FONTAINE "PIONIER-BRUNNEN"

Located on the road between Saint-Mihiel and Woinville, this fountain was built in 1915/1916 by the 4th field engineer company of the III. Bavarian Army Corps. Built in the shape of a small house, it has a 10 m³ reservoir supplied from the Vieux-Etang farm via an 800-meter-long pipeline. This made it possible to provide running water to visiting German troops and the surrounding cantonments.

The pediment originally featured the emblem of the Bavarian Pioneers, while the names of the soldiers who died in this unit were engraved on either side of the fountain. Following the Franco-American offensive that liberated the Saillant de Saint-Mihiel (September 1918), the German inscriptions were erased, except for the drawing of a naval anchor (an emblem also used in France by colonial troops). On the ground, the paving in the shape of an iron cross has been preserved.

The fountain was restored by the association "La Grande Tranchée de Calonne" in 2023.

DATAtourisme France