Jurat-Wald – Bois le Jura
East of Bois Brulé and immediately adjacent to the village of Apremont-la-Fôret lies the Bois le Jura. The Germans called the area Jurat-Wald. During the fighting for the field redoubt, the K.B. Infanterie-Regiment 14 (14th Bavarian Infantry Regiment), among others, attacked from here.
The boundaries of the forest still run today exactly as they did before the war. Due to the fighting, the forest was completely destroyed except for individual tree stumps. In the area of the Bois le Jura, well-preserved remains of German positions can be found, including masonry/concrete dugouts and extensive trench sections, the remains of a larger machine gun (MG) position as well as a double 21 cm Minenwerfer position and other structures, such as various observation posts.
Just before Apremont, in the hairpin turn of the D 907 located there, the Germans had built a complex deep dugout camp, reaching partly deep into the mountain, in a former gravel pit. From 1915 onward, this housed kitchens and quarters for the troops deployed in the Bois Brulé and Bois le Jura. North of the D 907 was a light railway station, which supplied the local area, as well as additional quarters. Just before Apremont, on the steep slope there, an elaborate quarters area with masonry huts, a large terrace, and a rock garden was constructed. Remains of the buildings, deep dugouts, and the terrace still exist. More detailed information on this interesting site has not been found so far. None of the relevant troop histories mention this area. After the war, the French called it “La Fontaine”.
The front German positions in the area of the Bois le Jura ran essentially along the western edge of the forest, which still exists today, in the direction of the village of Apremont-la-Forêt. On the plateau, which is used for agriculture today and called “la Plaine” by the French, the French lines withdrew by about 800 meters, since no more favorable position could be reached due to the terrain. The area was covered by the artillery of Fort de Liouville. Only in the area of the steep slope leading down to Apremont did the lines approach each other again to about 150 meters. This part of the French positions, which was heavily fortified and projected wedge-shaped toward the German lines, was called “Abgesprengtes Wäldchen” by the Germans. Here, at the southern corner of the Jura Forest, lie well-preserved remains of the German position system.
Besides the existing position remains, two other interesting relics from wartime can be found in the area of the Jurat Forest, which, unlike the remnants in the area of Bois Brulé, are not signposted and are rather unknown. On the plateau, in the middle of a field in a small patch of underbrush, lies a French grave monument. Buried there were Lieutenant Raoul Poirson as well as his two fellow officers, Lieutenants Deslandes and Lacassangne. All three belonged to the French 29th Infantry Regiment (29e RI), which resisted the German attack efforts here as well as further west in Bois d’Apremont in September 1914 and suffered very heavy losses. Lieutenant Poirson was commander of the 10th Company and had only been promoted on September 2, 1914. He was killed, struck by three infantry bullets, during an attack on the German positions in Bois le Jura on September 26, 1914. On the grave monument of the three officers is his last utterance: “Vive la France!”
Some further information can be found in this post from the French pages14-18 forum.
In the southern tip of the Jurat Forest lies another, rather inconspicuous grave monument for two Bavarian soldiers. Intensive research revealed that they were two members of the 12th Company of the Königlich-Bayerisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 14 (14th Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment), namely the Kriegsfreiwilliger (wartime volunteer) Albert Hartmann from Weichering/Swabia, killed October 25, 1914, and the Landwehrmann Peter Scherer from Laaber/Upper Palatinate, killed December 21, 1914.
„Here rest in God Kriegsfreiwilliger Hartmann Landwehrmann Scherer of the 12th Comp. (…) Bav. (…) Inf. Rgts“
Anyone who has more detailed information about this German gravestone is welcome to contact me.
were AI-edited (notice pursuant to Art. 50 Regulation (EU) 2024/1689).