Neuville-Saint-Vaast

Neuville-Saint-Vaast
Neuville-Saint-Vaast
	Town hall and the church
	Location of Neuville-Saint-Vaast
Country	France
Region	Hauts-de-France
Department	Pas-de-Calais
Arrondissement	Arras
Canton	Vimy
Intercommunality	Artois
Government
• Mayor (2008–2014)	Jean-Pierre Puchois
Area 1	12.59 km2 (4.86 sq mi)
Population (2006)	1,520
• Density	120/km2 (310/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	62609 /62580
Elevation	81–144 m (266–472 ft) ; (avg. 107 m or 351 ft)
	1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Neuville-Saint-Vaast is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.

Geography

Neuville-Saint-Vaast is situated 4 miles (6 km) north of Arras, at the junction of the D49 and D55 roads. The A26 autoroute passes through the commune.

History

In World War I, Neuville-Saint-Vaast was the location of intense mining activity by the tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers. In March 1916, the New Zealand Tunnelling Company relieved the French 7/1 compagnie d'ingénieurs territoriaux in the "Labyrinth" sector of the Western Front. The German "Labyrinth" stronghold was located near Neuville-Saint-Vaast, between Roclincourt and Écurie and not far from Notre Dame de Lorette.^[1] On 29 March 1916, the New Zealand Tunnelling Company exchanged position with the 185th Tunnelling Company and moved to Roclincourt-Chantecler, a kilometre south of their old sector.^[1] The 176th Tunnelling Company moved to Neuville-Saint-Vaast in April 1916 and remained there for a considerable time,^[2] as did the 172nd Tunnelling Company, which was relieved at Neuville-Saint-Vaast by the 2nd Australian Tunnelling Company in May 1916.^[2]

Population

Population history
1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2006
918	927	973	1129	1295	1401	1520
Census count starting from 1962: Population without duplicates

Places of interest

The church of St.Laurent, rebuilt, as was all of the village, after World War I.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries.
The war memorial.

Notable people

Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, sculptor, died in the fighting here on the 5 June 1915.
François Hennebique, an inventor of reinforced concrete, was born here on the 26 April 1842.

References

INSEE commune file

^ ^a ^b Byledbal, Anthony. "New Zealand Tunnelling Company: Chronology". Retrieved 5 July 2015.
^ ^a ^b "The Tunnelling Companies RE". The Long, Long Trail. Retrieved 25 April 2015.

External links

This Arras arrondissement, Pas-de-Calais geographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[nztunnellerschronology-1] Byledbal, Anthony. "New Zealand Tunnelling Company: Chronology". Retrieved 5 July 2015.

[tunnelcoyre-2] "The Tunnelling Companies RE". The Long, Long Trail. Retrieved 25 April 2015.

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