ALSACE VOSGES - Kleinkopf - Barrenkopf
- by Pierre Grande Guerre
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- 06 Jul, 2019
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Year of visit: 2008, 2010
At the cairns at the junction of the Baerenstall in front of the Hohrod German War Cemetery we turn right, ...
... and follow the D 5 B1 southward. (On the next page we will go left and visit a.o. the Hohrodberg Cemetery.)
Some 300 meters further on, after a curve, we park our car at the northern plateau of the Hohrodberg.
The Kleinkopf - Barrenkopf Hiking Route
We start with this German forward machine-gun bunker.
It stands at the foot of the Kleinkopf, guarding the road and the French positions, some 150 m. to the west.
... to country road along No Man's Land. View south-westward at the Reichackerkopf, the Sattelkopf, the Petit-Honeck and the Schlucht.
We continue northward enjoying this panorama westward at the ridges of the Vosges Mountains..
The French lines were here, on this western slope of the Kleinkopf, below the country road.
you may skip this frame below.)
The Battles of the Linge 1915 - Collet du Linge, Schratzmännele, Lingekopf, Barrenkopf, and Kleinkopf
Before the offensive of Le Linge of 15 June 1915, the 47th and 66th D.I. began an offensive at Metzeral.
15 June 1915 - 70e B.C.A. raids the Lingekopf
During three months the 3e Brigade des Chasseurs, reinforced by two companies of the 59e Régiment d'Infanterie Territoriale, digged on their side of the line their trenches and constructed their fortifications.
On 15 June 1915 a patrol of the 70th B.C.A. (70e Bataillon Chasseurs Alpins) tried a raid on the Crête, the ridge of the Collet, meeting fierce German resistance.
On 20 June 1915, being on the alert, the German troops bombarded the French positions, strengthening their own defences. De Pouydraguyn‘s 47th Division, made a second attempt to attack the Munster valley. The lines of Le Linge were confided to a new and young division, the 129th Infantry Division of General Nollet, consisting mostly of young soldiers of around 20 years old.
20 July 1915
22 July 1915
On 22 July the French launched another attack with 14e , 30e BCA, and two companies of the 70e BCA. The attack failed because of an ill functioning artillery.
26 July 1915
The 26th was a day of haze, rain, and mud. This time the preliminary bombardment was successful. The French battalions of Chasseurs Alpins, the 14e and the 30e BCA, attacked at 18.00 hrs. The 30e BCA captured the ridge of Lingekopf, including the German 2nd line (out of 3), with very many losses! The 14e BCA occupied the Collet ("small pass") du Linge. Three attacks of German troops at the Collet were pushed back during the night, and until noon of the 27th.
During the night and the next day fresh reinforcements arrived, consisting of German elite units of the Jäger Bataillon 14 and the Garde Schutzen Bataillon.
27-31 July 1915
In the beginning of the afternoon of 27 July the French attacked the Schratzmännele and the Barrenkopf. The 15e Bataillon Chasseurs à Pied (BCP) occupied only temporarily the Barrenkopf. Though both sides suffered that day heavy losses, the Chasseurs made that day some 280 "rifles" prisoner of war.
On 29 July the French attack restarts at 15.30 hrs.. The 5e BCP attacked the Schratmännele from the Collet du Linge without success. The 120e BCP and the 11e BCA attacked at la Courtine near the Barrenkopf. The 11e BCA knew to reach the machine-gun post at the Barrenkopf. At 30 July the Germans launched an artillery bombardment, which would not prevent the French to launch another attack at the Schratzmännele 2 days later.
August - September 1915
On 4 August 1915 the Germans launched a huge artillery bombardment, using gas shells, and some 40.000 shells on a front of 3 km long from the Lingekopf to the Kleinkopf. On the same day the 5e BCP lost his commander, Commandant (Major) Barberot.
On 18 August the battles intensified again. The 11e BCA conquered the Fort Lingekopf on the summit, but lost it again several hours later. The 27e BCA knew to reach the ridge of the Schratzmännele and to consolidate their positions.
