During the war, 3.4 million Russian soldiers were captured, of which 1.5 million were held prisoner in Germany. In the spring of 1915, the German authorities agreed the assignment of prisoners of war to the war kommandos to alleviate labour shortages. In Alsace, several thousand Russian prisoners were made to work on drainage, wood cutting, road building, as well as agriculture.

Working conditions were hard and the mortality rate among these men is estimated at 7.3%. During the war, almost 100,000 prisoners of war perished in Germany.

In addition, through agreements between France and Russia, some Russians joined the Western Front to supplement the ranks of the French army, who suffered significant losses in 1915. In 1916, four Russian elite brigades were formed, containing 45,000 men in total. Two were sent to Macedonia on the Salonica front, while the 1st and 3rd Brigade were deployed in Champagne, where they fought their first battles in 1917. With the political tensions and the Russian revolution, these unites were taken off the front lines. Some mutinied and were imprisoned in Algeria. Others formed the Russian Legion to continue fighting alongside France. At the end of the war, this battalion, which only had 1,600 men, was appointed the Russian Legion of Honour.

In 1916, in the village of Weiler, located east of Wissembourg, the Germans established a prison camp where daily life was of the most basic standard.  Some barracks and a hospital were also built to house the Russian prisoners captured in particular on the Western Front. The Weiler national war cemetery is now the last remaining evidence of the existence of this camp, about which few records exist.

At the centre of the cemetery, an imposing stone and bronze monument by the sculptor Eugène Gatelet pays homage to General de Castelnau’s soldiers, who died defending Nancy during the Battle of Grand Couronné. It depicts a young peasant boy laying a wreath on the tomb of a soldier who died for France.

In an individual grave amongst these soldiers, you’ll find General Diou, major of the 63rd infantry brigade. He was mortally wounded in the Muhwald woods, and died in Dieuze. His grave faces a monument that was erected after the war to honour the sacrifices of the 15th and 16th army corps in August 1914. Colonel Arbanère from the 53rd infantry regiment, who died on 20 August, is also buried here.

“L’Espérance” is typical of military cemeteries from the start of WWI, and of the way the dead were handled by French military authorities. In fact, at this time, officers were generally buried in individual graves, whereas troops were buried in collective graves. From 1915, the use of individual graves became common for all soldiers. The law of 29 December 1915 gave soldiers who died for France the right to be buried in individual graves.

From the Great War, there are 821 Romanians, 263 Frenchmen, 239 of whom lie in two ossuaries, 122 Germans in two ossuaries, eight Poles and seven Russians.

From the Second World War, 222 Poles and five Frenchmen are buried there.

A monument honouring the memory of the Romanian soldiers killed on French soil in 1914-1918 has been erected there. This memorial was unveiled in 1998 by the Romanian Ministry of Defence. Standing on a plinth made of Vosges sandstone, this structure, given as a gift by Romania, is a reproduction of a monument in Bucharest. The monument contains earth from the ten French cemeteries in Romania.

The Lidrezing cemetery is typical of military cemeteries from the start of WWI, and of the way the dead were handled by French military authorities. In fact, at this time, officers were generally buried in individual graves, whereas troops were buried in collective graves. From 1915, the use of individual graves became common for all soldiers. The law of 29 December 1915 gave soldiers who died for France the right to be buried in individual graves.

This small cemetery is typical of military cemeteries from the beginning of the war, and holds 39 French soldiers. Only captain Georges de Fabry, in charge of the 1st company of the 37th infantry regiment, lies separately in an individual grave. The others, mostly young soldiers from the classes of 1910 to 1913 assigned to the 37th infantry regiment, are buried in a collective grave.

The Conthil cemetery is typical of military cemeteries from the start of WWI, and of the way the dead were handled by French military authorities. In fact, at this time, officers were generally buried in individual graves, whereas troops were buried in collective graves. From 1915, the use of individual graves became common for all soldiers. The law of 29 December 1915 gave soldiers who died for France the right to be buried in individual graves.

After the war, a monument was erected in memory of the 37th infantry regiment of Nancy.

Battle of Morhange, Battle of the Frontiers, 19-20 August 1914

At the end of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), the borders were redrawn. Morhange was now occupied by the Germans.

On 1 August 1914, German troops deployed a broad outflanking movement through “neutral” Belgium, to surround the French army. Putting Plan XVII into practice, General Joffre chose to force his way through enemy lines in Alsace and Lorraine, in order to take back the departments lost following the defeat of 1871.

In Lorraine, on 14 August 1914, the French Second Army crossed the border and advanced towards Morhange. Making rapid progress, on 18 August the French reached the town of Dieuze. On the 19th, they made contact with Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria’s 6th Army. 

In a commanding position and equipped with considerable heavy field artillery, the enemy, caught in an ambush, harried the French 11th Infantry Division, nicknamed the “Iron Division”. Sitting targets, they were pinned to the spot and quickly overwhelmed. Fighting hand to hand to hold their position, the French soldiers were forced to beat a hasty retreat, abandoning nearly 7 000 dead and 10 000 wounded on the battlefield. On the evening of 20 August, the French offensive was crushed. Harassed, the French retreated towards Grand Couronné, near Nancy, where the fate of French Lorraine would be decided in September 1914.

The German army’s success was unequivocal. On the French side was surprise and disillusionment. Devised and extolled on the eve of the war, the doctrine of all-out attack proved ill-suited to the realities of the campaign of summer 1914.

Yet the German victory was not absolute. Not only had the French offensive held enemy troops in Lorraine who should have been deployed to the west for the march on Paris, but the French had made an orderly retreat. They had lost little territory and held onto Nancy. The front stood still. Joffre ordered his troops to retreat to the Marne, where they would muster the moral and physical resources to resume the offensive. The Battle of the Marne was to be the first French victory of the First World War. At the end of 1914, the front became stabilised along the Moselle and Meurthe-et-Moselle rivers.

The Riche cemetery

Four days after this violent fighting, civilians were requisitioned by the Germans to gather up the bodies, which were deteriorating rapidly in the heat. It was a grim task and the civilians buried the remains hastily in mass graves, topped with a spiked helmet for the Germans and a kepi for the French. Today, the local population remains attached to the memory of this tragic episode, and every year a commemorative ceremony is held.

Built in 1924 by the Friends of the Veterans of the 37th Infantry Regiment, a regimental monument honours the memory of the French soldiers killed in Lorraine, and in particular those of the 37th RI, who had their baptism of fire at Riche. This monument and ossuary contains the remains of 15 soldiers, mostly of the 37th RI. Designed by architect Marchal, it was donated by the Gardeur family, whose son is one of those buried beneath it.

Among those buried here is Second Lieutenant de Castelnau (grave 969), whose father, General de Castelnau, commanded the operations around Morhange.