THE MOATS OF LA POMPELLE FORT (1918)
The Fort of La Pompelle, which is next reached, is now a mere heap of ruins. The road which led to the fort no longer exists. To visit the ruins of the fort, tourists will have to follow on foot the narrow-gauge railway which starts from the road (photo above).
Tradition has it that St. Timothy came from Asia to convert Rheims, suffered martyrdom, together with St. Apollinaris and several companions, on the hill known as La Pompelle, so-called perhaps from the procession (pompa or pompella) which, in the Middle Ages, used to visit the place of martyrdom of the saints.
This hill, which rises close to the crossing of the Rheims-St.-Hilaire-le-Grand and Rheims-Châlons Roads, was fortified after 1870, to flank the position of Berru on the south.
The road from Rheims to Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand (G.C. 7), which used to start from the "Alger Inn," at the cross-roads mentioned above, no longer exists. Like the inn, it was obliterated by the shelling. A huge crater now occupies the site of the Alger Inn (photo below).
CRATER, WHERE USED TO STAND THE "ALGER INN"
THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY OF WHAT WAS THE "ALGER INN" (1918)