This text was translated automatically from French.

19th century1889Verified

The old station and the railway

The Albert–Péronne–Ham branch line

Combles was once served by the railway. The Albert–Péronne–Ham branch line, opened in 1889, ran through several villages of the Upper Somme and had a station at Combles. The Somme departmental archives hold files on the line and its facilities. The railway changed the way people travelled and goods were traded. Old postcards, plans, the route of the line and family memories still make it possible today to trace the station and compare it with the present-day landscape.

Sources

Archives départementales de la Somme.

https://archives.somme.fr/document/1422w

Further reading

Today

Combles today

The population of Combles never returned to its 19th-century level. Today the commune has around 750 inhabitants.

Great War / memory today

Did you know? The parish register saved from the ruins

A Combles parish register from 1784 is said to have been recovered from the ruins of the town hall during the war, before being returned to the Somme archives in 2004.

Second World War

Combles in the Second World War

The history of Combles does not end with the reconstruction: the village was once again under German occupation from 1940 to 1945.

Reconstruction

Reconstruction and remembrance

After the Armistice, Combles was among the hardest-hit villages of the Upper Somme. The reconstruction of the 1920s reshaped the village, including Saint-Vaast Church and the war memorial.

First World War remembrance sites around Combles

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