ALSACE VOSGES - Tête de Faux - Buchenkopf

The mountain, the Tête de Faux or in German the Buchenkopf; a report of 3 visits on 1 page. 

Two visits of 2007 and 2009 to the former French positions on the south west side of the Tête de Faux, scene of the terrible losses of the French 215th Infantry Regiment between 21 September and 2 December 1914, up to the summit. 

Next on this page other visits in 2008 and 2009 to the perhaps even more impressive relics of the German positions on the east slope of the Buchenkopf. This area around the Etang du Devin and the summit was the centrepoint of violent battles around Christmas 1914 until February 1915.

2007: From our base of operations on the Col du Bonhomme we go this time to the right on the D 148, southward.

... which was a scène of heavy fighting during the period of August and September 1914, ...

... to reach the parking of the ski station of the Col du Calvaire at 1.134 m. Here we find a small remembrance stone:

From this modest memorial we depart for a 2,5 km long walk upward the Tête de Faux (1.220 m).

...on which the front of the Vosges would froze  from a mobile war in a trench war from around 21 September 1914.

At the height of 1.121 m. we reach the Military Cemetery, named after Commandant (Major) Henri Duchesne.

The Cimetière Duchesne contains 292 burials and the bodies of 116 soldiers, together in a communal grave, an "Ossuaire".

A few meters from the summit stands a memorial for the Chasseurs Alpins, who died here on this spot in July 1916.

But even after that period of 1914 - 1915 the area would stay a bone of contention.

The French front line trenches during the period of December 1914- February 1915.

... remind us of the location of the former No Man's Land on the summit.

We pass this last bunker of French origin, half way in No Man's Land. Possibly it functioned as an advanced listening post.

No Man's Land. View at the first German line: "Stützpunkt Buchenkopf".

2008 and 2009 - The German positions on the Buchenkopf

On a foggy day in June 2008 we approached the Tête de Faux, or the Buchenkopf from the north side, departing from the village of le Bonhomme, to visit the relics of the German positions on the east flank of the Buchenkopf. In 2009, on a sunny day with clouds, we continued our explorations further, but again from the same side. 

The first location we encounter is a Bavarian made wartime cemetery.

During the post war clearing operations the French left some relics of the former German cemetery.

... mainly Bavarian soldiers, killed nearby during the fights for the summit.

Under this stone in the former cemetery wall, 4 Bavarian "Landwehrmänner", fallen in July 1916, used to "rest here".

The text for Hans Schneider and his comrades is for the most unreadable.

... a Bavarian dressing station built in 1915, and reinforced with concrete in 1916. The front of the bunker, from left to right.

The entrance is in the relic of a trench, on the left side of the bunker.

At the door opening: In the bunker there are some filled in entrances to underground corridors.

In the corner of the second room: again filled in corridors to man made dug-outs under the mountain.

In 1914 and 1915 the Germans used  masonry of natural rocks for their constructions.

This 1915 power plant building on the bank of the Etang du Devin was a very important for the Germans. Besides a forge in the left room, it accomodated in the right room a Diesel engine generator, which provided electric current for all shelter bunkers in the Buchenkopf sector.

The right, generator room. (The graffitti is of modern tourist mountain hikers.)

This front sector was supplied by a "telepherique", a cable car connection, from the north-eastern village of Lapoutroie, down in the Béhine valley.

The generator building lies on the bank of the Etang du Devin, the Sorceress' Pond (926 m.). The Germans called the pond the "Hexenweier".

This pond was important for supplying water to the German troops in the whole Buchenkopf sector. Relics of the pumping system along the bank, ...

The relics of the water pump station, west and above the generator building.

About 1 km. southward from the Etang du Devin, at 950 m. altitude another German wartime cemetery.

... there have been severe battles for the area around both cemeteries near the Etang du Devin on the Buchenkopf, so close to each other.

We walk along some left relics. Again: all German soldiers buried here, were transferred to the Hohrod Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof.  

Tombstone of a soldier of an "Armierungs Bataillon", a construction battalion.

The French left the cemetery chapel in tact, obviously for shared religious reasons.

Some 50 m. furtheron and below the path of the dressing station, the entrance to an interesting 1916 bunker.

These are relics of the second cable car station, "Rohlbahntunnel Station Koenig Ludwig", from Lapoutroie.

1916 Concrete on the outside, 1915 masonry on the inside of the walls. The mark points out the telephone and electricity cables.

This building served as the second of the cable car stations. The third one is near the Roche du Corbeau and the summit, which we will visit later.

As we come nearer the Roche du Corbeau, we will not find much concrete anymore.

... and more elephant shelters and filled in entrances to dug-out tunnels.

We are now in the neighbourhood of the third "Rohlbahntunnel Station".

Chris in the third "Rohlbahntunnel Station", near and still below the Roche du Corbeau.

We climb on along the bunkers, belonging to the chain of "Feste Eisenschmid".

Of course I had to enter it using my flash light. 

View from this point into the direction of No Man's Land, and the French part of the summit.

Of course we explored the "rear side" and the interior of the bunkers and trenches complex.

With this last picture of the summit we complete our virtual tour over the Tête de Faux.

Continue to the front sector of le Linge or the Lingekopf: "Col du Wettstein - Schratzmännele"