right we walk about 150 yards down the path which skirts it, then turn to the left and follow the path which leads straight to the Hamlet (view on p. 35).
The Hamlet, which recalls that of the Petit Trianon at Versailles, dates from 1775. At this period, under the influence of J. J. Rousseau’s works, nature and country life became the fashion, and it was the correct thing for princes to play at peasants in miniature villages.
An author of the eighteenth century thus describes the Hamlet of Chantilly: “Seven detached houses, placed without order, with thatched roofs, stand in the middle of a lawn that is always green. Here is an ancient elm, there a well; further on a fence encloses a garden planted with vegetables and fruit-trees; a mill, its wheel turned by the brook; in front a stable, a dairy; one house is used as the kitchen, another is the dining-room, so decorated as to resemble a hunting lodge. One fancies one’s self in the middle of a thick wood, the seats imitate tree-trunks, green couches and clusters of flowers rise from the ground; a few openings made between the branches of the trees admit the light. A third cottage serves as billiard-room, a fourth is a library. The barn makes a large and splendid drawing-room.”
From the time when the hamlet came into being, there was never a big fête at Chantilly without a supper in this pretty corner of the park. Innumerable pots de feu illuminated the thickets; on the canal the guests drifted in gondolas to strains of dreamy music; fancy-dress fêtes were held, and the singing and dancing continued until dawn.
The hamlet is now greatly fallen into decay, nevertheless, it is worth a visit.
Retracing our steps we bear to the left and, having crossed, the first bridge, follow a pretty path which brings us into the flower garden of Le Nôtre, where we get a good view of the castle (photograph above). One can go straight back to the entrance gates by the staircase shown in the view. It is called the Grand Degré (great stair), and was built in 1682 by the architect Gitard. The groups which adorn the base of the Terrasse du Connétable, on each side of the stairs, were drawn by Le Nôtre and carved by Hardy.
This walk, from the time of leaving the museum until the return to the entrance gates, takes about three-quarters of an hour.
If one wishes to visit the English Garden and the Jeu de Paume, which will take about forty minutes longer, one must walk past the north front of the castle and follow the walk which opens in the middle of the thickets.
The English Garden was laid out in 1817 to 1819 by the architect Victor Dubois, according to the orders of the last of the Condés, just returned from exile. The site occupied by this garden, like the ground on which stands the town of Chantilly, belonged to the ancient park, devastated during the Revolution.
We pass near the Temple of Venus, which shelters a Venus Callipyge of the seventeenth century, near the Island of Love, dating from 1765 and on which are statues of Aphrodite and Eros. In the eighteenth century the Island of Love contained a luxurious pavilion, in which nocturnal fêtes were held, the canals and park being illuminated. The pavilion disappeared at the time of the Revolution.
The ancient Cascades of Beauvais that one sees before arriving at the Jen de Paume are remnants of the old park. They were the work of Le Nôtre.
The Jeu de Paume, constructed in 1757, is transformed into a museum. It contains various curiosities, notably Abd-el-Kader’s tent, carried away when the Smalah was captured by the Duc d’Aumale in 1843.
After 3 p.m. one can leave the park by the gate next to the Jeu de Paume. We come out in front of the “Grandes Écuries” of the castle and can go in and look round them. (Enter at the side that faces the lawn.)
From Chantilly to Senlis
(9 km.)
Returning through the monumental gateway, we cross the Rue de Connétable and go straight on, skirting the castle park on the right. We cross the Saint-Jean Canal, then the Great Canal, then turn to the right into the High Street of Vineuil. On the right one soon has a beautiful vista of the castle and park (view above).
We now go through Saint-Firmin. The church, on the left, contains in its choir Renaissance windows which are classed as historical monuments.
From Saint-Firmin to Senlis the road is easy. We enter Senlis by the Creil Gate (see plan inserted between pp. 36-37). Turn to the left by the Avenue Vernois and the line of boulevards to reach the station, where starts the itinerary described further on, in Senlis.
Senlis
Origin and Chief Historical Events
Senlis is of Gallic origin: it was the capital of the Sylvanectes. The Romans surrounded it with fortifications, a great part of which still exist (see view below).
The first kings of France, attracted by the hunting in the surrounding country, frequently stayed at Senlis.
It was in Senlis Castle (see p. 61) that Hugues Capet was elected king by the assembly of lords in 987.
The Capetians often returned to the birthplace of their dynasty and it is to them that the town owes its chief buildings.
Taken by the peasants in the war of the Jacquerie in 1358, besieged by the Armagnacs in 1418, it fell into the hands of the English and was delivered by Joan of Arc in 1429. Senlis knew great vicissitudes in the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries.
After Henri IV., who interested himself greatly in Senlis and lived in its old castle, the kings of France gradually forsook the town in favour of Compiègne, Fontainebleau and Versailles.
Occupied in 1871 by the Germans, it reappears in history in September 1914. The burning of the town and the summary executions which took place there will be recalled in the course of the visit (pp. 38-52).
Visit to the Town
(See plan inserted between pp. 36/37)
At the Station one gets one’s first view of the havoc done to the town by the events of September 1914. It was set on fire on the 3rd.
Follow the station road (Avenue de la Gare), which leads to the Compiègne Gate.
This is the road by which the Germans entered Senlis on September 2, at about 3 o’clock in the afternoon.
Whilst one part of the advance guard made the tour of the town, following the boulevards and the ramparts which encircle it, other groups descended directly south by the two main streets which cross Senlis, thus making sure of a thorough exploration.
The entrance lo the Rue de la République suffered a great deal, as is shown by the two photographs, taken before and after the fire of September 2, 1914.
On the left, the toll-house is completely burnt down; in the centre, the Hôtel du Nord and the Restaurant Encausse are in ruins.
The building on the right is the Gendarmerie.
The German prisoners who appear in the picture opposite are leaning against the wall of these barracks.
They were the few soldiers who, remaining in Senlis after the victory of the Ourcq, were captured by Zouaves sent from Paris in motor-cars.
Only a few years ago the Rue de la République was called the Rue Neuve-de-Paris, although it dated from 1753. It was made in order to spare the Court of Louis XV. the circuitous way and steep ascent of the old road, which followed the Rue Vieille-de-Paris and the Rue du Châtel.
Descending the Rue de la République we come to the Rue Bellon, which crosses it. We turn to the right, at the place shown on the opposite photograph, and a few steps further on, reach the Carrefour de la Licorne. This is one of the most devastated places of the town. The first view was taken during the German occupation, a German cyclist being snapshotted while riding. The other views show the state of the ruins in 1914 and the present condition.
We return to the Rue de la République. A few yards down, on the right, we see the charred house, the gable-end of which appears in the view on the following page.
We next reach the level of the Hôtel du Grand Cerf, of which the signboard is seen on the view below. The German headquarters staff stayed there, and that is no doubt the reason for its remaining intact. The Mayor of Senlis, M. Odent, was taken there on September 2, after his arrest at the town-hall, just before being taken to Chamant to be shot. The proprietor of the hotel having left the town, the German officers commandeered a restaurant keeper and made him prepare a meal for thirty people, with “ices and champagne.”
The houses which face the hotel and which were still burning when the above photograph was taken, are those of the local justice of the peace and public notary.
Looking through the entrance gates of the latter residence, one beholds the scene of desolation reproduced in the opposite picture.
On the left of the Rue de la République we come to a building which served as the sub-prefect’s office and Court of Justice. This building, formerly a hospital, dates from the beginning of the eighteenth century.
The work of the incendiaries is seen by comparing the opposite view with that given below.
All the ruins already pointed out, as well as those that will be seen further on, were made systematically.
The soldiers to whom this work was assigned arrived in columns; at the sound of an officer’s whistle a certain number of men left the ranks and smashed in the doors of the houses and the shop-fronts; then others came who started the fires with grenades and fuses; lastly, the patrols who followed fired incendiary projectiles into those buildings which did not take fire quickly enough.
The above view was taken during the German occupation. It shows the Red Cross staff conveying the wounded from the overflowing hospital to the College of Saint-Vincent.
After crossing the Nonette, one arrives at the junction of the Rue de la République and the Rue Vieille-de-Paris.
At the corner stands the inn “Le Débit Simon,” of which a view is given below. Simon was without doubt the first victim of the German occupation.
Tn the middle of the afternoon a German patrol, who had just been drinking at the inn, was shot at by a French rearguard, who had left Simon’s a few moments before.
The Germans immediately seized the innkeeper, accused him of having fired, and shot him point-blank.
Other pretended reprisals were made, causing the death of twenty unoffending civilians, of which the reader will learn the details further on.
The view below shows the corner of the Place Saint-Martin where stands the Café Simon. Two German cyclists are seen in the photograph, which was taken on September 4, 1914. It will be noticed that the one on the left has a lady’s bicycle, which certainly did not come out of the Army stores!
Following the Rue du Faubourg St. Martin shown above, the tourist will pass a pretty estate (view below), the old quarters of the Gardes du Corps, which was completely burnt and the ruins of which produce a startling effect.
In front, partly burnt, are the headquarters of the Cavalry. Still further on, at the exit of the town, is the Hospital.
It was there that the battle raged most fiercely.
The German advance-guards, beating back the French soldiers delayed in the Faubourg St. Martin, were met by the fire of the machine-guns stationed outside the town, along the road.
The Germans penetrated into the hospital and the neighbouring gardens, trying to outflank the French defences which they thought were placed on the road, but a deadly fire from the transverse trenches made them fall back. Furious at this, they seized the passers-by and made them walk in the middle of the road, they themselves keeping close to the walls.
Among the hostages were a Mme. Dauchy and her young daughter. The latter was shot in the leg. Georges Leymarie was killed; one of his companions, Levasseur, while carrying the body along the pavement beside the hospital wall, suffered the same fate. Two other hostages, Audibert and Minouflet, the latter wounded, had also reached the pavement of the hospital. A German officer discharged a revolver at Audibert and left him for dead; he ordered Minouflet to show his wounds and, finding them insufficient, put a bullet through his shoulder. Three other people fell. The shrieks of the victims reached the French, who ceased fire. The surviving hostages then slipped past the trees along the road, under German fire, up to the French lines. The Germans took advantage of this to make a fresh attack, but were repulsed.
The hospital, situated as it was in the midst of the fighting, was not spared, A German officer, wounded by one of the first shots, entered the hospital and meeting an old pensioner, M. Maumus, on the threshold, shot him down in cold blood.
The ward where the French and Moroccan wounded lay was fired on with machine guns, as shown in the above photograph. By a wonderful chance no one was hit, the Crucifix also remained untouched in the centre of a wreath of bullets.
The tourist will now, retracing his steps, turn to the right into the Rue des Jardiniers, whence he will have a good view of the whole town. Always keeping to the left he will pass through the Meaux Gate into the Rue de Meaux which borders the College of St. Vincent (p. 64). (If on foot, it would be better to follow the line of the ramparts Bellevue and Saint-Vincent, instead of the Rue des Jardiniers. At the Meaux Gate he will go down the steps into the Rue de Meaux.)
Back in the Rue de la République, he will go up as far as the Rue Odent, which skirts the Hôtel du Grand Cerf. By this road he will arrive at the Place de la Halle, continued to the right by the Rue Saint-Hilaire, which leads to the church of Saint-Pierre (see p. 60).
From the Place Saint-Pierre one goes to the left into the little Rue aux Flageards which passes in front of the north doorway of the cathedral, of which a view is given opposite. The tower on the right and the spire were struck by several shells.
Continuing along the Place Mauconseil and turning to the left into the Rue Villevert one reaches the charming square which lies in front of the parvis of the Cathedral.
(See pp. 53-59 for descriptions concerning the artistic features of the cathedral.) Here we shall only give the incidents of September 1914 in which the building shared.
During the day of September 2, 1914, about fifty shells struck the old church and caused rather serious damage, as shown in the following photographs. The vicar of the cathedral, the Abbé Dourlent, went about the streets of Senlis during the bombardment and had 125 inhabitants, who had been unable to find shelter in the cellars, escorted out of the town by one of his curates. On his return to the vicarage, which stands at the foot of the tower (the house visible in the photograph on p. 54, on the right, behind the two trees), shortly after the Germans had entered the town, the vicar heard violent and repeated blows in the cathedral. Coming out into the square he saw cyclists, holding a large fragment of a statue (which had been flung to the ground by a shell) with which they had battered in the small door of the cathedral (that on the right in the view on p. 54). Others, axes in their hands, were attacking the door of the steeple on the south side of the tower. The Germans, revolver in hand, rushed at the vicar, and their leader commanded him to take them to the top of the steeple, accusing him of having allowed machine guns to be placed there which had fired on them.
