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Cravanche

Communes of the Territoire de BelfortPages with French IPATerritoire de Belfort geography stubs
Cravanche, Chapelle Notre Dame
Cravanche, Chapelle Notre Dame

Cravanche (French pronunciation: [kʁavɑ̃ʃ]) is a commune in the Territoire de Belfort department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in northeastern France.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Cravanche (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Cravanche
Rue des Commandos d'Afrique, Belfort

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 47.6542 ° E 6.8331 °
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Address

Rue des Commandos d'Afrique
90300 Belfort
Bourgogne – Franche-Comté, France
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Cravanche, Chapelle Notre Dame
Cravanche, Chapelle Notre Dame
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NATO Ouvrage
NATO Ouvrage "G"

From 1949 to March 10, 1967, France's military operated within the NATO command structure, integrating its air defense system (the Défense Aérienne du Territoire (D.A.T.)) with that of NATO through the indirect use of American aid funds. Between 1953 and 1958, the D.A.T. built a radar station in an old troops shelter (in French : abri-caverne) near the fort, called Ouvrage "G". Called "Station Maître Radar 60/921", it was used beginning in 1959, covering an area on the surface of three times the area of the troops shelter. Ouvrage "G" complemented Ouvrage F, another D.A.T. station located at the old Fort François de Guise at Metz, while Ouvrage H was established as Base aérienne 901 Drachenbronn/Station Maître Radar 50/921 in the former Maginot Ouvrage Hochwald. Ouvrage "G" was equipped with seven radar antennas installed on top of the fort. The principal radars are presently located on the Ballon de Servance. The Ouvrage « G » is composed, at this creation, to 3 elements: the fort du Salbert baraques Fillod (examples here) undergrounds buildings The military vacated the Fort de Salbert in 1972 and removed the antennas from the fort. The city of Belfort took possession of the site. The foundations of the radars and the fort's heating oil tanks remain. In 1990 Belfort concluded an agreement with an association without lucrative purpose named Les aventuriers de l'histoire to restore the site. The volunteer group cleaned, repaired, and worked to make the site ready for public visitation. The group's enthusiasm was tempered by repeated setbacks, culminating with the explosion of several improvised bombs on the site which released asbestos and made the site unusable for the public or for restoration work. By mutual agreement between the city and the volunteers, public access was discontinued and the aventuriers disbanded. Ouvrage "G" was closed, its doors welded shut.

Siege of Belfort
Siege of Belfort

The siege of Belfort (3 November 1870 – 18 February 1871) was a 103-day military assault and blockade of the city of Belfort, France by Prussian forces during the Franco-Prussian War. The French garrison held out until the January 1871 armistice between France and the German Empire obligated French forces to abandon the stronghold in February 1871. Belfort is located in a gap between the mountainous southern Vosges and the Jura Massif, strategically positioned as the gateway between Alsace and central France. At the beginning of the war, the French Army of the Rhine was routed in northern Alsace. The fall of Strasbourg on 28 September 1870 allowed the German army under August von Werder to move south against Belfort. Upon hearing of the approaching German army, Pierre Philippe Denfert-Rochereau, commander of Belfort, began constructing fortifications around the city, expanding those originally built by Vauban. Werder's forces reached Belfort and invested the city on 3 November. The intransigent resistance by the French forces stopped the Germans from completing an effective encirclement of the city. General Charles Denis Bourbaki assembled an army intending to relieve Belfort. On 15 January 1871 Bourbaki attacked Werder along the Lisaine River; however after a three-day battle he was repelled and his army retreated into Switzerland. German forces grew impatient with the length of the siege and on 27 January 1871, General von Tresckow launched an attack on the city which was repulsed and the siege operations resumed. On 15 February an armistice was signed between France and Germany. Louis Adolphe Thiers, president of the Government of National Defense sent an urgent message to Denfert-Rochereau ordering him to surrender the fortress. On 18 February the Belfort garrison marched out of the city with the honours of war, taking their weapons and baggage train with them. In recognition of the French defense of Belfort, under the terms of the Treaty of Frankfurt, the city and its surrounding area were not handed over to Germany, unlike the remainder of Alsace. In 1880, the monumental Lion of Belfort sculpture was inaugurated in tribute to the defenders of the city.