L'HÔTEL DE VILLE

The vast building of the town hall was much coveted by the Army from 1916 onwards. For two months, in May and June 1916, it housed General Pétain's headquarters, when the latter was replaced by General Nivelle at the head of the 2nd Army and the Verdun sector. It was Joffre, the General-in-Chief of the French Armies, who had appointed Pétain to repel the offensive on Verdun launched by the Germans on 21 February 1916. Pétain set up his headquarters in Souilly, halfway between Bar-le-Duc and Verdun. He very quickly took very effective measures to contain the formidable German advance. However, he refused to launch the counter-offensive that Joffre wanted if his requests for reinforcements were not met. Joffre did not give in. Pétain was "politely dismissed". He was appointed head of the Army Group of the Centre, which headed the Second Army. On the 1st May 1916, he moved his headquarters to the town hall in Bar-le-Duc. At the end of June 1916, he transferred it to the château of Nettancourt, some 20 kilometres from Bar-le-Duc. At the town hall, Pétain and his staff occupied the council room and the marriage hall. Other departments of the French army would do the same later on. American units even replaced them for a time in the autumn of 1918, in particular the staff of the 3rd American division. A plaque near the entrance to the town hall recalls the American intervention in the war.