As they climbed the first step they heard the first shots fired in the lower part of the town.
The soldiers sprang up and declared the vicar their prisoner.
The visit to the steeple confirmed the Abbé Dourlent’s declaration that no one had been up and that no military preparations had ever been made there. The men drew off, but a few moments later the porter of the town-hall brought the vicar the order to render himself immediately as hostage at the Grand Cerf Hotel.
When he arrived the Headquarters Staff had left, taking with them the mayor, who was shot that evening.
The incendiarism had already started; the vicar saw incendiary bombs thrown into the houses facing the hotel, which are shown in the photograph on page 41. He entered the vicarage, then returned to the Grand Cerf to learn what fate awaited him.
It was there that a German superior officer, who spoke French, said these few words which throw light on the events at Senlis:
Poor Curé, poor Senlis, your civilians have fired on us and we have been shot at from the top of your church tower, therefore Senlis is doomed. You see that street in flames (the Rue de la République), well! this night the whole town will be completely burned down.
We have orders to make of Senlis another Louvain. A terrible example is needed for Paris and for the whole of France.
The vicar implored for mercy for the town, and the officer promised to intervene with his superiors in order to obtain a mitigation of the sentence. Whether he gained his point or whether the giving up of the direct march on Paris caused the part of scape-goat assigned to the peaceful little town to appear of less immediate necessity, the incendiarism was limited to the Rue de la République and the Quartier de la Licorne.
The tourist will visit the Cathedral (see pp. 53-59), Saint-Frambourg (p. 60), the Castle (pp. 61-63), and will then go down the old Rue du Châtel.
This road was the scene of an outrage of 1789, famous in the annals of Senlis. The clockmaker Billon, seeing beneath his windows the company of musketeers from which, as usurer, he had been dismissed, raised his musket and killed the commandant and several others. Trapped in his house, he backed from room to room still adding to the number of his victims. At the moment when they seized him the mine that he had prepared exploded, destroying his house and leaving twenty-six dead and forty injured.
The Rue du Châtel ends in the Square Henri IV., in the corner of which stands the Town-hall. Its façade (see below) dates from 1495. Above the door is the bust of Henri IV., with an inscription taken from the letters-patent sent by the king to Senlis as thanks for the town’s resistance against the Leaguers:
“Mon heur a prins son commencement en la ville de Senlis, dont il s’est depuis semé et augmenté par tout le royaume.”
(My good fortune had its beginning in the Town of Senlis, whence it has since sown itself and spread over all the kingdom.)
The Square Henri IV. received the first shells of the bombardment in September, 1914, which killed a fireman on guard at the town-hall.
When the Germans penetrated into Senlis, one of their superior officers went to the town-hall and asked for the “burgomaster.”
The mayor, M. Odent, came forward.
For three generations the Odents had been mayors of Senlis. The grandfather of the present mayor distinguished himself during the cholera epidemic in 1832; his father was seized as hostage in 1870 and narrowly escaped being shot.
On the eve of the German occupation, M. Odent took his family to Paris and on his return to Senlis wrote a postcard to M. Cultru, oldest member of the municipal council, as follows:—
“Having at last placed my wife in safety, I now belong entirely to Senlis.”
M. Odent had the presentiment that he would not come out of German hands alive; a fervent catholic, he performed his religious duties in view of a swiftly approaching death, and fastened a crucifix on his breast.
Above we give the last photograph of M. Odent. It was taken on August 5, 1914, during a military fête. M. Odent is in the middle.
The mayor was violently upbraided by the officer because of the deserted aspect of the town—barely 1,000 inhabitants remained out of 7,000, and during the bombardment houses and shops were closed. He was also blamed for the absence of proclamations exhorting the inhabitants to deposit their arms at the town-hall and to offer no resistance....
M. Odent pointed out the rapidity of events, and the peaceable ways of the old city. He was nevertheless led before the headquarters staff at the Grand Cerf Hotel. Immediately after, came the sound of the first shots fired by the French rearguard at the lower end of the town. The officer was furious and vowed that he would hold the mayor responsible and that his head should answer for the lives of the German soldiers. The town-clerk suggested to M. Odent that the deputy mayor should be fetched, but the latter refused, saying: “One victim is enough.”
The resigned hostage was taken from the Grand Cerf to Chamant (see p. 66). He was brutally treated, his gloves snatched from him and flung in his face, his stick seized and brought down violently on his head. M. Odent and some other hostages spent several hours of cruel waiting for their fate. At last, at about 11 o’clock in the evening, they were brought before several officers. After having been made to stand at attention they were ordered to lie flat, their hands stretched forward; they were then again told to stand at attention. The officers, satisfied that they had thus asserted their authority, for form’s sake then proceeded to interrogate the mayor, and in spite of his denial persisted in accusing him of having opened fire upon the German troops. They then informed him that he would be shot.
M. Odent returned to his companions in captivity, gave them his papers and money, shook hands with them, and bade them a dignified farewell. He then went back to the officers. At their command two soldiers dragged him about ten yards further off and put two bullets through his head.
The ground was hastily hollowed out and the body was laid under such a thin layer of earth that the feet were not covered. It was here that the cross shown in the above photograph was erected. The tourist can visit it when passing through Chamant (see p. 66). A few hours before the mayor’s death six other hostages had been shot and buried in the same field. M. Odent’s companions were more fortunate, they were sent back to Senlis the next day. On September 12 the bodies of the mayor and the six other victims were exhumed and taken to the cemetery in the town (see p. 52). Other hostages narrowly escaped death. At about eight o’clock in the evening, in the tailor’s shop at the corner of the Rue du Châtel, in front of the town-hall, three inhabitants were seized and taken to Chamant. To these, in the course of the journey, were added a dozen others. They were about to share the fate of the preceding hostages when one of them, who spoke German, succeeded in inducing the Headquarters staff to set them free.
By the Rue Vieille de Paris (a continuation of the Rue du Châtel) we descend to the lower part of the town. (In 1358 the “Jacques,” masters of Senlis, drove back the nobles who had entered the lower end of the road by rolling down the slope heavily laden wagons which overturned anything that happened to be in their way.)
In front of the old Convent of the Carmes, No. 3 of the Rue Vieille de Paris, stand Megret’s Baths, to which a café is attached. In the afternoon of September 2 some Germans smashed in the door and demanded drink. It was no doubt at that time that other German soldiers entered the café Simon, a little further on (see p. 43). The two proprietors suffered the same fate. Mégret had barely finished serving the patrol with a dozen bottles of wine when a shot, fired point-blank, felled him to the ground.
On page 49 appears the photograph of three young German soldiers belonging to that column of incendiarists and murderers who did so much damage to Senlis. With threats they forced the photographer, M. Rozycki, to whom we are indebted for the views taken during the German occupation, to take the photograph we have reproduced.
A little way past the Convent of the Carmes (which is turned into barracks, its chapel being used as a clothing store), we follow, on the right, the line of ramparts that goes from the Rue Vieille de Paris (where the Paris gate used to be) to the Place de Creil (where stood the gate of the same name).
These ramparts were made in the thirteenth and fourteenth and strengthened in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
The first portion is called le Rempart des Otages in memory of the executions of 1418, during the fight between the Burgundians, who occupied Senlis, and the Armagnacs, who besieged it.
The town, reduced to famine, was to surrender on April 18 if no help arrived, and six hostages were handed over as guarantee: two abbots, two nobles, and two commoners. Help was signalled on the day of the 18th; but the Armagnacs, before leaving, decapitated four hostages at the foot of the ramparts on which the tourist is standing. In return, the besieged flung down from the walls the heads of twenty prisoners captured during a sally.
Six centuries have elapsed, but it will be seen that, towards hostages, the Germans still retain the mental attitude of the Middle Ages.
A picture by Mélingue (reproduced above), which hangs in the town-hall, commemorates the execution of the hostages of Senlis in 1418.
The next rampart is called the Montauban, after the square tower which was added to it in 1588. It was in the dry moat below that the Archers’ Company held their practice. The head of the company, the “King of the Crossbow,” was exempted by Henri III. from paying taxes, and ever since that remote period archery has always been held in honour at Senlis. At certain fêtes as many as 4,000 archers were assembled, part of them belonging to the town, the others coming from the surrounding country.
From the rampart, the view of old Senlis, spread out at the foot of the cathedral, is particularly picturesque.
From the Creil Gate, where you come out on leaving the ramparts, the Arena can be visited (see p. 65). After that, turn down the Avenue Vernois, at the end of which is seen the entrance to the cemetery. The monument raised in memory of the hostages who were murdered in 1914 (view below) is in the western part of the cemetery. In the northern part is the grave of the soldiers who fell during the battles of Senlis (view above).
From the Boulevard Pasteur, which is a continuation of the Avenue Vernois, there is a pretty view of the country.
At the corner of the Rue Saint-Joseph stands a convent where seventy nuns remained during the German occupation. Some German soldiers made them open the door and demanded wine: “Oh!” answered the Reverend Mother, “the nuns only drink liquorice-water.”
The tourist now finds himself at the Compiègne gate, from where he began his visit to the town. This is also the starting point fixed in the itinerary for the journey to Meaux (see p. 66).
Artistic Senlis
(See plan inserted between pp. 36-37)
The Cathedral of Notre-Dame
(historical monument)
The cathedral was begun in 1153 on the site of a church which had been destroyed and rebuilt several times since the third century. The work of construction was slow, as funds were often lacking, despite the help given by the kings of France. For several consecutive years collections were repeatedly made throughout the country in order to obtain resources for the bishop.
The consecration of the unfinished church took place in 1191.
Towards 1240, the transept was raised and the spire, which is still the pride of Senlis, built.
In 1504, lightning set fire to the cathedral, which went on burning for two days. Luckily the spire was saved. The reconstruction of all the higher parts and of the façades of the transept lasted until 1560 and completely transformed the appearance of the building.
During the Revolution it was used as a ballroom and afterwards as a store-house for fodder. In 1801 it became once more a place of worship.
It has been seen (p. 46-47) that the cathedral was not spared by the German shells on September 2, 1914, and that its vicar very nearly shared the mayor’s tragic fate.
The opposite view is taken from the top of the steeple of St. Peter’s Church.
In the foreground are seen the buildings of the old bishop’s palace, standing on a Gallo-Roman site; one of the towers of this enclosure was utilised in their construction.
After 1790 Senlis was no longer a bishopric, and an archæological museum is now established in the old dwelling-place of the bishops.
The west façade of the cathedral, which escaped the fire of 1504, has retained the simplicity and bareness of the twelfth century church and is in remarkable contrast with the richness of the side façades built in the sixteenth century.
The great doorway, which will be fully described further on, is flanked by two small doors surmounted by a tympanum, the arcading of which forms a curious ornamentation.
The two towers were originally alike; it was only in the middle of the thirteenth century that the spire was added to the south tower.
This SPIRE is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture and for nearly seven centuries has been the admiration of architects and archæologists because of the science, audacity and solidity of its construction, which was proof against fire, the inclemency of the weather, and German shells.
Its summit is 255 feet above the ground. Octagonal in shape, it rests on the square base of the tower.
The transition from the square to the octagon is masked by the four pinnacles (each supported by three small columns), which occupy the four corners of the square.
The upper part of the spire is pierced with eight highly ornamented dormer windows; the arrises of the spire are decorated with crockets.
This construction reveals the great art of the architect, who knew how to break the monotony of the spire’s long, sloping lines without making them appear heavy.
The little Place du Parvis shown above is charming in its archaical decoration.
The edifice seen on the left of the photograph is the old home of the Vermandois family, modified in the fourteenth century. One can walk round the courtyard of the old dwelling, entering through the door seen between two big trees.
Between the house of Vermandois and the church stands the Chapter House (see p. 59).
The twelfth century doorway was damaged during the Revolution. The great statues were decapitated but have since been restored. The bas-reliefs suffered considerably, also.
This is the first doorway consecrated to the Virgin. Its design served as a model for those of the Cathedrals of Chartres, Rheims, Amiens, and Notre-Dame de Paris.
The bas-relief of the lintel, shown below, represents, on its left side, the death of the Virgin. This part is much damaged. The apostles encircle the bed on which the Virgin is lying, two of them swinging censers. Two winged-angels bear away the Virgin’s soul, portrayed as a new-born babe wrapped in a swaddling cloth.
