ALSACE SUNDGAU - Zillisheim - Illfurth - Largitzen - Pfetterhouse
- by Pierre Grande Guerre
- •
- 28 May, 2019
- •
Year of visit: 2009, 2010
A photo report of our explorations of the front lines in the Sundgau region, Département Haut-Rhin. South of Mulhouse, west of Basel, east of Belfort, the Sundgau forms the most southern sector of the Western Front, which ends in the valley of the Largue river. We make a trip southward from Mulhouse to Pfetterhouse on the Swiss border. We start at Zillisheim to visit it's German 380 mm. artillery base. From there we continue to to the Illfurth Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof. Next we continue to Tagsfort, the "Bismarck" bunker near Largitzen, and to Mooslargue.
From there we make a jump westward to Etupes to visit the grave of Caporal Peugeot, and his Site of Action at Joncherey. This photo impression ends with the last French bunker, "Villa Agathe", near Pfetterhouse and the last German bunkers at the southern end of the Western Front.
We start our trip at the site of the Zillisheim 380 mm. German
Artillery Base. South of Mulhouse and south of the village of
Zillisheim, ...
... east of the D 432, we
visit a wood, the Bois d'Altenberg. We park the car near the
Auberge du Canon to go for a stroll.
In the wood we walk along
entrances of the underground tunnels,
...
... which belonged to the
underground railway system of the Zillisheim artillery
base.
One of the entrances, a
staircase leading down to a tunnel.
In the tunnel used to be a 60 cm. railway for
transporting ammunition...
... to the 380 mm.
gun.
This site is basically
similar to the German artillery base
at Duzey, north of Verdun.
Some details about the 380 mm. artillery gun
Siegfried SKL 45 Max, made by
Krupp Werke
Calibre: 380 mm
Barrel length: 19,6 m
Range: 56 Km
Muzzle velocity: 1050 m/s
Weight of Gun in action: 24 Tons
Weight of shell: 495-800 Kg
Rate of fire: 1 round every 4 minutes
Calibre: 380 mm
Barrel length: 19,6 m
Range: 56 Km
Muzzle velocity: 1050 m/s
Weight of Gun in action: 24 Tons
Weight of shell: 495-800 Kg
Rate of fire: 1 round every 4 minutes
Distance from Zillisheim
Artillery Base to Belfort: 35
Km.
The concrete base of this
super gun is now filled with water and covered with
duckweed.
Entrances to the tunnels of
the former ammunition elevators.
Only in August 1914 the
artillery gun launched some
grenades at the garrison at the
fortress of Belfort.
Hundred and fifty meters to
the south lies the electricity generator
bunker.
This complex needed of course
a lot of power.
The bunker is densely
vegetated, ...
... which makes it
difficult to find the
entrance.
The bunker forms only the
entrance to filled in underground
rooms.
We leave the bunker via
another exit.
Before we
continue, some concise information about
the Haut-Rhin Sundgau region.
Sundgau - 1914
Sundgau - 1914
From 1871 until 1918 the
Sundgau belonged officially to the German
Empire. This re-edited detail of a 1917 German
sketch shows these borders. It also
sketches the frontlines formed in the
summer and autumn of 1914, and which would stay
in this situation until 1918. The border
lines of Switzerland, France and Germany
came together at one point east of French
Réchésy and west of German "Pfetterhausen"
or nowadays Pfetterhouse.
During the first days of
the war Joffre deployed his Plan XVII, or Plan
17, also against the frontiers of the Sundgau
region, especially at the German garrison town
of Mülhausen, or Mulhouse.
At 2 August 1914 the first French
and German soldiers were killed in this sector,
near Joncherey and Faverois.
At 19 August 1914 the French Army
lost even his first general on the battlefield.
More to the north, between Flaxlanden en
Zillisheim, General Plessier of the 97e Régiment
Alpine, from Chambéry, Savoie, died during the
first hostilities.
The Opponents - The
German
units
In German Mülhausen
the “state of alertness” was declared on 31 July
31 1914. In Mülhausen was stationed the garrison
of the 58th infantry brigade (112th and 142nd
regiment), the 22nd Cavalry Regiment and the 5th
regiment of mounted riflemen (Jäger-Regiment zu
Pferde Nr. 5 der Königlich Preußischen Armee).
(Remember this unit for later). All
these troops were part of the XIV Army corps of
Baden, which belonged to the 7th German Army
under command of General von Heeringen.
On 31 July 1914 the 142nd Infantry Regiment occupied with outposts the area along the line Cernay (Sennheim), southward to Dannemarie (Dammerkirch), and the Swiss border. The cavalry regiments and mounted riflemen reinforced the customs officials and patrolled in this border area.
