Beauvais is situated on the left bank of the River Thérain (a tributary of the River Oise) at its confluence with the River Avelon.
Beauvais was extensively damaged during World War I and again in World
War II, during the German advance on Paris in June 1940. Much of the
older part of the city was all but destroyed and the cathedral badly
damaged before being liberated by British forces on 30 August 1944.