Last modified: 2004-07-31 by ivan sache
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![[Flag of Villeneuve d'Ascq]](../images/f/fr-59-vi.gif)
by Pascal Vagnat
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The ville nouvelle of Villeneuve d'Ascq was created in
1970 in the eastern outskirts of Lille (north of France) by merging the
municipalities of Annapes, Ascq and Flers.
Although the most ancient village is probably Annapes, where Charlemagne
founded a royal estate in order to improve the quality of malting
barley and to standardize brewery, the ville nouvelle was named after
Ascq to recall the massacre of 86 inhabitants of the village in 1944.
On 1 April 1944 in the evening, a train running from Tournai (Belgium)
to Lille was hit by an act of sabotage when crossing Ascq. This German
train transported 60 tanks and 600 soldiers from the 12th SS division to
Normandy. Commanded by lieutnant Hauck, the soldiers cought the 86 men
of the village and slaughtered them immediatly near the signal box. The
youngest victim was 15, the oldest was 74. The priest of Ascq was among
the victims.
The massacre of Ascq caused a big stir. The puppet government of the
French State officially protested that such acts would tarnish the good
image of Germany in France (sic) and was answered that the "terrorists"
had got what they had deserved. In spite of the prohibition of any
rally, 20,000 people from the region of Lille attended the