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26-653: The Pays de Bitche has a total of 47 municipalities. 46 of them are gathered into the Bitche canton and the remaining one, Kalhausen , is a part of the Sarreguemines canton. The Pays de Bitche has a total of 47 municipalities and covers the part of the Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park that lies within Lorraine . In the west and southwest it forms part of the agriculturally dominated Westrich Plateau . To

52-690: A division of the County of Zweibrücken into two fairly homogeneous areas. This may be considered as the birth of the Pays de Bitche as a historical region, albeit at that time it encompassed a larger area that today has become the Saarland municipalities of Gersheim and Blieskastel and the collective municipality of Pirmasens-Land in the Zweibrücken Hills that belongs to the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Even in

78-566: A fortress that proved impregnable up until the 20th century. An attack upon it by the Prussians in 1793 was repulsed. During the Napoleonic Wars, 1804–1814, the citadel at Bitche became a major prisoner-of-war camp housing British and allied soldiers and sailors. It was also used in this context as a penal camp, housing repeated escapees and uncooperative prisoners. In 1815 during Napoleon's Hundred Days , Brigadier-General Charles Creutzer

104-714: A south to north direction and drain via the Blies into the Saar. The Falkensteinerbach and the Zinsel du Nord , which have their sources in the region around Lemberg, run southeast towards the Rhine . To the west flows the Achen, which discharges into the Saar near Kalhausen . The lowest point in the Pays de Bitche is Baerenthal on the Zinsel du Nord (190 m). The highest point, at 510 metres above sea level -

130-795: Is a canton of France , located in the Moselle department and the Grand Est region . Since the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015, the communes of the canton of Bitche are: 49°03′N 7°26′E  /  49.05°N 7.43°E  / 49.05; 7.43 This Arrondissement of Sarreguemines geographical article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Bitche Bitche (English pronunciation: / b iː t ʃ / BEECH , French: [bitʃ] ; German and Lorraine Franconian : Bitsch )

156-502: Is a commune in Moselle department , in the region of Grand Est in northeastern France. It is the Pays de Bitche 's capital city, and the seat of the Canton of Bitche and the Pays de Bitche community of communes . The town belongs to the Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park and is rated four-flowers in the towns and villages in bloom competition . The town's population at the 2013 census

182-574: Is built into the red sandstone rock, and was rendered bomb-proof; a supply of water was secured to the garrison by a deep well in the interior. The commander of the town's fortress was Louis-Casimir Teyssier . After the war, it was given to the German Empire as part of Alsace–Lorraine . It was returned to France in 1918, after the First World War . The town is near the Maginot Line , into which

208-463: Is not far from it at Garnfirst near Philippsbourg right on the boundary with the canton of Niederbronn-les-Bains . As in the whole surrounding region, there are numerous traces of Roman times in the Pays de Bitche, for example, around Bettviller . Its actual recorded history began, however, with the Treaty of Verdun in 843 A.D., which resulted in the founding of the princedom of Lotharingia in 855. In

234-455: The Barony of Ochsenstein , which had been ruled by the branch line of Zweibrücken-Bitsch-Ochsenstein since 1485. He was the last Count of Zweibrücken-Bitsch and, with him, the line died out in 1570. Entitled to inherit were his daughter and his niece, the former marrying Count Philip I of Leiningen-Westerburg , the latter marrying Count Philip V of Hanau-Lichtenberg . As a result, Lorraine recognized

260-568: The Eastern Bloc . Until 1997, military service was compulsory in France . Millions of soldiers had a few days of training in Bitche. On 19 March 2021 the official page of Bitche on Facebook was removed without explanation. After the incident was reported by media, Facebook restored the page and apologized to the town. Bitche has been twinned with Lebach , Saarland, Germany, since 1979. The town

286-534: The U.S. 100th Infantry Division broke through the Maginot Line in the area and liberated the town for good, as part of Operation Undertone . After 1945, Bitche became one of the busiest military camps where all parts of the French army manoeuvered. Infantry and cavalry also went to the town to experiment with new weapons during the Cold War . Special training took place against potential bacteriological attacks from

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312-518: The 13th century, in view of its scattered territory, Eberhard I of Zweibrücken , co-regent Walram I and Simon II organized an exchange of land with the Duchy of Lorraine that was enshrined in the treaties of 13 May 1297 and 1 Jul 1302 and sealed the rearrangement of territorial lordship in the area. In 1333, the House of Zweibrücken-Bitsch was established when Eberhard and his brother, Walram II , agreed on

338-509: The 16th century the Peasants' War broke out in the area around Bitche, Hans Zoller from the village of Rimling being the regional ringleader of the movement. The castles in Bitche and Lemberg, as well as Sturzelbronn Abbey went up in flames. However, the Peasants' War ended with the defeat of the peasants and their massacre by the princes who put the rebellion down. In 1559, Count James inherited