On 31 July 1914 the 142nd Infantry Regiment occupied with outposts the area along the line Cernay (Sennheim), southward to Dannemarie (Dammerkirch), and the Swiss border. The cavalry regiments and mounted riflemen reinforced the customs officials and patrolled in this border area.
The French
units
Around Belfort
General Bonneau commanded the French 7th
Army Corps, consisting of the 14th and
41st Infantry Division, reinforced by the 8th
Cavalry Division. The 7th Army Corps belonged
to the 1st French Army of General Dubail
with his headquarters at Epinal.
According to the French Plan XVII the original mission of the 7th Army Corps was to cover the mobilization of the fortress of Belfort, the railroads to Paris, and the high passes of the Vosges. Bonneau positioned the 41st Infantry Division in the Northern and Central Vosges, the 14th Infantry Division under command of General Curé between the Vosges mountain chain and the Rhine-Rhône channel, the 8th Cavalry Division plus a battalion of the 44th Infantry Regiment under command of General Aubier between the Rhine-Rhône channel and the Swiss border.
According to the French Plan XVII the original mission of the 7th Army Corps was to cover the mobilization of the fortress of Belfort, the railroads to Paris, and the high passes of the Vosges. Bonneau positioned the 41st Infantry Division in the Northern and Central Vosges, the 14th Infantry Division under command of General Curé between the Vosges mountain chain and the Rhine-Rhône channel, the 8th Cavalry Division plus a battalion of the 44th Infantry Regiment under command of General Aubier between the Rhine-Rhône channel and the Swiss border.
The Swiss
Army
In those early war
days neutral Switzerland felt also threatened.
Swiss Territorial units occupied the border
positions on 1 August 1914. The Swiss Army was
mobilized on 3 August 1914. The army
occupied and guarded the northern and
western borders. The Swiss had good reasons for
harbouring suspicions against their neighbours.
Afterwards historians detected Joffre’s “Plan
H”. “H” stands here for
(Confederatio) "Helvetica" (CH). In
case the Swiss should have taken sides in one
way or another with Germany, Joffre would have
deployed Plan H to attack and occupy western
parts of Switzerland.
2 and 3
August 1914 - Border violations and
skirmishes
On 2 August there
were already some incidents along the Sundgau
border. These were still limited
skirmishes between custom officers,
infanterists, and cavalrists, scouting the other
side of the frontier. These incidents happened
in the Sundgau sector along a line of Romagny
southward to Delle. At the village of Reppe the
French even made a German cavalrist prisoner of
war, a horseman of the 22nd Regiment of
Dragoons. One skirmish ended with the killing of
the first soldiers of the Great War, Caporal
Peugeot and Leutnant Mayer, along the road
from Faverois to Joncherey. On 3 August there
were similar incidents in this sector.
The Battle
for Mulhouse
On 7 August 1914 General
Bonneau launched his 7th Army Corps to
attack Altkirch. The next day, on the 8th,
the French attacked and occupied Mulhouse
without any opposition, because the German
troops had left the town before. With the
arrival of German reserves from Strasbourg, the
Germans launched on 9 August a counter-attack at
nearby Cernay. On the same day Bonneau began a
slow withdrawal, forced by the absence of
reserves of his own, and unable to mount a
concentrated defence.
Joffre hastily despatched a reserve division to reinforce the defence. The division arrived too late to save the town from recapture. On 10 August Bonneau retreated on Belfort in order to escape German encirclement. Joffre promptly fired Bonneau of his command and send him to Limoges. Recognising the high amount of casualties, Joffre added four more divisions to the “Army of Alsace”', and placed it under the command of General Pau.
Joffre hastily despatched a reserve division to reinforce the defence. The division arrived too late to save the town from recapture. On 10 August Bonneau retreated on Belfort in order to escape German encirclement. Joffre promptly fired Bonneau of his command and send him to Limoges. Recognising the high amount of casualties, Joffre added four more divisions to the “Army of Alsace”', and placed it under the command of General Pau.
By foot it is less than 2 km
from the artillery base to the German cemetery. We prefer to go by car from
Zillisheim southward to the Illfurth Deutscher
Soldatenfriedhof.
The Illfurth Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof contains the graves of 1.964 German soldiers and officers, fallen during the Great War. 1.426 of these soldiers rest in individual graves, 7 of them are unknown; 539 soldiers rest in a mass grave, of whom 520 are unknown.
The cemetery itself is of April 1920. The soldiers, buried here, were originally buried elsewhere; in 64 other, sometimes improvised, war cemeteries in the Sundgau region. During the years 1920-1924 their corpses have been brought over to Illfurth cemetery.
