Mulhouse is the second largest city in Alsace after Strasbourg and lays claim to the title of 'industrial museum capital of France'. The city boasts - amongst others - the French national railway museum and the world-famous Schlumpf collection of vintage automobiles and racing cars which is an absolute must-see for any visitor to the region. Situated between the Vosges and the Rhine, Mulhouse is only a few kilometres from the  German and Swiss frontiers, but remained an independent state until 1792 when economic factors forced it to become part of the new French Republic. The Battle for Mulhouse was one of the First World War’s earliest engagements. French forces took the city on 8th August only to be thrown out the following day. Heavy fighting continued throughout August before Joffre ordered a withdrawl to the line of the Vosges, leaving Mulhouses heavy industries and labour workforce in German hands for the rest of the war. The 'Belfort Gap', the flat plateau between the Vosges and Jura Mountains (Switzerland), was a potential 'back door' route to Paris and therefore heavily defended by the French. The City of Belfort formed the lynchpin of a series of fortifications built in the wake of the Franco-Prussian War. Monument to French Alpine Regiment, Zillisheim
Most of the memorials, cemeteries and battlefield sites around Mulhouse relate to the battle of 1914. Much of the fighting centred around the small towns and villages south of the city. At Zillisheim, on the banks of the Rhine Canal, a monument next to the main road remembers 600 men of the 97th Alpine Regiment killed on 19th August. The monument also commemorates General Plessier, the first French general to be killed in the war. In the woods near the village is the former site of a 380mm gun emplacement used to shell Belfort, 35 kilometres away.
Further along the road is Illfurth, an attractive village that also found itself at the centre of heavy  fighting in 1914. The German Cemetery is located a short distance outside the village, over a level crossing and up a twisty road leading towards the woods where there is a small parking area. A short walk along the path leads to the cemetery, built upon a steep hillside surrounded by trees. The graves, represented by flat stone slabs laid out across the steep lawns, record 539 individual burials. German Military Cemetery, Illfurth There are another 510 ‘unknown’ graves contained within the ossuary, guarded by an imposing eagle monument. Among those buried here is Lieutenant Albert Mayer, of the 5th Jager zu Pferd, the first German soldier to be killed in the war.
Altkirch, just south of Illfurth, enjoys an  attractive setting built on and surrounded by small hillocks overlooking the River Ill and the Rhone-Rhine. The French Military Cemetery stands on one of the hillsides above the town looking towards the church on the hillside opposite, once the site of an ancient castle. Altkirch, from the French Cemetery The fine view is tarnished only a little by the rather unsightly industrial plant in the foreground. The cemetery contains 1,734 French and 15 Russian graves as well as some from the Second World War. At Dannemarie, on the main road between Altkirch and Belfort, there are another 389 French burials, yet more evidence of the sporadic but sometimes heavy fighting that afflicted this region.
Belfort is the last main city on the Western Front before the Swiss frontier is reached. Its strategic importance was recognised long before 1914; in 1675 Vauban drew up plans to build a huge fortified citadel on the site of the old feudal castle with high, pentagonal walls protected by bastioned towers and earthworks. In the 19th century, the mighty fortifications were further  strengthened and extended. As a result, the town famously withstood a 103-day siege during the Franco-Prussian War, even after the peace treaty of Frankfurt that ended th war was signed. The magnificent Belfort Lion
The city’s most famous landmark, the formidable Belfort Lion, is carved out of the rock beneath the citadel. Designed by Bartholdi, the Lion stands testament to the heroic resistance of the city’s garrison during the siege. A large Franco-Prussian War Cemetery stands to the left of the road as you enter the city from the direction of Altkirch. The citadel is very impressive indeed, particularly the Porte de Brisach (the only one of the original gates still remaining) which is a fine example of Vauban’s work. The excellent museum of art and history is crammed with a vast array of exhibits relating to all aspects of Belfort’s history and includes sections dedicated to the Great War.
It is also worth climbing the ramparts to enjoy  an expansive view across the town and its surrounding hills, scattered with the remnants of the Belfort defensive ring constructed following the 1870-1 war. By 1914, the defensive line around Belfort was immense, comprising 14 forts, 5 infantry barracks and 70 batteries. Many never fired a shot in anger. Today, the fortifications lie obsolete and derelict, mostly forgotten and obscured amid the thickly wooded hillsides. Part of the Vauban Ramparts, Belfort Among them is Fort du Salbert, an immense construction built on top of the hill directly overlooking the village of Cravanche. The fort is accessed by following a narrow forest road that hairpins its way through the trees towards the summit. As the road ascends, there are glimpses of concrete protrusions sticking out from the dense, unruly undergrowth - part of the fort’s underground superstructure. The road goes all the way to the summit where there is a car park, nature trail, picnic and recreation area.
