Chapter II: Part 2

_Take the Rue de la Gagnerie, turn to the right into the Rue de la Bannière, then again to the right into the Rue Notre-Dame_, at the end of which is the =Maison de l’Arquebuse= (_hist. mon._), built in 1626 for the Guild of the Soissons Gunsmiths, and now devoted to military purposes (_photo below_).

It is a lodge of brick and stone surmounted by a very steep roof, and containing a large hall lighted by ten bays. Its main front is embellished with ornaments of war.

The entrance, built in 1638 by order of Marshal d’Estrées, is Ionic in style and surmounted by an entablature decorated with trophies.

The upper part of the entablature at the north-east corner of the doorway was destroyed by a shell, while others injured the roof of the lodge.

_Take the Rue des Feuillants opposite, then Rue Saint-Martin on the left, to the Place de la République_, where are the Bourse du Commerce (1898) and the Monument to the Defence of Soissons in 1870 (inaugurated in 1901).

_On the south side of the square and bordered by the river Crise_, there is the fine garden of the Horticultural Society at present in very bad condition.

_Follow the Rue de Château-Thierry, alongside the garden, then its continuation, the Boulevard Jeanne d’ Arc, which makes a sharp bend, to the_ =Abbey= _of_ =Saint-Jean-des-Vignes=.

=ABBEY OF SAINT-JEAN-DES-VIGNES= (_Hist. Mon._)

Founded in 1076, the Abbey of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes was one of the richest and most powerful monasteries of the Middle-Ages.

The liberality of the Kings of France, bishops, nobility and middle classes enabled the monks in the 13th and 14th centuries to erect a large abbey-church and important monastic buildings, the plan of which has been preserved in an engraving of 1673, _reproduced below_.

The plan is that followed almost invariably for monastic buildings. In the middle is the abbey-church. The monastery buildings proper: the rooms of the Regulars to which strangers are not admitted, the Novices’ quarters, the dormitories and refectory, are grouped round the four galleries of the cloister, which extend from the south front of the church.

On the east side of the cloister is a smaller cloister, abutting on which are the strangers’ rooms: the refectory and dormitories.

Behind, stands the isolated hospital with its own chapel. Near the entrance is the Abbot’s house, and further to the east, the store-rooms.

The entrance was fortified, and a continuous wall with roadway, loop-holes and watch-towers, completely encircled the Abbey.

Beyond this wall stretched the vineyards and agricultural estates of the monastery. Although despoiled during the Hundred Years War, and later during the religious wars, the Abbey of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes remained rich and flourishing until the Revolution when the monks were expelled. Some years later (1805), an imperial decree issued at the request of the Bishop of Soissons, ordered the demolition of the church, the materials of which were to be used for repairing the cathedral. The protests of the inhabitants induced the Bishop to have the main front preserved.

The Façade of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes before the War.

Three late 13th century portals surmounted by gables open in the façade. Under the central portal are two =mutilated statues=: _on the right_, Saint-Augustin; _on the left_: Saint-John-the-Baptist clothed in the skin of an animal.

A graceful clerestory gallery, continued at the back round a wide platform, which at one time formed a gallery above the grand nave, separates the central portal from the large rose-window set in an irregular arch. The latter has lost its interior net-work of mullions and is surmounted by a gable. The gallery and rose-window are late 14th century.

A two-storied tower crowned by a spire rises above each of the side portals. The first story dates from the end of the 14th century. The upper part, which differs in each tower, is more than a century later.

The south tower (_on the right of the photo below_), was about 230 feet in height.

The north tower, finished in 1520, was higher (about 244 feet) and more massive.

On the first story in the niche next the large rose-window, a statue of the Virgin faces a statue of the Angel of the Annunciation, which stands on the opposite buttress of the south tower.

Both stories of the north tower, separated by a Flamboyant gallery with very sharply pointed gables, are pierced with large bays divided by a mullion.

On the west side, against the mullion of the upper bay, is a figure of Christ crucified.

The octagonal spire, surrounded by four turrets, is pierced on each face by three openings of different sizes, the largest being under-most, while its angles are adorned with projecting crockets.

The façade of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes after the bombardments.

Previously, in 1870, the façade of the church had been badly damaged. The German shells set fire to a store of hay housed under the porches, the splays of which were destroyed (_p. _46).

