Pont-à-Mousson

13 June 2015:  Today's hike from Vandières to Pont-à-Mousson (20 km) was marked by the shadow of the First World War.  The trail led us through Bois-le-Prêtre, where intense fighting took place in late 1914 and the first half of 1915.  This forest occupied a strategic location, northwest of Pont-à-Mousson and dominating the Moselle Valley to the east.

An article about Bois-le-Prêtre, published on a website marking the centennial of the war in Meurthe & Moselle, described the battles as follows:

"Bois-le-Prêtre constitue un point marquant de la Grande guerre en Meurthe-et-Moselle en raison de la violence des combats et de l’acharnement des uns et des autres sur un secteur très réduit, pour un résultat quasi nul."

[Bois-le-Prêtre constitutes a notable point in the Great War in Meurthe & Moselle because of the violence of the fighting and the fury of both sides in a small area, for almost no result.]

http://www.centenaire1418.meurthe-et-moselle.fr/fr/guerre-14-18/histoire/bois-le-pretre.html 

We walked through the woods up to the culminating point, la Croix des Carmes, where there is a monument to the French soldiers who died in the battles here.  Below the forest, in Montauville (just west of Mont-à-Mousson), there is a large military cemetery in a beautiful hillside site. 

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The day began with light rain, giving Mary an opportunity to wear her new jacket:

The clouds cleared and the sun shone.

The monument at the Croix des Carmes:

The cemetery at Montauville:

While most of the graves are those of French soldiers killed in 1914-1915, there were also number of graves, marked by distinctive triangular headstones, of Soviet soldiers who died in late 1944 and the first half of 1945.  They, too, are remembered as dying for France ("Mort pour la France").  We wondered how these soldiers ended up here...

Our hotel in Pont-à-Mousson:

We strolled around the city and watched a jet-ski competition on the Moselle: