The Crossing of the Somme took place on 5 August 1636 during the Thirty Years' War and 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 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 .
31-626: Mont Saint-Quentin overlooks the Somme River in the region of Picardie approximately 1.5 km north of the town of Péronne, Somme , France . The hill is about 100 metres high but as it is situated in a bend of the river it dominates the whole position and is of strategic significance. During World War I , it was a key to the German defence of the Somme line and was the last German stronghold. Its location made it an ideal observation point, and strategically,
62-405: 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
93-458: 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
124-671: 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
155-536: 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
186-613: 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
217-672: The Marshals of France Urbain de Maillé-Brézé and Gaspard III de Coligny , allied with 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
248-563: 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
279-531: 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
310-419: The 30th of August 1925. The statue was demolished by German soldiers in 1940 and a more somber replacement by Stanley James Hammond unveiled in 1971. 49°56′50″N 2°55′57″E / 49.94722°N 2.93250°E / 49.94722; 2.93250 Somme River The Somme ( UK : / s ɒ m / SOM , US : / s ʌ m / SUM , French: [sɔm] )
341-527: 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
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#1732851172304372-411: 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
403-505: 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
434-608: 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
465-603: 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
496-739: The Imperial generalissimo Matthias Gallas in 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
527-563: 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
558-581: 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
589-449: 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
620-411: The hill's defences guarded the north and western approaches to the town of Péronne. It was the site of the Battle of Mont Saint-Quentin from 31 August to 2 September 1918. The Australian Second Division has a war memorial on the road from Bapaume to Péronne. It is the only one of the five Australian division memorials initiated by members of the division. It was unveiled by Marshal Ferdinand Foch on
651-572: The invaders, concentrating his resources against 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
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#1732851172304682-667: 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 Shortly after France declared the war on Spain in May 1635, a French army under
713-449: 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
744-456: 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
775-483: 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
806-546: 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
837-400: 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,
868-409: 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
899-424: 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
930-461: 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
961-572: 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