Col de la Schlucht – The Blue Line – the Vosges frontier 1871 to 1914

Tour de France Stage 9: July 13th, 2014. A view through old postcards

The Tour de France in the Vosges and Alsace passes some of the most historically interesting parts of the area, places significant in the period before the Great War when Alsace and Lorraine were under German occupation and sites of sadness and commemoration afterwards. Postcard writers, travellers, tourists and soldiers, sent innumerable cards home from the Vosges. This is a small selection from my own collection, following the route of the Tour in two parts, Stage 9 and Stage 10.

Gérardmer

A German shell on display in Gérardmer:

Travelling in style from Gérardmer to Col de la Schlucht:

Xonrupt-Longemer to La Roche du Diable

Le Tunnel de la Roche de Diable:

Le Collet

The tramway from Gérardmer up to Col de la Schlucht, close to le Collet. The tram line was used for military transport during the Great War. The embankments and the path of the tramway can still be seen.

Col de la Schlucht (1140 m) This was a busy destination on the frontier between France and Alsace (annexed to Germany, 1871). The original bornes frontières (boundary stones) can still be traced following the frontier up the hillside, marked with F on the French side and D on the German.

The German side of the frontier with a customs officer:

French customs:

A military halt at Col de la Schlucht before the Great War:

Chasseur à Pied at Col de la Schlucht, posted 1907:

The Hotel Français in ruins, posted 1917. (The Hotel is the furthest building on the right hand side of the road in the first picture.)

Col de la Schlucht in ruins, posted 1918:

The grand Hotel Altenberg, which hosted many international royals, politicians and celebrities before the war:

The Hotel Altenberg after the war (rebuilt as a hospital, now semi-derelict):

Station du Lac Blanc

Lac Blanc in peaceful times:

The 1914 mountain battleground of la Tête des Faux overlooks Lac Blanc and towards the villages of Orbey and Lapoutroie. Lac Blanc after the Great War, the hotel in ruins:

Basses-Huttes – the Tour does not visit Lac Noir, but goes close. Lac Noir was a peaceful destination with a popular restaurant. During the Great War, it was used as a place of shelter: Gen Pouydraguin had his headquarters here. The small single storey buildings to the left of the lower picture were used as a hospital. They have recently been demolished. The restaurant was rebuilt and remains busy.

Col du Wettstein (880m) The Tour enters one of its most sobering stages. 17000 men, including 10000 Chasseurs, died at le Linge between July 20^th and October 15^th, 1915. The French dead of le Linge, Schratzmännele and Barrenkopf lie in the great cemetery at the Col du Wettstein.

Two early postcards of the great French cemetery:

An image posted in 1930:

Le Linge

A selection of images showing le Linge during and after the Great War. It was, obviously, a place of pilgrimage and reflection for those who had lost loved ones or friends there, or who had experienced the hell themselves.

The German dead are buried in their military cemetery, Hohrod. The bunker outside the walls is still there, adjacent to the road.

Trois-Épis

The town before the Great War while under German occupation, labelled with its German name Drei Ähren. There is now a rather special German military cemetery in the town. Its headstones have been replaced with modern crosses and wild flowers dominate the grounds.

Le Markstein (1183 m) – vestiges of the Great War can easily be seen from the Route des Crêtes, established by Joffre for the efficient movement of troops and supplies. My photo shows how close these vestiges are to the Route des Crêtes (they are best seen in spring before the vegetation has grown back).

Grand Ballon (1336m)

Postcard posted 1903 written in both German (the language of Alsace in occupation) and French, which was discouraged.

Uffholtz, Cernay

This is the area of Hartmannswillerkopf / le Vieil Armand, the strategically vital mountain which gave views over and control of the Rhine Valley, bitterly fought over in 1915.

Next: Tour de France Stage 10 July 14^th, 2014

Please explore the index of my blog for more pieces about this lovely region before the Great War!

All postcards and photographs are my own.

Chalet Hartmann: romance to ruins in 90 years

Approaching the summit of Col de la Schlucht (1139m) from the Munster valley, one of the first signs of habitation is the Hotel du Chalet. For decades travellers have refreshed themselves and relaxed here: cyclists and walkers –

motorists –

and skiers –

Adjoining the hotel premises is a patch of gravelly ground with a set of stone steps leading up to what looks like the foundations of a building. The excursionists of the Occupation era would have seen a pretty Swiss-style building called Chalet Hartmann here (seen in the second postcard above) and might possibly even have crossed paths with a distinguished visitor.

