Gazetteer of the Western Front: Saint-Quentin

Location and background

Saint-Quentin is one of my favourite places to visit and stay when in France. It is within easy distance of the Aisne, Cambrai, and Somme battlefields, has plenty of Great War interest within the town itself, and there is a good range of accommodation and refreshment venues.

History of the town (French language site)

The location of Saint-Quentin, department of Aisne, courtesy of this map from the excellent Géoportail website. The town lies in Picardie, east of the River Somme and north of the Aisne.
A 17th Century prospect of Saint-Quentin picks out the basicila, numerous windmills, town walls and its generally prosperous situation. The hilly landscape that is depicted over-emphasises what is a generally fairly flat area, with gentle rolling fields.
The town was no stranger to war. This postcard illustrates occupation by Prussian troops in the war of 1870-1871. This is the town’s main square, the Grand Place. Note the ornate fountain at bottom left.
This memorial to the dead of the Battle of Saint-Quentin, in which a German attack was repulsed by a citizen army. In 1917, the occupying Germans removed the bronze statuary and panels which adorned either side of the base; they were never seen again. The base and pedestal were removed in 1929. In its place, the 1557 monument previously in the Grand Place (below) was relocated. The rule d’Isle can be seen in the background of this image, running up the slope towards the town centre.

The French Army’s 87e régiment d’infanterie (87e RI) was based at the Caserne Saint-Hilaire on the northern side of the town centre in the Faubourg St. Jean district, where it had been since the 1870s and was in effect the local regular regiment. The 10e régiment territorial d’infanterie (10e RIT) was also based at Saint-Quentin and was mainly made up of local men, but with others from as far away as Vervins and Paris.

Great War history

The 87e RI mobilised at Saint-Quentin but soon departed, as part of the French 3rd Division d’Infanterie, for the Ardennes. It came into action near Virton on 22 August 1914. Regimental history A reserve, the 287e RI, was raised at the barracks and left town on 13 August, also soon taking part in action.

The 10e RIT mobilised on 12-13 August 1914. At 4pm on 26 August it was ordered to man outposts covering the town. Regimental history

The British 6th Casualty Clearing Station (then called 6th Clearing Hospital) arrived at Saint-Quentin on 21 August, taking up a position which was deep in the rear behind the deployment of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Franco-Belgian border. Its officers were billeted in various houses and the men went to the École Maternelle.

The next part of the town’s military story is principally that of the BEF in retreat after the Battle of Mons and the Battle of Le Cateau. Mons is more than 75 miles northeast of Saint-Quentin and the battle there took place on 23 August 1914.

At 12.40am on 24 August 1914, the British 3rd Casualty Clearing Station (then called 3rd Clearing Hospital) arrived by rail from Rouen. At 10am it received the following order: “The six [sic] Clearing Hospitals at Saint-Quentin are to stand by ready to entrain at short notice. They must be prepared to take the minimum medical equipment and comforts sufficient to succour wounded. No tents to be taken.” The officers of this unit were billeted at various locations, while the men went to 123 rue d’Isle.

The British General Headquarters arrived at 1.30pm on 25 August, having withdrawn from Le Cateau. Its stay, which was in the Lycée Saint-Martin, was brief, for it began to evacuate to Noyon at 1.30pm next day. During the night of 25 August, 6th CCS moved into the Lycée Saint-Martin. It admitted 600 wounded there on 26 August.

The Lycée Henri-Martin, circa 1910. From the collection of the Musée National de l’Éducation. The school builings look much the same today. It was briefly used by British GHQ and then as a Clearing Station for casualties from the Battle of Le Cateau.

The 3rd CCS initially occupied “a school near the railway station”, but it was only there a short time, as at 10pm, after already having been ordered to evacuate its equipment, it was ordered to take over the Lycée Saint-Martin and open there to receive wounded. Two hundred casualties arrived during the night. At 9am on 27 August, word came from Smith-Dorrien to evacuate Saint-Quentin right away. The last train left at 11am.

Part of a map from the British Official History of Military Operations, France and Flanders, 1914 volume i. II Corps of the BEF moves south through Saint-Quentin after the Battle of Le Cateau on 26 August. The town is briefly host to BEF headquarters.

