The Forest of Argonne ( French pronunciation: [aʁɡɔn] ) is a long strip of mountainous and wild woodland in northeastern France , approximately 200 km (120 mi) east of Paris . The forest measures roughly 65 km (40 mi) long and 15 km (9 mi) wide filled with many small hills and deep valleys formed by water run-off from the Aire and Aisne rivers rarely exceeding more than 200 m (650 ft) in elevation. Following the First World War , the landscape of the forest was forever changed as trench warfare led to parts of the forest being riddled with deep human-made trenches along with craters from explosives. The forest is bordered by the Meuse River on the west and rolling farmland and creeks to the east. The forest is largely oak , chestnut , and pine trees, and ferns cover much of the forest floor . Common animal life consists of wild boar , red deer , roe deer , hares , rabbits , foxes , and wildcat .
5-743: Argonnerwaldlied (" Forest of Argonne Song") or "Lied der Pioniere" or "Pionierlied" ("Song of the Pioneers") is a German military march of World War I . It was composed by Hermann Albert Gordon in 1914/1915. It was used during World War I by the German Empire . Variations of the song with different lyrics were used by the Marxist Spartacus League , in Nazi Germany during World War II , and in East Germany . In 1919, new lyrics were adopted by
10-501: The Meuse–Argonne offensive (1918), several United States Army soldiers earned the Medal of Honor there, including Colonel Nelson Miles Holderman , Major Charles White Whittlesey , Sergeant Alvin C. York , Corporal Harold W. Roberts and William Henry Johnson (a.k.a. "Black Death"), most of them part of the " Lost Battalion ". The World War I Montfaucon American Monument consists of
15-776: The SPD and Rotfront ") whereas the Reichsarbeitsdienst adopted "Wir fürchten Moskau und die Juden nicht" ("we fear not Moscow and the Jews"). Forest of Argonne In 1792, Charles François Dumouriez outmaneuvered the invading forces of the Duke of Brunswick in the forest before the Battle of Valmy . During World War I , the forest again became the site of intense military action. Bitter fighting between German and Allied units took place here in fall and winter 1914, summer 1915, and fall 1918. During
20-586: The revolutionary socialist Spartacus League in commemoration of the January 1919 Spartacist uprising . This version was later arranged by Hanns Eisler and performed by the Erich-Weinert-Ensemble in the German Democratic Republic . Also known as "Durch deutsches Land marschieren wir", "SA marschiert-Lied" was used through the years of Nazi Germany . It originated in 1929 from Saxony and
25-575: Was a marching song of the National Socialist Sturmabteilung based on the tune of Argonnerwaldlied. As the song spread through Germany, regional variations of the words "Durch deutsches Land" ("through German land") occurred and were substituted with "Durch Großberlin" ("through Greater Berlin"), "Durch Schwabenland" ("through Schwabenland"), etc. The third stanza also has some slight lyrical variations. The NSDAP songbook version adopted "Wir fürchten SPD und Rotfront nicht" ("we fear not
#565434