Battle of Bapaume, Franco-Prussian war, 3 January 1871. With Paris besieged by the Prussians, Leon Gambetta, a member of the French government, escaped from the city in a hot air balloon and set about recruiting fresh armies in the provinces to come to the capital's aid. One such army, the Armee du Nord under the command of General Louis Leon Faidherbe, was turned back by the Germans at Bapaume. From a private collection.