Pointer to History

A street sign near us, it refers to the time in the 1700s when Geldern, my home town, was a fortified town, with walls and moat. ( Our road name translates as "Bendy wall!"Then came cannon and walls were not enough so they built earthworks with Artillery batteries, around the original walls. These doubled the size of the town as they had to keep the enemy farther than gunshot away.
Then during a 20 year period in the early 1700s the town was attacked and captured (also severly damaged) by the French, it was originally the property of the Duke of Burgundy, then the Spanish and finally in 1722, by the Prussians. This was the last straw for the citizens of Geldern
. They took the law into their own hands and tore down the defences and walls. Result? Well Geldern was no more a threat so they were left alone and apart from a short time under French rule by Napoleon, remained un touched until the USAAF paid it a short visit(about 20 minutes) in 1945 which altered it somewhat but not very much.Lesson over..