Cemeteries in the Vosges - a few snaps of places British visitors may not reach

[Dragon]

During the last week or so, I posted on Facebook some snaps of places to which British visitors seldom go.

 

This was my cover photo. It's Hohrod-Bärenstall German cemetery, April 27th, 2016. There was snow and bitter cold in the Vosges exactly one hundred years previously.

 

 

 

 

 

Then I shared a few snaps of Mongoutte, which is near to Ste-Marie aux Mines. 1175 German soldiers from 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 rest here. This is cemetery creation on an industrial scale, built by Romanian prisoners of war and civilians. This isn't an exposed part of the Front, so the cemetery can be more substantial. The cross which dominates it is 12 m high. The cross is the first thing which strikes you: a huge, imposing structure of immense solemnity among green, fertile gardens with a tumbling stream. Some of the burials are individual and approximately 360 are in a mass grave.

 

  

 

 

 

This is Mongoutte under construction. (My card.) If you would like to see a gallery of some more old pictures and somephotos, please visit my Zenfolio.

 

 

 

Public posts on Facebook.

[Martin Bennitt]

Nice Gwyn, but I think they merit more than being called snaps.

 

Cheers Martin B

[Dragon]

Only about 7 km from the German cemetery Mongoutte, the French cemetery of Ste-Croix aux Mines looks down from the hillside over the mining town of Ste-Croix and down the valley of la Lièpvrette (river), which enters the Rhine plain not far from Sélestat. If your relatives had to visit you, or wondered whetnher you were one of the many Inconnus (Unknowns) this is a peaceful place to pause and reflect with the Vosges, always beautiful, as a backdrop.

 

After taking in the overall view of the cemetery, one of the first memorials you spot is the very personal one to a 21 year old man whose war was short: 'To my brother Albert Fournier, killed by the enemy 28.8.14'. (Albert Marie Prosper Fournier's record and headstone gives 23rd.) He is described as, 'Disparu, décés fixé par jugement'. It gives an impression of the chaotic fighting in the early days of the war in the Vosges mountain terrain.

 

This is a consolidation cemetery, begun in 1920. Bodies from among the communes of Sainte-Marie and Sainte-Croix and the military cemeteries at Lièpvre and Aubure were brought here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More: here.

 

Gwyn

[Dragon]

This is the 14-18 British cemetery at Sarralbe, in the département of la Moselle in Lorraine, to the east of the Vosges. I took these photos in December 2009 for a member of the GWF. As the threatening cast of the sky shows, snow was coming and within a couple of days we had temperatures of -10° in deep snow at Col de la Schlucht, dropping even further to -19° in snow on the plain when we tried to get home from Alsace. I mention that as an indication of the severe temperatures soldiers placed in the Vosges could have to endure.

 

Some men in this cemetery died as prisoners of war. The cemetery was begun by the Germans to include German dead but now there are only British casualties here. Some have been brought from other cemeteries in the region.

 

In the overall view taken across the fields, the British cemetery is to the left of the civic cemetery and the church; you can just pick out the cross.

 

 

 

 

Gwyn

 

Edited 14 November , 2016 by Dragon

[Dragon]

This is la cimetière Duchesne, the French cemetery which is at the base of the small but notorious mountain battlefield of la Tête des Faux in the Vosges. On 2nd December, 1914, two French battalions partially succeeded in dislodging the Germans from the summit, (1220 m). On 24th December, 1914, the Germans launched a ferocious attack in deep snow and fierce cold to regain their position. During that Christmas Eve, 600 men on both sides died.

 

This mountain cemetery from 1915 is the resting place of 408 French soldiers and another 116 in an ossuary. Like the German cemeteries on the other side of the mountain, it is deeply peaceful, surrounded by forest and bedded in moss. These photos are from July 2006. They were several cameras ago and I liked the blurred effect of one of the photos, so left it unsharpened.

 

The summit of la Tête des Faux is littered with some of the most vicious vestiges of 14-18 warfare that I have ever seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gwyn

 

[Dragon]

There are two forest cemeteries on the German side of the mountain battlefield la Tête des Faux. This is Rabenbühl. The soldiers have been reburied in Hohrod-Bärenstall. In reaching Rabenbühl, you pass the swampy pool l'Étang du Devin, which was used by the Germans for water supplies and power. Rabenbühl includes a small chapel building.

