Pas-de-Calais
Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments ...
department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
in the
Hauts-de-France
Hauts-de-France (; pcd, Heuts-d'Franche; , also ''Upper France'') is the northernmost Regions of France, region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its Prefectu ...
A small farming and light industrial town, situated some north of Béthune and west of Lille, on the D122, D178 and D975 roads, by the banks of the Lawe River.
History
The town was all but destroyed during the First World War. In 1940, the small hamlet of
Le Paradis
Lestrem (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.
Geography
A small farming and light industrial town, situated some north of Béthune and west of Lil ...
, on the south side of the commune, was the scene of a massacre of British troops of the BEF, during the
Battle of France
The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...
* The church of St. Amé, dating from the sixteenth century.
* Two other churches at the hamlets of La Fosse and Le Paradis.
* The Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery.