- Phalsbourg
Phalsbourg ( _de. Pfalzburg) is a town in
Moselle , (Lorraine),France . Its population is about 5000.In 1911, it was a town of Germany, in the imperial province of
Alsace-Lorraine , lying high on the west slopes of the Vosges, 25 miles (40 km) north-west of Strasbourg by rail. In 1911, it contained an Evangelical and a Roman Catholic church, a synagogue and a teachers seminary. Its industries include the manufacture of gloves, straw hats and liqueurs, and also quarrying.The principality of Phalsbourg, of which this town was the capital, originally a part of
Luxembourg , afterwards belonged in turn to thebishop of Metz , thebishop of Strasbourg and theduke of Lorraine , and passed into the possession ofFrance in 1661. The town was of importance as commanding the passes of the Vosges, and was strongly fortified byVauban in 1680. The works resisted the Allies in 1814 and 1815, and the Germans for four months in 1870, but they were taken on12 December of that year. They have since been razed.The
United States Air Forces in Europe built an air base near the city in 1953. The base was returned in 1967 to the French government, which redesignated it as Camp de la Horie. The base is currently used by the French military's1er Régiment d'Hélicoptères de Combat .The town is home to the annual
Erckmann-Chatrian summer festival.References
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