Where the WWI Front Started: Kilometre Zero

Описание: Kilometre Zero: The Southern Anchor of the Western Front

From the Belgian coast to the Swiss border: 725 kilometers of trenches, bunkers, and barbed wire. This is where it all ended, or where it all began.

I walk the Kilometer Zero circuit at Pfetterhouse in France, exploring the forgotten southern terminus of the Western Front. I examine German concrete bunkers built to last for years, French fieldworks that vanished into the forest and a Swiss observation post watching both sides from neutral ground.

This wasn't Verdun or the Somme: This was a "quiet sector." But 119,000 soldiers are buried in the cemeteries of this region. The quiet sectors tells a different kind of story.
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DISCLAIMER:
This video documents the Kilometer Zero battlefield at Pfetterhouse, Alsace, France – the southern "end" of the Western Front.

These battlefields are protected historical sites under French heritage law. All artifacts remain undisturbed: Under French law, removing ANY battlefield artifacts (even a button or shell fragment) is punishable by significant fines and potential imprisonment.
Please treat these sites with the respect they deserve. Walk the marked trails, observe but do not disturb, and leave these landscapes as you found them.
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
01:54 - History of Alsace
04:40 - The Battle of Alsace 1914
06:27 - The German Front Line
12:00 - German Positions
17:44 - Infantry Bunker
20:58 - The southernmost Bunker
24:00 - The Swiss Positions
27:45 - Swiss Observation Post
29:45 - KM ZERO
34:19 - The French Side
36:23 - Railway Bridge & French positions
40:18 - The southernmost French Position
43:54 - Closing Words
46:12 - The Cost
46:54 - Outro
47:23 - Bonus
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SOURCES & CREDITS:
Thumbnail: "Treffen am Dreiländerstein bei Beurnevésin" © Swiss Federal Archives (CH-BAR # E27# 1000/721# 14095# 2096*) Edited by me (background removed). Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 CH: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... "The German Withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line, March–April 1917" Public domain — original by John Warwick Brooke / Imperial War Museums. Edited by me (background removed).; Map: "Stellungskarte – Karte der 8. Landwehr-Division, Altkirch (1:25,000)" Archive reference: PH 3-KART/4905; Public domain. Edited by me (used as background).

Maps:
Google Earth Studio
Stellungskarte, 8. Landwehr-Division, Altkirch, 1:25,000 (August 1916) - Vermessungs-Abteilung 13 (Württ.), Bundesarchiv Freiburg, PH 3-KART/4905
Map of the Western Front - Funk and Wagnalls Company / Matthews-Northrup Works, Buffalo, NY. Courtesy Harry S. Truman Library & Museum, Independence, Missouri
File: 1870 Bacon's large scale war map, Paris to the Rhine - Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
Images of Alsace Maps: Wikimedia Commons - Public Domain
Archival Photographs:
All photographs from Europeana 1914-1918, Europe - CC BY-SA:
Beide Grossvaeter im Krieg
Leo Belz - Westfront (1916)
Fotos und Militärpass von Karl Hutterer (1920)
Hilsen fra Laust i Alsace - Laust Jensen
Konvolut Georg Horling (1914)
WINTZENHEIM 14-18: la Grande Guerre dans une petite ville d'Alsace (1913)
FRAD076_0274: Daniel et Joseph Bazile, Jules Duclos, Honoré Levasseur (1914)
FRAD071-097: Jean-Marie LAROCHE
Soldats dans une tranchée
Poste de secours
Soldats devant une tombe
August Nobel - Soldatenbild (1914)
FRAD067-167: Franz Xavier Host, Alsacien engagé dans l'armée allemande
Swiss Military & Fortifications; Map Images:
All images: Wikimedia Commons - Public Domain
Alsace Images
All images: Wikimedia Commons - Public Domain
Archival Film Footage:
"Wie Frankreich das Elsaß befreit" (1917) - Bundesarchiv, Germany - Public Domain
"En Artois. Le Drapeau de Chasseurs" (1915) - DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, Germany - Public Domain
Cinematek 14065 ARMEE-FRANCAISE - Public Domain
"Vogesenwacht" (1917) - Bundesarchiv, Germany - Public Domain
"Infanterie-Nahkampf" (1918) - Bundesarchiv, Germany - Public Domain

Location Information:
Circuit du Kilomètre Zéro - 7.5km marked trail : 47°30'28.1"N, 7°11'47.2"E
Pfetterhouse, Haut-Rhin, Alsace, France
Free access, maintained paths, information panels in French/German/English
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© 2025 WalkingTheTrenches. All original footage filmed by me. Archival materials used under Public Domain or CC BY-SA licenses as noted. Please respect copyright and battlefield heritage laws.

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