On 22 August the 22e BCA captured the central bunker on the Schratz. The 23e BCA attacked again the bunkers at the Barrenkopf and occupied it for a few hours until a German nightly counter-attack forced them to retreat to la Courtine. Until the 24th there were attacks and counter-attacks from both sides. During these days the ridges of Le Linge changed many times of possession.
Until 12 October the Germans tried to conquer the Schratzmännele, but for the time being the French kept them of this summit. On 12 October 1915 the Germans launched again an attack at the Collet du Linge and the Schratzmännele with flame-projectors. At 3: 00 AM of the 13th, 2 French battalions deployed a new counterattack, which failed. It would be the last French attack along this front sector.
In the end the French lost the summits of the Lingekopf, the Schratzmännele, and the Barrenkopf. On 16 October 1915 the Germans attacked the French in their original lines for the last time. But the French knew to force them to withdraw to their original German 1st lines, as it has been preserved in the situation of nowadays.
... facing the summit of the Kleinkopf and the German lines on the slope.
Along the edge of the wood runs a trench into the direction of the Hohrodberg.
These bunkers were advanced posts of the German trench lines in the wood at the Kleinkopf.
This track used to be the first French Line, and it was close to and below the German positions.
In October 1914 French Chasseurs and Fantassins occupied the Wettstein, the Hurlin, the Glasborn, and the west slopes of the Schratzmännele and the Lingekopf.
... over the prairie, la Courtine, east of the Ferme Auberge Glasborn.
... we have arrived at the location of the French lines. The German lines were running in the wood, close to the edge. We detect a lot of shell holes.
View north-westward from the prairie. Left: traces of Chasseurs trenches.
View nort-eastward. We are now amidst the traces of the Chasseurs' first trench line, ...
The strip along the edge of the wood near this spot, called la Courtine, formed the rather narrow No Man's Land.
Below the sign lies a concrete block with war relics, found scattered around on this location.
During the war this location was covered with barbed wire entanglements. The No Man's Land here is only some 15-20 m. wide.
... we see traces of the German 1st line. Through the wood we continue east ward to arrive at , ...
... a relatively less vegetated open spot near the summit of the Barrenkopf.
Following this 2nd line trench, the slope becomes steeper, and the wood more densely vegetated.
In the dense vegetation, knowing there has been a network of trenches here, ...
... to the third line, which also is close to the summit of the Barrenkopf.
Here we find a short, rather well preserved track of a German masonry trench.
The tunnel looks unstable and it is partly filled in. Remark the good condition of the wooden wallcoverings.
... we climb only a few meters to this double machine-gun bunker at the summit of the Barrenkopf (981 m.).
In the French war journals this bunker is notorious for spreading it's murderous fire. This position here and this bunker formed many times the main target of the French attacks.
We walk southward along the east slope of the ridge to the Kleinkopf.
Halfway between the summit of the Barrenkopf and the Kleinkopf, ...
In the bunker walls are entrances to two dug-outs inside the mountain.
As we see; outside 1915 masonry, fortified indoors with 1916 concrete.
These 3rd line bunkers were used as stocks of materials and ammunitions.
... of a "Rollbahn"- cable car railway, constructed at the end of 1917.
The 60 cm. cable-car railway started at the Hohrodberg, passing the junction at the Baerenstall to transport construction parts and heavy materials to the Barrenkopf-sector.
We return upward to the ridge, and we continue 100 m. southward. Not more than 50m. away from the summit of the Kleinkopf we pass other dug-out entrances.
In the relic of a trench we are climbing to our final goal: the summit of the Kleinkopf (940 m.), ...
... which also still offers this beautiful view westward at the Vosges Ridges.
We descend to the D 5 bis-road, passing on foot this bunker again, ...
... to return to our point of departure at the first German machine-gun bunker of our tour.
On the next page we return to the junction of the Baerenstall, to visit the Hohrod German War Cemetery and more German bunkers on our way to les-Trois Epis, to return later for the magnificent panorama from the Hohrodberg over the Munster valley.
Continue to the next chapter: "Hohrodberg - Grand Hohnack - Giragoutte - Les Trois Epis"
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.
