Bitche | |
|---|---|
 .jpg)        From top left: Citadel; Porte de Strasbourg and Sainte-Catherine Church; Saint-Augustin Chapel; Jardins pour la paix; Citadel's Chapel; Jardins pour la paix with the Sainte-Catherine Church in the background; Citadel viewed from the side; The Hasselfurt pond; Skyline from the citadel | |
.svg) Coat of arms | |
Location of Bitche  | |
  Bitche  Bitche | |
| Coordinates:49°03′09″N07°25′48″E / 49.05250°N 7.43000°E /49.05250; 7.43000 | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Grand Est |
| Department | Moselle |
| Arrondissement | Sarreguemines |
| Canton | Bitche |
| Intercommunality | CC du Pays de Bitche |
| Government | |
| • Mayor(2020–2026) | Benoît Kieffer[1] |
Area 1 | 41.13 km2 (15.88 sq mi) |
| Population (2022)[2] | 4,899 |
| • Density | 120/km2 (310/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 57089 /57230 |
| Elevation | 249–432 m (817–1,417 ft) (avg. 290 m or 950 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Bitche (English pronunciation:/biːtʃ/BEECH,French:[bitʃ]; German andLorraine Franconian:Bitsch) is acommune inMoselle department, in theregion ofGrand Est in northeastern France. It is thePays de Bitche's capital city, and the seat of theCanton of Bitche and thePays de Bitche community of communes.
The town belongs to theNorthern Vosges Regional Nature Park and is ratedfour-flowers in thetowns and villages in bloom competition. The town's population at the 2013 census was 5,225. The inhabitants of the commune are known asBitchois andBitchoises.
The town is known forits large citadel [fr] originating from a castle built at the beginning of the 13th century. The fortress is noted for its resistance during theFranco-Prussian War. Its commanderLouis-Casimir Teyssier held it for about eight months, with 3,000 men against about 20,000Prussian andBavarian soldiers, until the French government ordered him to surrender after the 1871 ceasefire. The town became part ofGermany from that date until the end of theFirst World War, when it was given back to France. During theSecond World War it was annexed by theThird German Reich (1940–1944).
Bitche is located near the German border on the small riverHorn, at the foot of the northern slope of theVosges betweenHaguenau andSarreguemines.[3]
The town of Bitche, which was formed from the villages of Rohr and Kaltenhausen in the 17th century, derives its name from the old stronghold (mentioned in 1172 asBytis Castrum) standing on a rock some 250 feet (76 m) above the town. This had long given its name to thecountship of Bitsch, which was originally in the possession of thedukes of Lorraine. In 1297 it passed by marriage toEberhard I ofZweibrücken-Bitsch, whose line became extinct in 1569. Afterwards the countship reverted to Lorraine, and passed with that duchy to France in 1766.[3]
After 1766 the town rapidly increased in population. Thecitadel, which had been constructed bySébastien 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 a fortress that proved impregnable up until the 20th century. An attack upon it by thePrussians in 1793 was repulsed.[3]
During the Napoleonic Wars, 1804–1814, the citadel at Bitche became a majorprisoner-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.[4]
In 1815 during Napoleon'sHundred Days, Brigadier-GeneralCharles Creutzer was the commandant of the town's fortress.[5] Bitche was besieged by GeneralFriedrich Zollern's Fourth Infantry Division of theAustrian IV Corps, but Creutzer refused to surrender until the general armistice.[6]
Although Bitche was hotly contested by the Germans after theBattle of Wörth during theFranco-Prussian War in 1870, it held out until the war's end. A large part of the fortification 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.[3] The commander of the town's fortress wasLouis-Casimir Teyssier.[citation needed] After the war, it was given to theGerman Empire as part ofAlsace–Lorraine. It was returned to France in 1918, after theFirst World War.
The town is near theMaginot Line, into which the citadel was integrated.[citation needed] Alsace-Lorraine returned to Germany after theBattle 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 the65th Infantry Division in July 1942.[7] The town was liberated in December 1944 by Allied troops but was relinquished in a withdrawal forced by theGerman counteroffensive. In March 1945 theU.S. 100th Infantry Division broke through the Maginot Line in the area and liberated the town for good, as part ofOperation Undertone.[citation needed]
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 theCold War. Special training took place against potentialbacteriological attacks from theEastern Bloc.
Until 1997, military service wascompulsory in France. Millions of soldiers had a few days of training in Bitche.
On 19 March 2021 the official page of Bitche onFacebook was removed without explanation.[8] After the incident was reported by media, Facebook restored the page and apologized to the town.[9][10]
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| Source: EHESS[11] and INSEE (1968–2017)[12] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bitche has beentwinned withLebach, Saarland, Germany, since 1979.
The town was mentioned in theBBC comedy panel gameQI, in episode 9 of season 3 (or series C).Bill Bailey commented on the comical nature of seeing a sign "You are now leaving Bitche".[citation needed]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bitsch".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 13.
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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