Bienwald
The only settlement in the Bienwald is Büchelberg (940 inhabitants as of 2015), which lies inside a clearing in the forest and is administratively part of the town of Wörth am Rhein.
On 13 August 1793, a battle of the War of the First Coalition took place in the Bienwald. Austrian troops under Marshal Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser pushed the French Army back and frustrated the relief of Mainz. In March 1945, during World War II, the U.S. VI Corps and the French First Army assaulted German Siegfried Line fortifications in the Bienwald and penetrated German defenses in the forest during a week of heavy combat. The forest is still marked by trenches and bunker ruins from World War II. There are also older French earthworks (redoutes) in the southwestern parts of the forest where it borders the Lauter river and Mundat Forest (French: Forêt du Mundat).
The proposed construction of a multi-lane controlled access highway through the forest is disputed. The proposed road would connect the French A35 autoroute and the German A65 autobahn.
European wildcats have taken up residence in the Bienwald in the last few years, often using the ruins of destroyed bunkers for shelter.
References
- ^ "Zahlen, Daten, Fakten" [Numbers, dates, facts]. Portal - Wörth am Rhein (in German). Archived from the original on 25 January 2010. Retrieved 19 March 2019.