The right side, which represents the Resurrection of the Virgin, is in a better state of preservation. An angel stands ready to crown Mary, who is raised from her bed by three others, while a fourth leans forward the better to see over those in front.
All this sculpture shows a truth and freedom of attitude of which very few examples are found in the twelfth century.
Above the lintel, in the tympanum, is the Triumph of the Virgin; the execution of this work is far from equal to that of the lintel.
In the niches of the arches are statues of the patriarchs, the prophets and the kings of Judah.
The eight great statues which flank the door represent personages from the Old Testament.
The one nearest the door, on the left, is Abraham. He holds his son by the hair and stands ready to behead him, but an angel restrains his sword.
Beneath the pedestals of the large statues is a “Calendar,” i.e., a set of symbolical scenes typifying the twelve months of the year, or the seasons. That of Senlis is carved with much spirit.
The south front of the cathedral has not the harmony of that of the west.
The lower part of the apse dates from the twelfth century, with its radial chapels and, above, the little semi-circular windows of the galleries. The upper part of the church belongs to the sixteenth century.
The rich façade of the transept also dates from the sixteenth century.
The opposite view shows the detail of the SOUTH FAÇADE OF THE TRANSEPT designed by Pierre Chambiges, son and pupil of Martin Chambiges. The latter worked on the Cathedrals of Beauvais, Sens and Troyes, and his son drew inspiration from his work for the execution of that entrusted to him at Senlis; this explains the great resemblance that various portions of those edifices bear to one another.
In comparing the south portal with the western façade one notes the development of Gothic architecture from the twelfth century, when its restraint and simplicity of line still recalled Roman art, to the sixteenth century, when rich, flamboyant decoration flared in its final splendour, making way for the art of the Renaissance that the Italian wars brought into fashion.
The appearance of this fine ensemble is spoilt by the adjacent polygonal vestry erected on its right, which was rebuilt in the nineteenth century. A part of it can be seen in the above photograph; though one can judge still better of its ugly effect from the photograph on the preceding page.
The north façade of the transept is, in its general arrangement, the same as that on the south, but it is less richly ornamented.
On the pediment which surmounts the entrance are carved the salamander and the “F” of Francis I. On that of the south are the arms of France.
The tourist should not fail to look at the north side of the Cathedral, which is very picturesque.
On the north tower the marks of German shells are still to be seen.
They are clearly shown in the photograph (foot pp. 46-47).
The galleries of the cathedral are among the most beautiful in France. The above view, taken from the choir galleries which overlook the southern part of the transept, shows those of the nave in enfilade.
In order to visit these galleries the key must be obtained from the vestry.
In the chapel seen on the right as one re-enters the church by the south door, the visitor will notice the hanging bosses of the vault of which a view is given opposite.
In the chapter house at the north-west end of the cathedral (see plan, p. 58), is seen the curious capital of the central pillar, on which is carved a feast of jesters.
The opposite view shows a fragment of it.
Two of the figures are playing the organ, that on the right is working the bellows, another with a stick beats the tambourine that he holds between his legs; on the remainder of the capital other figures are dancing.
The chapter house was used by the canons of the cathedral.
Church of Saint-Frambourg
(historical monument)
This stands in a little street which opens on the south of the cathedral square. The church can be seen from the square.
This church was founded on the site of a Roman temple, by Queen Adelaide, wife of Hugues Capet. Rebuilt in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, transformed into a “Temple of Reason” during the Revolution, it now serves as a carpenter’s workshop.
On the façade one can distinguish the place intended for a large rose window, which, however, was never finished.
On the left side of the façade stood a tower, since demolished.
The church has no roof left above the vaulting. To visit the interior (consisting of a single nave of graceful proportions) apply to the carpenter. The entrance to the workshop is seen on the left of the photograph.
Church of Saint-Pierre
(historical monument)
Market-day on Tuesdays and Fridays. If the tourist should wish to go to the top of the belfry or to visit the church on other than market days, he must apply to the concierge of the Tribunal (county court) in the square.
This old town of Senlis is so rich in relics of the past that it puts its ancient religious monuments to quite profane uses.
We have seen above that Saint-Frambourg shelters a carpenter. Saint-Pierre serves as a market, another church as a theatre, a fourth as a museum, and others as clothing stores or barns. Five have completely disappeared; as for the Abbey of Saint-Vincent, it has been turned into a college.
Saint-Pierre was founded in 1029 and reconstructed during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
The roof of the nave was begun in stone, but completed in timber-work. The façade dates from the sixteenth century and recalls the work of Pierre Chambiges in the cathedral.
The right-hand tower dates from the seventeenth century. From the upper platform there is a splendid view of the town and the surrounding forests. Another more ancient tower exists, the base of which is the remains of the primitive Roman church. The spire (the top of which is seen in the opposite photograph) was added in the fifteenth century.
The Castle
(historical monument)
The castle belongs to the Count Turquet de La Boisserie, who allows it to be visited. Apply to the concierge.
The entrance shown in the above view is in the Rue du Châtel, quite close to the square of Parvis-Notre-Dame. On the left side stands the old Hôtel des Trois-Pots, so called from the signboard which hangs from the first floor, and formed of three pots which are being filled by a thin stream of water.
This old dwelling recalls all the history of France from the Gallo-Roman conquest to the reign of Henri IV.
The castle itself, of which only a part exists (visible on the left in the above photograph), was erected on the site of an old Roman fort. At the foot ran the boundary line of the town, partly formed by the wall which encloses this side of the estate and the tower which flanks the north front of the buildings.
The Merovingian and Carlovingian kings often inhabited the castle, situated as it was in the midst of their favourite hunting-grounds.
It was the theatre of numerous historical events: Pépin, Duke of Aquitaine, grandson of Charlemagne, died imprisoned there, and Baldwin of Flanders carried off from there the daughter of Charles the Bald. In 987, the last Carlovingian king having died while out hunting, the French lords assembled in the castle and elected, as king, Hugues Capet whose dynasty reigned in France until the Revolution. Philippe-Auguste held festivities there on returning from his wedding with Elizabeth of Hainault. Saint Louis founded the priory of Saint-Maurice.
During the Hundred Years War, Catherine of France was married to Henry V. of England at Senlis, in 1420.
After Henri IV., the castle, being very dilapidated, was gradually abandoned. Justice was still administered there until the falling in of the Audience Chamber in the eighteenth century.
The interior of the castle is in ruins. There is one room to be seen, called Henri IV.’s room, which is shown on the following page. It dates from the thirteenth century, and is covered with fine panelling. The fireplace was altered in the fifteenth century, but the big circular section flue remains just as it was two centuries earlier.
On the left of this fireplace a thirteenth century window (now blocked up) can still be distinguished. The one at the further end of the room belongs to the sixteenth century.
In the photograph some tombstones are seen, resting against the wall; on a fragment placed against the chimney-piece are the arms of Diane de Poitiers (characterised by the crescent); the two cannon balls are of stone; these were hurled from catapults and from the first bombarding machines.
Of the chapel built in the beginning of the twelfth century nothing remains but ruins, a view of which is given (page 61). It was situated on the first floor; a “semi-circular” arcade of the nave is still to be seen, on the right side. The ground floor, vaulted like an arbour, formed a passage.
The priory of Saint-Maurice, of which one ivy-covered building still exists (visible on the right of the photograph at the top of the preceding page), was founded by Saint Louis in honour of Saint Maurice who commanded the Theban legion, massacred under Diocletian for refusing to worship false gods.
In 1234 the king succeeded in obtaining the bodies of several of these martyrs from the vicar of Saint-Maurice-en-Valais.
A church, copied from the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, was built to shelter these relics, but was destroyed during the Revolution.
Passing under the Roman enclosure by a subterranean passage, we arrive at the old moat transformed into a kitchen garden. From here, there is a very interesting view of the wall and the Roman towers, the cathedral and the castle. A good idea of it is given by the photograph at the foot of the preceding page.
The Roman enclosure continues towards the cathedral, passes by the apse, from there to Saint-Frambourg, and its oval rejoins the castle by the Place de la Halle, the Rue aux Fromages, and the Rue du Puits-Tiphaine. It measured 312 m. (1,024 ft.) at its greatest diameter and 242 m. (794 ft.) at its smallest diameter; twenty-eight towers adorned the walls which were 7 m. (23 ft.) high and 4 m. (13 ft.) thick.
The town, having grown, was cramped in the limits of the Roman city, so the new ramparts were raised between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries; the tourist has already travelled over a part of them.
The platform of the Roman fort, which was followed by the castle, stood on the part which (with the Rue Villevert) forms a corner of the estate. It is reached by the narrow passage, made in the thickness of the sub-basement, which led to the dungeons. It was in one of these (towards the year 870) that Pépin, King of Aquitaine, died, imprisoned by order of Charles the Bald, against whom he had revolted.
Subterranean passages connected certain important points of the castle. They were supposed to lead as far as the Castle of Montépilloy (see p. 67) and the Abbey of Châalis (see p. 70).
The Old Abbey of Saint-Vincent
To view, apply to the concierge in the Rue de Meaux.
The Abbey of St.-Vincent was founded in 1065 by Anne of Russia, wife of Henri I., King of France, in fulfilment of a vow.
The abbey church was rebuilt in the twelfth century.
The tower, which dates from that period, is square; it has two storeys with very high dormer windows grouped in pairs on each front, which give a very light appearance to the general structure.
The other buildings belonging to the Abbey were rebuilt in the seventeenth century. Inside, an interesting cloister still exists, with a Doric colonnade, shown on the opposite view.
After the Revolution the Abbey was turned into a hospital, then into barracks, and after that into spinning mills. In 1836 it became the College Saint-Vincent, counting among its pupils Marshal Canrobert and the poet José-Maria de Hérédia.
Many inhabitants of Senlis took refuge in the Abbey cellars during the bombardment of September 2, 1914. St.-Vincent soon served as an annexe to the hospital, which was too small to hold all the wounded. In the photograph (page 42) we see the transport of the wounded being carried on by the Red Cross in September, 1914. This temporary hospital remained after the departure of the Germans, which explains the presence of the wounded seen in the foreground of the opposite view.
The Arena
(historical monument)
The gate at the entrance of the road leading from the Place de Creil to the Arena is sometimes locked. Apply to the Syndicat d’Initiative (Hôtel du Grand-Cerf) for the key.
The arena was discovered in 1864. It apparently goes back as far as the third century.
The tiers encircle a track measuring 130 feet by 110 feet. Two large entrances, which were vaulted, lead into the arena at each extremity of the great axis. On the other axis are two little rooms, which were no doubt reserved for the gladiators. In the southern one, niches are hollowed in the wall: these probably served as cupboards.
From Senlis to Meaux (65 Km.)
(See maps inserted between pages 80-81)
via Chamant, Montépilloy, Baron, Châalis, Ermenonville.
Starting from the Compiègne Gate, we leave the town by the Route Nationale (N 17). After having crossed the railway we turn to the right and follow N 32 as far as the first road on the right bordered with trees, which leads to Chamant. A hundred yards this side of the village we enter a field enclosed by hedges, on the right of the road (2½ km.). In this field, which appears in the photograph (p. 50), the German troops were encamped. M. Odent, the Mayor of Senlis, and six other hostages were shot there (pp. 49-50). M. Odent’s grave is near the wood which skirts the side of the field opposite the one which borders the road. Near the enclosing hedge is the grave of a German captain.
Go on to the village of Chamant, turn to the right, then to the left as far as the church, the steeple of which can be seen. This church dates from the twelfth century, and was modified in the fourteenth and sixteenth. The Roman spire, shown below, is remarkable. In the interior, the capitals and vaulting decorated in many colours were restored at the expense of Napoléon the Third, as was also the tomb of Lucien Bonaparte’s wife, which is to be found in the side chapel.
Go round the church, turn to the left, then to the right, near the firemen’s gymnasium.
The road, planted with trees, which forms a continuation (on the other side of the Route Nationale) of the road on which we stand, leads (700 yards further on) to the Castle of Chamant, where the German Headquarters Staff stayed. The cellar was pillaged, and more than 1,200 bottles of champagne were emptied.
This castle, which dates from the seventeenth century, was inhabited by Lucien Bonaparte. Attached to it are important racing stables.
