Armentières

Armentières
Commune

The town hall

Coat of arms
Armentières

Coordinates: 50°41′17″N 2°52′52″E / 50.6881°N 2.8811°E / 50.6881; 2.8811Coordinates: 50°41′17″N 2°52′52″E / 50.6881°N 2.8811°E / 50.6881; 2.8811
Country France
Region Hauts-de-France
Department Nord
Arrondissement Lille
Canton Armentières
Intercommunality Métropole Européenne de Lille
Government
 • Mayor (2008–2020) Bernard Haesebroeck
Area1 6.28 km2 (2.42 sq mi)
Population (2009)2 25,089
 • Density 4,000/km2 (10,000/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
INSEE/Postal code 59017 /59280

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Armentières (IPA: [aʁmɑ̃tjɛːʁ]; Dutch: Armentiers) is a commune in the Nord department in the Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is part of the Urban Community of Lille Métropole.

The motto of the town is Pauvre mais fière (Poor but proud).

Geography

Armentières lies on the Belgian border, northwest of the city of Lille, on the right bank of the river Lys.

History

Armentières in 1649

In 1668, the town became French, along with most of the rest of French Flanders. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, Armentières acquired fame, being the “City of Fabric”. The industrial weaving, spinning and brewing grew in Armentières, benefitting from the presence of water.

Armentières particularly suffered at the time of the World Wars. However, the town did receive two Military Crosses (one for World War I and the second for the Second World War) and the Legion d'Honneur. In Armentières and in the neighbourhoods, the military cemeteries are places of remembrance for the casualties of the World Wars. "Mademoiselle from Armentières" was a popular song among Allied soldiers in World War I.

During World War I, in October 1914 the town was the site of the Battle of Armentières. In April 1918, German forces shelled Armentières with mustard gas. British troops were forced to evacuate the area but German troops could not enter the commune for two weeks because of the heavy contamination. Witnesses to the bombardment stated that the shelling was so heavy that liquid mustard ran in the streets.[1][2]

Population

Heraldry

 The arms of Armentières are blazoned :
Argent a fleur de lys gules and on a chief of the same a sun or and a decrescent of the same.

Railways

Armentières station

Armentières has a railway station on the line from Lille to Calais and Dunkirk.

International relations

Detail of the war memorial in the village of Preying (Saldenburg, Bavaria) naming Schütze Alois Feichtinger as killed at Armentières, 27 February 1917

Armentières is twinned with:

Famous people from Armentières

In fiction

Milady de Winter in The Three Musketeers hides in Armentières and is caught and executed there.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Heller, Charles E. (September 1984). "Chemical Warfare in World War I: The American Experience, 1917-1918". U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Archived from the original on July 4, 2007. Retrieved January 15, 2009.
  2. ↑ http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F70C15F93D5A11738DDDAE0894DE405B888DF1D3
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