Château de Moncel –
Headquarters of Armee-Abteilung C (v. Strantz)

The Château de Moncel with its extensive park is located in the south of the town of Jarny. The property has been municipally owned since 1980 and has housed the „Maison de l’Environment“ for several years. Various youth and environmental organizations, schools, and other institutions use the building for exhibitions, workshops, conferences, educational events, celebrations, and other events. From 1915 to 1918, the Château de Moncel served as headquarters for Armee-Abteilung C (Army Detachment C), formerly Armee-Abteilung Strantz (Army Detachment Strantz).

The earliest records of the property date back to the 13th century. The name Château de Moncel is derived from Moncel Guerrin, a chevalier of the House of Apremont, whose family owned the estate until the mid-14th century. Before that, it was owned by the Lords of Luxembourg for several years. It is recorded that in the Middle Ages it was a castle complex with a moat and drawbridge.

After Moncel underwent numerous changes in ownership over the centuries, the major landowner Emile Bouchotte acquired the estate in 1822. Bouchotte had studied agriculture and horticulture in England. He set about making the lands arable again and restoring the buildings after Moncel had not been farmed for decades. In 1824, Emile Bouchotte was admitted to the Society of Sciences and Arts in Metz. During the revolutionary endeavors of 1830, he was elected mayor of the town and gave up his agricultural activities. He sold Moncel to Henri Redon in 1831. He advanced the expansion of the estate. Redon acquired additional lands and estates, such as the Ferme St. Cathérine, the mill of Droitaumont, and the la Grange estate near Ville-sur-Yron.

In the second half of the 19th century, Moncel was extensively expanded and rebuilt in the style of an 18th-century stately château. After the death of Henri Redon, the estate was sold in 1909 to the then owners of the Schneider-Creusot iron and weapons factory, who also owned the Droitaumont mine. The Leicknam family, from whom the company’s director at the time came, lived in Moncel for a few years, but left it in early August 1914 when the German invasion became foreseeable.

On August 25, 1914, German troops occupied Moncel. Previously, hospital rooms had been set up in the cellar of the castle by the inhabitants of Jarny, essentially just to protect the building from destruction. Following its occupation, the castle served German troops as the headquarters of various units, such as the V. preußisches Armeekorps (V Prussian Corps) and, in the period from June 1915 to September 1918, Armee-Abteilung C (Army Detachment C) (until February 1917, Armee-Abteilung Strantz (Army Detachment Strantz)). During this time, military commanders were frequently present in Moncel, among them Kaiser Wilhelm II, Crown Prince Wilhelm, and Paul von Hindenburg, as well as political leaders such as the then Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg or the Austrian Foreign Minister Ottokar Count Czernin zu Chudenitz. Various photographs of these stays exist.

In a room of the rather extensive vaulted cellar of the Château de Moncel, there are exceptionally well-preserved wall and ceiling paintings that were created in the war year of 1915, according to a corresponding signature by a probably Bavarian Gefreiter (private first class) named Polster. The design of the paintings suggests that this room was used by the soldiers for recreational purposes, virtually as a kind of historical “party cellar”, such as can still be found here and there today in buildings along the front formerly occupied for military purposes by the German army. The cellar premises of the castle are generally not accessible to the public, also for the protection of the paintings. They can be visited by appointment through the mayor’s office of the city of Jarny, the president of the Comité Local Conflans-Jarny du Souvenir Francais, Monsieur Pierre Gossot, or as part of the Journées européennes du patrimoine taking place annually in the month of September.

The park around the castle is open to the public in the mornings from 08:00. A somewhat secluded Madonna statue stands in the park, which was consecrated in 1892 by Monseigneur Thurinas, Bishop of Nancy. Somewhat hidden beneath the statue is a crypt which, according to local stories, initially served the resident families for the burial of their deceased, but in August 1914 was also used by the French for the burial of fallen soldiers from the fighting in the surrounding area as well as the military hospital established in the cellar of the castle.

Château de Moncel – then and now: