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
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
Franco-German border between Belfort and Mulhouse, 1914
"Franco-German Border, Belfort-Mulhouse"
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.
 
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.
 
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.
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.
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.
"WALTER ZIEMSEN CAPTAIN AND CHIEF OF THE 9TH COMPANY OF THE 4TH BADEN INFANTRY REGIMENT PRINZ WILHELM NUMBER 112 BORN 4.12.1875 IN GRAUDENZ FALLEN 9.8.1914 HERE BY THE ATTACK AT RIXHEIM" (Rixheim is close by and east of Mulhouse.)
A memorial to commemorate the Bavarian Landwehr Infanterie Regiment 15 (B.L.I.R. 15).
"The Landwehr Regiment 123 for it's brave Comrades 1915"
More upward the hill: more graves of 1914 to 1918.
There is also a private memorial for Fritz Baer.
"FRITZ BAER BORN 5 APRIL 1894 IN UNTERGROMBACH FALLEN ON 7 OCTOBER 1914 NEAR LARGITZEN"
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.
"IN A COMMUNAL GRAVE REST HERE 539 GERMAN SOLDIERS 510 STAY UNKNOWN"
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.
"HERE RESTS THE FIRST GERMAN FALLEN SOLDIER OF THE WORLD WAR OF 1914-1918 - ALBERT MAYER - SECOND LIEUTENANT + 2.8.1914"
Leutnant Albert Mayer
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.
 
September 1914
"View at the valley of the Largue"
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):
"We Germans fear God,"
The damaged bas relief in the middle of the two inscriptions represents a portrait of Bismarck.
"nothing else in the world."
The constructors of the bunker left a damaged inscription:
"..........unreadable.......................... 1916 - Komp.Ldw.8 ...unreadable... Regt 110 Offiziere Rascher Hauptmann - Kompagnieführer Mündt Leutnant - Perso.....unreadable ... Grebe Leutnant - Lo.....unreadable ...."
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.
"In memory of the French and German soldiers, who were interred in this cemetery during the war."
Another side of the base tells in French:
"In memory of the former military cemetery of the French and German soldiers of the Great War, fallen in this area, 1914-1918, and, In memory of the soldiers, born in Moos and Niederlarg, fallen in 1914-1918 on various battlefields."
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.
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.
"On Sunday 2 August 1914 Corporal Jules André Peugeot of the 44e R.I. was killed during a mission at a border post at Joncherey. More than 30 hours before she declared war to France, Imperial Germany has already spilled the first French blood of the War of 1914-1918"
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.
From Gabriel Hanotaux: "Histoire Illustrée de la Guerre de 1914" (1924)
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.”
From the Journal de Marches et Opérations of 2e Bataillon 44e R.I. d.d. 2 August 1914
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.
Army death certificate Caporal Peugeot
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.
"On Sunday 2 August 1914 Corporal Jules André Peugeot of the 44e R.I. was killed here during a mission at a border post at Joncherey. More than 30 hours before she declared war to France, Imperial Germany has already spilled the first French blood of the War of 1914-1918"
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.
"In 1915 Corporal Peugeot has been cited in the order of the 44e. R.I. and awarded with a Croix de Guerre with a bronze star, and in 1920 Paul Deschanel, President of the Republic, offered him posthumously the Ordre Militaire."
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
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
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
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.
 
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"

AISNE - Chemin des Dames

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 29 Nov, 2019

De Vanceboro Bridge Bomaanslag

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 14 Nov, 2019

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

ALSACE-LORRAINE - The Gap of Charmes - La Trouée de Charmes

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 01 Oct, 2019

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.

LORRAINE - Avricourt - Leintrey - Reillon - Domèvre - Parux

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 18 Sept, 2019
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.

LORRAINE - Montreux - German Front Walk 

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 13 Sept, 2019
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.

LORRAINE - The Battle of Morhange - 1914

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 08 Sept, 2019
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.

LORRAINE - Lanfroicourt – Nomeny - Monument du Grand Couronné 

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 05 Sept, 2019
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.

LORRAINE - Bouxières-sous-Froidmont - Verny - Feste Wagner

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 28 Aug, 2019
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.

VOSGES - Mutzig - Fort de Mutzig - Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 25 Aug, 2019

From Badonviller or the Col du Donon we continue north-eastward for a visit to an extraordinarily well restored sample of German fortifications:  the Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II, or Fort de Mutzig,  lying on a height, some 8 km. away from the 1871-1918 Franco-German Border.

VOSGES - Ste. Marie-aux-Mines - Tête du Violu / Bernhardstein

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 23 Aug, 2019
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.
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