Follow N 17 for about 1,500 yards, then turn to the right towards Ognon (8½ km.). Turn twice to the right in front of the church and go towards Barbery, the factories of which can be seen from afar. Cross the railway (12½ km.) near the station which was set on fire by the Germans, and keep straight on towards the keep of Montépilloy (13½ km.), which stands on a neighbouring hill.
The castle, the entrance to which is shown on the opposite view, forms part of a farm.
Its name comes from Mons speculatorum or “Mount of the watchers.” It was built in the twelfth century. On August 15, 1429, Jeanne d’Arc occupied it. An English army commanded by the Duke of Bedford was between Montépilloy and Senlis. The battle took place on August 16, and enabled the troops of the king of France to retake Senlis. The castle was dismantled under Henri IV.
To obtain a view of the whole and to realise the dominating position of the castle one must, before entering it, walk a few steps along the road which descends on the right of the farm.
The entrance door is flanked by two large towers. The bulky masses of masonry, which supported the chains by which the drawbridge was worked, are still to be seen. We cross the old moats, of which portions still exist. On entering the courtyard we see the imposing ruins of the two towers, one circular (of which only one large piece of the wall remains) the other square.
We retrace our steps.
On leaving the village, near an iron shed we turn into the paved road on the right and continue about 400 yds. The German guns which bombarded Senlis were placed in the hollow on the right. A German grave will be noticed in the meadow.
We return to the road and go down towards Barbery. After the level crossing, turn to the right into the main road. Journey 4½ km. turn again to the right, cross the railway line, then the village of Ducy; climb a ridge and descend by zig-zags to Baron (27 km.).
Entering Baron, we turn to the left in the High Street and, 300 yards further on, at the end of the block, reach the house of Albéric Magnard.
It is marked by a marble tablet (visible in the opposite view), on which is engraved the following inscription:
“Albéric Magnard, musical composer, born in Paris on the 9th of June, 1865; died on the 3rd of September, 1914, shot and burnt in his house while trying to defend it.”
Celui-là qui, rebelle à toute trahison,
Et préférant la Muse à toute Walkyrie
A défendu son art contre la barbarie
Devait ainsi mourir défendant sa maison
Edmond Rostand,
de l’Académie Française.
(He who, revolting against treachery
And preferring the Muse to any Valkyrie
Defended his art against barbarity,
Was doomed thus to die, defending his home)
His inspiration entirely French, Magnard (as Rostand recalls in the above lines) had kept his art free from German influence.
His artist’s sensitiveness made him suffer intensely from the horrors of invasion; he warned his friends that he was resolved to die rather than submit to the rule of the conqueror and that his revolver held four bullets for the enemy and one for himself.
He had sent his family back to Paris, only keeping his young son-in-law with him. The Germans entered Baron on September 2. On the 3rd at about 9 o’clock in the morning, a party of soldiers entered the grounds. The composer had locked and barricaded himself in the villa. After summoning him three times the Germans fired from the garden at the façade shown in the view below.
Magnard retaliated through the Venetian blinds of a window on the first floor, killing one of the soldiers and wounding another. The composer’s son-in-law returning from a short walk, arrived at the beginning of this scene. Seized and bound to a tree, he only escaped death by passing himself off as the gardener. After having fired a few rounds the Germans awaited the instructions of the commander. The latter at first decided to burn the village as a reprisal but on the entreaties of the Public Notary, Me. Robert, modified the sentence and ordered that the incendiarism should be limited to the villa Magnard. After having hurriedly pillaged the composer’s study, the soldiers set fire to the kitchen with straw and grenades. When the smoke began to rise Me. Robert and Magnard’s son-in-law heard a report from the interior of the house. The author of Guercœur and of Bérénice had no doubt just died by his own hand. An officer then said to the Notary “He takes the best way out.” Magnard’s body was consumed in the fire. His revolver was found with three chambers empty.
The village was looted. An officer ordered the Notary, Me. Robert, to open his safe. As he at first refused to obey this order, the officer told two of his men to load their weapons and Me. Robert was forced to hand over the 8,300 francs the safe contained. While the Notary was occupied in satisfying these demands, the Germans stole his silver, his jewellery and that of his wife, even his personal linen, in exchange for which they left him their dirty shirts. The cellar was entirely emptied by the officers, who took 1,471 bottles of rare wine.
The same witness saw an officer wearing nine women’s rings and three bracelets.
Returning from Magnard’s house follow the High Street as far as the Church (historical monument). This church is of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, with a fine steeple belonging to the fifteenth (view above).
There is beautiful panelling to be seen inside (view below). Jeanne d’Arc received the sacrament here on the eve of the battle against the English below Montépilloy, in 1429.
Follow the road which is a continuation of the High Street. At this point, and as far as Senlis, rearguard actions were fought in Sept. 1914. After 3½ km., turn to the left. In the field which forms the corner of the two roads there is a German grave.
3 km. further on, turn to the left again into the road to Ermenonville, and after having proceeded about 1,200 yards, go down the lane which leads, under the trees, to the entrance of the domain which constituted the ancient abbey of Châalis.
Châalis
At the very beginning of the twelfth century, on his return from the First Crusade, a lord of Mello founded a priory at Calisium. In 1136 the king, Louis le Gros, wishing to honour the memory of his brother, Charles le Bon, who was assassinated in Bruges, transformed this priory into an abbey which was placed under the management of the Order of Cîteaux, whose growing power was beginning to make itself felt.
The Abbey flourished under the protection of the kings of France, the bishops of Senlis, and the lords of Chantilly, and became of great importance.
Its present condition can only give a faint idea of its former disposition and size.
The good king St. Louis often came to share the peaceful life of the monks, cultivating the soil and the vine, looking after the bees, fishing for pike in the ponds, and eating in the common refectory out of a wooden bowl, amidst the tame birds that came from all the country around to join in the meals.
At the time of the Renaissance the Abbey fell in commendam, that is to say it was no longer the property of the community but that of the abbot, who was thenceforth chosen by the king, instead of being elected by the monks. The first commendatory abbot was the Cardinal Hippolyte d’Este, son of Lucretia Borgia. Reducing the monks to a bare pittance, the Cardinal made free use of the Abbey revenues, which enabled him to build his famous Villa d’Este at Tivoli and its magnificent gardens.
In 1570, the great Italian poet Tasso spent several months at Châalis and there worked at his Jerusalem Delivered.
In the eighteenth century, the reconstruction of the Abbey was undertaken. Jean Aubert, the architect of the “Grandes Écuries” at Chantilly and the Hôtel Biron in Paris, was entrusted with the plans. The work was begun but not completed. The abbatial building, which to-day contains the museum and which can be seen on the left of the beautiful avenue leading to the entrance gate, shows the dignified style that Aubert wished to apply to the new edifice.
All these works ran the abbey into debt so Louis XVI. had it closed and placed in liquidation. The Revolution completed its ruin. Sold as national property, Châalis greatly suffered.
The buildings were for the greater part destroyed, the old church was sold piecemeal at the rate of twelve sous (6d.) per cartful of stones.
In the nineteenth century the successive proprietors did their utmost to reconstitute the domain. The grounds were bought back and the ruins consolidated. The abbatial building became a castle, and the park was laid out again. In 1902, Mme. Jacquemart-André bought the estate for 1,200,000 francs. She bequeathed it to the “Institut de France” with the museum that she had established in the castle. The “Institut” took possession of it in 1912, at the donor’s death.
The Church
The church, built at the beginning of the eighteenth century, is of great interest from an archæological point of view, for it shows the first application (by the Cistercians) of the Gothic style of architecture which had just made its appearance in the “Ile de France.” In the hundreds of abbeys created by the original abbey of Cîteaux (situated near Dijon), the Roman style had hitherto held sway. Beginning with Châalis, the Cistercians proceeded to spread the pointed arch all over Europe, where soon more than 1,800 branch abbeys were scattered.
The church of Châalis was vast, measuring 269 feet by 89 feet.
Its transept (the ruins of the northern part are seen in the view on the preceding page) was remarkable for its enormous size, compared with that of the choir, and for the seven radial chapels—one of which is clearly visible on the right of the view—enclosed in each of its branches. An outline of the nave remains (on the left of the photograph); it had twelve bays, preceded by a porch. The steeple which rose from the tower was destroyed by lightning in the seventeenth century. The monastery was connected with the church, and the outline of the storied galleries is seen in the view below. The abbot’s chapel appears in the middle distance, on the right of the view on the preceding page. It is designed in the style of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.
Visit to the Domain of Châalis
From April 15 to November 1, the museum and park are open on Thursday afternoons, from 1 p.m. to 5 or 6 p.m. An interesting guide by the Curator, Louis Gillet, is sold for 2 francs.
For the passing motorist the visit in detail is not indispensable. The Museum, although interesting, is far from equal to that which Mme. Jacquemart André established in her house in the Boulevard Haussmann, Paris, and which she bequeathed to the “Institut” at the same time as Châalis. As far as concerns the park and ruins, an adequate idea of them will be obtained by following our itinerary.
From the entrance gate one sees: in front, the ruins of the church; to the left, the castle, containing the museum. The whole is quite imposing.
At a moderate pace we take the road (on the right of the gate) which leads to the ponds. After traversing them, through the enchanting scenery, of which the photograph below gives some idea, the road runs through woodlands and brings us back to the high road of Ermenonville, down which we turn to the left.
On the other side of this road spreads the second portion of the domain of Châalis: the Désert, which formerly belonged to the park of Ermenonville. In the neighbourhood of this park it consists of a lovely, wooded landscape, with two ponds in the background; but at the other extremity there is a great contrast, for an arid stretch of land, the “Sea of Sand,” faces the ponds of Châalis.
The Désert, like the park of Ermenonville, teems with memories of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (see p. 73).
Skirting the ponds of the Désert we arrive at Ermenonville (40 km.).
The castle, which belongs to Prince Radzivill, is on the left of the road (it is not open to visitors). The park (open to the public on Sundays, Thursdays and holidays) is on the right.
The castle was occupied in September 1914, by German staff officers, who contented themselves with pillaging the wine cellar.
The park of Ermenonville was designed by the Marquis de Girardin. This ardent disciple of J. J. Rousseau did his utmost to make the park an illustration of the philosopher’s work. In the part which now pertains to Châalis, the Désert, he claimed to reproduce in miniature the Alpine landscapes where were laid the scenes of Julie ou la Nouvelle Héloise. This touching worship succeeded in dispelling the misanthropy of Rousseau, who was living in Paris in gloomy solitude. He accepted the Marquis’s hospitality and settled down at Ermenonville on May 20, 1778. On July 2, the “man of nature” passed away amidst trees, flowers, and birds. He was buried in the Island of Poplars (“L’Ile des Peupliers,” view below), in the middle of the pond that comes into view on the right of the road level with the centre of the castle. Rousseau’s influence on his century was immense, and for a long time his tomb was the goal of universal pilgrimage. The philosopher’s remains are no longer at Ermenonville; the Convention had them exhumed and transferred to the Panthéon.
Cross the village, leaving the statue of J. J. Rousseau on the left, and when at the top of the hill turn to the left. Four kilometres further on is the Plessis-Belleville School of Aviation. From there go straight on.
At Saint-Soupplets, at the branching off of the road with that of Dammartin (54 km.), stands the Belle-Idée Inn, which was the scene of an interesting exploit in September, 1914. A German officer and about fifteen men had stayed in the inn after the evacuation of Saint-Soupplets, when a French patrol, composed of Sergeant Vannerot and six men, entered. The officer immediately fired at the sergeant, but missed. The latter then trans-pierced him with a bayonet thrust, and the rest of the German troop were killed or put to flight.
At Penchard (61½ km.) turn to the left beyond the town-hall. The road descends towards Meaux, giving a beautiful view of the town, dominated by its cathedral. In Meaux we turn to the left to go under the bridge and arrive at the cathedral (65 km.) (see plan inserted pp. 74-75).
Meaux
(See plan inserted between pp. 74-75)
Origin and Main Historical Events
Meaux was the centre of a little Gallic nation: the Meldi—the inhabitants of Meaux are called Meldois—and afterwards the capital of Brie. It was joined to the royal domain in 1284.
Religious life was always very active in Meaux: six assemblies of prelates were held there from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries, and two in the sixteenth century.
It was the Treaty of Meaux, in 1229, which put an end to the crusade against the Albigeois. At the time of the Reformation the religious wars in that region became extremely violent. In the seventeenth century the diocese became famous on account of its bishop, Bossuet, who was called the Eagle of Meaux.
The town was taken and set on fire several times in the course of its troubled history.
