ALSACE VOSGES - Munster Valley - Petit Ballon
- by Pierre Grande Guerre
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- 17 Jun, 2019
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Year of visit: 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
The Valley of Munster 1914-1915
This map, which you will often find on French cemeteries in the region, forms also a concise reminder, about how we are continuing our explorations southward along the frontline in this sector between the Col du Bonhomme and the Vieil Armand.
General Bataille's 81st Brigade
General Bataille's 81st Brigade, consisting of the 152e R.I and the 5e and 15e Bataillons Chasseurs à Pied attacked Munster on 15 August 1914, assisted by the 13e Bataillon Chasseurs Alpins in the south. They occupied Munster and a part of the Valley of the Fecht on 18 August 1914.
Munster would attract of course several counter-attacks of the Germans. From the end of August it would remain in German possession almost until the end of the war.
The Battle for Munster -
February 1915
Along the D 417, between the neighbouring villages of Soultzeren and Stosswihr, stands a post war demarcation stone, inscripted with "Stosswihr". The inscription is not readable anymore, only "1918". I presume, that it formed the text, that I found before on these stones:
We continue through the Munster valley to the southern outskirts of the village of Breitenbach at the northern foot of the Petit Ballon.
During the Battle for Munster (19-22 February 1915), Breitenbach and the slopes around it played an important role as a base for the German artillery.
At 6 March 1915, after an opening artillery bombardment, the 11th, 12th, 54th, and 65th Bataillons Chasseurs Alpins tried to conquer Stosswihr and Breitenbach. Although the Chasseurs knew to capture the nearby ridges of the Imberg and the Rebberg, they could not reach Stosswihr and Breitenbach. Breitenbach, as a part of the German defense line at the foot of the Ilienkopf, would stay in German possession.
We visit the Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof
Breitenbach.
In a corner of the cemetery are some graves of the earliest period of the war, from August until October 1914, but also of 1915 until 1918.
At the base of the monument an inscription with the names of 5 other "Landwehrleute", killed between 22 August and 15 October 1914.
These 2 "Gefreiters", lance corporals, (left) fell in July 1915 during a Patrol. The "Jäger" on the right was killed in August in 1916.
That is was not quiet at all after 1915 along the frozen and forgotten front in the Vosges prove these graves of later war periods. The "Garde Jäger", Adam Moss, had been killed "during the battles for the Fatherland in a patrol mission" in 1918.
Another member of the 3r Coy. Bayerische Garde Jäger Bataillon, killed in 1918.
View from the valley of the Fecht to the Chêne Millet Necropole Nationale of Metzeral.
The cemetery lies at the west foot of the Anlasswasen and the Schnepfenriedkopf.
View from the Chêne Millet Cemetery. On the right: Metzeral. Centre: the Braunkopf.
On 5 May and 7 May 1915 the French lauched an artillery bombardment at Metzeral, introducing unsuccesful attacks of the 28th B.C.A. In particular the artillery bombardment of 7 May, which lasted several hours, made many victims under the inhabitants of Metzeral, who were seeking protection in their cellars.
The Germans decided Metzeral had become too dangerous for it's suffering inhabitants, caught in between the fighting, and evacuated the population, quite late, on 9 June.
Climbing upward, passing, amongst many others, graves of captains.
Three views from the ossuary, because I could not possibly catch the impressive view in one photo shot.
View upward at the Petit Honeck, Riedwald, and the Pfeiferberg. (left to right)
View more northwestward to the Hohneck (1.363 m.) and the Schlucht, in the centre. Left the Seeberg and the Burgkoepfle.
From Metzeral we follow the valley of the Grande Fecht near Mittlach, at the foot of the Schnepfenriedkopf and the Anlasswasen.
Along the Grande Fecht at the outskirts of the hamlet Mittlach, at the foot of the Schnepfenriedkopf, we find a source and a memorial stèle.
The Germans occupied the village of Mittlach at 11 March 1915. Between 16 and 26 April 1915 the 47e and 66e Divisions attacked the Schnepfenriedkopf and the Anlasswasen and the village of Mittlach, west and in front of these ridges.
On 20 April 1915 the 28e B.C.A. and the 3e B.Territoriale C.A. occupied the village of Mittlach. The snow storms during 22-26 April forced the battle to an end. But the fights in this area would go on in May and June 1915. The village of Mittlach would stay in French possession until the end of the war.
In German: "Hertha Source 1905". The name and the dating of the source remind us of the times from 1871 until 26 April 1915, when this region was still German territory.
We retun to Metzeral and go southward along the D 10 to Sondernach.
View from Sondernach at a northern slope of the Schepfenriedkopf.
Sondernach was occupied by the French at 23 June 1915. The Bois de Maettle (Wood of Maettle) , which lies along a western slope of the Petit Ballon and close to the village in the southeast, would become the new frontline.
The cemetery contains 373 bodies of French soldiers, fallen in this area.
