The World War I Sommepy American Monument commemorates the achievements of the American units that served in combat with the French Fourth Army during the summer and fall of 1918. More than 70,000 Americans served in the region during this time.
The monument, situated on Blanc Mont Ridge, is surrounded by vestiges of World War I trenches, dugouts and gun emplacements. It is essentially a tower of golden-yellow limestone with an observation tower on top affording an excellent view of the battlefields. Inside the entrance to the monument is an inscription describing American operations in the vicinity. The monument's site was captured by American troops.
References:The Pilgrimage Church of Wies (Wieskirche) is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the municipality of Steingaden.
The sanctuary of Wies is a pilgrimage church extraordinarily well-preserved in the beautiful setting of an Alpine valley, and is a perfect masterpiece of Rococo art and creative genius, as well as an exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared.
The hamlet of Wies, in 1738, is said to have been the setting of a miracle in which tears were seen on a simple wooden figure of Christ mounted on a column that was no longer venerated by the Premonstratensian monks of the Abbey. A wooden chapel constructed in the fields housed the miraculous statue for some time. However, pilgrims from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and even Italy became so numerous that the Abbot of the Premonstratensians of Steingaden decided to construct a splendid sanctuary.