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Origin and history

The Hartmannswillerkopf, renamed Old Armand after 1918, is a strategic summit of the Vosges (957 m) played during the First World War. Located 7 km from Thann, it marked the front line between the French Alsace liberated in 1914 and the territories under German control. The fighting, particularly violent in 1915 (January, March, April, December), killed nearly 25,000 people, mostly French, instead of the nicknames Mangeur d'hommes (French side) or Montagne de la Mort (German side).

The national monument, erected at Silberloch Pass, includes an ossuary crypt and a military cemetery of 1.67 ha housing 1,256 individual graves and 6 ossuary (384 remains). The winged statues of the entrance and the Central Virgin are the works of sculptor Antoine Bourdelle. Nearby, the battlefield preserves 45 km of trenches, German concrete shelters (such as the trench of Lipic Switzerland) and remains classified as historical monuments since 1921. Asymmetry of fortifications – reinforced concrete on the German side, summary trenches on the French side – reflects their defensive and offensive strategies.

The site, a symbol of Franco-German reconciliation, hosted an unprecedented commemoration in 2014 with Presidents Hollande and Gauck, marking the centenary of the Great War. A Franco-German historic was inaugurated in 2017 by Macron and Steinmeier. The summit also offers an exceptional panorama of the Alsace plain, the Black Forest, and in clear weather, the Bernese Alps. Artists, such as painter François Flameng, immortalized these struggles, while films (Jules and Jim) or documentaries (HWK, the man-eater) perpetuate her memory.

The place's toponymy combines Alsatian and French influences: Hartmannswillerkopf (head of Hartmannswiller) was francized in Old Armand by the Poilus, phonetically deforming Hartmannsweiler. The Silberloch cemetery, near the Crest Road, and the monument of the 152nd Infantry Regiment (known as the Red Devils) recall the intensity of the clashes. Undergrounds and galleries, diagnosed by the BRGM for the centenary, were secured to allow visits.

Ranked among the four national monuments of 14-18 with Douaumont or Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, the Old Armand illustrates the brutality of the fighting in the mountains. The proximity of the lines (22 m between French and German positions at the top) required constant silence to avoid being heard. Today, marked trails allow us to discover this place of memory, where nature and history mix together to evoke the sacrifice of soldiers and the absurdity of war.

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