364-503: The 19th century, the term "German-Lorraine" was common for this landscape. The seat of this new domain was initially in Lemberg , but soon afterwards it moved to Bitche . In 1447, Bitsch was occupied by Lords James and William of Lützelstein . This occupation generated general disapproval in the territory and eventually led to the extinction of the Barony of Lützelstein in 1452. At the beginning of

390-589: The Catholic faith. Philip, who could not match the military might of Lorraine, then took legal action, taking his case to the Imperial Chamber Court . However, he was unsuccessful because, in the treaties of 1297/1302, Lorraine had been granted suzerainty. In the early 17th century, Lorraine was involved in border agreements with neighbouring states. As early as 1601 its border with the Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken

416-636: The French government ordered him to surrender after the 1871 ceasefire. The town became part of Germany from that date until the end of the First World War , when it was given back to France. During the Second World War it was annexed by the Third German Reich (1940–1944). Bitche is located near the German border on the small river Horn , at the foot of the northern slope of the Vosges between Haguenau and Sarreguemines . The town of Bitche, which

442-680: The Pays de Bitche also belongs. To the west it also reaches the River Saar . The north-south line from Liederschiedt to Rahling delineates the very sharp divide between its different landscapes. West of this line, the bedrock is almost exclusively characterised by limestone, whilst east of the line, stretch forested bunter sandstone hills, dissected by deep valleys. Since the 16th century many ponds and lakes have been laid out in this area, mostly for agricultural and industrial purposes. The main streams—the Schwalb, Bickenalb and Horn —run predominantly in

468-691: The citadel was integrated. Alsace-Lorraine returned to Germany after the Battle of France in the summer of 1940 and remained under German occupation. The training ground at Bitche was utilized by the German Army to form new divisions, for example the 65th Infantry Division in July 1942. The town was liberated in December 1944 by Allied troops but was relinquished in a withdrawal forced by the German counteroffensive . In March 1945

494-400: The countship reverted to Lorraine, and passed with that duchy to France in 1766. After 1766 the town rapidly increased in population. The citadel , which had been constructed by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban on the site of the old castle after the town's capture by the French in 1624, had been destroyed when it was restored to Lorraine in 1698. It was restored and strengthened in 1740 into

520-672: The inheritance rights of Hanau-Lichtenberg . In 1572, Philip V introduced the Reformation , however, and all his estates had to convert to the Lutheran confession. In 1572, because of complaints by the Abbot of Stürzelbronn, he was summoned to the Duke of Lorraine. When he refused to appear, the southern part of the Pays de Bitche – the area of the three present cantons and a few municipalities in present-day Saarland – were occupied by Lorraine and returned to

546-466: The most part this established the present border between France and Germany in this area. Its administration was modernised, its jurisdiction re-regulated and there was then initially a definite economic boom that had, however, turned into a long-lasting recession in the 2nd quarter of the 17th century. 49°03′09″N 7°25′33″E  /  49.0525°N 7.4258°E  / 49.0525; 7.4258 Canton of Bitche The canton of Bitche

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572-457: The south it borders the so-called Alsace bossue (German: Krumme Elsass ), which belongs to the arrondissement of Saverne . To the east is the canton of Wissembourg . To the north it is adjoined by the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and the Saarland , whilst to the west it is bounded by the cantons of Sarralbe and Sarreguemines , both of the arrondissement of Sarreguemines , to which

598-510: Was 5,225. The inhabitants of the commune are known as Bitchois and Bitchoises . The town is known for its large citadel  [ fr ] originating from a castle built at the beginning of the 13th century. The fortress is noted for its resistance during the Franco-Prussian War . Its commander Louis-Casimir Teyssier held it for about eight months, with 3,000 men against about 20,000 Prussian and Bavarian soldiers, until

624-573: Was established at a meeting in Hornbach and led to the establishment of surveying ( Aussteinung ). This surveying is still carried out today at certain intervals by representatives of the arrondissement of Sarreguemines and the county of Südwestpfalz . On 6 Feb 1604 this was followed by a border treaty with the County of Hanau-Lichtenberg. In the Lorraine part of the Pays de Bitche there are still 68 villages. For

650-458: Was formed from the villages of Rohr and Kaltenhausen in the 17th century, derives its name from the old stronghold (mentioned in 1172 as Bytis Castrum ) standing on a rock some 250 feet (76 m) above the town. This had long given its name to the countship of Bitsch, which was originally in the possession of the dukes of Lorraine . In 1297 it passed by marriage to Eberhard I of Zweibrücken-Bitsch , whose line became extinct in 1569. Afterwards

676-512: Was the commandant of the town's fortress. Bitche was besieged by General Friedrich Zollern's Fourth Infantry Division of the Austrian IV Corps , but Creutzer refused to surrender until the general armistice. Although Bitche was hotly contested by the Germans after the Battle of Wörth during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, it held out until the war's end. A large part of the fortification

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