As elements of II Corps retreated through the area, there were two incidents of special note in the very centre of Saint-Quentin. Some years ago I posted this book review into The Long, Long Trail:

This is a history of a notorious episode during the retreat of the British Expeditionary Force from Mons all the way down to the Marne and beyond in late August 1914. It concerns elements of the 1st Royal Warwickshire Regiment and the 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers of 10th Infantry Brigade (4th Division), who dragged themselves, bewildered and exhausted, into the town of St Quentin after managing to get away from the battle at Le Cateau on 26 August. Their commanding officers Lieutenant Colonels John Elkington and Arthur Mainwaring, in the belief that the town was now surrounded by Germans, that their men were in no fit state to move any further and wishing to avoid casualties to the civilian population, arranged with the mayor to surrender their force. They were unaware that a British cavalry screen stood between them and the enemy, and the energy and determination for the troops not be given up came from the cavalry in the shape of Major Tom Bridges of 4th Dragoon Guards. The dreadfully weary Warwicks and Dubs were persuaded to resume their retreat: Elkington and Mainwaring were subsequently court-martialed; cleared of cowardice but cashiered out of the service.

The story has often been told, not least in two very good and relatively modern books: Peter Scott’s “The Colonel’s surrender at St Quentin” and John Ashby’s “Seek glory, now keep glory”. Both of them and John Hutton’s volume suffer from the limited existence of the original sources concerning the incident. The court martial record and the surrender document, both vital pieces of evidence, are absent, forcing all of the authors to rely on the three protagonists own versions and upon secondary sources. John Hutton has made use of the sound recording archive at the Imperial War Museum, but none of the clips quoted actually cover the vital moments in St Quentin. As such, the three versions pretty much rely on the same evidence and it is only the author’s own interpretation of events that distinguishes them. John Hutton takes an even-handed and sympathetic view, recognising the enormous strains placed upon the officers and the fog of war that both confounded intelligence and prevented communication.

Overall, we are given a good personal background of the main players and an engaging, entertaining telling of the retreat, from the tense and desperate moments as 10th Brigade falls apart during the latter stage at Le Cateau down to the eventual withdrawal from St Quentin. Of great interest too is the description of the contrast in the lives of the two disgraced officers: Elkington went on to join the French Foreign Legion and gave valuable and courageous service; Mainwaring disappeared from public view and died without having much of a chance to address the controversies that continue to surround his role in the affair.

Given that the incident had received a good deal of prior coverage and without new evidence, it is perhaps inevitable that “August 1914” does not mark a vital development in the historiography of the early period of the war. But it is a good read, well observed, and certainly worth a look.

The second incident is related, for the then Major Tom Bridges, 4th Dragoon Guards, encouraged the men of the two exhausted battalions to get on the move from Saint-Quentin.

Yorkshire Post”, 16 March 1938 (British Newspaper Archive). Was Bridge’s “toy shop” actually the musical instrument store seen below? And was the fountain that shown in the 1871 postcard? It certainly appears so.
Another view of the Grand Place, with the nearby Basilica towering above. Two points of note. First is the monument to a battle of 1557, a Spanish victory over France. After the Great War it was relocated to Place 8 Octobre 1870, and it is still there today. My highlight indicates what appears to be a musical instrument shop.

Gradually, the last elements of the BEF left the town to its fate.

On 28 August, the local Territorial 10e RIT was ordered to advance northwards into a counter-attack towards Bellenglise. It came into action against a German column, suffering on this day the loss of 22 officers and 1964 men killed, wounded or captured. Its 1st Battalion was largely captured.

As the Germans streamed southwards in pursuit of the BEF, the town fell into its hands and would remain under occupation until late in 1918.

Imperial War Museum Q87963. “German wounded waiting on the stretchers to be entrained at St. Quentin station”. The town soon became an important headquarters, medfical and logistics centre.
On 29 August 1914, a French counter attack known variously as the Battle of Guise or the Battle of Saint-Quentin met with some success, but the town remained within German grasp.

By early September, with the front now well to the south of the River Marne east of Paris, Saint-Quentin was well in the German rear. The front came a little closer when the Franco-British force advanced again in the Battle of the Marne, reaching the River Aisne.

Part of another map from the British Official History of Military Operations. 13 September 1914. The Entente forces advance from the Marne to the Aisne has brought them back within striking distance of Saint-Quentin.
After the Battle of the Aisne in September 1914, the phase that is misleadingly known as the “race to the sea” began. By November 1914, this phase of movement had ended and the position of the Western Front had solidified. It left Saint-Quentin in the German rear of what would generally become known as the Somme front. Map is from the British Official History and shows the situation at the end of 1914. For Saint-Quentin, which was largely undamaged by events to date, it remained much the same until 1917.

Occupation

Postcard from the collection of Landsturmmann Johann Willenbrock (1877-1938), who in 1916 served with 6th company of the 86th Fusilier Regiment. Source: Europeana, submitted by Reiner Niedergesäß. Reproduced under Creative Commons licence CC BY-SA 3.0. German troops parading before the Hôtel de Ville. Note the musical instrument shop sign in the buildings on the right.
Postcard. Europeana collection, provided by The Royal Library, The National Library of Denmark and Copenhagen University Library. Saint_Quentin’s railway station, from which many British troops ands casualties had been evacuated in August 1914, became an important German railhead. The neglected look, but no major damage, suggests that the photograph was taken in perhaps 1915 or 1916.

