Douchy-lès-Ayette
Douchy-lès-Ayette | |
|---|---|
 The town hall of Douchy-lès-Ayette | |
 Coat of arms | |
 Location of Douchy-lès-Ayette | |
  Douchy-lès-Ayette Location within France  Douchy-lès-Ayette Location within Hauts-de-France | |
| Coordinates: 50°10′37″N 2°43′05″E / 50.1769°N 2.7181°E | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Hauts-de-France |
| Department | Pas-de-Calais |
| Arrondissement | Arras |
| Canton | Bapaume |
| Intercommunality | CC Sud-Artois |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2020–2026) | Jean-Charles Derue[1] |
Area 1 | 5.5 km2 (2.1 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 106 m (348 ft) |
| Highest elevation | 147 m (482 ft) |
| Lowest elevation | 92 m (302 ft) |
| Population (2023)[2] | 286 |
| • Density | 52/km2 (130/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 62272 /62116 |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Douchy-lès-Ayette is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France[3] 9 miles (14 km) south of Arras.
Population
[edit]| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1968 | 309 | — |
| 1975 | 288 | −1.00% |
| 1982 | 295 | +0.34% |
| 1990 | 321 | +1.06% |
| 1999 | 312 | −0.32% |
| 2007 | 317 | +0.20% |
| 2012 | 299 | −1.16% |
| 2017 | 308 | +0.59% |
| 2023 | 286 | −1.23% |
| Source: INSEE[4] | ||
History
[edit]Ancien Régime
[edit]Under the Ancien Régime, in 1789 Douchy formed part of the military government of Arras and was governed by the customary law of Artois. Its parish church belonged to the Diocese of Arras, within the deanery of Croisilles, the district of Neuville-Vitasse, and the chapelry of Ayette. It was dedicated to Saint Vaast.[5]
- Saint Vaast Church before the First World War
The original...
...church.
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First World War
[edit]During the First World War, Douchy-lès-Ayette lay on the Western Front. In his autobiographical memoir Storm of Steel, the former German soldier Ernst Jünger describes, at the beginning of the book in the chapter "Douchy and Monchy", the German occupation of Douchy-lès-Ayette between September 1915 and 1917 and its transformation into a garrison town by the 73rd Fusilier Regiment of the 111th Infantry Division. He recounts how all the notable locations in the village were adapted for military use. The neighbouring village of Monchy-au-Bois is likewise described as lying on the front line and consequently being heavily fortified during the conflict.[6] Opposing the Germans in this sector were British forces, including a Hindostan Royal Leicestershire Regiment.[6] The German occupation lasted from October 1914 until 21 March 1917.
During the occupation, the Germans established a cinema in the village[7] as well as a military cemetery,[8][9][10] and erected a German military memorial.[11]
The village was considered destroyed by the end of the war[12] and was awarded the Croix de guerre 1914–1918 on 23 September 1920, an honour also bestowed upon 276 other communes in the Pas-de-Calais department.[13][14]
The village was rebuilt by the Société coopérative de reconstruction de Douchy-lès-Ayette, which operated from 1919 to 1932.[15] Its architects were Maurice Fretellière and Henri Philippe, the latter of whom also contributed to the reconstruction of Arras.[16]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 2 December 2020.
- ↑ "Populations de référence 2023" (in French). National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 18 December 2025.
- ↑ INSEE commune file
- ↑ Population municipale entre 1968 et 2023, INSEE
- ↑ de Loisne, Auguste (1907). Dictionnaire topographique du département du Pas-de-Calais comprenant les noms de lieu anciens et modernes. Paris: Imprimerie nationale. p. 124.
- 1 2 Jünger 1929, p. Chapter 4
- ↑ "Cinema (Douchy-lès-Ayette)". imagesde14-18.eu. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
- ↑ "German military cemetery (Douchy-lès-Ayette)". imagesde14-18.eu. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
- ↑ "Military funeral (Douchy-lès-Ayette)". imagesde14-18.eu. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
- ↑ "German military cemetery (Douchy-lès-Ayette)". imagesde14-18.eu. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
- ↑ "German military memorial (Douchy-lès-Ayette)". imagesde14-18.eu. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
- ↑ Special Map of the Devastated Regions, 1920.
- ↑ "Communes decorated with the Croix de guerre 1914–1918" (PDF). Mémorial des batailles de la Marne – Dormans. p. 65. Retrieved 27 February 2025.
- ↑ Journal officiel, 24 September 1920, p. 14066.
- ↑ Geirnaert, Marie (2014). "Sociétés coopératives de reconstruction du Pas-de-Calais: 10 R 20/1–386 (1918–1949)" (PDF). archivesenligne.pasdecalais.fr. p. 29. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
- ↑ "The Great Reconstruction: Arras, a New City!". arraslagrandereconstruction.fr. April 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
Sources
[edit]- Jünger, Ernst (1929). Storm of Steel. Translated by Creighton, Basil. London: Chatto and Windus.
External links
[edit]
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