"Arras - Hotel de Ville 1926" Arras (Dutch: Atrecht) is the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department, which forms part of the region of Hauts-de-France. It is located in Northern France on the Scarpe river. The Arras plain lies on a large chalk plateau bordered on the north by the Marqueffles fault, on the southwest by the Artois and Ternois hills, and on the south by the slopes of Beaufort-Blavincourt. On the east it is connected to the Scarpe valley. During most of the First World War, Arras was about 10 kilometers away from the front line, and a series of battles were fought around the city and nearby at the Vimy Ridge. On 31 August 1914, German light cavalry (Uhlans) arrived in Tilloy-lès-Mofflaines, and an army patrol made a foray into Arras. On 6 September 1914, 3,000 soldiers led by General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim barracked within the city and in the Arras citadel. Shortly after, Louis Ernest de Maud'huy's soldiers partly repelled the German army troops, and trenches were dug in the Faubourgs d'Arras. On 7 October 1914, the Arras city hall burned. On 21 October 1914, the belfry was destroyed, and so was the Arras Cathedral on 6 July 1915. In 1917, a series of medieval tunnels beneath the city, linked and greatly expanded by the New Zealand Tunnelling Company, became a decisive factor in the British forces holding the city particularly during the Arras campaign of that year. By the end of World War I, the city was so heavily damaged that three quarters had to be rebuilt. The reconstruction was extremely costly, yet it proved to be a success and allowed the city to expand.