In 1870, a German Army of 20,000 men laid siege to Soissons on September 11. The garrison of 5,000 soldiers which held the town refused to surrender, and attempted several unsuccessful sorties. Posted on the surrounding heights, the German artillery violently bombarded the town, setting fire to some of the suburbs, the hospital, and part of the military commissariat established in the old Abbey of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes. A breach was finally made in the fortifications, and on October 16, after a siege of thirty-seven days, the city was forced to surrender.
During the late war, Soissons was twice occupied by the Germans: in 1914, from September 2 to 13, and in 1918, from May 29 to August 2, after the surprise attack at the Chemin-des-Dames (See pp. [4] & [7)].
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Soissons, sub-prefecture of the Aisne, was formerly fortified, but was dismantled after the Franco-German war of 1870. Before the late War, its population numbered 14 458.
The city proper remained confined within the narrow limits of its ancient walls. It is bounded on the east by the River Aisne, on the south by the small stream Crise, on the west by the Boulevard Jeanne d’Arc which follows the line of the old ramparts, and on the north by the rue Saint-Léger, near which may be seen (close to the tennis court) part of the remains of the old fortifications (See plan, p. [12]).
Beyond, lie the faubourgs: to the west and south, the modern faubourgs of Saint-Christophe, Crise, and Rheims; to the east, on the right bank of the Aisne, the old faubourgs: Saint-Waast (named after the Bishop who converted Clovis to Christianity), and Saint-Médard (after the Bishop who was buried there during the Merovingian epoch).
Before the War, Soissons was an important provision centre for Paris (corn and haricot beans). In its suburbs were numerous industrial concerns: boiler manufactories, mechanical workshops and various factories, distilleries, sugar-refineries, etc...
SOISSONS IN THE 16TH CENTURY.
Model (1560) kept in the Cathedral. Inside the battlemented
walls, six collegiates or abbeys were grouped around the Cathedral.