In 1358, the peasants in revolt, who were called the Jacques, were cut to pieces below the walls by the French and English nobles.
Meaux in 1914
Happier now than in 1814 and 1870, Meaux escaped in September, 1914, the horrors of invasion; and it was only crossed by some German patrols. A few shells fell in the Faubourg Saint-Nicolas and even in the neighbourhood of the cathedral, but no serious damage was done.
The British troops in retreat crossed the town on September 2 and 3 and blew up the Market bridge (view below) also the foot-bridge, further down stream. The floating wash-houses, which might have served as pontoons, had already been sunk.
Thirteen thousand out of the 14,000 inhabitants left Meaux with the civilian authorities. The bishop, Mgr. Marbeau, showed great energy in organising help for those who remained in the town and for the wounded that poured in after September 5. In spite of the abnormal circumstances, a Te Deum was sung in the cathedral for the election of the Pope Benoît XV.
Visit to the Town
St.-Stephen’s Cathedral
(historical monument)
Beautiful panorama is visible from the top of the belfry. To visit, apply to the verger (gratuity).
The building of the cathedral was begun at the end of the twelfth century and continued until the sixteenth. It has just been completely restored.
The left tower, the only one completed, has no spire. That on the right is called the Black Tower, because of its covering of slates. The façade is in the decorated Gothic style. A beautiful rose window in the middle dominates the three doorways.
The middle doorway and that on the right are surmounted by acute triangular gablets; that on the left, of a more obtuse ogive, is placed under an arch in accolade. The church is preceded by a parvis dating from 1610, which is reached by means of eight steps.
The stone used in the present building has, unfortunately, very little resistance and is weather-worn. In the course of the revolutions witnessed by the old cathedral, mutilations were added to the damage caused by weather.
The three rows of statuettes which adorn each porch are much spoilt, as are the bas-reliefs which decorate the tympanum.
The great statues which filled the niches have disappeared.
After having viewed the west façade, the tourist, keeping to the right of the cathedral, should go and look at the Lions’ Doorway, which is on the south front.
This thirteenth century doorway, restored in the nineteenth by Viollet-le-Duc, takes its name from the gargoyles, representing lions, which flank it. It is a reproduction of the southern doorway of Notre-Dame de Paris.
Entering the Cathedral by the Lions’ Doorway, the tourist will be struck by the lightness and richness of the decoration of the interior, which has been subjected to extensive restoration.
The great height of the aisles is noticeable. It is explained by the existence, in the original church, of vaulted galleries which were raised above the aisles, as in Senlis and Notre-Dame de Paris. These galleries disappeared in the great transformations which took place at the end of the twelfth century and the aisles therefore remained notably super-elevated.
The Tomb of the “Eagle of Meaux” is in the choir, on the right, marked by a tablet of black marble.
The PULPIT (see on the right in the opposite view) was made from some of the panels from the old pulpit where preached the great Bossuet. The bishop of Meaux, in spite of his cares at court, worked very energetically in his diocese and preached in the cathedral many sermons with that same inspiration that shone through the magnificent discourses delivered, during his career as a preacher, before the royal audience.
He maintained strict discipline among the clergy and religious orders under his jurisdiction. His contests with the Abbess of Jouarre went as far as a forcible seizure of the abbey buildings.
The opposite view shows the further end of the TRANSEPT, to which corresponds the Lions’ Door on the exterior. The decoration here is particularly rich.
Above the transept rose a beautiful spire in timber-work covered with lead, but as it was in a very precarious condition it was found necessary to demolish it in 1640.
On the left of the view one sees the commencement of the CHOIR, the execution of which shows to what heights of lightness and boldness of construction Gothic architecture had arrived. The walls between the piers are hollowed out by piercings and mouldings; it is a miracle of equilibrium.
Originally the choir had only three chapels, but two intermediary chapels were added in the fourteenth century.
When making the tour of the choir the visitor will see opening on the north into the courtyard of the old chapter house the beautiful Porte Maugarni, dating from the fifteenth century. The name of Maugarni (a gaolbird hanged on this spot in 1372, by order of the bailiff of Meaux) came down to posterity by reason of the long lawsuit that the chapter of the cathedral brought against the bailiff because of this execution, carried out in ecclesiastical precincts.
Almost directly in front of the Porte Maugarni, with its back to the choir, is a white marble statue representing the kneeling figure of a young knight, Philippe de Castille. In 1603 his father founded the barefoot order of Notre-Dame-de-la-Merci. The statue comes from the church belonging to the convent of that order.
Beside the door is a stone figure of Christ, of the sixteenth century.
One can also see in the second chapel, beyond the great doorway in the north aisle of the nave, the group (in high relief) of the Visitation (seventeenth century) and the picture of the Adoration of the Wise Men, attributed to Philippe de Champaigne. The symmetrical chapel, on the south, contains the tombstone of Jean Rose and his wife. Jean Rose was one of the great bourgeois of Meaux in the fourteenth century. His name was given to one of the boulevards of the town.
At the entrance to the nave the seventeenth century organ is supported by beautiful arcading.
Bossuet’s Monument, the work of the sculptor Dubois (1907), stands in the north aisle, near the main entrance.
At the foot of the pedestal, on the right, are represented Turenne and Mlle. de Lavallière, converted by Bossuet: Mlle. de Lavallière appears in the garb of a nun. It will be remembered how, after Mme. de Montespan had replaced her in the favour of the king, Louis XIV., she withdrew to the convent of the Carmelites, under the name of Sister Louise de la Miséricorde. On the left are Henrietta of France, queen of England, whose funeral oration was delivered by the “Eagle of Meaux,” and the Dauphin, whose tutor Bossuet had been.
Behind the pedestal is a bust of the Great Condé. Bossuet was his friend, and frequently visited him in his beautiful castle of Chantilly, and often received him at the Bishop’s Palace. His death inspired the “Eagle of Meaux” with one of his most magnificent funeral orations.
The Old Chapter House
(historical monument)
Leaving the cathedral by the west door one walks into the courtyard of the bishop’s palace, the entrance to which is on the right of the square. At the further end of the courtyard is the old Chapter House.
This old dwelling-place of the canons of the cathedral dates from the thirteenth century, and is in course of restoration. Its curious, covered outside staircase, which is well seen in the opposite view, is well known to archæologists.
We have seen already, in the case of the Porte Maugarni, how vehemently the canons defended their prerogatives.
The Old Bishop’s Palace
The old bishop’s palace, the courtyard front of which faces the cathedral, dates from the twelfth century, and was altered in the sixteenth and seventeenth. On the ground floor are two fine vaulted twelfth century rooms. An inclined plane leads to the second floor. According to tradition, one of the bishops had it made that he might go up to his rooms without dismounting from his mule.
Amongst the first-floor rooms are those of Marie-Antoinette and the king. Meaux was in fact a halting place for Louis XVI. and the royal family on their return from Varennes.
The king’s room was also occupied by Napoléon I. when he came back from the Russian campaign.
The town of Meaux is now establishing a museum in the buildings of the bishop’s palace.
The north front looks over a pretty garden, laid out by Le Nôtre (to be seen on Thursdays and Sundays. On other days apply to the lodge-keeper in the entrance courtyard. Gratuity.)
At the end of the garden, on the ramparts dating from the Middle Ages, is a terrace. It is reached by a covered staircase placed at the north-east angle. From there one has a beautiful view of the garden, the bishop’s palace and the cathedral (view above).
On the terrace stands a little pavilion known as Bossuet’s Study. The great bishop liked to work there, and often, by way of relaxation, took a walk along an avenue of fine yew trees on the ramparts near by.
The Old Mills
After visiting the bishop’s palace we go through the Rue Martimprey to the banks of the Marne.
The view is extremely picturesque; on one side are the mills which dam the river; on the other, is the beautiful Promenade des Trinitaires, with its old poplars. The mills shown in the view below were rebuilt in the sixteenth century. The other side of the buildings looks on to the market bridge (view p. 74). These buildings, in spite of their age, withstood the blowing up of the bridge in 1914.
Slightly downstream are the modern mills of l’Échelle, which replaced mills similar to those of the market bridge, burnt in 1843.
Visit to the Ourcq Battlefield — (September 5 to 9, 1914)
From Meaux to Marcilly
(28 km.)
(See plan inserted between pp. 78-79)
via Chauconin, Neufmontiers, Monthyon, Penchard, Chambry, Barcy.
Start from Meaux in front of the cathedral. Go down the Rue Saint-Rémy, pass under the railway bridge, then turn to the left and take the N 3 for about 2 km. Turn to the right in front of a beetroot factory and follow the road planted with plane trees which leads to Chauconin (4 km.).
After having a peep at the little country church, we take a few steps along the path shown in the view below. The houses which border it still show traces of the incendiary fires of September, 1914. The Germans occupied the village for a few hours on the 5th, just long enough to pillage the dwellings and partly burn them by means of grenades flung on to the roofs, and sticks of resin thrust under the doors.
Having crossed the village, we have before us the buildings and high chimney of Proffit Farm, situated at Neufmontiers. Take the road which leads to it. On reaching the level of the farm, some French and German graves (of which a view is given on p. 81) will be seen to the right of the road.
The German grave is on the left, isolated. It is marked by a black cross on which is painted the letter A. In the background can be distinguished the wooded heights of Penchard, in the conquest of which fell the French and Moroccan soldiers here buried.
In front of the graves is one of the entrances of Proffit Farm. The view opposite shows a part of the courtyard. This fine farmstead had been marked down and condemned in advance.
The Germans had themselves specially guided there from Chauconin. They looted the farmer’s house: near the safe was found one of the skeleton keys with which they tried to force it.
They then fired the stables and barns, where nearly 20,000 bundles of straw made a gigantic blaze.
Skirting the walls of the farm, the road leads to the Church, where the Germans installed an ambulance during their short occupation of September 5. The inhabitants who remained in the village were commandeered and had to carry in the German wounded, on ladders, from the surrounding neighbourhood.
On the morning of the 6th the French re-occupied Neufmontiers and captured the ambulance (view below).
Running between Proffit Farm and the church, the road slopes down to the brook le Rutel, which it crosses. At the fork of the road, turn to the right. A hundred yards further on is the spot from which the Panorama A seen below (6½ km.) was taken, embracing the field of action of September 5.
The advance guard of the Fourth German reserve corps had placed its artillery in the declivities of the heights of Monthyon and Penchard; the infantry troops and machine-guns had advanced into the plain, utilising le Rutel and the Neufmontiers to Iverny road as entrenchments. The first cannon shot of the battle of the Marne was fired on the 5th of September, at noon, from Monthyon at a French battery which was coming out of Iverny, and killed the captain. The fight was sanguinary all that day. The troops of the 55th division tried their hardest to push the Germans back beyond Monthyon but were stopped on the plain by the terrible fire of the machine-guns. At the same time the Moroccan brigade attacked the heights of Penchard and carried them with the bayonet, but it could not maintain its position there and was forced back behind Neufmontiers and Chauconin, which the Germans occupied. This occupation only lasted a few hours for, during the night, the German troops, threatened with being outflanked by the Seventh Corps further north, abandoned their formidable positions at Monthyon—Penchard and the outposts at Neufmontiers—Chauconin. The next morning the French took possession.
Continuing along the road to Villeroy we come, after about 2 km. to the GREAT GRAVE of which a view is given opposite. It contains the bodies of numerous officers and men who fell in the surrounding fields. At the extreme end of the grave on the right is buried the well-known writer, Charles Péguy, whose death seems to have been the one he desired when writing the following lines, now famous:
Heureux ceux qui sont morts dans les grandes batailles
Couchés dessus le sol à la face de Dieu....
Heureux ceux qui sont morts pour leur âtre et leur feu
Et les pauvres honneurs des maisons paternelles....
Heureux ceux qui sont morts, car ils sont retournés
Dans la première argile et la première terre.
Heureux ceux qui sont morts dans une juste guerre,
Heureux les épis mûrs et les blés moissonnés.
At the fork of the road beyond the grave, go to the right towards Iverny. It is within 200 yards of these cross-roads, in the field on the left of the road, that Lieutenant Péguy was killed, shot through the head while standing amidst his soldiers of the 276th, whom he had ordered to lie down. On arriving at Iverny, turn to the right towards Monthyon. At the entrance to this village, near the farm de l’Hôpital, there is a little pond where the cases of shells abandoned by the Germans were emptied (view on following page).
