Roclincourt

French commune
nomcommune=Roclincourt
Position of Roclincourt
région=Nord-Pas-de-Calais
département=Pas-de-Calais
arrondissement=Arras
canton=Dainville
insee=62714
cp=62223
maire=Michel Godart
mandat=2001-2008
intercomm=Communauté de communes de l'Artois
longitude=2.787
latitude=50.32583
alt moy=74 m
alt mini=68 m
alt maxi=111 m
hectares=593
km²=5.93
sans=748
date-sans=1999
dens=126
date-dens=1999

Roclincourt is a small village in the "département" of Pas-de-Calais, in northern France. The population of the village is 748 (1999 figures).

Geography

Roclincourt is situated 4 km north of the town of Arras, and 13 km south of Lens, and approximately 110 km from Calais.

Administration

The town hall is in the Rue de Thulus and is open to the public.

Town hall opening times

List of successive mayors

History

World War I

Roclincourt found itself uncomfortably close to most of the fighting during the 1914-1918 World War I. With tragic consciences for the village. During the opening years of the war the nearby trenches were manned by French troops of the 10th Army. In February of 1916 the 10th army was sent to re-enforce Verdun which had been under heavy attack by the Germans. In its place in the Roclincourt sector, British troops of 5th Division, 95th Brigade, namely the 1st Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, who rotated every three days with the 1st Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment. The British troops were surprised and not pleased to find the trenches along this sector to be in a very poor condition. The parapets were in a very poor state and there were insufficient firing platforms. It took these two battalions some time to get the trenches back up to a good standard. On the plus side, the area had become relatively quiet, although there was a campaign of mining and counter-mining. To this day craters can still be found along the line of the front in this area. The line suffered from occasional bombardments from the German lines. Both the Devonshires and the East Surreys suffered casualties due to these bombardments and members of both regiments can be found in the cemeteries around Roclincourt and Arras. Below are three such soldiers of the Devonshire Regiment that were all killed when shells landed in their trenches at Roclincourt on the 21st & 24th April 1916.

During World War I the village was very close to the front and by the end of the conflict it had been completely destroyed. The village was then rebuilt.

Transportation

* Roads: 1 km east of N17, 3.9 km from Autoroute A26
* Rail: LGV Nord from Arras
* Bus: Local service
* Air: provincial Airport of Roclincourt

Close to the village is a provincial airport which is called Roclincourt and has the Airport ICAO code LFQD, were there is one runway that is 1,025m in length and 60m wide. The airfield is also home to a flying club called the Wings of Artois Association (website linked below). The village has excellent road links, being close to a junction on the A26 autoroute which gives it good access to the whole of the European motorway networks.

Miscellaneous

Roclincourt is twinned with Montesquiou, Gers, France, since 1999.

External links

* [http://www.1914-1918.net/sacredground/Arras/roclincourt.htm Roclicourt Battlefields]
* [http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.villorama.com/roclincourt.htm&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=5&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DRoclincourt%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DGGLG,GGLG:2005-26,GGLG:en Roclincourt (Villorama]
* [http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://aaa.planeur.free.fr/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=7&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DRoclincourt%26start%3D30%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DGGLG,GGLG:2005-26,GGLG:en%26sa%3DN The Wings of Artois Association]