1908 – crowds linger after the arrival of Wilhelm II and his entourage. The dark building on the left is the German customs building.

Chalet Hartmann was built in 1859/60 by a prominent industrialist, Frédéric Hartmann-Metzger, known for his fabric factories in Munster and his benevolent treatment of his staff, including establishing schools in the valley. He constructed the Chalet to mark the completion of the steep, winding road up to the Col from Munster begun fifteen years earlier.

Before the Great War

Many illustrious people visited it, including Napoléon III (twice before the war of 1870) and Wilhelm II in September 1908. With Alsace returned to German territory, Hitler visited la Schlucht in 1940.

1908 (Unfortunately the original card is blurred.)

For part of its life, Chalet Hartmann was a restaurant popular with celebrities. It was badly damaged in the Great War, abandoned in the 1930s, and then damaged again in the Second World War. In 1946 it was completely demolished.

A sad sight after the Great War

This is what the once beautiful Chalet Hartmann looks like now, photographed from the footpath which climbs behind the semi-derelict Hotel Tetras and overlooks the site of the original German customs building. All that remains is the set of steps into the house.

The époque of a rather elegant, leisured, somewhat romantically inclined tourist industry was over and la Schlucht began to look for modern ways of exploiting the white gold of the high mountains.

(All postcards and photographs are my own. Modern photographs June 2013)

The Vosges trams: Ampfersbach to la Schlucht

When the mist clears, and if in your imagination you replace the modern building with a distinguished Victorian hotel, you will see an alluring destination for travellers in the Vosges during the period before the Great War.

I am in the pretty valley of Ampfersbach, looking upwards –

and the modern sanatorium is on the site of the fabulous Hotel Altenberg with its exceptional panorama.

At 1059 m, the luxurious Altenberg was a short walk from the frontier at Col de la Schlucht (1139m). (The original 1896 hotel was destroyed during the Great War and a new hospital building was built on the site between 1922 and 1926. It closed in 2011.) La Schlucht was a popular destination, well supplied with restaurants, hotels and cafés where the intrepid traveller could relax after a stimulating walk in the French Hautes Vosges, contemplate the lost region of Alsace and breathe in the energising mountain air. There were customs buildings for French and German officials.

It is, of course, possible for energetic people to walk up to la Schlucht from Munster or Gérardmer, or to travel by horse. In 1902, the embryonic idea of running a railway up to the Col and down the other side to Gérardmer began to take shape and a tramway was built. This opened up the beautiful valley and Col to tourists from Colmar, who could travel to Munster by train and board a tram, and visitors from further afield. It was a summer service and half a million people took advantage of it between 1907 and 1913.

The tram trundled at 17 kph along the flat floor of the Munster valley, calling at little stations such as Saegmatt in the Ampfersbach valley:

It is still possible to see the slightly elevated embanked track (minus rails) along which the tram travelled. When the flat valley reached the sides of the pass, the tramway began to climb at 7.5 kph up slopes of 22% until it reached the Hotel Altenberg.

The tramway levelled out after the Altenberg, passed under the Schlucht tunnel cut through the rocks –

and eventually reached Col de la Schlucht. There, the customs officers awaited in their official premises at the frontier.

German customs building

German officer, French side in the background

There is much more to say about Col de la Schlucht and the trams in future posts. When the Great War broke out, the French army took the Hotel Altenberg. The tourist trams were used in the early weeks of the war for the transport of troops and the evacuation of wounded soldiers. This stopped when the German troops cut the electricity supply to the tramway.

Returning to Ampfersbach, I am fortunate to have a special card: a postcard sent by a French soldier from Ampfersbach during the Great War. He annotated it clearly, identifying:

the small settlement where they were based
a chimney next to which was the first aid post
the house where he slept in the cellar
and the German side of the front.

According to his message, the X near the church marks the place behind the cemetery wall where he was guarding the trenches. Sadly, he didn’t date or sign his card.

In very faint pencil marks, he marked his trench line. I have traced his line in red.

It’s a privilege beyond words to have bought such a detailed snapshot of someone’s war for five euros.

All postcards and photographs my own.

Note:

Ampfersbach and the Hotel Altenberg are in Alsace, in the territory annexed by Germany.

Statistics about the tram sourced from La Vallée de Munster: Le Tramway Munster-Schlucht et les environs de la Schlucht by Gérard Jacquat and Gérard Leser.

Winter tourism (and some inventive transport) before the Great War: have a fabulous week in the Vosges!

