NAMES AND PLACES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 51, 14 June 1940, Page 2

NAMES AND PLACES

Distinguished Airman Air-Marshal Sir Philip Joubert de la Ferte, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., who referred to the dangers of parachute troops during a recent broadcast, commanded the Royal Air Force in India until recently. Before that he commanded the Coastal Command of the R.A.F. in Britain. Air-Marshal Joubert de la Ferte has had an amazing career with the Air Force. He was educated for the army, but joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1913. "When war broke out he fiew in France, then spent a year in Egypt, then two in Italy. He was mentioned six times in despatches and decorated twice by the Italian Government for bravery. Since 1927 he has held important commanding positions and has been in charge of the Air Force Staff College at Andover. To-day he is one of the principal staff officers of the Air Ministry. Abbeville New Zealand soldiers of the last war have pleasant memories of Abbeville, which is now in the line of the renewed German attack. When the Division arrived from Egypt in 1916, A.S.C. units went there to complete their equipment before rejoining the Division in the line at Armentiéres. The small villages of the surrounding country were the scene of intense training for the Battle of the Somme and often for rest periods out of the line. Abbeville is on the River Somme, 12 miles from the mouth, and is built partly on an island.

One of its most notable architectural features is the Church of St. Wolfram, which was begun in the region of Louis XII, and is a magnificent example of the Flamboyant style. There is also a museum containing a rich collection of antiquities. Flint instruments, associated with the remains of the mammoth and rhinoceros, were found near Abbeville in 1841. Woollen, linen and hemp goods are manufactured in the town, which is also the centre of a large grain trade. It has a population of nearly 20,000. Valenciennes Valenciennes, once famous for its lace, is the site of one of the great fortresses in northern France, close to the Belgian border. The country around it is a great coal basin, with numerous pits. To-day Valenciennes is an important manufacturing town, as well_as a fort. It is the centre of the sugar-beet industry, and contains important iron works, as well as plants for the manufacture of fine cambric, cotton yarn, hosiery and linseed oil. Valenciennes is also the birthplace of several famous people, including Baldwin, Emperor of Constantinople; Froissart; Carpeaux, the sculptor; and Watteau and Harpignes, the painters. Among its famous buildings are the Citadel, built by Vauban, the town hall, with its decorated facade, and its modern Gothic church. Fierce fighting took place around the town in the early days of 1914, when the Allies fell back. The Germans made a stand there when they retreated in 1918, but until that time it was held by them for the duration of the war.