Some of the unit memorials on the cemetery are also transported from former wartime cemeteries.
The cemetery is located at a rather steep slope of a hill.
The cemetery itself is of April 1920. The soldiers, buried here, were originally buried elsewhere; in 64 other, sometimes improvised, war cemeteries in the Sundgau region. During the years 1920-1924 their corpses have been brought over to Illfurth cemetery.
Some of the unit memorials on the cemetery are also transported from former wartime cemeteries.
The cemetery is located at a rather steep slope of a hill.
We start at the foot of the
hill with some graves of officers
and soldiers, ...
... fallen in the Sundgau
during the first days of the war, and during the Battle of
Mulhouse.
There also graves of the later
war years until 1918. Two graves of
construction battalion soldiers, of resp. 1917 and
1918.
A memorial to commemorate the Bavarian Landwehr Infanterie
Regiment 15 (B.L.I.R. 15).
More upward the hill: more
graves of 1914 to 1918.
There is also a private
memorial for Fritz Baer.
A Pionier and a Landsturmmann
share this grave.
On the top of the hill of the
cemetery lies the mass grave, overlooked by the Imperial
Eagle of the memorial for the
aviators.
There are only two bronze
tiles commemorating 539
soldiers.
On this mass grave an
exceptional short list of 29 names.
An inscription on the side of
the rear wall tells more names.
Near the mass grave lies a
quite remarkable grave.
Later on this
photo page we will visit the site of
action of
the fight of Leutnant Mayer and
Caporal Peugeot, and we will
investigate this incident in more detail.
We continue studying
the "Illfurth
Fliegerdenkmal". Originally this aviators
memorial of the Imperial Eagle was located at Habsheim, south-east of
Mulhouse.
The bronze plaque of the
"Illfurth Fliegerdenkmal" tells us:
| "HERE REST THE ON 18
MARCH 1916 FALLEN TEAM OF AN AIRPLANE OF THE
"FLIEGER ABTEILUNG 48".
WALTHER KURT - RESERVE SECOND
LIEUTENANT
FRITZ HOPFGARTEN- DEPUTY
OFFICER
MAX WALLAT - STAFF
SERGEANT
THEY DIED ON THIS LOCATION
(Remember:
Habsheim!)
AFTER A HEROIC AIR COMBAT AGAINST A
FRENCH SQUADRON TOGETHER WITH THEIR
OPPONENTS
ERECTED BY THEIR COMRADES
APRIL
1916"
|
With a last view at the
aviators memorial we leave the Illfurth
cemetery...
... to continue southward to Tagsdorf.
In a private backyard, behind
a fence, we locate this third line 1918
Bunker.
A teleview through the fence
tells us more about it's
constructors.
This is the only relic of the
"Pionierpark Tagsdorf", ...
... a complex for storage of
construction material and
explosives.
We continue south-westward to
the front sector of the valley of the Largue river, and the
road from Hirtzbach to Largitzen.
In the "Schutzenwald", about
1.500 m. before we enter the village of
Largitzen, we park our car safely at the Aire
de Picnic at the west side of the road,
...
... we walk some 100 m.
southward, and we spot at the eastern side of
the road this German bunker.
Before we cross the road to
explore further, some concise information
about the Largue front sector.
|
Sundgau - August -
September 1914
|
| The French period colour
photos in this frame give us an impression of
the French positions near Hirtzbach and
Largitzen in 1917. We are now only visiting some
bunkers at the German side of the Largue front
between Hirtzbach and Largitzen.
|
August - September
1914
On 14 August 1914 the XIV Army
Corps and the XV Army Corps were ordered back to
Strasbourg, to be deployed elsewhere with the
7th German Army. These troops were replaced by
an “Armeegruppe Gaede” of 5 reserve brigades
under command of General Gaede, consisting of 21
infantry battalions, 5 cavalry squadrons, and 10
batteries of artillery.
From 10 August General Pau
commanded the 7th Army corps, which consisted of
the 8th cavalry division and the 57th reserve
division of Belfort, 3 extra reserve divisions,
the 58th, 63rd, and 66th division, the 44th
infantry division, and 5 battalions of Chasseurs
Alpins. In total General Pau commanded about
150.000 men, called the “Armée d’Alsace”
or “7th Army”.
When the Germans
retreated on 14 August, General Pau decided to
pursuit them immediately, progressing
between the Col de la Schlucht and the Swiss
border. The advance was too slow and the French
troops reached on the 18th only the line from
Seppois northward to Dannemarie, Reiningue, and
Munster.
