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33-509: The commune lies on the national highway N29, at the junction with the A1 autoroute, west of the river Somme and 28 miles (45 km) east of Amiens . It has the remains of a Roman road , the Chaussée Brunehaut passing through the village. It is one of many villages in the north of France bearing the name Estrées . The etymology of the name is from strata ( cognate of English "street"),

66-453: A million casualties. Private A. S. Bullock in his wartime memoir recalled his first sight of it in early April 1918: "... we reached a small place called Hengest sur Somme . The train stopped and we descended. There in front of us was a muddy, sluggish and somewhat narrow stream, which has given its name to one of the most awful battles in history – the Somme." The great battles that finally stopped

99-458: A nearby hill, believed that the Spanish were attempting to cross the river in that place and detached its battalions and squadrons near the riverside to reject every attempt. The Marquis of Fontenay, who led these troops, set fire to the village and entrenched his soldiers in a series of forts built in the riverside. The skirmish continued a long time with artillery and musketry fire. According to

132-671: Is a river in Picardy , northern France . The river is 245 km (152 mi) in length, from its source in the high ground of the former Arrouaise Forest  [ fr ] at Fonsomme near Saint-Quentin , to the Bay of the Somme , in the English Channel . It lies in the geological syncline which also forms the Solent . This gives it a fairly constant and gentle gradient where several fluvial terraces have been identified. The Somme river

165-515: Is located at the west end of the village and the German Cemetery is located on the way to the commune of Fay . The commune holds an annual brocante (flea-market) each June. This Arrondissement of Péronne geographical article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Somme (river) The Somme ( UK : / s ɒ m / SOM , US : / s ʌ m / SUM , French: [sɔm] )

198-536: The Canal de la Somme began in 1770 and reached completion in 1843. It is 156 km (97 mi) long, beginning at St.Simon and opening into the Bay of the Somme. From St.Simon to Froissy (near Bray sur Somme, south of Albert), the canal is alongside the river. Thence to the sea, the river is partly river and partly navigation. From Abbeville , it is diverted through the silted , former estuary , to Saint-Valery-sur-Somme , where

231-580: The Dutch States Army , invaded the Spanish Netherlands from two sides and threatened Brussels before investing Leuven . The siege ended in a costly failure because of bad logistics and organization, and as the French army was decimated by the plague. The Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, governor of the Spanish Netherlands , counterattacked and expelled the invaders, concentrating his resources against

264-705: The Franco-Spanish War when units of the Spanish Army of Flanders and the Imperial Army under Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano , lieutenant of the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria , crossed the Somme river near Bray-sur-Somme during its offensive in French territory. Despite the fierce resistance of the French army led by Louis de Bourbon, Count of Soissons , the allied troops successfully crossed

297-613: The Marais de l'Île is a nature reserve in the town of St.Quentin. The traditional market gardens of Amiens , the Hortillonages are on this sort of land but drained. Once exploited for peat cutting , the fen is now used for fishing and shooting In 2001, the Somme valley was affected by particularly high floods, which were in large part due to a rise in the water table of the surrounding land. Catchment area 5,560 km (2,150 sq mi). Daily flow rates compared with mean rates for

330-563: The Peace of Prague , meanwhile, projected an invasion of the eastern France under Matthias Gallas, but as logistical and financial problems diminished his force, he proposed a joint invasion to the Cardinal-Infante. Philip IV of Spain and Olivares rapidly agreed. A lightly equipped army ranging from 10,000–12,000 infantry and 13,000 cavalry soldiers to 18,000 soldiers of both types, including an imperialist contingent under Ottavio Piccolomini

363-640: The Rhine , Alsace and Lorraine , the French armies remained focused in the defense and reconquest of strategic places in these territories. The conquest of the Franche-Comté , entrusted to Henri de Bourbon, Prince de Condé and Charles de La Porte de La Meilleraye , soon became an absolute priority to the Cardinal Richelieu . The Holy Roman Emperor , Ferdinand II , whose position in Germany had strengthened since

