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Bazeilles () is a commune in the Ardennes department in the Grand Est region of northern France. INSEE commune file On 1 January 2017, the former communes of Rubécourt-et-Lamécourt and Villers-Cernay were merged into Bazeilles. Arrêté préfectoral 15 June 2016 On 1 January 2024, the former commune of La Moncelle was merged into Bazeilles.
The inhabitants of the commune are known as Bazeillais or Bazeillaises. Inhabitants of Ardennes
The commune has been awarded three flowers by the National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom in the Competition of cities and villages in Bloom. Competition for Towns and Villages in Bloom website
The Meuse river forms the south-western border of the commune as it flows north-west to eventually join the Hollands Diep at Lage Zwaluwe (Netherlands). The Chiers river flows from the north-east forming part of the south-eastern border before joining the Meuse in the south-eastern corner of the commune. The Ruisseau de la Givinne flows from the north through the centre of the commune before joining the Meuse in the south.
Bazeilles appears as Bazeille on the 1750 Cassini Map and the same on the 1790 version.
It was possible that a small castle guarded the road to Douzy and Yvois (Carignan) and would have been in the northern part of the park of the current Chateau of Orival along the Givonne (rue du General Lebrun).
From 1560 to 1642 Bazeilles was part of the Principality of Sedan.
During the battle, French civilians actively participated by firing on Bavarian troops and tending to the wounded. Angered by the casualties the civilians inflicted, the Bavarian soldiers killed many of them, setting fire to houses from which the shots were fired. By midday, the whole village was on fire.Schmidthuber (Hrsg.): Der deutsch-Französische Krieg 1870/71 unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Antheilnahme der Bayern. Auszug aus dem Generalstabswerk, J. F. Rietsch, Landshut 1900, S. 90 Captured Franc-tireur partisans, along with other civilians who were considered unlawful combatants, were later executed. Although French propaganda showed massacres of men, women and children, an official French investigation found that only 39 civilians from Bazeilles died.Jan N. Lorenzen: The great battles – myths, people, stories, Routledge, 2006, Frankfurt, p.162 According to other data, 31 civilians were killed, wounded, or were missing due to direct fighting. Dennis A. Showalter: The face of modern warfare. Sedan 1st, and second In September 1870. Stig Förster, Markus Pohlmann, Dierk Walter (ed.): battles in world history. Salamis to Sinai. Munich 2001, p 239 An additional 150 people (10% of the village population) died from injuries in the subsequent months.
Bazeilles was awarded the Legion of Honour on 9 October 1900.
Bazeilles is one of the communes where is the action of the novel "La débâcle" by Emile Zola is set.
The commune has a number of buildings and sites that are registered as historical monuments:
Toponymy
The name Bazeilles would have appeared in the 6th or 7th century and comes from a variation of the Latin word Basilicatum meaning "church".
History
Middle Ages
In the 13th century Bazeilles was a small lordship dependent on the Abbey of Mouzon and the Reims Cathedral before being united with the lordship of Sedan-Balan under the yoke of Gilles II of Hierges. The new lordship of Sedan-Balan-Bazeilles become the "starting point" of the future Principality of Sedan. 2000 years of History of the Sedanais, P. Congar, 1967
Franco-Prussian War
Related article: Battle of Sedan.
During the Battle of Bazeilles on 1 September 1870 the commune was the scene of intense fighting between units of French marines and Bavarian regiments. Under the command of Commander Lambert and Captains Aubert, Bourgey, Delaury, Picard and the Blue Division, in the Bourgerie Inn, a few hundred men and officers resisted until their ammunition was completely exhausted. This moment of history was illustrated by the famous painting by Alphonse-Marie-Adolphe de Neuville painted in 1873: The last cartridges and conserved in Bazeilles in the House of the last cartridge.
Second World War
During the Second World War and during the Phoney War, the command post of the 5th Light Cavalry Division under General Jacques-Marie Chanoine was established in Bazeilles.Jean-Yves Mary, The Corridor of Panzers, Vol. I, Bayeux, Heimdal, 2009, p. 34 Then the Battle of France was triggered on 10 May 1940 and the Cavalry Division left for Belgium. A few days later Bazeilles was taken by the 10th Panzer Division under Ferdinand Schaal. Bazeilles was the initial base for the Schützen-Regiment 69 (Infantry from the 10th Panzer-Division), who, on the afternoon of 13 May 1940, launched an attack to cross the Meuse. The attempt was thwarted by the French artillery.Jean-Yves Mary, The Corridor of Panzers, Vol. I, Bayeux, Heimdal, 2009, p. 243 At the same time an attempt by the Schützen-Regiment 86 (the other infantry regiment of the 10th Panzer Division) in front of Wadelincourt succeeded and the Schützen-Regiment 69 then swerved then to that sector.Jean-Yves Mary, The Corridor of Panzers, Vol. I, Bayeux, Heimdal, 2009, p. 250
Heraldry
Administration
List of Successive Mayors List of Mayors of France
Doctor Butcher General Councillor (1992–2004)
Demography
In 2017 the commune had 2,394 inhabitants.
Culture and heritage
Civil heritage
Notable people linked to the commune
See also
Bibliography
Jacques Rousseau: Bazeilles, origins and mutations, 2002. .
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