These cases belonged to the three batteries of 77’s which were established on the right of the road behind the farm buildings, in a depression of the ground. We have seen above that these batteries started the cannonade which began the battle of the Marne. Marked down by the French batteries they hastily abandoned the position.
Leaving the pond on the right we follow the road to the left which brings us to the picturesque village of Monthyon (15 km.).
Despite the difference in spelling, it was the patrimonial fief of the celebrated philanthropist Baron de Montyon (1733-1820), founder of several prizes for good conduct and literature awarded yearly in solemn session by the “Institut de France.”
We have seen that Monthyon, attacked without success on the 5th by the French, was on the 6th abandoned by the Germans. General de Lamaze established his headquarters there.
On arriving at the church turn to the right and descend towards the highway from Saint-Soupplets to Penchard.
Half-way down the slope will be seen on the left a villa which overlooks all the countryside, and where the French staff had a first-rate observatory during those hard days of September.
The view below, taken from the upper balcony, shows a corner of the vast panorama seen from there.
At the foot of the slope turn to the right towards Penchard and follow the railway lines on the road.
Two kilometres further, on the left, an avenue planted with trees leads to the Villa Automne, belonging to M. Charles Benoist, member of the “Institut” and deputy of Paris.
There the Germans installed an ambulance which received the wounded of the first battles with the Moroccans at Penchard.
Those who succumbed, among them several officers, were buried in the garden of the estate.
The Moroccans captured the ambulance when they re-took possession of Penchard.
The villa had been ransacked; the most highly appreciated trophy being the owner’s peaceful academician’s sword.
At the entrance to Penchard (19 km.), keep to the right as far as the town-hall square, where the motor can be left.
By the road which borders the town-hall on the right (about 150 yards from there and going past the church) we reach the edge of the Penchard woods where the view on the following page was taken. The tourist who enters these woods for a walk, or a rest, will find graves here and there, the last traces of the furious battles that were fought around.
Penchard was attacked the first time on September 5 by the Moroccan brigade, which came from the Chauconin-Neufmontiersline, over which the tourist has already travelled. The struggle was a desperate and particularly bloody one on the edge of the wood now before us, as also in the gardens of the neighbouring houses. The Moroccans had the advantage in this hand-to-hand fight and towards noon succeeded in taking the village, which they held for several hours under a violent bombardment.
But we know that during this time the 55th division’s attack on Monthyon had failed, and the Moroccans, unsupported on their left, had to withdraw beyond Chauconin-Neufmontiers.
On the 6th the brigade, renewing its efforts, found Penchard evacuated and went on to the village of Chambry, towards which we will now direct our steps.
When leaving Penchard the Germans posted several spies in the woods, their mission being to signal the positions of the French troops and artillery to the aviators.
One of them was caught and shot at the entrance to the wood in the evening of the 8th. He wore the red-cross armlet and on him were found pennons and rockets which he used for signalling.
We must retrace our steps as far as the fork of the road at the entrance to the village and take the road that runs to the right.
Immediately after this we come to the crossways of three roads; we follow the middle one which goes towards Chambry.
We arrive at the Monument des Quatre-routes, so called because it is placed at the crossing of the Barcy to Meaux road with that from Penchard to Chambry.
This monument was raised by the engineers, by order of General Gallieni, to the memory of the Army of Paris.
Every year, commemorative ceremonies take place at Meaux and on the neighbouring battlefields, particularly at the monument of the Quatre-Routes. The view opposite was taken in September 1916. The bishop of Arras Mgr. Lobbedey, who some hours earlier preached a touching sermon from Bossuet’s pulpit in the Cathedral of Meaux, is here seen placing the tricolour flag at the foot of the monument.
At the crossing of the Quatre-Routes, the tourist coming from Penchard continues straight on to Chambry, which is seen a little further on in a hollow (see photograph below).
Chambry (22 km.) is one of the points of the French right where the fighting was fiercest. It was taken and retaken during the days of September 6, 7 and 8. Alternately bombarded by the French 75’s (which at Penchard and Monthyon had taken the place of the German 77’s, driven from their first line), and by the light and heavy artillery that the Germans had established on the heights of Vareddes and Gué-à-Tresmes, Chambry, as shown by the great number of new roofs, suffered heavily.
The Germans were thrown back from the western ridge of the hollow into the village, which they were forced to abandon after violent hand-to-hand fighting in the streets. They then entrenched themselves on the east flank and particularly in the cemetery, which is seen in the view below.
Driven from the cemetery they fell back on their chief position, visible on the panorama B (pp. 90-91), whence they made obstinate counter-attacks. The soldiers of the 45th and 55th divisions fought for the ground foot by foot, and finally remained masters of it at the cost of heavy losses. Zouaves, Algerian sharp-shooters, and foot-soldiers of the line vied with each other in heroism during these terrible days.
Having entered Chambry we cross the square, leaving the main street on the left, and go straight on. We thus turn round the village by the east—that is to say, on the front that had to withstand all the German onslaught.
The gardens which border the road contain several graves of soldiers who were killed in battle and buried where they fell. The upper photograph shows one of these graves. Some Algerian sharp-shooters fell there, as is indicated by the crescent drawn on the tombstone placed at the head of the grave. The tricolour cockade pinned below is that of “l’Œuvre du Souvenir.”
On the slope of the road, to the right, the French troops had established a trench and some precarious shelters (see photograph below).
This chance installation at the beginning of the war contrasts oddly with the scientific work that the struggle on fixed positions has now made common. It seems as though it could not have afforded anything more than moral protection against the German artillery, which for three days riddled the position with shells of 77, 105, and even 150 calibre.
The road followed by the tourist rejoins the main street which lay on his left as he entered the village.
400 yards from here, on the right, lies the CEMETERY of Chambry. Near the entrance, on the left, is a little chapel, whose doors were riddled with bullets. It served as a temporary infirmary but was very quickly filled up.
We have seen already the importance of the position held by the Germans in the cemetery.
Through embrasures pierced in the walls, rifles and machine-guns directed a fierce fire on the French troops as they advanced to attack from the direction of Chambry and Barcy. When the latter had taken the cemetery they, in turn, made use of its defences. The bombardment growing too violent, Zouaves and foot-soldiers took shelter in the trench outside the cemetery walls, visible in the photograph on the following page. A goodly number of these brave men remained there and took up the space that would have sufficed for the dead of that small parish for many long years.
The cemetery of Chambry has become a pilgrimage centre. Every year, in the month of September, numerous delegations come to cover the little graves with flowers. The photograph below was taken in 1915. In the middle of the crowd can be distinguished in the foreground, kneeling and leaning against the wire, Mgr. Chesnelong, Archbishop of Sens; behind him Mgr. Marbeau, Bishop of Meaux. The lieutenant seen on the left is the Abbé Dugoux, who had just celebrated mass in the Cathedral of Meaux.
On leaving the cemetery one sees in front, on the slope of the road, the remains of the trenches dug by the French to protect themselves against counter-attacks from the heights of Varreddes.
Following the road, one soon sees the harrowing sight of the Plateau of Chambry-Barcy, covered with graves. To the right especially, in the fields which were crossed by the troops rushing to the attack from the hill visible in the photograph below, one can reconstruct the progression of the lines under fire by glancing along the succession of graves.
The principal line of the German defence during the days of September 7, 8 and 9 was established on a position leading from Étrépilly to Varreddes, plainly visible on panorama B (pp. 90-91). The height shown in the photograph below formed its southern extremity and its most salient point. Trenches had been made there, supplied with machine-guns and supported by batteries of 77’s.
One realises what energy the French troops needed to advance thus, over absolutely uncovered ground, under dropping fire. Several attacks were unavailing; one of them reached the trenches, but the Germans, who had every facility for bringing up their reserves, which were kept sheltered in the declivity on the other side of the hill, thrust the French back on Chambry.
At last, on September 9, the Germans having begun their retreating movement, Zouaves, Moroccans, and foot-soldiers hustled their rearguards and descended in pursuit of them into the hollow of Varreddes.
Continuing along the same road the tourist comes to a fork. Here he turns to the left towards Barcy and soon comes to a group of poplars, whence the panorama B (below) was taken.
This PANORAMA shows the objective of the French right during the days of September 7, 8, and 9. This was the little ridge which runs between Étrépilly and Varreddes, followed by a road bordered here and there with poplars. This road was filled with trenches and machine guns which easily swept the uncovered ground that had to be crossed before they could be reached.
The supporting artillery was in the middle distance, on the Trocy Plateau and the sides of the Varreddes hollow.
The 55th (Reserve) Division, the 45th Algerian Division, and the Moroccan Brigade hurled themselves against this redoubtable position for three days, while the 56th (Reserve) Division attacked Étrépilly and the plateau which stretches to the north. The line fell on the 9th, but over the whole surface of this plain (which has been called “the Calvary of the Reserve Divisions”) lay numbers of dead who were buried, some where they fell, others in common graves. These graves, with their flags waving in the wind, give a veritable grandeur to this landscape of gentle undulations.
In the view below, taken in front of one of these common graves on the plateau, appears the then English premier, Mr. Asquith, who was anxious to make the Ourcq pilgrimage during one of his visits to Paris. He is seen standing on the right of the road, near the spot from where panorama B was taken.
Arriving at Barcy (26 km.) the tourist will see the site of the great commemorative monument which is to be raised by subscription after the war. At the cross-roads near the entrance to the village, take the middle road which goes through Barcy and leads to the church.
It was in the little square, opening out in front of the belfry and the town-hall, that the second photograph (reproduced on the following page) was taken, showing Mr. Asquith interrogating a little village girl come to fetch water from the fountain.
Behind the fountain stands Colonel Hankey, secretary of the Allies’ War Council; beside him is the French officer who directed and expounded the visit; Mr. Asquith is in the middle; to the right his son-in-law, and on the extreme right Mr. O’Brien, Sir Edward Grey’s colleague.
On September 4 Barcy was the headquarters of a German division. A few people, among them the brother of the Bishop of Meaux, had been arrested near Varreddes, in Mgr. Marbeau’s car, and taken before the general. The latter, announcing that he meant to keep their car, told them to inform the inhabitants of Meaux that on the morrow, at the same hour, his troops would be before Paris. But on the morrow Maunoury’s army had begun its flank attack, and on the morning of the following day Barcy was carried by the French troops arriving from Monthyon.
Barcy served as starting point for the assaults on Chambry and on the line of defence of Étrépilly-Varreddes; very often also as a place for defensive withdrawals. The fighting was desperate; on September 6 the 246th had nearly twenty officers, including the colonel, out of action, whilst the 289th found it necessary to attack three times during the day.
For three days the bombardment was terrific: the batteries of Étrépilly, Varreddes, and Gué-à-Tresmes rained shells on the village and its approaches.
The church suffered heavily, as shown by the photographs on this page. In the upper one is seen the hole made by the heavy projectile which brought down the bell seen in the foreground of the second photograph. Many houses, like those in the church square, still bear traces of the cannonade.
Others, less heavily damaged, have been repaired. Indeed, to look at the farm sleeping in the sunshine (see following page), one would never dream that it had lived through such tragic days.
The new roofing of the building on the left is all there is to remind one that it was not spared by the shells.
Following the road by which we arrived at the church, we go towards Marcilly.
Before leaving Barcy, we pass the cemetery where lie buried many officers and men who fell in the neighbourhood of the village.
The Germans entered Marcilly on the evening of September 4, and abandoned it on the 6th, fearing the outflanking movement of the Seventh Corps towards the north.
The village was the centre of operations for the 56th (Reserve) Division. The photograph below shows General de Dartein’s temporary headquarters beside a haystack, not far from the village, whose church can be seen in the background.
The tourist will have an opportunity of seeing in detail the objectives of the division when passing through Champfleury, Poligny, and Étrépilly. The struggle was very fierce and the bombardment incessant for three days.
The road crosses Marcilly but we do not go beyond the church, which is a very curious one, with its squat tower and rustic porch (see following page). Beside it is the school where a light infantry sergeant, mortally wounded, still found strength enough to write on the blackboard: “The 23rd battalion Light Infantry, the 350th Infantry, and the 361st Infantry have beaten the Prussians here. Vive la France!”
The few inhabitants who remained in the village also remember one of the prisoners brought to the Pernet Farm, whose torn tunic gave glimpses of a woman’s chemise, trimmed with lace and little blue ribbons.
From the church square we turn back about 100 yards and take, on the left, the road to Étrépilly.
At the end of the village is a GRAVE where foot-soldiers, light infantry and artillerymen lie buried (see photograph overleaf).
