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Somme WW1 Battlefield, July 1st-November 1916, France. Albert in the Somme Department of Picardie. February 2014

Somme WW1 Battlefield, July 1st-November 1916, France. Albert in the Somme Department of Picardie. February 2014
Showing Basilica of Notre Dame de Brebieres on right where the leaning Virgin Mary hung during WW1 and the town Hall on the left.
Albert was founded as a Roman outpost, in about 54 BC. After being known by various forms of the name of the local river, the Ancre, it was renamed to Albert after it passed to Charles d'Albert, duc de Luynes. It is best known today as a key location in the Battle of the Somme in World War I, and World War I tourism is important for the town.

During World War I, the statue of Mary and the infant Jesus - designed by sculptor Albert Roze and dubbed the "Golden Virgin" - on top of the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Brebières was hit by a shell on January 15, 1915, and slumped to a near-horizontal position, where however it remained until further shelling in 1918 destroyed the tower. The Germans said that whoever made the statue fall would lose the war, and a number of legends surrounding the "Leaning Virgin" developed among German, French, and British soldiers. The Leaning Virgin became an especially familiar image to the thousands of British soldiers who fought at the Battle of the Somme (1916), many of whom passed through Albert, which was situated three miles from the front lines. As "The Golden Virgin" it provided Henry Williamson with the title of the sixth book in his fictionalised autobiographical sequence, A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight. The book describes events surrounding the Battle of the Somme from a soldier's perspective.

The German army recaptured the town in March 1918 during the Spring Offensive; the British, to prevent the Germans from using the church tower as an observation post, directed their bombardment against the basilica. The statue fell in April 1918 and was never recovered. In August 1918 the Germans were again forced to retreat, and the British reoccupied Albert until the end of the war.

Albert was com

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1914 - 2014 The 100th Anniversary of the start of WW1
Somme WW1 Battlefield, July 1st-November 1916, France. Albert in the Somme Department of Picardie. February 2014<br /> Showing Basilica of Notre Dame de Brebieres on right where the leaning Virgin Mary hung during WW1 and the town Hall on the left.<br /> Albert was founded as a Roman outpost, in about 54 BC. After being known by various forms of the name of the local river, the Ancre, it was renamed to Albert after it passed to Charles d'Albert, duc de Luynes. It is best known today as a key location in the Battle of the Somme in World War I, and World War I tourism is important for the town.<br /> <br /> During World War I, the statue of Mary and the infant Jesus - designed by sculptor Albert Roze and dubbed the "Golden Virgin" - on top of the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Brebières was hit by a shell on January 15, 1915, and slumped to a near-horizontal position, where however it remained until further shelling in 1918 destroyed the tower. The Germans said that whoever made the statue fall would lose the war, and a number of legends surrounding the "Leaning Virgin" developed among German, French, and British soldiers. The Leaning Virgin became an especially familiar image to the thousands of British soldiers who fought at the Battle of the Somme (1916), many of whom passed through Albert, which was situated three miles from the front lines. As "The Golden Virgin" it provided Henry Williamson with the title of the sixth book in his fictionalised autobiographical sequence, A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight. The book describes events surrounding the Battle of the Somme from a soldier's perspective.<br /> <br /> The German army recaptured the town in March 1918 during the Spring Offensive; the British, to prevent the Germans from using the church tower as an observation post, directed their bombardment against the basilica. The statue fell in April 1918 and was never recovered. In August 1918 the Germans were again forced to retreat, and the British reoccupied Albert until the end of the war.<br /> <br /> Albert was com
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