© OT Raon l’Etape : « Grotte des poilus »

The Vosges :a real fortress during the fights

The Vosges display many battle fields and places of memory for those who are interested in world war 1 historical remembrance essentially  in  Donon country and all over the massif of the Vosges. In Saint- Dié des Vosges there is even a museum dedicated to world war1 .

In Meurthe et Moselle too, there are traces of the first world war such as the site of Bois le Prêtre renamed le Bois des Veuves as a result  of many French military losses.

During the fisrt world conflict, trench warfare turning into mine warfare, took place at Ban- de-Sapt on the heights of La Fontenelle. A national cemetery, gathering the tombs and ossuaries of more than 2,000 French soldiers , has been built in memory of the defenders and fighters of our region .

The site of the Chapelotte is the last witness of mine warfare on the heights of Donon and Raon l’Etape while the Roche Mère Henry in the Senones valley is a battle field.

After the first world conflict , the fortifications of Vauban in Longwy were partly destroyed then re-built.Today, they are on the UNESCO World Heritage List.They still bear the mark of King Louis XIV ‘s engineer in  half of the battlements and in the conveniences expected in a fortified town such as a bakery, or a powder magazine…

© OT Pays des Abbyes Roche Mère Henry – © OT Raon l’Etape Pain de sucre – © OT Raon l’Etape Le Coquin

The Kronprinz’s shelter in Emberménil or Prince Wilhelm of Prussia’s bunker also reminds us of the first world war in Meurthe et Moselle.

Other places of remembrance like the National Cemetery of le Pétant brings together on two levels the tombs of the soldiers of the two world wars . Many other memory places that marked our history forever  are to be discovered.