We soon arrive at the top of the ridge which dominates Marcilly.
Turning round, the tourist will have a wide view of Barcy, Monthyon, and Penchard; passing to the other side of the ridge he will see, on the left, the prominent farms of Champfleury and Nongloire.
The view below was taken during the battles of September in a field on the right of the road. We see a whole section, which thought itself in safety behind a haystack, destroyed by the explosion of a shell.
From Marcilly to Étrépilly
(45 km.)
via Puisieux, Nogeon, Acy, Étavigny, Betz, Acy, Vincy
Étrépilly is 4 km. from Marcilly by the direct route, but we take the tourist round a loop of 45 km. before reaching Étrépilly, so that he may visit the front of the French left wing.
Arriving at a beetroot factory we come to a fork in the road and take the left branch. Around this factory desperate battles were fought between the troops of the 56th (Reserve) Division (who, having taken Marcilly, were trying to take Étrépilly) and the Germans, who defended this advance guard of their main position foot by foot.
The road crosses the Thérouanne; 50 yards further on, at the cross-roads, we take the road on the right which rises towards the Farm of Champfleury (5 km.). From this front, extending from the factory to the Champfleury farm, the 56th Division made many attacks on the strong line formed by Étrépilly and the plateau which spreads out north of the village, being also successful in shattering all the German counter-attacks.
Champfleury, very important by reason of its dominating position (as shown in the above photograph), was vigorously defended, but after two unsuccessful assaults it was finally carried by the French. There they were subjected for two days to a violent bombardment from Étrépilly, Vincy, and Trocy, which made all their attempts to debouch both difficult and costly.
The farm buildings suffered badly and the rooms of the farm-house were reduced to ruins by shell-fire.
The view below shows the façade; the officers seen in the photograph belonged to the staff of the 56th Division which took the farm. The owners had evacuated Champfleury at the beginning of September; when they returned they found in the billiard-room (which was smashed to pieces) a jeering inscription signed by a German officer, regretting that they (the owners) had not been there to take part in the cannoning performed on their table.
To enter the farm follow a little lane on the right for about 100 yards. Very likely it is still possible to see the various seats hidden in the trees in the garden, which were used by the look-out men.
From Champfleury the road descends towards Puisieux. The view below shows the situation of this village, in a fold of the ground. In the background, at the summit of the plateau, is seen the farm of Nogeon, which will be visited in the course of the excursion.
On the tourist’s left, and outside the limits of the photograph, is a depression beyond which, in a position similar to Champfleury (see panorama D, pp. 106-107), appears the farm of Nongloire.
From the plateau on which stands this farm the French artillery hammered Champfleury and the Étrépilly position.
On the right, also outside the photograph, is the farm of Poligny, towards which we go, turning to the right, in Puisieux, into the Rue de Poligny. The view below was taken from the Poligny road in September, 1914. In it are seen guns, cartridges, and machine-gun belts abandoned on the battlefield, and a French drum, which latter doubtless sounded the charge when the troops of the Seventh Corps, starting from Puisieux, and supported by the 56th Division coming down from Champfleury, went to attack the farm.
The struggle was desperate, for Poligny, like Champfleury, was an advanced position of the Vincy-Étrépilly line, and the Germans defended it to the utmost. Before leaving they set it on fire.
The view below shows to what a lamentable condition this large farm was reduced by bombardment and incendiarism.
Only a part of the courtyard can be seen here, but all the buildings belonging to the farm, including the beetroot factory, are in the same state.
From Poligny the Germans fell back on their positions on the Étrépilly Plateau, which is in the background of the photograph, and the farm became a valuable point of support for the Seventh French Corps.
The German battery defending Poligny could not withdraw in its entirety, the fire of the French 75’s having destroyed at least one of the field-pieces, of which a photograph is given below.
After this visit the tourist will return to the Puisieux Road (8½ km.) following the road, he came by, and crossing the village by an S-shaped route, leave the church on the right.
On the French front Puisieux formed the connecting point between the right (group Lamaze) and the centre (Seventh Corps). It received many shells from the batteries of 77’s established on the Vincy-Étrépilly line and from the heavy howitzers of the Trocy Plateau.
Having passed the church, the tourist arrives at a little square, with several roads opening into it. He takes the one on the right, which leads him to the plateau that dominates Puisieux on the north. On the left can be seen the distillery of Fosse-Martin; straight ahead is the Nogeon Farm with its beetroot factory.
West of Fosse-Martin, in a room in the Castle of Brégy, the flag of the 72nd Thuringian regiment was found, abandoned.
The French artillery, installed between Fosse-Martin and Bovillancy, maintained a terrific fight against the German batteries at Étavigny, Vincy, and Trocy. Colonel Nivelle, future generalissimo, commanded the Fifth Artillery Regiment which had just done great deeds in Alsace, and whose daring and enthusiasm shone forth anew on the plateau of Multien.
Nogeon Farm was one of the principal centres of battle during the days of September 6 to 9. Taken by the French after a hand-to-hand fight, it was subjected to several counter-attacks which, supported by violent bombardments, completely destroyed it. But labour soon claims its rights, and the view above shows the rebuilding in progress.
From Nogeon, and the trenches around it, the troops of the Seventh Corps gained Acy and attempted to reach Vincy. The progression towards this last position, over open ground swept by an intense cannonade, was particularly difficult. Many actions took place at night. It was during one of these, in a bayonet charge on September 7, that the soldier Guillemard, having transfixed with his bayonet the officer standard-bearer, captured a flag belonging to the 36th Magdebourg Fusiliers, decorated with the Iron Cross in 1870. Guillemard received the Military Medal from the hands of General Gallieni.
The young fellow shook with emotion during the ceremony, and the general said good-humouredly: “Now then, embrace me and imagine I’m a pretty girl.”
From Nogeon the road descends to Acy-en-Multien (14½ km.) of which the slender steeple can be seen.
We cross the Gergogne and go through the village, following the High Street up to the twelfth and thirteenth century church, which is classed as an historical monument. This church came practically unscathed through the struggle which drenched the village with blood.
Acy’s situation in the hollow of a valley robbed its steeple of all value as an observatory; it was therefore respected by the artillery on both sides.
After glancing around the interior of the old church, with its squat pillars, shown in the above view, we go on along the High Street, passing the town-hall.
Opposite is a photograph of the town-hall safe, which was blown up by the Germans during their occupation of the place.
A little further on is the cemetery, in front of which is a big military grave.
Acy’s churchyard was much too small to hold all the heroes who fell on the territory belonging to that parish.
In front of the cemetery, on the other side of the road, stands the castle where the Germans quartered themselves.
The view opposite gives but a slight idea of the state in which it was found by its owners.
The park was placed in a state of defence and the Germans made a tenacious resistance there.
The tourist will now take the road in front of the cemetery which skirts the castle railings. Then turning to the left he will follow the zig-zag road which climbs the Étavigny Plateau.
The above panorama was taken from the last turn of the climbing path and gives a good view of the valley in which Acy is built.
Here we can follow the course of the battle: the French held the Nogeon Plateau, the Germans the valley and the heights where the tourist stands. Troops belonging to the Seventh Corps descended on Acy from Nogeon and came up in front of the village, others slipped along the Gergogne and made a flank attack.
After furious fighting in the streets, in the castle grounds and in the little woods on the hillsides, the Germans were flung back from Acy to the heights of Étavigny. They returned to the charge, and in their turn drove the French back to the Nogeon Plateau.
The village thus changed hands several times, and this terrible beating backwards and forwards caused great losses on both sides.
Continuing his road to Étavigny, the tourist will go over the position that the Germans established on the plateau.
The infantry and the machine-guns were entrenched along the road itself; the light and heavy artillery were in the hollow on the right. They showered shells on the French positions at Nogeon, and in return received the fire of the batteries placed, as before mentioned, between Fosse-Martin and Bouillancy.
Arriving at Étavigny (18 km.) our attention is at once drawn to the church, which suffered terribly.
The part played in the battle by the church of Étavigny was very different from the passive one assigned to the church of Acy. Its dominating position afforded priceless views of the French lines to the observer installed in its steeple. It was therefore by shells from the 75’s that the church was damaged (see pp. 100 and 101).
Étavigny was taken and retaken in the course of the Battle of the Ourcq. The struggle was hard, the Germans making a desperate resistance, as a serious French advance in this locality would have meant the outflanking of their whole line. They succeeded in forcing the troops of the Seventh Corps off the plateau.
Taking the road to the right, beside the church, and continuing about 200 yards we come to the cemetery, which is in a state of upheaval from the bombardment. The photograph below was taken through one of the gaps.
The windmill pump, on the left of the view, was riddled with bullets.
From Étavigny the tourist can either return to Acy by the same road, or follow the itinerary that we now give, which forms a loop around the northern part of the battlefield. In the first case, the distance to Acy is 3½ km., in the second 14 km.
Starting again from the church along the road which crosses the village, continue straight on towards Boullare. Here keep turning to the left and take the road to Betz. In the hollow on the left were placed the German batteries which joined in action with those of Étavigny.
The road descends into a rather picturesque valley. Through it runs a small river, the Grivelle, which we must cross, then go through Antilly, turning to the right on entering, and to the left at the fork in the road just after leaving the village.
We arrive at Betz (26 km.). Turn to the left near the church.
Betz did not suffer much from the guns, but some of its houses were burnt by the Germans, notably the Hôtel du Cheval Blanc (see p. 102), which can still be recognised by its signboard.
The castle was occupied by a German headquarters-staff, who left it in a deplorable state.
During the pursuit the French officers had to abandon the idea of lodging there: one of them records in his notebook: “The German officers have left disgusting traces of their passage; we see slices of melon, bearing the marks of their teeth, in the wash-hand-basins, and enormous heaps of empty and broken wine bottles.”
The tourist will cross Betz by the main street, which is seen in the above illustration, and at the further end of the village he will go straight on under the railway, leaving the road to Nanteuil-le-Haudouin on the right.
This last-named town has not been included in the itinerary, although it played an important part in the ultimate manœuvre attempted by Von Kluck—that of outflanking the French left wing. The paved road which leads to it is bad, and the other roads by which one could rejoin the planned route are extremely rough. Below we give a view of a corner of this battlefield. It gives some idea of the great plain which extends from Betz to Nanteuil, where the 7th and 61st French Divisions resisted with desperate energy the furious attacks of the Fourth German Corps. The dead horses seen in the photograph belonged to a French battery. The 75’s, fully exposed, supported the foot-soldiers in their efforts until they came almost into actual contact with the enemy.
After passing under the railway the road rises to the plateau and soon brings us near a commemorative monument, on the right (view on following page).
Thence it passes through the Woods of Montrolles, where the 61st Division particularly distinguished itself on the evening of September 8. Worn out with fatigue, its reserve supplies exhausted two days before, it yet, by a supreme effort, succeeded in driving back the Germans.
Having passed through the Woods of Montrolles, we soon come to a fork. Here take the road on the left.
To the right are the Heights of Bouillancy, where the French artillery was placed; on the left the Plateau of Étavigny on which were the German batteries.
A hollow, where runs a river, separates the two positions, between which the artillery duel was intense, preparing and accompanying infantry assaults which succeeded one another from September 6 to 9, with alternate advances and retirements.
The road then returns to Acy, skirting the wall of the Castle park. We again pass the church and, on leaving the village, cross the Gergogne. Immediately after the bridge turn to the left towards Vincy (35½ km.). The photograph below shows that this village also suffered from incendiarism and bombardment.
After passing through Vincy, bear to the left in order to pass in front of the Manœuvre distillery, leaving the hamlet of that name on the left. Étrépilly (41 km.) will be reached by the middle road of the crossways, which are about 1 km. further on past the distillery.
This Vincy-Étrépilly line formed part of the defensive front established by the Germans west of the Ourcq, marked out further north by the localities of Betz, Étavigny, and Acy, which have just been visited, and more to the south, by the position seen on panorama B (pp. 90-91). The Germans had made trenches and machine-gun shelters over the whole plateau, which stretches on the right of the road towards the farms of Poligny and Champfleury. On the right slope of the road one can still see the dug-outs where the snipers sheltered themselves.
The position was attacked from September 6 to 9 by the 63rd Division of the Seventh Corps and the 56th of the Lamaze Group which carried the advance positions constituted by the farms of Nogeon, Poligny, and Champfleury. They were stopped, however, on the line itself until the general withdrawal of the German troops.