For 19 August General Pau planned
to attack in the north the city of Colmar, and
in the south the town of Mulhouse. On 19 August
the German 6th and 7th Armies in Alsace Lorraine
stopped their retreat. On the 25th these armies
started a counter offensive on Sarrebourg and
Morhange, the Battle of the Haute Meurthe -
Mortagne (25
August - 11 September 1914) against the French
armies of General Dubail and General
Castelnau.
“Armeegruppe Gaede”
attacked the 7th Army around Mulhouse. On the
line Mulhouse – Altkirch, the troops were
involved in very heavy fights. (General
Gaede lost that day about 2.300 men and 24
artillery guns.)
North of Mulhouse the French
reached Wittenheim and Illzach and were able to
occupy Mulhouse again. West of Colmar the French
reached the village of Les Trois Epis
on the 19th and, a day
later, Turckheim near Colmar.
The 7th Army was in need of immediate re-enforcements. But at 24 August the “Armée de l’Alsace” had to give up again the town and the surroundings of Mulhouse. Joffre decided that the 7th Army had to give up and to retreat back to the ridges of the Vosges mountains.
The 7th Army was in need of immediate re-enforcements. But at 24 August the “Armée de l’Alsace” had to give up again the town and the surroundings of Mulhouse. Joffre decided that the 7th Army had to give up and to retreat back to the ridges of the Vosges mountains.
September
1914
After the French retreat
from Mulhouse General Gaede forced in September
1914 the front line forward to a line from
Altkirch, Seppois, to Mooslargue. During that
period, especially from 9 until 11 September,
there were many skirmishes and a serious
fights between patrols in this sector.
General Rouquerol at his
fortress in Belfort disposed of 70.000
men. During September 1914 these French
units advanced again at a line from Cernay,
Aspach, Michelbach, Dannemarie,
Hirtzbach, Largitzen, and
Pfetterhouse.
From September 1914
the French troops were staying on German
territory along the east bank of the Largue
river, between Altkirch, Hirtzbach, Largitzen.
Near Seppois the front crosses the Largue and
runs southward at Pfetterhouse. From there the
French were on the west bank, and the Germans
were positioned at the east bank of the Largue.
The front in this Largue sector, also called the
Largue pocket, would consolidate in this
situation until the end of the
war.
From the bunker east of the D
17, we cross the road to the west
side. My late wife Christine ( + 08-05-2018) was the first to spot this by dense
vegetation hidden bunker.
When I
approach it through the thicket, I then only understand,
that Christine located the German "Bismarck Bunker"
with it's remarkable battlements and
decorations.
The inscription is probably a
quote of the great German statesman,
...
... "The Iron Chancellor",
Graf Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898):
The damaged bas
relief in the middle of the two inscriptions represents a portrait of
Bismarck.
The constructors of the bunker
left a damaged inscription:
This bunker has been
constructed by a Company of the 110. Landwehr
Infanterie Regiment of the 8. Landwehr
Division.
As always, I am curious.
So, I enter the bunker.
A filled in tunnel to other
underground rooms.
View at the windows and the
entrance.
I have never seen
before along the Western Front these peculiar,
decorative battlements on a bunker.
The top structure of the
bunker is overgrown.
Even trees and their roots
grow on top of the Bismarck bunker.
In 2010 I struggled through
the impenetrable thicket, some 100 m. away to the east
from the Bismarck Bunker, when I detected this
overgrown bunker.
I would not be surprised, if
there is more German concrete, hidden in this wood. We continue southward to Mooslargue.
Behind the village church of
Mooslargue and the communal grave
yard....
... used to be a wartime
Franco-German military cemetery.
In two languages the base of
the crucifix tells us more about this
site.
Another side of the base tells
in French:
Marble plaques hang in four
niches with the names of the soldiers
engraved.
The crucifix is also
commemorating two civilian victims, killed by the explosion of a
shell, and buried here; a 46 year old school teacher,
and a 13 year old
girl.
From Mooslargue we make a huge
jump westward to Etupes...
... to follow next the
Franco-Swiss border back to the
east.
Caporal Jules André
Peugeot
Next we will visit three sites, which are connected to the death of Caporal Peugeot, opponent of Leutnant Mayer, and the first killed French soldier of the Great War. We will visit his grave at Etupes, his memorial at Joncherey, and the site of the killing, as I have concluded it from my sources.
Etupes
At the communal cemetery of Etupes we visit at the modest military plot the grave Caporal Peugeot.
Etupes
At the communal cemetery of Etupes we visit at the modest military plot the grave Caporal Peugeot.
Right of the Caporal are
buried an Adjudant Chef of the 35e R.I., and two privates, resp. of the
172e R.I. and the 22e R.I.
The grave of the first killed
French soldier of the Great War: Caporal Jules André
Peugeot.
Plot 4, grave
181.
