The Col de Saverne (Pass of Saverne or Saverne Pass, ) is a natural

pass Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to: Places *Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland * Pass, Poland, a village in Poland *Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see List of straits *Mountain pass, a lower place in a mountai ...

in the north of the

Vosges mountains The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...

, near Saverne, which permits travel between the départements of

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin (; Alsatian: ''Unterelsàss'', ' or '; traditional german: links=no, Niederrhein; en, Lower Rhine) is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est super-region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its low ...

and

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it jo ...

, and therefore between

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

and Lorraine.
Transport routes that traverse the Saverne Pass include national highway RN 4 and

A4 autoroute The A4 Autoroute, also known as autoroute de l'Est (), is a French ''Controlled-access highway, autoroute'' that travels between the cities of Paris and Strasbourg. It forms parts of European routes European route E25, E25 and European route E5 ...

A4, the

Paris-Strasbourg railway Paris-Colmar is an annual racewalking competition covering about 445 kilometers for men, and 300 kilometers for women and for men who participate for the first time. The competition began in 1926 as race from Strasbourg to Paris. The contest fo ...

, as well as the Marne-Rhine Canal. The area is noted for its

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

s, especially the

Jardin Botanique de Saverne The Jardin botanique du col de Saverne (2.5 hectares), also known as the Jardin botanique de Saverne, is a botanical garden and arboretum located along the Col de Saverne near Saverne, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France. It is open on weekends, and daily in t ...

and the Roseraie de Saverne. The ''Saverne Gap'' () is a gorgelike passage that cuts through the Vosges from

Arzviller Arzviller (german: Arzweiler) is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in northeastern France. Its particularity lies in its Franco-German influences and its Germanic dialect, which make it, along with the other villages in the regi ...

to Saverne, following the course of the Zorn River for most of its length. The passage is barely 100 yards wide at some points.Clarke and Smith, ''Riviera to the Rhine'', p. 366, Washington: Government Printing Office, 1993. It figured prominently into the advance of the

U.S. XV Corps The XV Corps of the US Army was initially constituted on 1 October 1933 as part of the Organized Reserves, and was activated on 15 February 1943 at Camp Beauregard, Louisiana. During the Second World War, XV Corps fought for 307 days in the Euro ...

against German forces in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The rapid traversal of the Saverne Gap resulted in a breakthrough by the

French 2nd Armored Division The French 2nd Armored Division (french: link=no, 2e Division Blindée, 2e DB), commanded by General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, Philippe Leclerc, fought during the final phases of World War II in the Western Front (World War II), Western ...

, which subsequently liberated

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

on November 23, 1944.

Notes

Saverne Saverne {{Moselle-geo-stub