German military administration took over the town, requisitioning buildings. Eventually, Saint-Quentin became headquarters of Second Army. The town suffered the cruelties and deprivations associated with German ocupation of Northern France and Belgium. Its textile industry and others were stripped of useful material; many local people and refugees were sent as forced labour to Belgium and Germany; there were food shortages and general restrictions of liberty. Lack of news and misinformation through German propaganda led to clandestine networks. Until 1917, the town was far enough away from the fighting front to avoid all but aerial bombardment. Russian POWs are known to have been engaged in defence construction work in the area.

German troops march past the Palais Fervaques in the town centre. From the centenary commemorative events brochure “Saint-Quentin 1914-1918 une guerre en mémoire”. With the German Second Army’s headquarters being based here, the town was not unfamiliar with ceremonial. Kaiser Wilhelm II visited on several occasions.

The town saw a peak of activity during the Franco-British Somme offsenive of 1916, and men and material poured through the area. That year, the German high command took a decision to construct a formidable defensive system and withdraw into it. The withdrawal began in February 1917 and in the March the population of Saint-Quention was cleared out and evacuated elsewhere.

The German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line brought the front line to within sight of Saint-Quentin. It was now easily within the range of French and British artillery.
Imperial War Museum Q87652. “Shrapnel bursting near St. Quentin Cathedral, April 1917”. It could be seen from miles around – and still can, to this day. Better known as the Basilique Saint-Quentin, most of it dates to 12th to 15th centuries, although there are origins as old as the 4th. On 1 July 1916 a aerial bomb dropped on the railway station ignited a wagon of explosives. Great damage was done to the buildings of the town by the explosion, and seven of the large windows of the basilica were broken. The roof was destroyed by fire on 15 August 1917, and much further damage done to it by allied artillery. When French forces recaptured Saint-Quentin in 1918 they arrested a German engineer who was preparing to blow up the basilica. 93 holes had been made in the walls and pillars and filled with explosives ready for detonation. Reconstruction began in 1919 but it was not until 1956 that it reopened to the public.
Postcard. Europeana collection. Signed on rear on 17 September 1917 by August Scheurig to his daughter Katharina and said to be a view of Saint-Quentin.
A sketch of the basilica, as seen from Observation Post Denis in Tranchée d’Auvergne in September 1917. From the diary of infantryman Albert Valée, born at Besançon in 1894. Europeana, contributed by Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Reproduced under Creative Commons licence CC BY-SA.
The basilica. Original phograph by Agence de presse Meurisse, print held by Bibliothèque nationale de France and accessible via Gallica.
British Official History. The British Fifth Army had the misfortune to have to take over the Saint-Quentin front in January 1918.
Imperial war Museum Q55479. ” German troops concentrating in the wrecked streets of St. Quentin, immediately prior to the Spring Offensive, 19 March 1918″.
British Official History illustration of 21 March 1918, the first day of German offensive Operation “Michael”. The Saint-Quentin front was held by 36th (Ulster) Division, 30th Division and 61st (2nd South Midland) Division. All three suffered catastrophic losses when attacked by overwhelming enemy forces. By day’s end, the outlying villages of Grugies, Castres, Dallon, Savy, Francilly-Selency, Holnon and Fayet were all back in German hands. The attack continued over the next two weeks, driving the front many miles west of Saint-Quentin. Perhaps the best known action of the first day in this area is the defence of “Manchester Hill”, a front line spot directly west of Saint-Quentin.
During late September 1918, British, Commonwealth and American forces breached the Hindenburg Line at Cambrai and north of Saint-Quentin. On 1 October, the town – what little there was left of it – was liberated by French forces.
Part of a map from the French Official History “La campagne offensive de 1918 et la marche au Rhin” (Tome VII volume II cartes). The town was liberated by 36e Corps d’Armée under général Charles Nollet, employing 133e and 166e divisions d’infanterie.
The advance eastwards continued and by 10 October Saint-Quentin was well behind the front line.
“Out of 12,939 homes and buildings, 4,467 were completely destroyed, 8,472 were more than 70% damaged. The extent of the disaster was such that the municipal council and the independent socialist deputy of Aisne Léon Ringuier wondered whether the reconstruction of the city should not be considered on another site, as was done for Corbie” (From E. Olivier, La reconstruction de Saint-Quentin (Aisne) : entre passé et modernité, 1918-1931, Mémoire de maîtrise d’Histoire contemporaine (E. Chadeau dir.), Université Charles-de-Gaulle – Lille 3, 1995). By May 1919, some 7000 inhabitants had returned, most living in temporary housing or damaged buildings.
The Léon textile weaving factory on boulevard Victor-Hugo. Said to be 5 October 1918. © Henri Bilowski/ECPAD/Defense
Postcard view March 1919. The destroyed town centre. With thanks to Geneanet.

