I heard a report on Radio 4 this morning about an English woman, Maureen Searle, who'd moved to France more than 25 years ago and has just been elected as the first English-born mayor of a French commune.

The commune in question is Mont Saint-Elloa near to Arras, which is very much on the landscape

of the First World War, a village fought over between the French and the Germans in the early

phase of the war, and then once captured was behind the French lines in the continuation and the Germans in the early phase of the war and then once captured

was behind the French lines in the continuation of the advance there towards Notre Dame

de Lorette and eventually Vimy Ridge and once the British took over this sector behind their

lines as well. It's a village that had some damage in the war. Many of the structures within

the village show battle damage but largely it survived those four damage in the war. Many of the structures within the village show battle damage,

but largely it survived those four years of the war,

and there's a lot of evidence of the conflicts

within that kind of immediate landscape around the village.

So it is very much part of the story of the old front line.

But the report made me reflect that while this is a significant milestone,

in some respects this lady was pipped to the post by numerous British army officers who became

town majors in the Great War and who acted as a kind of mayor in dozens of French villages

and towns on that landscape of the First World War.

Now, while these town majors were not the actual mayors of the villages and towns they supervised,

they worked closely with the elected mayor in those locations

to ensure as much harmony as possible between the British and Commonwealth forces and the French civilian population.

Because once we start to research the Great War in any depth, we frequently find that this harmony

fragmented a bit over time, often before or after big offensives when tensions were high,

and we can see all kinds of outcomes of this from damaged property, physical assault, theft,

...