Places of the war
Albert in the First World War
A town on the Ancre behind the British line on the Somme, known for its "Leaning Virgin". It named three battles and was wholly destroyed in 1918.
- Type:
- City
- In 1914:
- France
- Today:
- France
- Author:
- Łukasz Skowroń
- Updated:
- 31 October 2026
Albert is a small town on the river Ancre, halfway between Amiens and Bapaume. From the autumn of 1914 it lay just behind the front on the Allied side, and in 1916 it was the main base of the British offensive on the Somme. Three battles took their name from the town: those of 1914, 1916 and 1918. Soldiers remembered it above all for the “Leaning Virgin” on the basilica tower, and the war left nothing of it but ruins.
The front outside the town (1914–1915)
In September 1914, during the race to the sea, the French and Germans tried to outflank each other north of the Somme. In the First Battle of Albert the Germans took Bapaume and on 27 September reached Thiepval. The next day they tried to break through to Albert and on towards Amiens, but French infantry and artillery stopped them on the line Maricourt – Fricourt – Thiepval. The front set a few kilometres from the town, and Albert itself, shelled by German artillery, was largely destroyed.
Above the ruins rose the tower of the neo-Byzantine basilica of Notre-Dame de Brebières with its gilded statue of the Virgin and Child. On 15 January 1915 a shell hit the dome, and the statue tilted and hung almost horizontally over the street. Millions of soldiers and picture postcards knew it, and in the trenches it was said that when it fell, the war would end. In the summer of 1915 the British took over the sector at Albert from the French.
Base of the Battle of the Somme (1916)
The old road to Bapaume ran through Albert, and the 1916 offensive was to go along it. From August 1915 British units and field ambulances buried their dead beside the town cemetery. On 1 July 1916, two minutes before zero hour, the Lochnagar mine exploded under the village of La Boisselle on that road, and the 34th (Tyneside) Division advanced east along the highway. North of the road the attack failed almost everywhere. The British called the first two weeks of the offensive the Battle of Albert.
As the front moved east, the town became a great rear hub. From September 1916 field ambulances were concentrated there, and from November the 5th Casualty Clearing Station buried its dead there for two months. Soldiers from Britain, Canada, Australia and India lie in the cemetery.
The Germans in Albert (1918)
In March 1918 the war came back. During Operation Michael the British 3rd Army’s V Corps fell back behind the Ancre on the night of 25–26 March and gave up the ruins of Albert without a fight. On 26 March at about 5 p.m. the Germans entered the town, but fire from British machine guns on the high bank kept them from leaving it westwards. The hungry soldiers found plentiful British supplies in Albert. On 5 April, in Michael’s last attack, the Germans tried once more to break through on the Ancre, but at Albert they were driven back.
According to most sources the statue on the tower fell on 16 April 1918, when British artillery shelled the basilica so that the Germans could not use the tower for observation or as a machine-gun post. The war, however, went on for another seven months, and the statue itself was never found.
On 22 August 1918, the second day of the Battle of Albert, the British 18th Division crossed the Ancre on footbridges thrown over during the night and retook the town. The 8th East Surreys cleared the ruins, and by 10 a.m. there were hardly any Germans left in Albert. The next day the 38th (Welsh) Division took Usna Hill east of the town. Recaptured Albert had been completely destroyed by artillery fire.
After the war
The town was rebuilt from scratch, its main streets widened in the process. The basilica was rebuilt to the old plans in 1927–1931, and a faithful copy of the gilded statue was placed on the tower. British war cemeteries grew up around Albert, and the town itself became the starting point for visitors to the Somme battlefield.
Sources
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Battles here and nearby
(17)- 22–25 September 1914First Battle of AlbertIn September 1914 the French and Germans clashed between Bapaume and Albert. On the hills above the Somme and Ancre a front formed that lasted until July 1916.
- 1 July – 18 November 1916Battle of the SommeFrom 1 July to 18 November 1916 the British and French attacked on the Somme. They gained 10 km at most, and the two sides together lost over a million men.
- 1–13 July 1916Battle of Albert (1916)First phase of the Somme, 1–13 July 1916. In bloody fighting the British took La Boisselle, Contalmaison and Mametz Wood, below the German second line.
- 14–17 July 1916Battle of Bazentin RidgeOn 14–17 July 1916 the British 4th Army, after a night approach and dawn assault, took the German second line from Longueval to Bazentin-le-Petit on the Somme.
- 23 July – 3 September 1916Battle of Pozières RidgeFrom 23 July to 3 September 1916 three Australian divisions on the Somme took the village of Pozières and the windmill ridge, losing about 23,000 men.
- 15–22 September 1916Battle of Flers–CourceletteOn 15–22 September 1916 British and Dominion troops took Flers, Martinpuich, Courcelette and High Wood on the Somme. Tanks fought for the first time.
- 26–28 September 1916Battle of Thiepval RidgeOn 26–28 September 1916 Gough's Reserve Army took Thiepval and Mouquet Farm on the Somme, but the Stuff and Schwaben redoubts were fought over for days more.
- 1 October – 11 November 1916Battle of the Ancre HeightsFrom 1 October to 11 November 1916 Gough's Reserve Army, in rain and mud, took the Stuff and Schwaben redoubts and Regina Trench on the Thiepval ridge.
- 13–18 November 1916Battle of the AncreOn 13–18 November 1916 Gough's Fifth Army took Beaumont-Hamel, Beaucourt and Saint-Pierre-Divion on the Ancre. Serre held and snow ended the Somme battle.
- 21 March – 5 April 1918Operation MichaelFrom 21 March to 5 April 1918 three German armies broke the British front on the Somme and advanced more than 60 km, but did not take Amiens.
- 24–25 March 1918First Battle of BapaumeOn 24–25 March 1918 the British Third Army fell back across the old Somme battlefield. It lost Bapaume and on the night of 25 March withdrew behind the Ancre.
- 26–27 March 1918Battle of RosièresOn 26–27 March 1918 British XIX Corps held the Santerre on the road to Amiens. The Germans took Albert, Chaulnes, Roye and Montdidier but did not break through.
- 28 March 1918First Battle of Arras (1918)On 28 March 1918 the German Seventeenth Army attacked at Arras in Operation Mars. The British repulsed the assault, and Ludendorff called it off that evening.
- 5 April 1918Battle of the Ancre, 1918On 5 April 1918 the Germans attacked on the Ancre at Dernancourt, Aveluy and Bucquoy. They took only scraps of ground; that evening Ludendorff ended Michael.
- 8 August – 11 November 1918Hundred Days OffensiveFrom 8 August to 11 November 1918 the Allies under Foch, in a series of attacks, drove the Germans off the Hindenburg Line to the Meuse and forced an armistice.
- 21–23 August 1918Battle of Albert (1918)On 21–23 August 1918 the British Third and Fourth Armies broke the German line on the Albert–Arras railway, retook Albert and won the heights above the Ancre.
- 21 August – 3 September 1918Second Battle of the SommeFrom 21 August to 3 September 1918 the British Third and Fourth Armies drove the Germans across the old Somme battlefield, retaking Albert, Bapaume and Péronne.