View southwestward from the edge of the cemetery to the Schnepfenriedkopf.
View southward over a rusted elephant shelter into the direction of the Hilsenfirst and the Schnepfenriedkopf (right).
From Sondernach we follow the D 10, next the meandering, dead end D 27 to the hamlet of Schnepfenried at the foot of the Schnepfenriedkopf.
We return almost to Sondernach. At the junction of the D 27 and the D 10 we take a sharp curve over a small bridge, and continue southward.
Over the meandering D 10 we climb along a northern slope of the Hilsenfirst to the summit of Le Petit Ballon. A slope of the Hilsenfirst.
Read more about the origins of Sidi-Brahim in my next photo impression about le Tanet. Dutch readers, lees mijn geïllustreerde lezing: "De Blauwe Duivels in de Vogezen - Chasseurs Alpins".
View from the Col du Hilsenfirst at Metzeral in the Grande Fecht valley.
The Germans fortified the summit and the wooded slopes of the nearby Ilienkopf and the Petit Ballon (Kleine Belchen) with lines of trenches and barbed wire obstacles. Positions with machine gun posts and mountain artillery were installed. On and around the summit were observation posts for guiding artillery from the mountain. The German defense line on the Hilsenfirst, the Ilienkopf and the Petit Ballon was so thoroughly organised, that these mountains would stay invincible for the French Divisions until the end of the war. Until 1918 the Germans would keep the line from the Hohrodberg southward to Stosswihr, Munster, Luttenbach, Breitenbach, and the Petit Ballon.
As always, I could not resist to take a look inside the one room bunker.
Farmers use some relics nowadays as fences for their cattle. A former sap, filled with old and modern barbed wire.
Left: a quite exceptional and most remarkable period picture of a German trench at the nearby Ilienkopf, made in May 1915. Right: a zoomed-in detail of the picture, showing a sentry wearing a steel-foreheadpiece, a "Gaede" helmet.
This Gaede helmet formed the "evolutionary link" between the Pickelhaube and the Stahlhelm. The Gaede M1915 steel headpiece was mounted on a black leather skull cap. The steel plate was 6 mm. thick and the helmet's weight was 2 kilogram.
After waiting for better head protection than the Pickelhaube, the Army Group Gaede's Chief of Staff, Lt.Col. Hesse, ordered the manufacture of 1500 helmets. The helmets were not authorized by the War Ministry, and Hesse almost had to pay for the cost of the helmets himself. So, he stopped the production of the helmets. After the introduction of the M16 Stahlhelm, the Gaede helmets were withdrawn, and most were melted down for their steel.
Sometimes you will see relics of the barbed wire obstacles of the period.
The manmade "grooves" under the rocks on a northwestern slope are traces of trenches.
Panorama view more northeastward into the direction of the village of Wasserbourg.
View from north to south. Notice the large shellhole and the "grooves", along the road and upward the slope.
These pictures are made from the ground in these former trenches along the road.
On the southeast corner of the junction, these trenches made a sharp bend eastward.
View northward from the "parapet" of this trench, overlooking three large shellholes.
Two panorama views of the breathtaking beauty of the mountain landscape. View into the direction of the Schlucht, le Tanet, and la Gazon du Faing.
We continue via the D 10 downward to Wasserbourg. After some 2 km. we park our car at a junction of forest roads, where we follow the sign: "Chemin du Schreiplan".
After some 100 m. we find relics of a cableway station and a shelter bunker.
There were three cableway lines running from the village of Wasserbourg to the Petit Ballon - Hilsenfirst sector.
At the lower verge of the forest road, opposite this Seilbahnstation, ...
We continue to Wasserbourg. At the entrance of the village we find a small bridge with an interesting, German inscription in the left wall.
Behind this village church used to be the first Seilbahnstation. Nowadays the site is covered by a private villa and garden.
From Wasserbourg we leave via the meandering D 43 northward. Before entering Soultzbach, we go to the right, and we continue southward via the D 40 to Soultzmatt.
... many Romanian soldiers were transported from Romania to P.O.W. camps in German states like Alsace-Lorraine.
These 687 Romanian soldiers, buried here, were made Prisoner of War during the Romanian Campaign.
The Gauchmatt POW camp at Soultzmatt
The Romanian Campaign; August - December 1916
Romania attacks Transylvania and parts of Hungary
Counter Offensive of the Central Powers; the Romanian Campaign
The total of Romanian casualties of this campaign is estimated at 250.000 men.
According to German sources of the period the Romanians lost at least 774 Officers, 107.900 P.O.W.’s , 448 artillery guns, and 186 machine-guns. According to other sources the number of fallen Romanian soldiers is estimated on a number between 75.000 and 100.000 men.
The plaques below this Byzantine Cross tell a tragic story about the historical background of this cemetery.
All graves bear this medallion of the Committee of Alsace for the Romanian Graves:
This close-up of this impressive statue forms the last photo of this photo impression about the Munster valley.
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.
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.