In 1914, it suffered fresh injury, both spires being struck by shells. The south tower lost its upper part, the remaining portion being torn open at the base. The other tower was badly indented near its point, while the carvings of the buttresses were injured. The whole façade was moreover pitted by shell-splinters.

The damage caused in 1918 was considerably greater. In some places the stone-work of the portals and towers was entirely destroyed, and in others indented more or less deeply. The fine and delicate carvings of the towers were also smashed. The north tower suffered most. A breach, jeopardizing its stability, was made almost the whole way up, and the upper part of the spire fell to the ground, like the other spire had done four years before. The interior vaulting which connected the two towers, partially fell in.

At the back of the façade (_photo above_) which was also struck in several places, there are still traces of the first bay of the old nave of the abbey-church, pulled down under the Empire.

The Great Cloister of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes.

Under the south portal stands a 13th century doorway, with vaulting and tympanums decorated with finely carved foliage, which led from the abbey-church to the great cloister.

Of the great 14th century cloister, only the south and west galleries remain. Each has seven bays with pointed arches resting, on one side, on brackets ornamented with foliage or human figures, and on the other, on piers surrounded by small columns (_photos above and below_).

The large arches in tierce-point, ornamented with fine mouldings and separated by highly-wrought buttresses, formed an inner arcade composed of two bays surmounted by a rose-window. Traces of it are left in three bays of the south gallery (_photo below_). The arches formerly contained windows.

The cloister, especially the south end, was often struck by German shells, one piercing the vaulting of a bay, another damaging the carvings of the exterior buttresses.

The Refectory.

The refectory (_photo below_), erected at the end of the 13th century, was spoiled after the Revolution by its conversion to military uses.

The refectory, over 130 feet in length, contains two naves with pointed vaulting. The pointed arches rest on fine columns with foliate capitals, which are buttressed outside by piers engaged in the stone-work. Like all monastery refectories, it has a raised and vaulted platform, from which one of the monks read aloud during meals.

The refectory, used as a store-house, is divided into two stories by a floor which runs below the capitals of the columns.

Outside the refectory, on the side next the cloister, were six large rose-windows, since transformed into small rectangular windows, and on the west front, eight tierce-point windows, now blocked up.

At the base of the loft-roof, set at intervals, are dormer-windows, whereof one Renaissance.

The roof, damaged in places, was completely destroyed by the bombardments over several of the bays. A large breach, already repaired, was made in the end bay on the east side. One buttress was destroyed and the adjacent part of the framework of one of the rose-windows broken (_photo above_).

The great cloister communicated on the east with a small cloister, rebuilt about 1550 in Renaissance style, of which several bays of the south gallery remain standing.

Lastly, on this side of the façade of the church, to the east, is a building, re-erected in the 16th century for the Abbot’s residence, but which has been completely disfigured by its adaptation for military purposes. It is flanked by an octagonal turret containing a staircase.

* * * * *

_On leaving the Abbey, take the Rue Saint-Jean on the right, as far as the Place Dauphine_, in which is the =Sous-Préfecture=, housed in a mansion built at the beginning of the 19th century. It was struck by numerous shells.

_Take on the left the Rue de Panleu_ which runs alongside the buildings of the old =Grand Séminaire= (late 17th century), whose 18th century chapel is decorated with beautiful painted and gilded woodwork, greatly damaged.

Many shells fell on the Grand Séminaire, causing serious damage. A great part of the roofing was destroyed and in places large openings were torn in the walls.

At the north-west end of the park of the Grand Séminaire, excavations made in the 19th century, now filled in, uncovered the remains of a Roman amphitheatre. These remains indicated a theatre of very large dimensions, measuring about 470 feet across its greatest width, while the theatre at Orange measures little over 300 feet.

_Return to the Cathedral via the Rue de la Buerie, a continuation of the Rue de Panleu. On the right is_ the Rue des Minimes with its burnt houses (_photo above_).

FIRST ITINERARY—VISIT TO THE SURROUNDINGS

Starting-point: Place de la Cathédrale.

_The following itinerary includes the defensive works of Saint-Crépin-en-Chaye and Le Mail, the first French and German lines from Pasly to Saint-Paul, and the bridge-head on the right bank of the Aisne, in front of the Faubourg Saint-Waast._

* * * * *

Starting from the =Cathedral=, follow the streets indicated by =continuous lines= in the direction of the arrows.

The =numbers= indicate the =pages= where the corresponding =photographs= will be found.