Did Caporal Peugeot
really kill Leutnant
Mayer?
The historian Hanotaux and the
war journal of the 2nd Battalion of the 44e R.I.
tell us each a different story about the dead of
Leutnant Mayer and Caporal Peugeot.
According to Hanotaux’s official French history Leutnant Mayer was hit by a rifle shot in the head, after he managed to hit the head of a soldier with his sword. Mayer and his 7 Jäger zu Pferde of the 3rd Battalion of the Jäger-Regiment zu Pferde Nr. 5 crossed the border to patrol and to scout the area. They attacked the post of Caporal Peugeot. Peugeot was deadly wounded, but he still managed to fire his rifle "at short range" and killed Leutnant Mayer. Soon afterwards Peugeot died himself.
So, in this “official” version Hanotaux tells us that Caporal Peugot killed Leutnant Mayer.
According to Hanotaux’s official French history Leutnant Mayer was hit by a rifle shot in the head, after he managed to hit the head of a soldier with his sword. Mayer and his 7 Jäger zu Pferde of the 3rd Battalion of the Jäger-Regiment zu Pferde Nr. 5 crossed the border to patrol and to scout the area. They attacked the post of Caporal Peugeot. Peugeot was deadly wounded, but he still managed to fire his rifle "at short range" and killed Leutnant Mayer. Soon afterwards Peugeot died himself.
So, in this “official” version Hanotaux tells us that Caporal Peugot killed Leutnant Mayer.
The Journal des Marches et des
Opérations of the 2nd Battalion of the 44th
Infantry Regiment (44e R.I.) tells us
another story about the location and the dead of
Caporal Peugeot and Leutnant Mayer on 2 August
1914:
“Some minutes before 10
o’clock in the morning, four men of the 6th
Company under command of Caporal Peugeot set up
a post along the route from Joncherey to
Faverois. At about 800 m. east from this
location the unit is attacked by a German patrol
of Jäger-Regiment zu Pferde Nr. 5 from Mulhouse,
consisting of one Second Lieutenant (Second
Lieutenant Mayer) and 7 men.
Caporal Peugeot is killed by a revolver shot by the chief of the patrol, on whom he fired, but did miss. The (men of the) post and also the post next to it did hear the rifle shots, and start to fire at the horsemen, who try to spread out, and they kill the Lieutenant, chief of the patrol, and 2 horses. One horseman is wounded and two others are made prisoner. The post, which was set up at a barricade at the east exit of the village of Joncherey along the route to Faverois, opens, alarmed by the rifle shots at this post, equally fire at the enemy patrol, which disappears.”
Caporal Peugeot is killed by a revolver shot by the chief of the patrol, on whom he fired, but did miss. The (men of the) post and also the post next to it did hear the rifle shots, and start to fire at the horsemen, who try to spread out, and they kill the Lieutenant, chief of the patrol, and 2 horses. One horseman is wounded and two others are made prisoner. The post, which was set up at a barricade at the east exit of the village of Joncherey along the route to Faverois, opens, alarmed by the rifle shots at this post, equally fire at the enemy patrol, which disappears.”
In the version of this French
war journal Peugeot fired a shot at Mayer, but
missed. It was Leutnant Mayer, who
killed Caporal Peugeot with a revolver shot.
Other soldiers of the 44e R.I. killed
some moments later Mayer.
Peugeot was the first soldier, killed in the Great War. Mayer was the second soldier, but still being the first killed German soldier. Anyway, French after war mythology or not, Caporal Peugeot still shares the disputable honour of the German Leutnant Mayer to be the first and French fallen soldier of the Great War.
Peugeot was the first soldier, killed in the Great War. Mayer was the second soldier, but still being the first killed German soldier. Anyway, French after war mythology or not, Caporal Peugeot still shares the disputable honour of the German Leutnant Mayer to be the first and French fallen soldier of the Great War.
From Peugeot's grave we
continue eastward to Joncherey ...
... to visit his
memorial and the site of action.
First we visit the Caporal
Peugeot Memorial.
The same text as on Peugeot's
grave, here in capitals, and also the claim, that it
happened here.
This memorial for Caporal
Peugeot, erected in 1959, is the second
memorial. The first memorial, erected in
1922, has been destroyed on 24 July 1940 by German
troops.
Though the memorial claims
that Peugeot fell here, I am going to a field behind
the memorial to look for the site of
action.
