Gravelotte

Gravelotte is a village and commune in the Moselle "département", Lorraine, France. Population (1999): 652.

History

Gravelotte is located between Metz and the former French-German frontier, as it was between 1870 and 1918. It was famous as the scene of the battle of 18 August 1870 between the Germans under King William of Prussia and the French under Marshal Bazaine.

The battlefield extends from the woods which border, the Moselle above Metz to Roncourt, near the river Orne. Other villages which played an important part in the battle of Gravelotte were Saint-Privat, Amanweiler or Amanvillers and Sainte-Marie-aux-Chênes, all lying to the north of Gravelotte.

French saying

The battle in this town is the source of a common French saying:

"ça tombe comme à Gravelotte"

which literally means

"they're falling like at Gravelotte"

and either translates to "it's raining a lot" (e.g. "it's raining cats and dogs") or that a lot of things are going wrong at once.

References

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