Numerous defensive works surrounded this chateau and the farm belonging to it. These buildings, now entirely in ruins, occupied the site of an abbey founded in the 12th century.

_On the left: ruins of farm and bomb-proof shelter; on the right: trench leading to the Château seen in the background through the trees._]

_After visiting Saint-Crépin, take the road (_V.O._ 15), along which ran strong defence-works and which leads to the Promenade du Mail. Follow the promenade towards the town as far as Pont-Neuf._

The Promenade du Mail, extending from the Hôtel-de-Ville to Vauxrot, contained a trench throughout its entire length which led to the front lines in the northern sector.

The Mail, bordered by the river Aisne and planted with century-old trees, dates from the 17th and 18th centuries, and before the War was one of the finest public gardens in France.

It was completely spoilt by formidable defence-works. A series of trenches, strengthened by defence-works of every kind and by strong points such as the Brasserie du Mail on the Bank of the Aisne, began in the middle of the Mail. They branched out at the end of the Promenade into a great number of outposts, blockhouses and observation posts, from which the naked eye could discern the entrenchments of the camouflaged German outposts on the right bank of the Aisne.

Communication with the Allies’ bridge-head on both banks was ensured by foot-bridges, constantly under fire, and temporary ways over the two partially destroyed bridges.

_In the background: the band-stand near which General de Grandmaison was killed._]

_Cross the Aisne at the_ =Pont-Neuf=.

The Pont-Neuf or Pont-du-Mail, over which passes the National Road (N^o 2) from Paris to Maubeuge, was built in 1903 of reinforced concrete.

On September 1, 1914, the British blew up the middle arch. It was subsequently found possible to contrive a crossing over the broken arch, hidden from the view of the enemy by the gaily coloured tents of a travelling show which happened to be in Soissons when war was declared (_photo below_).

_The French First Line in the Distillery._]

_From the Pont-Neuf, take the Avenue de Laon to the Place de Laon, then take the Avenue de Vauxrot on the left to Vauxrot and Pasly._ (_See map, p. _53 _and Itinerary, p. _52)

_About half-a-mile from the Place de Laon_ are the ruins of a large =distillery= which formed the first French position and was strongly fortified.

_In the foreground: A German grave._

_The German First Line in the Glass-Works._]

On the north of the distillery, beyond “No man’s land” with its barbed-wire entanglements, a very important =glass-works= formed the first German line. Before the war, these glass-works turned out several millions of champagne bottles every year. _A heap of these bottles is visible in the photo below._

Between the buildings of these works, now completely ruined by the incessant bombardments, are countless passages and trenches of reinforced concrete, observation posts, blockhouses, concrete machine-gun positions and deep dug-outs.

_In the background: Hill 136._]

_In the background: Chapel of the Glass-Works. To the left of the Chapel, a German Machine-Gun was posted, below a crane._]

From Vauxrot to Pasly, the lines were separated by the Aisne. On both banks of the river were outposts and advanced trenches with machine-guns (_photo below_).

_From Vauxrot, proceed to Pasly_ (_see map, p. _53).

From the church at Pasly there is an interesting walk to the caves seen in the photograph on p. 59 shutting in the horizon to the north of the village. _Follow the road for nearly half-a-mile, then turn to the right into the road which goes up the side of the hill and skirts the caves. The latter were fortified by the Germans, and afterwards inhabited by the population of Pasly._

_A nest of Machine-Guns was posted near the pile._]

_On the horizon Hill containing caves._]

A =monument= to the school-teachers shot by the Germans in 1870, was destroyed by the enemy in 1914 (_photo below_).

_The road leads back to the village. Return via Vauxrot to the Place de Laon, then follow on the left the Avenue de Laon to Saint-Paul._

The defence-works visited between Pasly, the glass-works and the distillery, extended from there in an almost straight and formidable entrenched line to the National Road from Paris to Maubeuge (N. 2).

After crossing this road, about half-way between Soissons and Crouy, they encircle the =hamlet of St-Paul= on the north and east. This fortified hamlet formed the =Saint-Paul salient= and protected the faubourg of Saint-Waast.

From Saint-Paul the trenches, sloping towards the south, extended in front of the strongly fortified Faubourg of Saint-Médard and rejoined the Aisne at the point where the river forms a great loop above Soissons. It was the eastern sector of the defences, covering alike the Faubourg of Saint-Waast and the bridge-head on the right bank.

