Michelin & Cie

“ 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.
[Pg 63]
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. ”

“ Until 1918, no further damage of importance was done to the façade, but in August of that year, some days after the French had retaken Soissons, three sides of the tower (north, south and east) and the interior framework of the belfry were entirely destroyed by the numerous German shells.
In September 1918, all that remained of the tower were the two buttresses at the north-west and south-west corners. By a miracle they remain poised, but loosened stones keep constantly crashing to the ground (photo above) . ”

“ The old harmonious construction of the nave is now to be seen only in the bays nearest the transept.
The Chapelle des Œuvres was struck several times. The most serious damage was caused during the first bombardments of 1914 by a shell which exploded on the roof of the gallery (B on plan p. 18, photo below) which leads to the chapel. Penetrating the roof and the framework, it caused the vault to fall in, broke the arches, and shattered the stained-glass of the chapel windows. ”

“ This church was formerly part of an abbey founded in 1152 in memory of Saint-Léger, Bishop of Autun, assassinated in 678 by the Mayor of the Palace, Ebroïn.
The nave and west front were rebuilt in the 17th century, after the sack of the monastery by the Huguenots in 1567. It is now secularized.
The nave, separated from the rest of the building by a wall, was used before the war as a hall for public meetings, while a geological museum was to have been installed in the transept and choir.
The façade is 17th century. ”

“ The German bombardments made countless ruins throughout the town. Everywhere one sees shattered walls, hanging roofs, and heaps of rubbish and stones that once were houses.
The ruins are gradually being cleared away, to make room for the new life which is springing up, but signs of the destruction will long remain.
SOISSONS IN NOVEMBER 1918.
Note the separation of the Cathedral Tower from the Nave (pp. 19–24) . ”

“ 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. ”

“ About noon, the Germans entered the town, and after street-fighting which lasted several hours, drove back the French into the western suburbs. The French however, still held Pasly Hill to the north-east of Soissons. Throughout the night, French artillery bombarded the approaches of the town and all the places where the Aisne could be crossed, while enfilading fire from [Pg 8] the machine-guns prevented the German soldiers from using the streets. Not until nine o’clock on the morning of the 30th did the enemy capture Pasly Hill and thus secure entire possession of Soissons. ”

“ On the night of the 13th, the French retired across the Aisne leaving only one strongly fortified bridge-head between the distillery and Saint-Paul on the northern bank (see pp. 56 & 61) .
From the 14th onwards, the Germans commenced attacking the bridge-head in massed formation. They succeeded for a moment in getting into the little hamlet of Saint-Paul, about a mile from the first houses of Soissons, but they were driven out on the same day. On the 16th, enemy bombardment compelled a fresh party of the townspeople to leave their homes. ”

“ The apse, transept and three bays of the nave of the church, secularized at the time of the Revolution, were pulled down in 1800.
The two remaining bays of the nave were greatly damaged during the war by the explosion of a store of grenades. The roof and most of the vaulting have been destroyed. ”

“ The ‘Comité des Contentieux’ is ready to give them counsel with regard to travelling, and 3.000 delegates in all the principal towns are able to give them advice and information about the curiosities of art or of nature in the neighbourhood, as well as concerning the roads, hotels, motor-agents, garages, etc.
Members are accorded free passage across the frontier for a bicycle or motor-bicycle. For a motor-car the Association gives a ‘Triptyque’ ensuring free passage through the ‘douane’, etc. ”

“ 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) . ”

“ Large detachments of enemy cavalry wedged themselves between the British and French Armies, and advancing from Noyon towards Soissons, became a formidable menace to the French retirement across the Aisne. ”

“ The museum contains some fine sculpture, including: the tympanum of a 13th century portal taken from the Church of Saint-Yved-de-Braisne, representing The Descent of Christ into Hades; another defaced 14th century tympanum from the cloister of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes; a Romanesque storied capital: Abraham sacrificing Isaac (photo p. 41) ; other 12th century capitals with foliage; the carved lintel of a Renaissance mantelpiece; the memorial statue of an Abbess of Notre-Dame, etc.
TRENCHES IN THE GARDENS OF THE HÔTEL-DE-VILLE. ”

“ 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) . ”

“ It co-ordinates the efforts of touring societies and industries, encourages them in the execution of their programmes and stimulates legislative and administrative initiative with regard to the development of travel in France. ”