Gott strafe England

The stereoview shows a group of German prisoners of war, guarded by French soldiers on horses. They are walking along a building with the text Gott strafe England!. The photo was taken near the village of Bucy-le-Long in Northern France.

Gott strafe England (“May God punish England”) was a slogan used by the German army during the First World War. The slogan came from the German poet Ernst Lissauer, who was also the writer of the poem Hassgesang gegen England (“Hate song against England”)¹. The text on the facade dates from the time that Bucy-le-Long was occupied by German troops and reflects the nationalistic sentiments at the beginning of the war.

Great Britain had promised to support the Belgians if their neutrality was violated. On 4 August 1914, the German armies crossed Belgium territory to launch their attack on France. The same day, Great Britain declared war on Germany. The involvement of the British would ultimately hit the Germans hard. The British Royal Navy blocked the sea routes to Germany, causing food and raw material shortages during the war. The German navy tried to break through the blockade during the Battle of Jutland in 1916. It became one of the greatest naval battles in history. Although the Germans managed to sink more British ships, it was a strategic victory for the British as the naval blockade remained intact. The blockade was one of the reasons Germany had to surrender in 1918.

The text on the facade inspired more photographers. The next autochrome was made in June 1917 by Fernand Cuville of La Section Photographique de l’Armée.

The building in the photo was part of a distillery, today a sugar factory. The first distillery on this site was Cungnier et Cie, founded in 1862. In 1891, the distillery was taken over by Louis-Joseph Beauchamps and, after his death in 1901, continued by his son Louis Edouard Beauchamps.

During the First World War, the distillery was in the front line and aerial photos reveal trenches around the site. The distillery was largely destroyed but was rebuilt after the war. Beauchamps took the initiative to merge with a number of other distilleries and sugar factories that had been destroyed during the war. On 6 August 1921, the company “La Société des Sucreries et Distilleries du Soissonnais” was founded, with its location in Bucy-le-Long².

Today, the factory still exists and is located along the Aisne river, on the road between Bucy-le-Long and Crouy.

References

1. Ernst Lissauer. Via: en.wikipedia.org ↩︎
2. La Sucrerie de Bucy-le-Long. Via: sucrerie-francieres.fr ↩︎