_To go from Saint-Paul to Saint-Médard, return to the Place de Laon. Take on the left the Boulevard de Laon, then the Boulevard de Metz which continues it, to the Place d’Alsace-Lorraine. Take the Rue de Bouvines on the left to the_ =Abbey of Saint-Médard=.

The Faubourg of Saint-Médard is as old as the town itself. In fact, it existed in the Roman era, and later became one of the favorite residences of the Merovingian Kings, who owned a large “villa” there.

_This bridge connected Pasly with Soissons._]

About 556, Clotaire I had the greatly revered Bishop of Noyon, Saint-Médard, buried in this villa, and erected over his grave a basilica, round which a monastery was built.

After playing an important part in the history of the early Middle-Ages, this monastery attracted 300 000 pilgrims as late as 1530. The buildings were devastated during the many sieges to which Soissons was subjected. Rebuilt in the 17th, they were converted in the 19th century into a school for deaf-mutes and the blind.

Of the ancient buildings, there remains only a =crypt=, one of the oldest in France and of great archæological interest.

Built in the 9th century and measuring about 80 feet in length, 8 feet in width and 13 feet in height, this crypt (_photo below_) includes a central gallery with groined vault, off which open chapels.

The vaulting rests on very thick walls, in which small niches have been hollowed out as seats for the pilgrims.

_One of the oldest crypts in France._]

_Return to the Place d’Alsace-Lorraine, take the Rue du Champ-Bouillant as far as the first street on the right_ (_Rue Messire-P.-Leroy_) _which leads to the_ =Church of Saint-Waast=.

_Defence-Works in the Rue des Graviers, near the Church_ (_see Itinerary_).]

The church of Saint-Waast, built in the 19th century, consists of a large central pile with aisles on each side of the nave. A graceful belfry, ending in a spire, rises over the portal. The interior of the building is not vaulted, but has a timber-work roof. The arches are supported by square pillars and the walls ornamented with pictures.

The bombardments did great damage. Everywhere the roof was broken in and a large part completely destroyed. In the walls are numerous gaps, while the façade is pitted by shell-splinters. The belfry, very badly damaged on the first story, had two of its sides in the upper story completely demolished. The spire fell down in 1918. The interior of the main building suffered less, but the timber-work roof was badly damaged.

The Faubourg Saint-Waast led to the first lines of the north-east sector of Soissons, which passed north of the hamlet of Saint-Paul.

Because of its situation, it had been put in a complete state of defence and was continually bombarded. The railway station, gas-works and most of the factories were destroyed. In places, it is nothing more than a heap of ruins with, here and there, vestiges of the old military works.

_Return to the Rue du Champ-Bouillant, follow same as far as the Aisne, crossing the latter at the Pont Saint-Waast._

_In the background, the Pont-Neuf, Sep^t. 1914._]

The pont Saint-Waast, also called the Pont des Anglais (since the war) dates from the Middle-Ages (_photo above_). Of the original structure there remain the arches on the Saint-Waast side (restored). The rest of the bridge consists of an iron platform which the Germans destroyed on September 13, 1914, when they evacuated the town.

Rebuilt by the British in 1914, together with a foot-bridge, it ensured communication between the centre of the town and the Faubourg Saint-Waast, in spite of incessant bombardments.

_Return to the Cathedral by the Rue la Bannière, Rue de Montrevers, and Rue de l’Hôtel-Dieu._

CONTENTS

=Chief Historical Facts= 2

=First German Occupation=, 1914 4

=Second German Occupation=, 1918 7

=The Bombardments= 10

=A Thirty-Months’ Siege= 11

VISIT TO THE CITY

=The Cathedral= 15–31

=St-Léger Church= 35–39

=The Hôtel-de-Ville= 40–41

=St-Pierre-au-Parvis Church= 42

=Maison de l’Arquebuse= 43

=St-Jean-des-Vignes Abbey= 44–50

VISIT TO THE SURROUNDINGS

=St-Crépin-en-Chaye Château= 53

=Vauxrot-Pasly= 56–60

=Saint-Paul—Saint-Médard= 60–61

=Faubourg St-Waast= 62–63

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Transcriber’s Notes.

1. Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors.

2. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.

3. Some of the illustrations have been moved to be closer to their descriptions.

4. In this eBook some illustrations have been moved to other pages. The text has been changed where necessary.