ALSACE VOSGES - Route des Crêtes - Hohneck - Grand Ballon - Sudel
- by Pierre Grande Guerre
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- 08 Jun, 2019
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Year of visit: 2004, 2007, 2009, 2012
We follow the Route des Crêtes, (Road of the Ridges), D 430, southward, from the Col de la Schlucht until the Markstein. After a short visit to the touristic Col de la Schlucht, we make a detour of only 2 km. to visit le Collet. From there we continue our route over the Road of the Ridges to the summit of the Honeck with its wide panorama over this front sector. Then we continue southward to the Markstein. From the Markstein, where the Route des Crêtes changes to the D 431, we visit the summit of the Grand Ballon, the Memorial Chapel at le Sudel, and the memorial to Capitaine Amic, then make a detour to some concrete relics of the German positions on the slopes of the Sudel (Sudelkopf) to finish our route at the Riesenkopf.
In between you will find some frames with illustrated background information about the amazing story of the import of Alaska sled dogs and their deployment at the Vosges front, and about the military significance of the Honeck Tramway.
Joffre ordered the construction of the Road of the Ridges, running from the Col du Bonhomme in the north to the Hartmannswillerkopf in the south, to supply the French troops on the conquered passes and mountains more easily. The construction of the road was finished in the summer of 1915.
The modern Route des Crêtes, as announced on modern maps and signs, starts at the Col de la Schlucht and runs southward.
We start at the touristic Col de la Schlucht, which is now also a modern winter sports resort .
The ski cable car line follows the track of the former Honeck Tramway.
View from the Col de la Schlucht over the former "German side of the front ", eastward; the Valley of Munster.
View from the Col de la Schlucht westward, to the "French side" of the ridge. The Col de la Schlucht was also the target area of the German artillery bombardments of 12 - 19 February 1915 at the Col itself and at nearby Gérardmer.
Gérardmer (on the right) was a very important place during the war, being a French supply station for men, materials, weapons, and ammunitions.
During the night of 19 to 20 August Von Heeringen’s 7th Army surprised Dubail’s night attack and killed it with a huge counter offensive in cooperation with Crown Prinz Rupprecht's 6th Army against the French 2nd Army. The German artillery bombardments and infantry attacks were very successful.
On 23 August 1914 Joffre ordered Dubail and Castelnau to retreat. Castelnau had to retreat to Nancy and the Grand Couronné. Dubail was ordered to retreat west and behind the Road of the Ridges to Epinal and to occupy such ridges and passes along the Route des Crêtes as they were able to hold.
The winter in the Vosges of 1914-1915 was most rigorous. On the Vosges peaks the snow sometimes reached two metres high. Snow accumulation made the transport of the wounded and of supplies difficult; not only for men, but also for mules and dogs. Soldiers were often forced to shovel to clear the way for them. Their work rapidly became ineffective.
Capitaine Louis Moufflet and Lieutenant René Haas
In June 1915, Captain Louis Moufflet of the 62e Bataillon de Chasseurs Alpins (a Reserve Battalion of the 22e B.C.A.) and infantry Lieutenant René Haas were received at the headquarters of the Vosges Army Group.
Since both men had lived before the war in Alaska, they were experienced in the difficulties of life and transport in extremely cold circumstances. Based on their experiences in Alaska and inspired by the practices of handling dogs over there, they suggested that General Maud’huy should use Alaska sled dogs for transporting supplies. In France other types of dogs were already used for draught activity or for "pack" activity, but the use of pulling a sled with cargo was then virtually unknown.
During this meeting, Moufflet and Haas proposed to General Maud’huy a plan to buy and import a large group of sled dogs in Alaska to deploy them later in the Vosges.
September 1915: the "Haas & Moufflet"-project is official
In September 1915 General Maud'huy approves of the "Haas & Moufflet"-project to acquire a group comprising 400 Alaska sled dogs and 40 draught dogs. The General sends Captain Moufflet and Lieutenant Haas on a secret mission to Alaska to buy more than 400 dogs, sleds and harnesses, as well as specific provisions of food. On 7 August 1915 Mr. Millerand, Minister of War, approves officially the project.
Upon receiving the news of the order, the two officers embark immediately for Canada. Their crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by steam ship lasts 15 days.
The Captain, still seriously wounded during fighting some days before his journey, stays in Montréal to organize the reception of the dogs and their transport from Canada to France. His deputy, Lieutenant Haas continues on his way westward by train via Seattle and from there northward to Nome, Alaska.
René Haas and Scotty Allan
In anticipation of General Maud’huy’s expected order, Rene Haas had already wired some weeks before a message to Nome. He telegraphed one of the most famous breeders and conductors of Alaska sled dogs, the musher, Allan Alexander “Scotty” Allan, to seek his support, expertise and assistance. Scotty Allan is a naturalized American, born in Scotland.
Before the arrival of Haas in Canada and Alaska, Scotty has already begun touring the Inuit villages with the utmost discretion, letting it be understood that he was searching for new dogs for his kennel. During and in between the arrivals of 106 new sled dogs Scotty conscientiously stored several tons of dried salmon, sleds, hundreds of harnesses, ropes and lines.
When Lieutenant Haas arrives some weeks later in Nome, the dogs with their sleds, harnesses, and their 2 tons of dried salmon are ready for transport by ship.
Against his wife’s and family’s wishes, Scotty Allan decides to embark too and to volunteer to serve with the Chasseurs Alpins in France. Although American neutrality forbids him to take part in the conflict, he volunteers. This was not uncommon, because the French army deployed already dozens of U.S. citizens, "volunteers on their own", for instance the American ambulance drivers.
