View source for Bitche

{{Short description|City in Grand Est, France}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox French commune
|name                   = Bitche
|commune status         = [[Communes of France|Commune]]
|image                  = {{Photomontage
  |photo1a              = Bitche.jpg
  |photo1b              = 
  |photo2a              = Bitche-Porte de Strasbourg (1).jpg
  |photo2b              = Saint Augustin Bitche.JPG
  |photo3a              = France Lorraine Moselle Bitche Jardins pour la paix 16 02.jpg
  |photo3b              = Bitche Citadel Chapel.jpg
  |photo3c              = France Lorraine Moselle Bitche Jardins pour la paix 04 01.jpg
  |photo4a              = Bitsch 036.jpg
  |photo4b              = Etang Hasselfurt Bitche.jpg
  |photo5a              = Bitche from citadel.jpg
  |spacing              = 2
  |border               = 1
  |size                 = 300}}
|caption                = From top left: Citadel; Porte de Strasbourg and Sainte-Catherine Church; Saint-Augustin Chapel; Jardins pour la paix; Citadel's Chapel; Jardins pour la paix with the Sainte-Catherine Church in the background; Citadel viewed from the side; The Hasselfurt pond; Skyline from the citadel
|image coat of arms     = Blason ville fr Bitche (Moselle).svg
|arrondissement         = Sarreguemines
|canton                 = Bitche
|INSEE                  = 57089
|postal code            = 57230
|mayor                  = Benoît Kieffer<ref>{{cite web|title=Répertoire national des élus: les maires|url=https://www.data.gouv.fr/fr/datasets/r/2876a346-d50c-4911-934e-19ee07b0e503|publisher=data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises|date=13 September 2022|language=fr}}</ref>
|term                   = 2020&ndash;2026
|intercommunality       = [[Communauté de communes du Pays de Bitche|CC du Pays de Bitche]]
|coordinates            = {{coord|49|03|09|N|07|25|48|E|display=inline,title}}
|elevation m            = 290
|elevation min m        = 249
|elevation max m        = 432
|area km2               = 41.13
|population             = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_total}}
|population date        = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_as_of}}
|population footnotes   = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_footnotes}}
}}

'''Bitche''' (English pronunciation: {{IPAc-en|b|i:|t|ʃ}} {{respell|BEECH}}, {{IPA|fr|bitʃ|lang|small=no}}; German and [[Lorraine Franconian]]: {{lang|de|Bitsch}}) is a [[Communes of France|commune]] in [[Moselle department]], in the [[Regions of France|region]] of [[Grand Est]] in northeastern France. It is the [[Pays de Bitche]]'s capital city, and the seat of the [[Canton of Bitche]] and the [[communauté de communes du Pays de Bitche|Pays de Bitche community of communes]].

The town belongs to the [[Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park]] and is rated ''four-flowers'' in the [[Concours des villes et villages fleuris|towns and villages in bloom competition]]. The town's population at the 2013 census was 5,225. The inhabitants of the commune are known as {{lang|fr|Bitchois}} and {{lang|fr|Bitchoises}}.

The town is known for {{Ill|Bitche Citadel|lt=its large citadel|fr|Citadelle de Bitche}} originating from a castle built at the beginning of the 13th century. The fortress is noted for its resistance during the [[Franco-Prussian War]]. Its commander [[Louis-Casimir Teyssier]] held it for about eight months, with 3,000 men against about 20,000 [[Prussian Army|Prussian]] and [[Bavarian Army|Bavarian]] soldiers, until the French government ordered him to surrender after the 1871 ceasefire. The town became part of [[German Empire|Germany]] from that date until the end of the [[World War I|First World War]], when it was given back to France. During the [[World War II|Second World War]] it was annexed by the [[Nazi Germany|Third German Reich]] (1940–1944).

==Geography==
Bitche is located near the German border on the small river [[Horn (Schwarzbach)|Horn]], at the foot of the northern slope of the [[Vosges]] between [[Haguenau]] and [[Sarreguemines]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Bitsch|volume=4|page=13}}</ref>

==History==
The town of Bitche, which was formed from the villages of Rohr and Kaltenhausen in the 17th century, derives its name from the old stronghold (mentioned in 1172 as ''Bytis Castrum'') standing on a rock some {{convert|250|ft|m}} above the town. This had long given its name to the [[countship]] of Bitsch, which was originally in the possession of the [[dukes of Lorraine]]. In 1297 it passed by marriage to [[Eberhard I of Zweibrücken-Bitsch|Eberhard I]] of [[Zweibrücken-Bitsch]], whose line became extinct in 1569. Afterwards the countship reverted to Lorraine, and passed with that duchy to France in 1766.<ref name="EB1911" />

After 1766 the town rapidly increased in population. The [[citadel]], which had been constructed by [[Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban]] on the site of the old castle after the town's capture by the French in 1624, had been destroyed when it was restored to Lorraine in 1698. It was restored and strengthened in 1740 into a fortress that proved impregnable up until the 20th century. An attack upon it by the [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussians]] in 1793 was repulsed.<ref name="EB1911" />

During the Napoleonic Wars, 1804–1814, the citadel at Bitche became a major [[prisoner-of-war camp]] housing British and allied soldiers and sailors. It was also used in this context as a penal camp, housing repeated escapees and uncooperative prisoners.<ref>Lewis, M., Napoleon and His British Captives, London 1962</ref>

In 1815 during Napoleon's [[Hundred Days]], Brigadier-General [[Charles Auguste Creutzer|Charles Creutzer]] was the commandant of the town's fortress.{{sfn|Bombelles|Grassion|Durif|Charon-Bordas|2008|p=319}} Bitche was besieged by General [[Friedrich, Freiherr von Zoller|Friedrich Zollern's]] Fourth Infantry Division of the [[Military mobilisation during the Hundred Days#Austro-German Army (Army of the Upper Rhine)|Austrian IV Corps]], but Creutzer refused to surrender until the general armistice.{{sfn|Siborne|1895|p=769}}