Site of Action - Peugeot versus Mayer
Site of Action - Peugeot versus Mayer
I have several reasons to
doubt the claim of the memorial text about the
exact location of the fight between Mayer and
Peugeot. Many times I experienced that the
inscriptions on memorials are often not correct,
and that the location of a memorial has been
chosen for more practical than for correct
historical reasons. The main reason for me to
look somewhere else for this particular site is
the rather precise quote of the war journal of
the 44e R.I.:
"At about 800 m. east from
this location (the border post at the edge
of the village) the unit is attacked
by a German patrol of Jäger-Regiment zu Pferde
Nr. 5 from Mulhouse, consisting of one Second
Lieutenant (Second Lieutenant Mayer) and 7
men."
Considering the increase over
the years of the built-up area of the village, I
made an estimation of these mentioned 800
meters. I do realise that I am also not
exact, but I conclude that this first
deadly fight happened somewhere in this field,
east of the memorial. From the south I made
5 photos of this field, where to my opinion
the fight between Mayer and Peugeot must have
happened. The overlapping photos start westward
and continue clockwise to the
east.
Five overlapping photos of the
Site of Action of the fight of Peugeot and
Mayer.
From Joncherey we continue via
Réchésy to the location, where the former borders of three states met each other.
Réchésy -
Pfetterhouse
| In the area close
to the Swiss border we will visit the
"Borne des Trois Puissances" (Boundary Stone of
the Three Powers), the Franco-Swiss border
post, the last French bunker of the Western
Front, the "Villa Agathe", and on the eastern
bank of the Largue river, the Last German
trenches
and bunkers, which are all a few
hundred meters away from the Swiss
border.
To complete the impression of
the border area my Dutch friend, René Kappert,
came to my assistance and did provide me
with some of his photo's of the "Borne des Trois
Puissances". René also let me use some
carefully self-made maps of the Villa Agathe
Bunker. Thanks, René!
|
The village of
Réchésy.
Before we continue:
some concise background
information about Réchésy and
Pfetterhouse.
Réchésy and Pfetterhouse
Réchésy and Pfetterhouse
Before August 1914 Réchésy was
a French village, and Pfetterhouse was a
German village; Pfetterhausen. The Franco-German
border lied in between these villages. The three
borders of Switzerland, Germany, and France did
meet together half way Réchésy and
Pfetterhausen.
Réchésy - The intelligence service of Pierre Bucher
Réchésy - The intelligence service of Pierre Bucher
Docteur Pierre Bucher
(1869-1921) was a patriotic, French medical
doctor, born in Guebwiller. On 30 July 1914 he
escaped from an imminent German arrest and fled
to Switzerland. The Germans condemned him to
death for desertion and treason. On 4 August,
after the declaration of war, Bucher returned to
France and enlisted in the army. Some few weeks
later he was detached to the intelligence
service of the general staff of General Pau.
Docteur Pierre Bucher set up a military intelligence centre in a villa at the outskirts of the village of Réchésy, called the “Académy de Réchésy”, a few hundred meters away from the three borders location. Bucher’s staff observed and reported not only the military operations and troop movements of the German army units, but they also eagerly collected intelligence about the movements of the Swiss army units along the border. Pierre Bucher was awarded for his services with the decoration of the Légion d’Honneur.
Docteur Pierre Bucher set up a military intelligence centre in a villa at the outskirts of the village of Réchésy, called the “Académy de Réchésy”, a few hundred meters away from the three borders location. Bucher’s staff observed and reported not only the military operations and troop movements of the German army units, but they also eagerly collected intelligence about the movements of the Swiss army units along the border. Pierre Bucher was awarded for his services with the decoration of the Légion d’Honneur.
Pfetterhouse - August
1914
Already on 7 August 1914,
during General Bonneau’s first attack on
Mulhouse, about 400 infantry and cavalry
soldiers under command of Dragoon Sergeant
Grünfelder attacked successfully the German
units at Pfetterhouse. That day the French
counted four dead. The Swiss authorities
immediately closed down the frontier.
In spite of two following
retreats the French were later able to hold the
position east of Pfetterhouse on to the west
bank of the Largue river. From October 1914 the
55e Régiment d’Infanterie Territoriale (55e
R.I.T.) under command of Commandant Fleutiaux
occupied the area around Pfetterhouse. From the
end of December 1914 the 55e R.I.T. mainly
occupied the west bank of the Largue. The
German soldiers were positioned at the east bank
of the Largue.
During the war years
skirmishes and bombardments would go on in this
sector. In February 1916 Pfetterhouse and
surroundings even suffered a German artillery
bombardment, which lasted for more than a week.
During these bombardments the population of the
village has been evacuated to Montbéliard. In
spite of these violent events the End of
Western Front near Pfetterhouse would freeze in
the same situation until 1918, as it was in
December 1914.
