Germans occupy Reims

The British chronicle of the war recorded the capture of Reims by German troops under 5 September 1914. In fact the Germans entered the city a day earlier, on 4 September, and by 5 September it was entirely in their hands. Reims, the capital of Champagne, had a special significance for the French: for centuries the kings of France had been crowned in its cathedral.

An undefended city

At the end of August the French armies were retreating south after losing the Battle of the Frontiers. There was no intention of defending Reims, and the last French units left it at the beginning of September. On 3 September German envoys arrived in the city, and in the evening the first patrols appeared in the streets. The inhabitants were ordered to hand over all weapons on pain of death.

On the morning of 4 September German shells unexpectedly fell on the city. The shelling lasted about 40 minutes. Several houses collapsed, churches were damaged, and in the cathedral medieval stained glass was blown out of the windows. According to local accounts several dozen people were killed, including women and children. The Germans later explained that the bombardment had been a “regrettable misunderstanding” connected with the envoys’ mission. The inhabitants rather suspected a wish to intimidate the city. After the shelling white flags were hung from the cathedral and the town hall. In the afternoon Saxon units of the 3rd Army of General Max von Hausen entered Reims.

Nine days of occupation

The Germans billeted soldiers in the city, demanded deliveries of food and fodder for their horses, and took control of the city’s life. The burden of dealing with the occupiers fell on the mayor, Dr Jean-Baptiste Langlet, who remained at his post and tried to protect the inhabitants from reprisals.

After the Battle of the Marne, which began in the first days of this occupation, the German armies had to withdraw. On 12 September, before leaving Reims, the Germans took about a hundred prominent citizens as hostages. The mayor had to sign and publish a proclamation announcing that the hostages would be hanged if any hostile acts occurred in the city. The withdrawal passed off quietly, and the hostages were released during the night outside the city. On 13 September troops of the French 5th Army of General Louis Franchet d’Espèrey entered Reims.

A city on the front line

The Germans halted only a few kilometres north and east of Reims, on the heights surrounding the city. From there their artillery shelled Reims for the next four years. The shelling that most shocked the world was that of 19 September 1914, when shells set fire to the cathedral’s wooden roof, and the flames consumed the scaffolding and the straw laid out inside for wounded German prisoners. The burning cathedral of Reims became for the French and their allies a symbol of German barbarism. By the end of the war the city was almost completely ruined.