TimelineMapsSearch QuotationsSearch Images

Follow us through the World War I centennial and beyond at Follow wwitoday on Twitter


German postcard map of the Western Front in Flanders, looking south and including Lille, Arras, Calais, and Ostend. In the Battle of the Yser in October, 1914, the Belgian Army held the territory south of the Yser Canal, visible between Nieuport, Dixmude, and Ypres (Ypern). Further north is Passchendaele, which British forces took at great cost in 1917.
Text:
Der Kanal
Straße von Calais
The English Channel and the Strait of Calais
Reverse:
Panorama des westlichen Kriegsschauplatzes 1914/15 Von Arras bis Ostende.
Die Panorama-Postkartenreihe umfaßt mit ihren 9 Abschnitten Nr. 400 bis 408 den gesamten westlichen Kriegsschauplatz von der Schweizer Grenze bis zur Nordseeküste.
Panorama of the western theater of operations 1914/15 from Arras to Ostend. The panoramic postcard series includes nine sections, with their No. 400-408 the entire western battlefield from the Swiss border to the North Sea coast.
Nr. 408
Wenau-Postkarte Patentamtl. gesch.

German postcard map of the Western Front in Flanders, looking south and including Lille, Arras, Calais, and Ostend. In the Battle of the Yser in October, 1914, the Belgian Army held the territory south of the Yser Canal, visible between Nieuport, Dixmude, and Ypres (Ypern). Further north is Passchendaele, which British forces took at great cost in 1917.

Image text

Der Kanal

Straße von Calais



The English Channel and the Strait of Calais



Reverse:

Panorama des westlichen Kriegsschauplatzes 1914/15 Von Arras bis Ostende.

Die Panorama-Postkartenreihe umfaßt mit ihren 9 Abschnitten Nr. 400 bis 408 den gesamten westlichen Kriegsschauplatz von der Schweizer Grenze bis zur Nordseeküste.



Panorama of the western theater of operations 1914/15 from Arras to Ostend. The panoramic postcard series includes nine sections, with their No. 400-408 the entire western battlefield from the Swiss border to the North Sea coast.



Nr. 408

Wenau-Postkarte Patentamtl. gesch.

Other views: Larger, Larger, Back

Monday, February 22, 1915

"Calais, a town with 66,627 inhab., including St. Pierre-lès-Calais (p. 5), and a fortress of the first class, derives its chief importance from its harbour and its traffic with England, to which it is the nearest port on the French coast. The chalk cliffs and castle of Dover, 21 M. distant, are visible in clear weather. About 300,000 travellers pass through the town annually; and in addition there is a brisk trade in timber, coal, etc. Calais contains 1500 English residents, chiefly engaged in its tuile-manufactories (p. 5).

Calais played a prominent part in the early wars between France and England. Its harbour was the rendezvous for the fleet of the Dauphin Louis, who aid had been invited by the discontented English barons against King John. In 1346-47, after the battle of Crécy, Edward III starved it into surrender after a desperate resistance of eleven months. He consented to spare the town on condition that six noble citizens should place themselves, clad in their shirts and with halters around their necks, at his absolute disposal; and it was only by the urgent intercession of his queen, Philippa of Hainault, that he was induced to spare the lives of the unfortunate men, at whose head was the patriotic Eustache de St. Pierre. Calais remained in the hands of the English until 1558, when the Duke of Guise with 30,000 men succeeded in expelling the small English garrison (500 men) after a siege of seven days. In 1560 Mary Stuart set sail from Calais to assume the Scottish crown; and in 1814 Louis XVIII landed here on his return to his kingdom. The Spaniards made themselves masters of Calais in 1596, but the treaty of Vervins in 1598 restored it permanently to France."

Quotation Context

A Zeppelin bombed Calais, the Channel port closest to England, through which much of the traffic between England and France flowed, at about 5:00 AM the morning of February 2, 1915. Reports differ on the number of bombs, five or ten, but agree they killed five civilians: an octogenarian, a young girl, and a mother, father, and one of their two children, leaving a baby unharmed. (See paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.)

Source

Northern France from Belgium and the English Channel to the Loire Excluding Paris and its Environs; Handbook for Travellers by Karl Baedeker, Fifth Edition with 16 Maps and 55 Plans by Karl Baedeker, pp. 3, 4, copyright © 1909, publisher: Karl Baedeker, Publisher, publication date: 1909

Tags

Channel port, Calais, Zeppelin, bomb, bombing raid, February, 1915, 1915-02-21, 1915-02-22