Departing from Réchésy we
are going eastward, along the D
20. After some 1.300 m there
is a sign, designed in a colourful
Hansi-style, which directs to the right, to
a muddy track, which leads south-westward
into the woods to the Borne des Trois
Puissances, or the Boundary Stone of the
Three Powers.
René made this photo from the
French territory. "RF" stands for République
Française. The left, rather rough stone is a
relic of a border stone of the Habsburg
period.
A view from the Swiss side of
the frontier. "C S" stands for Confederation
Suisse, and "D" stands for Deutschland
or Germany.
Christine and I continue
eastward along the D 24. In the village of Pfetterhouse
we turn left, at the D 10 bis, and go southward to the Franco-Swiss frontier post
and customs office.
By many this location is
considered as the end of the Western
Front.
But in fact it is not the
exact southern end of the Western
Front.
A view from the border to the
outskirts of Pfetterhouse.
We leave Pfetterhouse and
continue eastward along the D
24.
About 500 m. outside the
village is a track leading southward.
We go on by foot along the
track, that touches the edge of the
"Bannholz" wood.
Just as a reminder: again the
situation map.
I have to struggle southward
in quite a densely
vegetated wood. After a while I detect the
French "Villa Agathe" Bunker.
The rear side of the last
French bunker of the Western Front with the
entrance.
René measured the bunker
precisely and made this ground
plan.
The rear side, photographed
from the west.
The staircase at the
entrance.
The northern
wall.
The fire windows facing
the north.
With a last view at the field
before the Bannholz wood, ...
... we continue to the
location, which I consider as the proper, southern end of the Western
Front: the last bridge, before the
Swiss border, over the river
Largue.
We cross the Largue to the German frontline.
I show this 1936 utility
house, at the east bank, just as an important landmark
for fellow front-travellers.
The Germans possessed the east
bank of the Largue. About 15 m. next to the
utility house, ...
... a German observation
bunker,...
... with it's top blown
off.
We cross the road and in the
wood we detect traces of trenches.
On the southern side of the
road, a machine-gun bunker.
We are here only a few hundred
meters away from the Swiss border.
The fire openings facing
westward across the Largue.
Some 75 m. southward lays a
relic of a trench, ...
... connected to another
machine-gun bunker.
A look inside.
The three fire windows,
south-. west-, and northward.
The same bunker, on the
outside, facing the west.
Last view of the last German
bunkers of the Western Front. In the background the other
machine-gun bunker.
On the next photo
page we explore
another site in the Sundgau: the Bunker
Path of
Burnhaupt-le-Bas.
Continue
to the next chapter: "ALSACE SUNDGAU - Burnhaupt-le-Bas - Bunker Path"
Inleiding: Franz Von Papen & Werner Horn; schaker en pion
Onlangs stuitte ik in een oud boek (1) van 1919 op een opmerkelijk verhaal over een Duitse Luitenant, die in begin februari 1915 een half geslaagde bomaanslag pleegt op een spoorbrug over een grensrivier tussen de Verenigde Staten en Canada. Ook al staat de bekentenis van de dader, Werner Horn, deels in het boek te lezen, de naam van zijn opdrachtgever zal Horn blijven verzwijgen. Na wat verder zoeken vond ik ook de naam van Horn’s opdrachtgever, Franz von Papen, een van de aangeklaagden van het latere Neurenberg Proces in 1946.
In een Grote Oorlog als de Eerste Wereldoorlog is Horn’s aanslag op de brug uiteraard slechts een bescheiden wapenfeit. Toch vermoed ik dat dit relatief onbekende verhaal, dat de geschiedenis is ingegaan als de “ Vanceboro International Bridge Bombing ”, nog interessante kanten kent. Het is onder andere een spionageverhaal over hoe in een groter plan een sluwe schaker zijn naïeve pion offert.
Beknopte situatieschets Canada en de Verenigde Staten in 1915
This trip we start at the Léomont near Vitrimont and we will with some exceptions concentrate on the Battle of Lorraine of August-September 1914 in the area, called, the “Trouée de Charmes”, the Gap of Charmes.
After the Léomont battlefield we continue our explorations to Friscati hill and its Nécropole Nationale. Next we pay a visit to the battlefield of la Tombe to go on to the Château de Lunéville. There we cross the Vezouze to move on southward to the Bayon Nécropole Nationale. At Bayon we cross the Moselle to pass Charmes for the panorama over the battlefield from the Haut du Mont. North-west of Charmes we will visit the British Military Cemetery containing 1918 war victims. From Charmes we go northward to the battlefield of the First French Victory of the Great War, the Battle of Rozelieures of 25 August 1914. North of Rozelieures we will visit the village of Gerbéviller. From there we make a jump northward to visit the ruins of Fort de Manonviller to finish with an interesting French Dressing Station bunker, west of Domjevin.