(Card posted 1908)

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, there was a growing appetite for affordable travel and the bicycle offered a perfect means of economic transport. The Bicycle Touring Club was founded in Britain in 1878, but changed its name five years later to the Cyclists’ Touring Club so that tricycle users could join.

Le Touring Club de France was launched in January 1890, modelling itself on the British association. It published guides, routes, journals and postcards for tourists and it promoted awareness of tourist provision such as road signs, orientation tables and refreshment facilities. It funded benches, shelters and some road improvements. (Travellers today may see the Vaulthier sculptures which mark the former Great War front line. They are squat granite pillars topped with an Adrian helmet and a laurel wreath. Touring Club de France was responsible for organising these. Three remain in the Vosges and six in Haut-Rhin, Alsace; one is at Hartmannswillerkopf.)

Naturally the Vosges mountains offered plenty of opportunities for the early tourism industry and Touring Club de France organised a series of exhibitions to promote the pleasures of spending a week in winter enjoying snow sports. The intermittent adventures of wealthy individuals with plenty of time could now potentially be enjoyed by more people.

February 1910 was bitterly cold and the heavy snowfall was an auspicious start to the new winter sports tourism industry. Gérardmer, on the French side of the 1871 frontier in the Hautes-Vosges, was an extremely popular summer destination but moribund in winter. The efforts of Touring Club de France could transform its tourist trade in its quietest season.

The problems of getting around on snow and ice kindled people’s imaginations. Bobsleighs were popular. Reminiscent of the craze for velocipedes (ingenious pedal cycles with up to four wheels), various comical transport machines were invented:

the vélo-ski…

(Card posted 1910)

the auto-traîneau…

the traîneau à hélice…

(I find it hard to see how the unshielded propeller could possibly be safe!)

Even the customs and military organisations investigated the possibilities of ski transport. Here are customs officials at Col de la Schlucht:

German (Card posted 1910)

French (doorway shows height of snow)

and military skiers on the Ballon d’Alsace. Security is non-existent!

The spirit of adventure inevitably led to mishaps. One particular accident near Col de la Schlucht involved two French officers who aspired to reach the summit of Hohneck (1363m), undaunted by the atrocious weather conditions. Inevitably, they were caught in snowfall and fog. Suddenly, one vanished before his companion’s horrified eyes. He had fallen down a ravine, but fortunately his fall was cushioned by snow and he survived, bruised. This didn’t deter others from intrepid escapades and there were deaths.

The winter sports season was a great success and hopes were high for the coming years. Unfortunately in 1911 the snow failed to materialise. In 1912/3, le Club alpin français held the seventh Concours internationale de Gérardmer, an international snow sports event. A winter sports programme was organised for January 1914, with skiing and evening skating by electric lighting on constructed ice rinks. This was the last winter sports season on the French side of the frontier. By the time the Hautes-Vosges were next available for winter pleasure, Alsace and the Vosges had been restored to France.

All postcards my own.

A tale of two posts: les poteaux sur les frontières

After the establishment of the new German state, it was essential for the German authorities to indicate the new boundaries as quickly as possible. At each of the crossing points through the Vosges mountains, they erected wooden posts painted in the German colours. But soon it was obvious that these were susceptible to the extreme weather variations and to vandalism.

By contrast, and probably understandably, the French authorities were rather slow in marking the hated frontier and eventually, in 1885, the German ambassador had to intervene and insist that the work was carried out, arguing that there were risks to France in not indicating the border. A survey was carried out to evaluate the problem and twelve crossing points were identified. Reluctantly, the French agreed to erect their own posts. The Ministry of the Interior made a grant available to fund ten posts at the most important crossings and they were ordered in July, 1886, from a foundry in St-Dié. The Ministry of Public Works funded two more, one at the Col de Ste-Marie between St-Dié and Sélestat and one at the Col du Bussang north of the Ballon d’Alsace. They were in place by the end of 1886. Painting them was considered too expensive.

(Col de Ste-Marie. Borne centre, poteau to right)

Of course, they soon began to deteriorate. Newspapers began to complain about the shameful lack of maintenance of the national symbol, comparing them to the pristine condition of the German markers. Meanwhile the foundries of Kaiserslautern were busy making imposing plaques declaring to all travellers that they were entering the German Empire. From 1889, these were in place, dominating the less cared-for French markers, often mounted on striped posts in the Empire’s colours.

(Col de la Schlucht, German and French customs officials)

(Col de la Schlucht. Tram arrival, poteau to left.)

Many cards and pictures show the joyful destruction of these loathed posts in the early days of the Great War and many messages declare the writer’s pleasure in …