This article is for the French town. For the bird see: Great Auk.Auch (pronounced in French) (Gascon Occitan: Aush, pronounced ) is a town and commune in southwestern France. Located inside the région Midi-Pyrénées, it is the préfecture (capital) of the Gers département. Auch is the historical capital of Gascony. At the 1999 census there were 24,725 inhabitants in the urban area of Auch.History===The Ausci===Auch is a very ancient town. The name of Auch comes from the Aquitanian tribe