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Remembered Today:

My climb up Hartmannsweilerkopf (HWK)


egbert

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Immediately after the war the cemetery with the dead interred here, had been desecrated by locals, who "took" all sepulchral stele and used them as building material. They deliberately extincted the existence of each individual a second time then by erasing their identity. It is said though that Monsieur Zeller (remember: the owner of the bend no2.ex-HQ facilities) has accurately noted the names of the dead and their exact location. Later the dead were concentrated on the VdK cemetery in Cernay and Guebwiller, two nearby towns.

The two canonball -structures at the gate which you see in the war time picture above had been spotted in a town nearby decorating the entrance of a private home in the town of Hartmannsweiler.

This picture post war

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A stone's throw away from cemetery L.I.R. 124 is another enchanted cemetery, that of the Uhlans. The bodies have been relocated to concentration cemeteries sometime between 1920 and 1922.

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Uhlanenfriedhof.

After the withdrawal of German units after the war ended in 1918 there, the cemetery fell into disarray and deteriorated fast. The bodies have been relocated to concentration cemeteries in Guebwiller and Cernay in the 1920s.

My personal remark: between Nov 1918 and the actual reburial of the dead in the concentration cems, grave markers withered and became unreadable and at least "some" 1918 still known soldiers had to be reburied in mass graves because their identity turned to unknown....as happened to Lt Drangmeister, killed and buried on nearby Lingekopf in a known grave and relocated to nearby concentration cem Bärenstall resting now in a mass grave.

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Picture courtesy of Louis

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Uhlanenfriedhof totally neglected with HWK in the background. I do not know though which year this picture was taken- before or after reburials.

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Picture courtesy of Louis

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Most tombstone today are not from 1918 time. Some group/association/individuals had restored the place to what it is today. When that occurred I do not know. Were they German veterans in the 30s and following years who visited their former battlegrounds frequently? Was it a local association? Don't know. What is a fact is that since 1969 when the Amis de HWK association was established care taking commenced.

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What is known for sure is that the following groups repaired the cemetery in 2007:

A group from a local German Association of Military Reserves , German active duty soldiers from Eurokorps Strasbourg and a local branch of Federal Agency for Technical Relief

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More great photos egbert, Im still lovin' it! All the very best to you for 2013 :thumbsup:

Sean.

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Egbert,

And it just gets better. Would you be able to translate the memorial in post 587 please?

Thanks again, cheers Andy.

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Thanks Sean, all the very best to my faithful follower here for 2013!

As well for Andy -well we have the "chief-GWF-translator" for these hopeless cases. Please cross fingers for Mick (siegegunner) to read this and his contribution :thumbsup:

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Still on the grounds of Ulan cemetery.

Gravestone of Musketier Herbert Müller

Great battle day on 24.12.1915. Artillery bombardments from both parties and a French Alpine corps infantry attack at Unterer Rehfelsen. The French forces penetrate parts of the trenches there, parts of Himmelsleiter, Hexenküche and in parts of U.R. itself (you should know the places now from the earlier posted images in this thread). L.I.R 56 (2nd and 4th Companies) lost "Gabel-sap". The very accurate French artillery firing from location "Herrenfluh" killed many brave LIR 56 soldiers.

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The last pictures before returning to point of departure are from "Feste Baden", once a row of three gun-bunkers of which 2 are left today. You can barely see them in this picture, hidden by the forest.

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The large barbette still dominates the interior. The open door of the barbette maybe is a good yardstick how big it is actually.

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Well I hope you enjoyed this climb/walk as this was the last picture from some 300-350 . In case you liked it, I would love to get your comments and feedback.

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Keep them coming Egbert.

The cemetery and memorial pictures are my particular favourites, but I'm enjoying them all.

Like Andy though, I'm still waiting for the translation. Where's Mr Forsyth when you want him?

Phil

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Egbert,

Are you kidding? The only disappointing thing about this thread is your last post. Tell me that's not the last photo, please.

For a not-so-well known battlefield I knew absolutely nothing about before this, and I still don't know that much about, this has been enthralling and a pleasure to follow. For those who will follow in explaining their battlefield tours on this forum, they now have a standard to meet. You have set a precedent that will be very hard to match.

I'm sure many will follow in echoing my sentiments.

Thank you for bringing a forgotten battlefield and the soldiers who fought there back to life.

Cheers Andy.

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Totally enthralling Egbert. Thank you so much for your hard work, research and patience. I look forward to further threads from you

Keith

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Well done egbert. As Ive said before, your style and layout were the inspiration for my own Verdun thread. No need to fix what aint broken!! Just keep em coming in 2013 :thumbsup:

Regards,

Sean.

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