Off to the left, a pathway leads to the fort which lies badly neglected but pretty much intact. Pathways allow you to clamber over the top of the fort and explore parts of the superstructure  with its numerous gun emplacements, batteries, tunnel entrances, vents and shafts. The main entranceway is quite impressive, with the inscription and date of construction still clearly visible, although sadly the gateway is now covered in rather colourful graffiti. The rather run-down main entrance to the Fort du Salbert You can still see directly into the courtyard, rather an eerie sight surrounded by the high, forbidding walls and darkened windows. Strange to think that this was once a hive of military activity. It is relatively easy to gain access as some of the doors and windows around the dry moat lie wide open. Whether you are inclined to venture through the dark and putrid galleries is another matter entirely and it is worth remembering that the authorities do not encourage unauthorised entry to the forts.
South of Belfort along the N19 is Morvillars where the small French Military Cemetery contains a lone CWGC grave - that of driver T. Robertson of the Royal Scots, who was 20 years old when he died on 3rd Janu ary 1919. The headstone inscription reads simply: ‘until the day breaks and shadows flee away.’ The grave of Private Robertson is one of only a handful of CWGC headstones from WW1 in Alsace, and the most southern on the Western Front At nearby Jonchery, there is a memorial to Corporal Peugeot of the 44th Infantry Regiment, the first French soldier killed in the war (in the same incident as the aforementioned Lieutenant Mayer). The memorial, which is located along a residential side street just off the main road, displays a bust of Corporal Peugeot and records the incident that took place when a German patrol ran into French troops guarding the road to Pfefferhouse. The date is recorded as Sunday 2nd August, before war was officially declared. In fact several such ‘illegal’ incursions by German troops into French-held territory were recorded. Sadly, the Nazis saw fit to destroy the original monument in 1940, and the  present day memorial is a more recent replacement.
Memorial to Corporal Peugeot - the first French casualty of the war From Jonchery, it is worth visiting Delle, an attractive floral town with a manned border crossing into Switzerland, and from here proceeding to Pfefferhouse along the labyrinth of backroads that run parallel to the frontier. The main battle of Pfetterhouse took place on August 7th 1914 when 400 French Infantry overwhelmed a German contingent to ensure the village would remain in French hands for the rest of the war. The Swiss frontier post that symbolically marks the end of the Western Front is found on the outskirts of the village. A wonderful wartime photograph shows a solitary Swiss and a French border guard dutifully guarding their side of the line next to the customs post - not exactly passing the time of day but it would be nice  to think a few pleasantries were exchanged from time to time. You can’t help thinking that compared to, say, the Ravine de la Morte at Verdun, this wouldn’t be a bad place to find yourself posted during the war… Happily, a century on the frontier still remains exactly as it was. Surprisingly, it is unmanned at lunchtimes and after 7pm - strange considering how particular the Swiss are about manning their border crossings everywhere else. In fact, the customs officer was just leaving as I arrived and cheerfully waved at me as he departed on his bicycle. From this vantage, you can enjoy a very nice view into rural Switzerland with its lush, green pastures rolling towards the Jura Hills.
Swiss Frontier Post, Pfefferhouse The trenches didn’t quite end here though, but a bit beyond the far end of the village, at the point where the River Largue (between Pfetterhouse and Mooslargue) skirts the Swiss frontier as it plunges into the depths of the Largue Forest. Interesting that at both extremeties of the Western Front, only a river separated the two armies - although it is probably fair to say that fighting here was rather less intense than on the Yser.
In fact, after the frontier clashes of August 1914 the trench lines didn’t move at Pfetterhouse for the rest of the war. Troops were preoccupied with little more than the daily grind of  trench life and the occasional difference of opinion. The River Largue, a tributary of the Rhine; the trenches ended near here The Largue Forest is where the three frontiers of France, Switzerland and German Alsace once met; the original marker stones are still here (somewhere, I never did find them). German troops occupied the east bank of the river, French troops the west. The Swiss, for their part, were anxious not to permit any incursion into their territory and maintained three blockhouses and two observation towers within the forest. Most traces of these are now obscured by the forest or are situated on private ground, but some concrete vestiges can still be seen protruding from the forest floor. The southern-most fortification on the Western Front, a German bunker rather choked by thick undergrowth, is found in the woods near Larghof Farm on the edge of the Swiss frontier.
On the east bank of the river next to the roadbridge, there is a brightly-coloured, officious-looking old building that I suppose was a customs post at one time or another. Beside it is a small World War  2 memorial which recalls the liberation of Pfetterhouse on November 19th 1944. But if you expect to find some kind of marker proclaiming the end of the Western Front, then you will be disappointed. Instead, you will be met by a polite but firm ‘keep out’ sign, erected by the local angling club, perhaps to dissuade intrepid amateur historians like myself from trapsing along the river banks in search of the last vestiges of the Western Front! End of the Line: Customs post on the old German frontier near Pfetterhouse |