Although Bitche was hotly contested by the Germans after the [[Battle of Wörth]] during the [[Franco-Prussian War]] in 1870, it held out until the war's end. A large part of the fortification is built into the red sandstone rock, and was rendered bomb-proof; a supply of water was secured to the garrison by a deep well in the interior.<ref name="EB1911" /> The commander of the town's fortress was [[Louis-Casimir Teyssier]].{{citation needed|date=January 2012}} After the war, it was given to the [[German Empire]] as part of [[Alsace–Lorraine]]. It was returned to France in 1918, after the [[First World War]].

The town is near the [[Maginot Line]], into which the citadel was integrated.{{citation needed|date=January 2012}} Alsace-Lorraine returned to Germany after the [[Battle of France]] in the summer of 1940 and remained under German occupation. The training ground at Bitche was utilized by the German Army to form new divisions, for example the [[65th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|65th Infantry Division]] in July 1942.<ref>Welten, Wilhelm "Vom Kugelbaum zur Handgranate: die Gesichte der 65. Infanterie Division"</ref> The town was liberated in December 1944 by Allied troops but was relinquished in a withdrawal forced by the [[Operation Northwind (1944)|German counteroffensive]]. In March 1945 the [[U.S. 100th Infantry Division]] broke through the Maginot Line in the area and liberated the town for good, as part of [[Operation Undertone]].{{citation needed|date=January 2012}}

After 1945, Bitche became one of the busiest military camps where all parts of the French army manoeuvered. Infantry and cavalry also went to the town to experiment with new weapons during the [[Cold War]]. Special training took place against potential [[Biological warfare|bacteriological attacks]] from the [[Eastern Bloc]].

Until 1997, military service was [[Conscription in France|compulsory in France]]. Millions of soldiers had a few days of training in Bitche.

On 19 March 2021 the official page of Bitche on [[Facebook]] was removed without explanation.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2021-04-13|title=Ville de Bitche: Facebook mistakenly removes French town's page|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56731027|access-date=2021-04-13}}</ref> After the incident was reported by media, Facebook restored the page and apologized to the town.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Darmanin |first=Jules |date=April 13, 2021 |title=Facebook takes down (and restores) official page for French town of Bitche |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/facebook-unpublishes-official-page-for-french-town-of-bitche/ |work=[[Politico]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=French town Bitche's Facebook page reinstated after outcry |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/bitche-facebook-page-insult-france-b1830697.html |website=The Independent |access-date=25 April 2021 |language=en |date=13 April 2021}}</ref>

==Population==
{{Historical populations
|align = none
|cols = 2
|percentages = pagr
|source = EHESS<ref name="ehess">{{Cassini-Ehess|4356|Bitche}}</ref> and INSEE (1968&ndash;2017)<ref name="pophist">[https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4515315?geo=COM-57089#ancre-POP_T1 Population en historique depuis 1968], INSEE</ref>
|1793 |2480
|1821 |2698
|1841 |3033
|1871 |3047
|1900 |3640
|1926 |3486
|1946 |3479
|1962 |4277
|1968 |5004
|1975 |5055
|1982 |5648
|1990 |5517
|1999 |5752
|2007 |5555
|2012 |5267
|2017 |5098
}}

==International relations==
Bitche has been [[Sister city|twinned]] with [[Lebach]], Saarland, Germany, since 1979.

The town was mentioned in the [[BBC]] comedy panel game ''[[QI]]'', in episode 9 of season 3 (or series C). [[Bill Bailey]] commented on the comical nature of seeing a sign "You are now leaving Bitche".{{citation needed|date=January 2012}}

==Gallery==
<gallery perrow="5">
File:Hôtel de Ville de Bitche-9659.jpg|The city hall in Bitche
File:Looking down a street in Bitche France.JPG|Looking down a street in Bitche
File:Bitche France from the Citadel.JPG|Overlooking Bitche from the Citadel
File:Bitche Citadel Drawbridge.jpg|Bitche Citadel Drawbridge
File:Bitche Citadel Chapel.jpg|Garrison Chapel at the top of Bitche Citadel
</gallery>

{{clear left}}

==See also==
*[[Communes of the Moselle department]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{Citation |last1=Bombelles |first1=Marc, marquis de |first2=Jean |last2=Grassion |first3=Frans |last3=Durif |first4=Jeannine |last4=Charon-Bordas |year=2008 |title=Marquis de Bombelles Journal Tome VII 1808-15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RJM6CRJSnPwC&pg=PA319 |location=France |publisher=Librairie Droz |page=319}}
*{{Citation |author-link=William Siborne|last=Siborne |first=William |year=1895 |title=The Waterloo Campaign 1815 |edition=4th |publisher=Birmingham, 34 Wheeleys Road |chapter=Supplement section |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/waterloocampaig02sibogoog#page/n767/mode/1up|pages=767–780 |url=https://archive.org/details/waterloocampaig02sibogoog}}

==Further reading==
{{Commons category|Bitche}}
*{{Citation|url=http://www.ville-bitche.fr/|title=Bitche website|access-date=9 July 2009}}
*{{Citation|url=http://www.bitscherland.fr/Canton-de-Bitche/Bitche/bitche.html|title=Bitche|language=fr|access-date=10 December 2010}}

{{Pays de Bitche}}
{{Moselle communes}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Bitche| ]]
[[Category:Communes of Moselle (department)]]
[[Category:Vauban fortifications in France]]