Montreuil-sur-Mer, France - Boulevard de la Gare, station - postcard c.1910s

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  Montruil-sur-Mer [Pas de Calais, France] - Boulevard de la Gare [Station Avenue]
• Publisher: Editions Fontaine Segret
• Postally used: no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

Please ask if you need any other information and I will do the best I can to answer.

Image may be low res for illustrative purposes - if you need a higher definition image then please contact me and I may be able to send one. No cards have been trimmed (unless stated).

------------------------------------------------

Postage & Packing:

Postage and packing charge should be showing for your location (contact if not sure).

No additional charges for more than one postcard. You can buy as many postcards from me as you like and you will just pay the fee above once. Please wait for combined invoice. (If buying postcards with other things such as books, please contact or wait for invoice before paying).

Payment Methods:

UK - PayPal, Cheque (from UK bank) or postal order

Outside UK: PayPal ONLY (unless otherwise stated) please.   NO non-UK currency checks or money orders (sorry).

NOTE: All postcards are sent in brand new stiffened envelopes which I have bought for the task. These are specially made to protect postcards and you may be able to re-use them. In addition there are other costs to sending so the above charge is not just for the stamp!

I will give a full refund if you are not fully satisfied with the postcard.

----------------------------------------------

Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

*************

Montreuil or Montreuil-sur-Mer (French pronunciation: ​[mɔ̃tʁœj syʁ mɛʁ]) is a sub-prefecture in the Pas-de-Calaisdepartment in northern France. It is located on the Canche river, not far from Étaples. The sea, however, is now some distance away.

Montreuil is surrounded by notable brickwork ramparts, constructed following the destruction of the town by troops of Habsburg emperor Charles V in June 1537.^[1] These fortifications pre-date the extensive fortification of towns in northern France by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban in the 17th century.

Montreuil was the headquarters of the British Army in France during the First World Warfrom March 1916 until it closed in April 1919. The military academy providing excellent facilities for GHQ.

Montreuil was chosen as G.H.Q. for a wide variety of reasons. It was on a main road from London to Paris—the two chief centres of the campaign—though not on a main railway line, which would have been an inconvenience. It was not an industrial town and so avoided the complications alike of noise and of a possibly troublesome civil population. It was from a telephone and motor transit point of view in a very central situation to serve the needs of a Force which was based on Dunkirk, Calais, Boulogne, Dieppe, and Havre, and had its front stretching from the Somme to beyond the Belgian frontier.^[2]

The statue of Field Marshal Haig, standing outside the theatre in Montreuil-sur-Mer

Haig staff member Sir Frank Fox OBE wrote a critically acclaimed contemporary account of the headquarters in 1916, originally published under the pseudonym "GSO", called G.H.Q. (Montreuil-sur-Mer) His work in the QMG's Directorate in the final offensive against the German Army resulted in his being awarded the OBE (Military) He was also Mentioned in Despatches.

General Haig was quartered in the nearby Château de Beaurepaire, two miles (3.2 kilometres) SE of the town on the D138. There is a plaque on the château wall to commemorate the event.

King George V, accompanied by Haig, made a triumphant passage through Montreuil on his way to Paris on 27 November 1918.^[3]

A statue of Haig on horseback, commemorating his stay, can be seen outside the theatre on the Place Charles de Gaulle.^[4] During the German occupation of the town during the Second World War, the statue was taken down. It was never found and is thought to have been melted down. It was rebuilt in the 1950s, using the sculptor's original mould.