To reach the spot where the view below was taken, follow the track which branches off the road from Vincy to Étrépilly, between the memorial and the burnt hangar. This is the road we see across the middle of the panorama. The tourist finds himself at the southern extremity of the Vincy-Étrépilly position, on the site of a German battery which was severely treated by the French 75’s.
In the background is seen the Trocy Plateau, separated from the road by a hollow, in which flows a tributary of the Thérouanne. On the Trocy Plateau, where this itinerary will in due course lead the reader, the Germans had established their powerful artillery, composed of heavy and light batteries, which swept the whole battlefield from Nogeon Farm to Barcy, taking in Puisieux and Marcilly. Beyond the valley of the Thérouanne, south of Étrépilly, stretches the position of which the details appear in panorama B (pp. 90-91). The view extends to the wooded Heights of Penchard, which are outlined against the horizon.
On the brow of the hill where stands the observer, fierce battles were fought at the time of the attacks on Étrépilly. The 350th Infantry did once, on the morning of the 7th, make their way into the village, following the valley of the Thérouanne, but violent counter-attacks forced them back. They returned to the charge at night and climbed from the river’s edge to the plateau. They were greeted by the fire of a machine-gun section upon which two companies flung themselves with fixed bayonets. Two field-pieces were taken. The French troops maintained their position until ten o’clock in the evening, but finally, as the German reinforcements poured in, were obliged to descend the slope and cross back to the right bank of the Thérouanne.
Returning to the Étrépilly road we pass in front of the memorial raised by the engineers in front of the cemetery, at the place where the battles of Étrépilly reached their climax. A military grave has been made behind the memorial.
The Germans had entrenched themselves in the cemetery, where they succeeded in checking the night attack of the Zouaves on September 7. The Second Regiment, coming from Barcy, reached the village and carried it at the point of the bayonet.
Without stopping, the Zouaves began to climb the height at the foot of which Étavigny is built.
Their rush carried them as far as the cemetery, and here, met by a terrific fire from the machine-guns, they tried to keep the position, but German reinforcements having come up, they were forced to abandon the plateau, evacuate the village, and return to their trenches at Barcy. Lieutenant-Colonel Dubujadoux, commanding the regiment, was killed; three-fourths of the officers and half the effective force fell in the course of this heroic charge.
In front of the memorial the twisted metal framework of a burnt shed is to be seen. According to certain accounts, the Germans, before evacuating the position on September 9, used this shed to burn the bodies of those of their soldiers who fell in the battles of Étrépilly. Some of the inhabitants say that to these were added the badly wounded, whose hurts were such that they could not be removed.
We believe, as a matter of fact, that a large pyre of corpses was set alight here by the Germans, who generally burn their dead when they cannot carry them away. But the hangar was destroyed by the French artillery which fired repeatedly on that side of the plateau at the battery of 77’s installed there, at the cemetery, and at the German trenches.
In the cemetery lie the heroes who were killed in attempting to regain it.
From the cemetery the road descends towards Étrépilly.
Turn to the right at the foot of the slope into Étrépilly and on leaving the village take the road on the left; cross the river, turn again to the left and follow the track which climbs the plateau. After a few hundred yards the right slope disappears. It was at this point that panorama D was taken, showing, from the German side, the same battlefield seen from the French side in panorama B (pp. 90-91).
The road on which the tourist now stands goes on to the heights of Varreddes. Bordered with trenches and machine guns, it constituted the principal line of the German defence south of Étrépilly, the advance lines resting thus: the first on Penchard—Monthyon—Heights of Cuisy; the second on Chambry—Barcy—Marcilly. In this theatre of operations fought, south of the Marcilly-en-Étrépilly road, the 55th (Reserve) Division, the 45th Division and the Moroccan Brigade; at Marcilly and on the plateau north of Étrépilly, which is outlined on the extreme right of the panorama and crowned by the Champfleury Farm the 56th (Reserve) Division.
Leaving the trenches hastily dug on the Chambry—Barcy—factory of Marcilly line, the troops of the Lamaze group, before getting up to the German trenches, had to cross two kilometres of uncovered ground, under terrible fire. It was in one of these attacks, starting from Barcy, that Major d’Urbal (brother of the general) fell at the head of his Zouaves as, waving his cane, he drew them along. He was brought back to the French lines, thanks to the devotion of one of the few officers who survived the attack, helped by two Chasseurs d’Afrique. Because of his great height the commander’s body could not be carried back, and they were obliged to place it on a horse. The group returned thus to Barcy under a hailstorm of bullets, where a shell-hole in the cemetery served for a grave.
In the counter-attacks, the Germans as they left their trenches also suffered serious losses, as one can judge from the preceding photograph, which was taken in front of the position.
The tourist will return to Étrépilly by the road he came, leaving the church (the roof of which was hit by several shells) on the right, and taking the Trocy Road on the left.
Étrépilly to Meaux
(19 km.)
via Trocy, Gué-à-Tresmes, Varreddes.
The beautiful shady road that leads from, Étrépilly to Trocy first crosses a hollow, then winds up the hillside to the plateau on which Trocy is built (3 km.). On arriving, turn to the left and so enter the heart of the village.
Trocy did not actually suffer from the German attacks, but it was bombarded by the French artillery. In front of the horse-pond, on the left of the little church, stands a farm (view opposite) which in 1917 still showed traces of the “75” shell which damaged its roof. Other houses were completely destroyed.
The Germans had concentrated their chief artillery forces on the Trocy Plateau. Heavy and light batteries were in position north and south of the village, the greater part being north, between Manœuvre, Plessy-Placy, and Trocy.
The intense cannonade poured from this dominating platform very much hampered the progress of the French centre.
The position was evacuated by the Germans on the 9th, not without serious losses of light artillery, as shown by the photograph below and that at the top of the following page.
The limber (shown below), abandoned at the side of the road, is an infantry limber which contained rifle and machine-gun cartridges.
The French artillery which swept the plateau hit it in the course of the retreat.
Rounding the horse-pond, we take the road which runs under the monumental gateway, a view of which is given above.
This gate is one of the chief remains of the fortifications which guarded Trocy in the Middle Ages.
It will be seen that the strategic importance of the position has at all times been appreciated at its full value.
Having passed through the gate, we take, 100 yards further on to the left, the road that dips into a hollow, on the opposite slope of which stands out the fine farm of Beauvoir.
We reach this farm by a zig-zag ascent which comes out on the Route Nationale (N. 36). We then turn to the right and go down towards Gué-à-Tresmes.
This little place played the part, in relation to the extreme German left, that Trocy played in the centre. It was a heavy artillery position supporting the advanced line of defence.
At the entrance to the village, on the left side of the road, is a large residence surrounded by a park. It was occupied by the Germans and converted into a field hospital. In order to make room rapidly, the furniture was flung outside. It was thus that the billiard-table was found in the park. A soldier who was evidently a lover of fresh air used it as a shelter. On the opposite photograph can be seen a fish-kettle which did duty as a basin: frequent washing being indispensable during those hot September days.
The façade shown in the view is the one which faces the road.
A certain number of German wounded died in the hospital and were buried in the garden; their belongings were left behind at the time of the retreat, as shown in the opposite photograph.
This retreat must have taken the occupants unawares, for a meal was on the officers’ table when the French troops entered the château.
At the cross-roads, about 300 yards beyond the château, go to the left along the Thérouanne. 200 yards further along this road is seen (on the right) the place where a group of German artillery was hidden. Well-screened in the hollow shown in the view below, several heavy batteries, for a long time out of reach of the 75’s, made extremely difficult the advance of the French right on the Plateau of Chambry-Barcy. They also hampered the left, of the British army and the 8th French Division on the left bank of the Marne. In the course of this tour, we have already seen several examples of the German battery positions. Wherever the ground allowed of it, the guns were placed in a hollow, visible only to aerial observers. Telephones linked them up with the posts established on the ridges whence the firing was directed.
Returning to the Route Nationale, turn to the left towards Varreddes. On both sides of the road, which was their main way of retreat, the Germans had made lines of defence: trenches were dug and furnished with machine-guns, and light batteries were established as supports.
The whole, which joined up with the defence works of Trocy, constituted a position of withdrawal for the Étrépilly-Varreddes line, seen in panorama B (pp. 90-91). This was the first stage of the retreat on September 9.
This panorama was taken at the intersection of the Meaux-Soissons road (N 36) and a track which leads to Étrépilly, in the field bordering the road and where German machine-guns were established in order to sweep with their fire the Route Nationale and the bottom of the hollow.
It is easy to understand why the Germans attached so much importance to the Varreddes position.
The slopes west of the hollow (they form the background on the left of the panorama) were protected from the blows of the French artillery, and by availing themselves of this protection the Germans could easily bring up supplies or relieve the defenders on the crests, facing Chambry-Barcy. This ensured their resistance until the moment when the general trend of the action forced them to fall back.
After having examined panorama E, continue the descent towards Varreddes (12 km.). Before crossing the canal one can see, on the right, a ’75’ shell which has remained fixed in the wall of an inn, of which the sign has now become: “A l’obus.”
We now enter the High Street of Varreddes.
At the entrance of the village is a certain number of houses that were damaged by the bombardment.
The German wounded, forsaken during the hasty retreat of September 9, were sheltered and nursed at the town-hall. They are seen in the opposite view. When leaving the village the Germans took twenty hostages with them, all very old, among them being the vicar. Three succeeded in escaping, but, for the others, the retreat proved (as will be seen) a veritable torture. Seven of them were murdered.
On the first day they were forced to march seventeen miles. M. Jourdain, aged 77, and M. Milliardet, aged 78, taken away with only slippers on their feet, were the first to fail from exhaustion: they were shot point-blank. Soon after, M. Vapaillé suffered the same fate.
The next day M. Terré, an invalid, fell, and was killed with revolver-shots; M. Croix and M. Llévin stumbled in their turn and were also shot.
All three were from 58 to 64 years of age. Finally, M. Mesnil, aged 67, utterly exhausted, gave in: his skull was smashed in with blows from the butt end of a rifle.
The other hostages, better able to endure, held on as far as Chauny and were sent to Germany by rail. They were repatriated five months later.
After having traversed Varreddes and before re-crossing the canal, a tree will be noticed on the left of the road (the 38th on the way out) which has been pierced by a ’75’ shell as if by a punching-press.
40 yards beyond the canal, on the right, are seen several tracks which scale the heights. We climb the one on the right up to the summit, where the above panorama was taken. This gives a view of the Varreddes hollow in the opposite direction to that of panorama E (pp. 112-113).
Germigny, seen on the right of the photograph, is known through having been Bossuet’s summer residence. The Germans had a heavy battery there, which bombarded Meaux in the early days of September. On the 8th they re-crossed the Marne, blowing up the bridge behind them.
The appearance of a French reconnoitring party composed of a sergeant-major and nine men had sufficed to cause the evacuation of the position, which, with the river behind it, seemed a dangerous one. These ten heroes were killed in the course of the battle and buried at Germigny. On the 9th, the Marne was crossed on a pontoon bridge built by British engineers, under fire, whose heroic tenacity triumphed after seventeen fruitless attempts.
The Germans, attacked besides on the heights where the tourist now stands, were obliged to retire rapidly from the hollow by the Soissons Road, under fire from the French batteries.
On the crest of the hill a track crosses the ascending one, near two isolated walnut-trees. On the right this road goes to Étrépilly; it constituted the German line of defence which is the subject of panorama B (pp. 90-91).
The tourist will go to the left between the two walnut-trees and explore the crest which formed the redoubtable position occupying the background of the view on p. 89. It was well provided with trenches, machine-guns and light batteries, and all attacks against it failed, until September 9.
Turning again to the left 1 km. further on, at the first fork in the road, the reader will follow a little path which brings him back to the Route Nationale at the point where he left it. The walk takes about 30 minutes. The two paths, by which the ascent and descent have been made, served the Germans as channels for bringing up supplies. Their rearguard, which disputed the ground foot by foot, was routed there by a bayonet attack.
We now return towards Meaux. The retreating Germans followed this road, but in a contrary direction and pursued by the French shells.
At the highest point, on the right, is seen the trunk of a tree decapitated by artillery fire, at the top of which the workmen of the entrenched camp of Paris have fixed a branch to form a cross: humble and touching tribute to the brave men killed in going up to the attack.
Before arriving at Meaux we have a beautiful view of the town. We pass under the railway; then, on the right, take the N. 3 or Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Nicolas, which brings us back to the Cathedral (19 km.).