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396-531: The marshy land to facilitate the crossing of the soldiers. Only the Régiment de Piedmont was in that place to confront the Spaniards. These formed in squadron at the riverside and became involved in a stubborn fight that lasted for three hours. The Régiment de Piedmont, reinforced by a company of the Régiment des Gardes, tried to expel them from the pontoons and the road of faggots with great fierceness, but thanks to

429-527: The Cardinal-Infante, surrounded the vital fortress of Corbie , which surrendered to him a week later. The following day Louis XIII wrote to the Prince of Condé ordering him to abandon the siege of Dôle and to withdraw from the Franche-Comté to help defend Paris. At the French court it was believed that after Corbie the Spanish would advance further into France. Piccolomini, who wanted to do so, tried to persuade

462-621: The Dutch over the following months. The recapture by the statholder Frederick Henry of Orange of the key fortress of Schenkenschans did not discouraged the Spanish, and the Count-Duke of Olivares continued determined to concentrate the war effort against the Dutch. After suffering further defeats against the armies of the Duke Charles of Lorraine and the Imperial generalissimo Matthias Gallas in

495-411: The French armies were guarding the riverside. Pontoons and boats were dispatched from Cambrai for this purpose. The Prince put on alert his Maestres de Campo and Colonels and set route to Bray. On 4 August his troops occupied a small island in middle of the river and soon a skirmish began with the French troops on the other riverside. The Count of Soissons, who were stationed with his troops on

528-505: The French, only 20 of his soldiers were killed, among them the Comte de Matha, captain of a company of the Régiment des Gardes . The Prince ordered his Tercios of Spaniards march to the village of Cerisy , located a league south of Bray, and cross there the river. A pontoon bridge was promptly tended from one bank to the opposite, and large amounts of faggots previously prepared were spread on

561-608: The French. The alarming advance of the Cardinal-Infante forced Louis XIII to return to Paris from Fontainebleau . By then Ferdinand was in Cambrai and had left the command of his army to the Prince Thomas Francis of Carignano, the commander of the Army of Flanders . The Prince of Carignano took over the army and headed to Saint Quentin with the aim of continuing the invasion and attracting Louis de Bourbon, Count of Soissons , who

594-603: The German advance in the Spring Offensive of 1918 were fought around the valley of the Somme in places like Villers Bretonneux , which marked the beginning of the end of the war. The tributaries listed comprise: Left tributaries: Right tributaries: The river is characterized by a very gentle gradient and a steady flow. The valley is more or less steep-sided but its bottom is flat with fens and pools. These characteristics of steady flow and flooded valley bottom arise from

627-563: The campaign, which culminated in the Battle of Crécy . Crossing the river also featured prominently in the campaign which led to the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. In 1636, a Spanish army led by Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano , crossed the Somme defeating a French army during the Thirty Years War threatening Paris. Most famously, the Battle of the Somme , during World War I , lasted from July to November 1916 and resulted in more than

660-581: The destruction of the retreating French army, dispatched Ottavio Piccolomini in command of his cavalry and Johann von Werth with the Spanish cavalry behind the Count of Soissons, who was forced to pass the Oise river . The harassment of the German and Spanish cavalry diminished the strength of the French army, finding the Imperial-Spanish troops abandoned corpses and weapons at his advance. Piccolomini's persecution of

693-449: The forest where the Régiment de Piedmont had sought coverage and forced the few surviving troops to retreat leaving behind about 700-800 corpses. The Prince lost that day around 35 soldiers killed and 50 wounded. The French losses could have been higher if the Spanish cavalry had crossed the river in time to pursue them, but this did not happen and Soissons was able to withdraw his troops in good order. The Prince of Carignano, searching

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726-691: The maritime canal, once called the canal du Duc d'Angoulême enters the English Channel. The St Quentin Canal , famous for the 1918 battle , links the Somme to northern France and Belgium and southward to the Oise . The Canal du Nord also links the Somme to the Oise, at Noyon, thence to Paris. Crossed the Somme The Crossing of the Somme took place on 5 August 1636 during the Thirty Years' War and

