Hartmannswillerkopf
The rocky summit (956m) Hartmannswillerkopf, known as Vieil Armand, is between Mulhouse and Colmar, between Thann and Guebwiller to be precise, on the Route des Crêtes in Alsace.
The hill was the scene of fierce fighting during the Great War and is now a major site of remembrance in Alsace with well-preserved remains of its weighty past.
In accordance with veterans’ wishes, Vieil Armand became one of 4 national memorial sites soon after the Great War along with Douaumont, Dormans and Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. It comprises a national memorial with crypt, a national military cemetery and a battlefield, the first to be listed as a historic monument. Almost 100 years later in 2017, the Franco-German Great War Historial opened confirming the status of the site as a place of international remembrance.
Unlike other Great War battlefields, the Vosges Mountains was the only mountainous front and the logistical and transport technologies and infrastructures, impacts on the landscape and strategic issues due to climatic and geographical constraints are visible on both sides of the border.
Our selection of accommodations
Our new accommodations
Citybreak
Les terrasses du vignoble
in Bergholtzzell - Haut-Rhin
Lodging
Le Tilleul
in Petitefontaine - Territoire de Belfort
