Albert, Somme

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Mural depicting 1916 scene of destruction in Albert. Restored church is visible behind

Albert is a commune of the Somme département, in Picardie, northern France. Population: approx. 10,500 inhabitants.

It is located about halfway between Amiens and Bapaume.

1 History
2 See also
3 Twin Town
4 External link

[edit] History

Albert was founded as a Roman outpost called Encre, in about 54 BC. It is remembered today as the site of the Battle of the Somme in World War I. During World War 1, the statue of Mary on top of a church was hit by a shell and was put on a horizontal position and was near falling. The Germans said that whoever made the statue fall would lose the war. However, in the British camp, some engineers scaled the tower to secure the Madonna with steel ropes. Some time after, the Germans captured the town and used the church tower as an outpost. British artillery fired at the church because it was an outpost and a shell hit the Mary statue which fell from the church tower. The Germans were happy and believed the British would lose the war but 1 year later, Germany lost. After the war, the British joked that the statue should have been put back in its wartime position. The people of Albert said Non! Moreover, the statue disappeared completely and its whereabouts were never fully ascertained. It is believed that scrap merchants took advantage of the fallen statue. The present statue is an exact replica. The Abri (Shelter) Museum conserves souvenirs of the battle, in which there were over one million casualties.

[Albert Basilica:[1]