Buzancy, Aisne
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The road into Buzancy
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 Buzancy
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Location within Hauts-de-France region
Buzancy
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| Coordinates: 49°18′52″N 3°20′54″E / 49.3144°N 3.3483°ECoordinates: 49°18′52″N 3°20′54″E / 49.3144°N 3.3483°E | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Hauts-de-France |
| Department | Aisne |
| Arrondissement | Soissons |
| Canton | Villers-Cotterêts |
| Intercommunality | Oulchy le Château |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2008–2014) | Jean-Claude Doublet |
| Area1 | 4.75 km2 (1.83 sq mi) |
| Population (2008)2 | 186 |
| • Density | 39/km2 (100/sq mi) |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 02138 /02200 |
| Elevation | 62–153 m (203–502 ft) (avg. 124 m or 407 ft) |
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. |
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Buzancy is a commune in the department of Aisne in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
Buzancy (Buzenciacus). Village of the former region of the Soissonnais, situated on high ground above a narrow valley 10 km south of Soissons. The first mention of Buzancy is in the 9th century. In the 11th century, it belonged to the lords of Pierrefonds who gave it to one of their junior branches. Buzancy became a county seat from then on, and a castle was constructed of which a tower still remains. The current chateau is that of the former fiefdom of Grandcourt. The church of Buzancy, dedicated to St. Martin, was once the destination of a well-travelled pilgrimage, people going there to cure a sore throat.
At the end of May 1918, the Imperial German Army's attempt to strike for Paris in the Third Battle of the Aisne swept over Soissons and its hinterland, including Buzancy. Eventually checked by the resistance of various Allied forces, the advance nevertheless left a threatening salient between Soissons and Rheims. Realising the opportunity for a decisive victory by "pinching-off" the salient, the Allied supremo General Foch ordered a counteroffensive across its "neck" from both sides, commencing very successfully on the Soissons side on 18 July 1918, assisted very effectively by Renault FT light tanks. The Germans, realising the enormity of what was at stake, defended the two strategic hinges of the salient with utmost determination in order to win sufficient time to withdraw the remainder of their forces from within the (shrinking) pocket.
The initial thrust towards Buzancy was entrusted to the already heavily-committed US 1st Division, to whose memory a monument now stands prominently by the side of the D1 Château-Thierry to Soissons main road near the turn-off up to the village. The battle-weary American infantry were relieved in some haste and confusion during the night of 22/23 July by the 15th (Scottish) Division, one of the four divisions of the British XXII Corps which a few days previously had been rushed to the salient as insurance against a German breakthrough to Paris. (The first task of the division was to bury the many American dead still lying in swathes in the cornfields where they had fallen.) The Corps command itself moving further south, the 15th and 34th divisions came under direct French Army command. Supported by US 1st Division heavy artillery pending arrival of their own, the 15th Division's first attack northwards of Buzancy in the coming dawn was poorly co-ordinated, suffered badly from unsuppressed machine-gun fire, and had only limited success.
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Wikipedia