 

I am in two minds about b&w conversions, but I decided that the peaceful, lush green of the forest is a powerful part of the scene when you come across these deserted cemeteries. Somehow it fixes it as timeless - nature is slowly claiming these headstones and dressing them in lichen and moss. Where I have used a b&w conversion it is because I liked the texture. The headstones are dignified, strong and often beautifully enscripted. In early postcards, you can see the posy sculpted on the centre headstone of the trio and it is still there a hundred years later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Early postcard of Rabenbühl.  My card.

 

 

 

Gwyn

 

Edited 14 November , 2016 by Dragon
Adding postcard image

[Dragon]

This is Hexenweiher. I have posted photos of Hexenweiher before, so here are just a few. The steps up to the cemetery and some of the headstones set in the wall remain. The rich green of the foliage creates a setting for meditation. There is a small area with seats set into the wall for men to be still and reflect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have quite a few old postcards of these cemeteries.

 

 

 

 

I am reasonably sure that the grave the men are digging here is the grave where the burial is taking place below.

 

 

(My postcards)

 

Gwyn

[Dragon]

33 minutes ago, Martin Bennitt said:

Nice Gwyn, but I think they merit more than being called snaps.

 

Cheers Martin B

 

[Fattyowls]

I'm with Martin on this one Gwyn. Snaps is what I do, these are something else entirely. Admittedly the subjects and the landscape are naturally photogenic but you can compose a picture. I'd lop off the tops of the peaks and fail to get the trees vertical. Great work.

 

Pete.

[SteveMarsdin]

Thanks for posting, Gwyn, evocative photos.

 

Steve

[Sly]

Ces photos sont magnifiques !

 

Thank you,

Sly

[madgarry]

Great pictures, thnx for sharing 

[roel22]

Great photo's of an area I definitely should be visiting anytime soon...

 

Roel

[The Scorer]

Thanks very much - it's an area that I'm almost certainly never going to visit, so these images really create an impression; and, yes, I'm with everyone else on appreciating their quality!

[Dragon]

Thank you very much for your nice comments! It's very encouraging.

 

I have put together a little illustrated document suggesting places to visit and how to get to them, because people kept asking me. It's in English. Most material isn't! I don't pretend to be a military expert but I've been walking round the area for years and I have a few suggestions which avoid the main tourist sites.

 

My blog is linked from my signature.

 

Gwyn

[CROONAERT]

Wonderful photos of a wonderful (and extremely addictive) area, Gwyn!

 

Thanks for posting. I can never tire of looking at images from here.

 

Dave

 

 

Edited 16 November , 2016 by CROONAERT

[Neil Mackenzie]

Gwyn.

 

Lovely photos of a great area.

 

Although I will probably never return there it is a place I recommend everyone to try and visit once - it is beautiful and worth visiting even for those not interested in the Great War.

 

Neil

[Dragon]

Thank you! I too would recommend everyone to go there (but not all at once!) It's so interesting and beautiful that you have to keep going back ... and back.... and back... as Dave says.
 

I'll possibly put more on of other places if there is interest. I don't spend my time ticking cemeteries, but the theme of my pics was to do with remembrance. I have a few thousand to go at...

 

Gwyn

[Michelle Young]

Having spent a week in the area at the start of July, I'm already making plans to return next year. It's a beautiful area, and the war vestiges are very evident. 

[aengland]

Wonderful photographs from one of my favourite areas of France; thank you for posting them. Time to return methinks

[Fattyowls]

I'd love to see some more if it doesn't interrupt TMS too much.

 

Pete.

[Michelle Young]

Just a few before the players come out again 

[David Filsell]

Terrific 'snaps'. You have a great eye for a picture.

regards

David

Edited 10 September , 2018 by David Filsell

[Marilyne]

Dragon & Michelle,

 

great pics!!!

 

Thanks!

 

M.

[Dragon]

In post #22, the third image from the bottom, Michelle's photo shows a pyramid which is now at the side of the D5b1 slightly down hill from the German cemetery Hohrod-Bärenstall. The pyramid was one of several monuments in the original German cemetery constructed on the slopes of the notorious Schratzmännele, one of the three summits of the battle of le Linge, 1915. [Card 1] The monument was built by Bavarian troops in 1916. It is in its original position. The graveyard was to the right of Michelle's photo.

 

[Card 2.] In the early 1930s the burials in the steep cemetery on Schratz were relocated to the new cemetery Hohrod-Bärenstall, a concentration cemetery close by on the opposite side of the road facing Schratzmännele. The track shown in this picture is forerunner of the modern tarmac road. The pyramid has not been moved.

 

Edited 10 September , 2018 by Dragon