Though
we depart
from
Badonviller
in the
Northern
Vosges
, we make a jump
northward
to
the
east
of Lunéville
and
Manonviller. We start
at Avricourt
on the
border of Alsace
and
Lorraine. From
the
Avricourt
Deutscher
Soldatenfriedhof
we explore
the
southern
Lorraine battlefields
; the
mine craters
of Leintrey
, the
Franco- German
war cemetery
and
Côte 303 at Reillon
, and
some
German
bunkers near
Gondrexon
, Montreux
, and
Parux.
We
depart
from
Raon-l’Etape
to
drive
northward
via
Badonviller
to
Montreux
to
visit
the
"Circuit du Front Allemand
14-18", the
Montreux
German
Front Walk
14-18,
with
its
trenches
,
breastworks
,
and
at
least
twenty
bunkers.
North-east of Nancy, east of Pont-à-Mousson, and south-east of Metz we visit the battlefields of the Battle of Morhange of 14 until 20 August 1914. We follow mainly topographically the route of the French advance eastward over the Franco-German border of 1871-1918.
During this visit, we try to focus on the day that the momentum of the battle switched from the French side to the advantage of the Bavarian side: the day of 20 August 1914, when the Bavarians rapidly re-conquered the territory around Morhange , being also the day of the start of their rather successful “Schlacht in Lothringen”.
We will visit beautiful landscapes of the "Parc Naturel Régional de Lorraine", memorials, ossuaries, and cemeteries. Sometimes we will divert to other periods of the Great War, honouring Russian and Romanian soldiers, who died in this sector. We start our route at the border village of Manhoué, and via Frémery, Oron, Chicourt, Morhange, Riche, Conthil, Lidrezing, Dieuze, Vergaville, Bidestroff, Cutting, Bisping we will finish in Nomeny and Mailly-sur-Seille, where the Germans halted their advance on 20 August 1914, and where they constructed from 1915 some interesting bunkers.
During this visit, we try to focus on the day that the momentum of the battle switched from the French side to the advantage of the Bavarian side: the day of 20 August 1914, when the Bavarians rapidly re-conquered the territory around Morhange , being also the day of the start of their rather successful “Schlacht in Lothringen”.
We will visit beautiful landscapes of the "Parc Naturel Régional de Lorraine", memorials, ossuaries, and cemeteries. Sometimes we will divert to other periods of the Great War, honouring Russian and Romanian soldiers, who died in this sector. We start our route at the border village of Manhoué, and via Frémery, Oron, Chicourt, Morhange, Riche, Conthil, Lidrezing, Dieuze, Vergaville, Bidestroff, Cutting, Bisping we will finish in Nomeny and Mailly-sur-Seille, where the Germans halted their advance on 20 August 1914, and where they constructed from 1915 some interesting bunkers.
South
of Manhoué we start this trip at Lanfroicourt along the French side of the Franco-German 1871-1918
border, marked by the meandering Seille river. We visit some French bunkers
in Lanfroicourt, near
Array-et-Han and in Moivrons.
From there we go northward to the outskirts of Nomeny and the
hamlet of Brionne to visit the
(
second
) memorial, commemorating the events in Nomeny of 20
August 1914. We continue westward to finish at the Monument du
Grand Couronné at the
Côte de Géneviève, a former
French artillery base, which
offers several panoramic
views over the battlefield.
North of
Pont-à-Mousson and south of Metz, we explore the relics of German bunkers and
fortifications along the Franco-German 1871-1918 border. We start at
Bouxières-sous-Froidmont to visit the nearby height of the Froidmont on the
front line. This time we will show only a part of the Froidmont, focusing on
its military significance. From the Froidmont we continue via
Longeville-lès-Cheminot and Sillegny to the “Forêt Domaniale de Sillegny” to
explore some artillery ammunition bunkers. Next we continue to Marieulles for
its three interesting bunkers and to Vezon for its line of ammunition depot
bunkers. From Vezon we continue to the “Deutscher Kriegsgräberstätte Fey –
Buch”. From Fey we go eastward, passing 6 bunkers near Coin-lès-Cuvry to
finish our trip at the top construction of the “Feste Wagner” or “Fort
Verny”, north of Verny.
We concentrate on the German side of the front around
"Markirch", Sainte Marie-aux-Mines, the so-called
"Leber" front sector . We first pay a visit to the
Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof, and next to
the southern side of the Col de Ste. Marie for the many interesting
bunkers of the German positions at the Bernhardstein, at the
north-eastern slopes of the Tête du Violu. On the next photo page
about the Haut de Faîte we will continue with a visit to the northern
side of the pass and the "Leber" sector.
