Hatten, Bas-Rhin

Hatten Hàtte
Commune
The town hall in Hatten
Coat of arms
Location of Hatten
Hatten Hatten
Coordinates: 48°54′09″N 7°58′47″E
Country	France
Region	Grand Est
Department	Bas-Rhin
Arrondissement	Haguenau-Wissembourg
Canton	Wissembourg
Government
• Mayor (2001–2008)	François Fenninger
Area 1	18.91 km2 (7.30 sq mi)
Population  (2021)	1,904
• Density	100/km2 (260/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	67184 /67690
Elevation	120–172 m (394–564 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Hatten is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France, some fifteen kilometres (nine miles) to the south of Wissembourg.

Geography

Positioned at the northern edge of the Forest of Hagenau, the village is on the edge of the Alsace Plain, although the agricultural landscape surrounding this village and its immediate neighbours is one of rolling hills.

History

Second World War

WW II Historical Museum Hatten

In 1939, because Hatten was on the Maginot Line, the authorities had arranged for the town's 1,500 inhabitants to be evacuated to Châteauponsac in the Limousin region, six hundred kilometres to the southwest. Evacuees had been restricted to one suitcase per person, and so were obliged to leave behind most of their possessions. However, after July 1940, the village had survived the invasion of France undamaged; therefore, the residents were able to return to Hatten, since the whole of Alsace had then reverted to its pre-1919 status as a part of Germany. On December 13, 1944, after four years of occupation, the village had been liberated without any fighting by the Americans and the residents looked forward to the resumption of peace.

However, in January 1945, the Germans had launched one of their final counter-offensives under the name of Operation North Wind, with the intention of retaking Strasbourg. Hatten was on the route of the German columns and thus, the village had found itself at the heart of the battle. During the fierce tank battles between the Germans and the Americans that had taken place over the course of twelve days in the middle of January, 350 of the 365 houses which had inhabited the village had been destroyed. Along with 2,500 military deaths, 83 civilians in Hatten had perished.

The village was rebuilt after the war.

See also

• Communes of the Bas-Rhin department

References

• INSEE commune file