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Origin and history

The Saint-Martin church of Pontruet, located in the department of Aisne in the Hauts-de-France region, is a monument marked by the tragic history of the First World War. Although its initial construction period is not specified in the sources, its existence is attested as early as the 12th century, the village of Pontruet being mentioned for the first time in 1110 as Pontruel in a cartular of the Abbey of Saint-Quentin-en-Ile. The name of the village, derived from the bridge and ru ("stream"), evokes a small local bridge, reflecting its geographical anchorage near the marshes and the Saint Quentin Canal.

During the Great War Pontruet was occupied by the Germans as early as August 1914, undergoing brutal occupation until March 1917. The inhabitants were subjected to forced requisitions (wheat, meat, agricultural work) on pain of severe sanctions, as evidenced by the decrees of the kommandantur of Holnon. In February 1917, General Hindenburg ordered the systematic destruction of the village as part of the retreat to the Hindenburg Line: houses, church, town hall and schools were dynamized or burned down, and trees sawn. The village, emptied of its 390 inhabitants forcibly evacuated, was not released until September 1918 by the British.

After the Armistice, Pontruet, reduced to ruins, began a long and difficult reconstruction. Only 188 inhabitants returned in 1921, less than half the pre-war population. The church of Saint Martin, like the whole village, had to be rebuilt in the 1920s. In recognition of the suffering endured, the commune received the War Cross 1914-1918 on 17 October 1920. Today, the monument to the village's dead, inaugurated in 1925, pays tribute to the 9 soldiers and 21 civilians of Pontruet victims of the conflict.

The territory of Pontruet, mainly agricultural (94.3% arable land in 2018), is crossed by the Omignon, a tributary of the Somme. Its hydrological history is linked to the High Somme Water Management Scheme (SAGE), approved in 2017 to manage local rivers and wetlands. The commune, rural and dispersed, is part of the attraction area of Saint Quentin and the community of communes of the Pays du Vermandois, illustrating its anchoring in a territory marked by the aftermath of the war and a resilient reconstruction.

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