Transport from Nome to Quebec
The transport by ship from Nome to Seattle lasts 9 days without incident. The next stage of the transport is the journey by train of 5,000 km. from Seattle to Quebec.
In Quebec, Scotty Allan and Lieutenant Haas meet Captain Moufflet again, who is still looking for a transport steamer. Before their arrival, the Captain managed to collect some 300 dogs from La Belle Province and from Labrador together with the necessary harnesses and sleds. In all Haas and Moufflet collected 436 dogs with harnesses and 70 new sleds.
Baptism of fire
The dogs are gathered in a park near the Munitions Test Centre of the Canadian Army. The cannonade of the test centre is almost constant and the earth trembles all day long. After two days of exposure to the noise, the dogs become accustomed to it. This baptism of fire teaches the dogs to respond only to the yelling of their musher's voice, and it manages to silence them gradually.
Transport from Quebec to le Havre
A steamer, the Pomeranian, leaves Quebec with its cargo via the St. Lawrence river to cross the Atlantic, infested with German submarines, to France. After 15 days the Pomeranian arrives at le Havre.
Arrival and deployment in the Vosges
Following the example of the deployment of Alaska dogs, French dogs with similar qualities, like the Labrit des Pyrenées, were deployed in other French units as draught animals.
By 18 July 1918 the “Section d'Equipages Canins d'Alaska” (Section of Alaska dog teams) had lost 187 of the 436 Alaska dogs. Three Alaska dogs were awarded the Croix de Guerre.
Since 1905 le Collet was a halt of the Hohneck Tramway. Later I will tell you more details about the military significance of the Hohneck tramway.
... to return to the Col de la Schlucht to continue via the Route des Crêtes to the Hohneck mountain.
We continue this panorama north-westward.
The sandy path marks the former location of the track of the Hohneck Tramway.
In this frame below I tell you some background information about the military importance of the Hohneck Tramway.
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The Hohneck Tramway |
The line of only 20 km. started at Gérardmer at 621 m. for a westward climb to the Col de la Schlucht (1,200 m.) to continue southward to the Hohneck (1,366 m).
The service started in 1905. In 1908 the line was extended to Munster, then a German border town with a time difference of one hour (Berlin time). It took the tram 1 hour to cover the distance of 10 km. from the Col de la Schlucht to Munster. After August 1914 the service to Munster stopped and it would never be exploited again.
The Hohneck Tramway in wartime
After this intermezzo we continue our panoramic views northward. View in the direction of the Schlucht (the Gorge).
... where General Dubail inspected in April 1915 the German positions on the east side of the Fecht valley.
View at left: the Altenberg, le Tanet and the Bichtstein. Right: the Valley of Munster, in the background the ridges of the Lingekopf front sector.
The winter sports village of le Gaschney and the Sattel, right of the Sattel, the Reichackerkopf.
Extreme left: the Reichackerkopf. In the Fecht valley: Mittlach, conquered by the French. Centre right on the mountain: Schnepfenried, "German" territory, ...
Near the Breitfirst we follow the D 27 eastward for a short detour of about 1 km. View from the Breitfirst westward. Notice the 2 shell holes.
We arrive at the junction of the winter sports resort of the Markstein, here photographed from the south.
The Grand Ballon (1.424 m.) from the south, a landmark with its ball shaped, radar weather station.
This memorial with the typical oversized beret is dedicated to its bearers: the elite mountain infantry of the Chasseur Alpins. But the fragment also remembers the original 1927 memorial for the Chasseurs Alpins of the sculptors, Vermare and Moreau Vautier, on the summit.
View to my left, eastward.
I arrive at the rear side of the memorial, showing two plaques in a niche.
The first plaque tells about the persons, present at the inauguration on 25 September 1927.
The front side of the Chasseurs Alpins Memorial at the Grand Ballon: "AUX DIABLES BLEUS", TO THE BLUE DEVILS; the nickname of the Chasseurs Alpins.
It is a copy of the dynamited 1927 statue, made by Pierre Bouret, and replaced here in October 1960. The bronze statute represents a Chasseur Alpin in winter outfit.
The statue made me think of Pierre Comba's realistic painting, "Sentinel post in the high mountains".
And of course, on the summit: the landmark of the futuristic radar and weather station.
View from the northern slope of the Sudelkopf or le Sudel over the meandering D 431 to the Grand Ballon.
On the ridge of the Sudelkopf is nowadays a small French National Memorial Chapel.
The chapel has been built on the location of a French observation and machine gun post.
Through the gate of the chapel I made these pictures of the small interior.
View from the chapel and the former observation post guarding "the access to the valley of Thann".
After the war the French renamed the pass under the Kohlschlag the Col Amic (828 m.).
A view from the Memorial for Paul Amic to the nearby Hartmanswillerkopf.
At the Kohlschlag, at the northern side of the road, we detect this twin bunker.
... foot the summit looking for concrete relics of the German positions.
In case of a French break-through from above or from below, this machine-gun bunker would defend the path.
We return to our car and continue our route eastward down in the gorge of the Wuenheimerbach.
We pass the landmark "Croix Zimmermann" in the gorge of the Wuenheimerbach. The road follows the southern bank of the brook.
Otherwise we would surely have missed this well hidden entrance to a tunnel system.
I continue following the tunnel, running inside the slope. These tunnels are barely higher than 1.60 m.
We continue by car to the junction, south of the hamlet of Thierenbach.
Views north-eastward over the vine branches of the Alsatian Gewurztraminer wine.
We go right, southward,following a country road from Thierenbach to the village of Hartmannswiller.
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.