Visiting Saint-Quentin

The town is easily accessed from the A26 motorway. It has some good hotels (several in the town centre but also typical chains edge of town), plenty of restaurants and bars, and shops (including several edge of town large supermarkets).

I have stayed at several of the town’s hotels and never had a bad experience there: Ibis (facing the basilica), Memorial, Le Florence (both close to Grand-Place). Le Golden Pub (just behind the town hall) is a lively brasserie with good food. But of course this is just my own taste.

There are free public car parks at Rue Lamartine, Rue Michelet and Place de la Liberté, all a short walk from the centre. Indigo Parking at Place de l’Hôtel de Ville is a paid 24-hour multi-storey just moments walk from the Grand-Place. It is signposted “P Hôtel de Ville 400 places” and you should be able to find it quite easily despite the inner town’s labyrinth of one-way streets. There is also some restricted on-street paid parking, and I often find the area for that adjacent to the basilica tends to be emptying around the time I arrive for a hotel.

Google Map of the locations described below

Part of the splendid Grand Place in central Saint_Quentin. The town hall, relocated fountain and general atmosphere make this is great start and end point for a stroll around the town. From there, take the short Rue Saint-André to reach the basilica. Walk around it. Traces of war time damage and preparation for its demolition are evident.

From the basilica, walk downhill along Rue de Lyon and Rue d’Isle to reach Place du Huit Octobre, in which is situated the Monument de la Bataille de Saint Quentin and the Monument to Albert I, King of the Belgians. Continue to approach the road bridge over the Somme and canal de Saint-Quentin. To your right front, observe the railway station. Turn left just before the first bridge pylons are reached, to see the impressive town war memorial ahead.

Image from website https://monumentsmorts.univ-lille.fr/ with thanks. The war memorial was inaugurated in 1927 in presence of General Debeney, Chief of General Staff of the army, liberator of the city in 1918. The upper part bears a large bas-relief dedicated to the fighting in 1914-1918 and to the civilian evacuation of March 1917. Two others, on the sides, evoke the wars of 1557 and 1870.

Three cemeteries lie a little way from the town centre and are perhaps best reached by car or cycle, although they are walkable if you have time.

Nécropole nationale de Saint-Quentin

Started in 1923, the Nécropole nationale de Saint-Quentin contains the remains of 5,273 men, of whom 1,319 are in collective ossuaries.
Among them are 117 Russians, 2 Romanians, and 217 Frenchmen of WW2 brought in from burial locations in the department of Aisne in 1954.

Deutsche Soldatenfriedhof St. Quentin

According to Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, the cemetery began to be used by the German military administration in autumn 1914. After the end of the war, the French military authorities extended the cemetery to concentrate German war dead from 98 surrounding communities in a 35km radius. As a result, 8,229 German soldiers today lie at rest in the cemetery. After the conclusion of an agreement with the French in 1926, the Volksbund began the first landscaping and construction works in 1928. The problem of a permanent grave marker, however, remained unsolved due to a shortage of foreign currency and the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. Following the conclusion of the Franco-German war graves agreement of 19 July 1966, the Volksbund undertook the refurbishment of German First World War military cemeteries, with financial support from the German government. In the period 1963 to 1973, the site was completely re-landscaped. From 1971 the temporary wooden grave markers were replaced by metal crosses containing the names and dates of those at rest here.

Saint-Quentin Northern Communal Cemetery

The CWGC register of Saint-Quentin Northern Communal Cemetery lists the British soldiers buried there. Thomas Hands and John Hughes were executed by the German authorities on 8 March 1915. They had been stranded in town during the 1914 retreat and were concealed by by brave local people. Eventually found and in civilian clothing, they were sentenced to death on the basis of being spies. There are several other notable examples of similar stories in the Aisne department.

Books

I am not sure how easy this local French language booklet is to find nowadays, for judging by my introductory paragraph it was produced at least 24 years ago when I was still Chairman of the Western Front Association.

Worth finding if you can.

Links

More in the Long, Long Trail’s Gazetteer of the Western Front

The Long, Long Trail’s guide to touring the Saint-Quentin area

Destination Saint-Quentin tourist guide