759-449: The presence of the Prince, who took the command of the attack, the Spaniards managed to cross the river and drove off the Régiment de Piemont from the riverside. The Maestro de Campo Alonso Pérez de Vivero y Menchaca, Count of Fuensaldaña, put then his soldiers to work in the digging of trenches to cover them from a possible counterattack. The Spanish artillery and some musketeers riddled

792-456: The region. The modern department of Somme was named after this river. The Somme has featured prominently in several military campaigns. In 1066, the invasion fleet of William the Conqueror assembled in the Bay of the Somme, at Saint-Valery-sur-Somme . The river also featured in the 1346 withdrawal of Edward III of England 's army, which forded the river at the Battle of Blanchetaque during

825-483: The retreating French army lead him to Roye , which he captured and from where he reached Compiègne and advanced further into French territory, which caused consternation in Paris. Meanwhile, Soissons retreated to Noyon pursued by Johann von Werth. The Bavarian general destroyed 5 French cavalry regiments near the town, but he had not enough forces to attempt its capture. On 7 August the Prince of Carignano, by orders of

858-522: The river and drove off the French troops along the Oise river , proceeding over the following weeks to invest the important fortress of Corbie , located two leagues upriver of Amiens , which caused a spread of panic among the population of Paris . Shortly after France declared the war on Spain in May 1635, a French army under the Marshals of France Urbain de Maillé-Brézé and Gaspard III de Coligny , allied with

891-546: The river's being fed by the ground water in the chalk basin in which it lies. At earlier, colder times, from the Günz to the Würm (Beestonian or Nebraskan to Devensian or Wisconsinian) the river has cut down into the Cretaceous geology to a level below the modern water table . The valley bottom has now therefore, filled with water which, in turn, has filled with fen . This picture , of

924-400: The source of the Somme in 1986, shows it when the water table had fallen below the surface of the chalk in which the aquifer lies. Here, the flow of water had been sufficient to keep fen from forming. This satellite photograph shows the fenny valley crossing the chalk to the sea on the left. The sinuous length at the centre of the picture lies downstream from Péronne . One of the fens,

957-409: The time of year at Hangest-sur-Somme (m³/s). Catchment area 4,835 km (1,867 sq mi). 1993 . 1995 . 1997 . 1998 . 1999 . 2001 . 2003 . 2005 . Mean flow rates monthly and daily at Péronne (m³/s). Catchment area 1,294 km (500 sq mi). 1987 . 1989 . 1991 . 1992 . 1993 . 1995 . 1996 . 1997 . 1999 . 2000 . 2001 . 2002 . 2003 . 2004 . 2005 . The construction of

990-401: The word for the stone-layered Roman roads in the area (some of which turned into modern highways). Hence Estreti , village on the road which developed into Estrées . It was the scene of heavy fighting during the Battle of the Somme . The probable (unmarked) burial site of Raynal Bolling , the first U.S. officer of high rank to fall in combat. The Estrées-Deniécourt Military Cemetery,

1023-424: Was gathered at Mons during June. On the 2nd of July the Cardinal-Infante crossed the frontier via Avesnes and took the fortresses of Le Catelet and La Capelle . Though having large garrisons, La Capelle surrendered after only six days of siege and Le Catelet, one of the strongest fortresses of France, after three days thanks to the exploding shells used by the Spanish army, a recent innovation yet unfamiliar to

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1056-414: Was in Picardy in command of a force of 14,000 soldiers, and his army to the town. Having arrived at the fields in front of Saint Quentin, the Prince changed the route of the army and advanced towards the Somme river . The Cardinal Infante sent to him don Esteban de Gamarra, a gentleman in his confidence, to transmit the order to cross the Somme at the village Bray-sur-Somme or at an easier place even if

1089-572: Was known in ancient times as Samara . It presumably means 'the summery river', that is to say the 'quiet river', stemming from an adjective * sam-aro - ('summery') itself derived from the Celtic root * samo - ('summer'). The city of Amiens was also known as Samarobriva (Gaulish: 'bridge on the Samara'). It is attested by the early 1st century BC as the chief town of the Ambiani , an ancient Gallic tribe of

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