Roclincourt

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Coordinates: 50°19′33″N 2°47′13″E / 50.32583, 2.787

Administration
Commune of Roclincourt Position of Roclincourt
Location

Country	France
Region	Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Department	Pas-de-Calais
Arrondissement	Arras
Canton	Dainville
Intercommunality	Communauté de communes de l'Artois
Mayor	Michel Godart (2001-2008)
Statistics
Elevation	68 m–111 m (avg. 74 m)
Land area^¹	5.93 km²
Population^² (1999)	748
- Density	126/km² (1999)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	62714/ 62223
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) only counted once.

Roclincourt is a small village in the département of Pas-de-Calais, in northern France. The population of the village is 748 (1999 figures).

1 Geography
2 Administration
- 2.1 Town hall opening times
- 2.2 List of successsive mayors
3 History
- 3.1 World War I
4 Transportation
5 Miscellaneous
6 External links

[edit] Geography

Roclincourt is situated 4 km north of the town of Arras, and 13 km south of Lens, and approximately 110 km from Calais.

[edit] Administration

The town hall is in the Rue de Thulus and is open to the public.

[edit] Town hall opening times

Day	Times
Monday	4pm to 6:30pm
Tuesday	4pm to 6:30pm
Wednesday	9am to 11:30am
Friday	4:30pm to 7pm

[edit] List of successsive mayors

Name	dates
Michel Godart	1995-2008
Michel Duez	1989-1995
Serge Chiroux	1977-1989
Paul Legland	1959-1967
Francois Charon	1953-1959

[edit] History

[edit] World War I

Front Line to the North East of the Village

Roclincourt found itself uncomfortably close two most of the fighting during the 1914-1918 World War I. With tragic consciences for the village. During the opening years of the war the nearby trenches were manned by French troops of the 10th Army. In February of 1916 the 10th army was sent to re-enforce Verdun which had been under heavy attack by the Germans. In its place in the Roclincourt sector, British troops of 5th Division, 95th Brigade, namely the 1st Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, who rotated every three days with the 1st Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment. The British troops were surprised and not pleased to find the trenches along this sector to be in a very poor condition. The parapets were in a very poor state and there were insufficient firing platforms. It took these two battalions some time to get the trenches back up to a good standard. On the plus side, the area had become relatively quiet, although there was a campaign of mining and counter-mining. To this day craters can still be found along the line of the front in this area. The line suffered from occasional bombardments from the German lines. Both the Devonshires and the East Surrey's suffered casualties due to these bombardments and members of both regiments can be found in the cemeteries around Roclincourt and Arras. Below are three such soldiers of the Devonshire Regiment that were all killed when a shell landed in there trench at Roclincourt on the 21st/24th April 1916.

During World War I the village was very close to the front and by the end of the conflict it had been completely destroyed. The village was then rebuilt.

A modern map with the frontline close to Roclincourt highlighted in green

Headstone of W J P Hobbs

Headstone of F Short

Headstone of A R Stwphens

[edit] Transportation

Roads: 1 km east of N17, 3.9 km from Autoroute A26
Rail: LGV Nord from Arras
Bus: Local service
Air: provincial Airport of Roclincourt

Close to the village is a provincial airport which is called Roclincourt and has the Airport ICAO code LFQD, were there is one runway that is 1,025m in length and 60m wide. The airfield is also home to a flying club called the Wings of Artois Association (website linked below). The village has excellent road links, being close to a junction on the A26 autoroute which gives it good access to the whole of the European motorway networks.