Vosges
The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium 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 geomorphological unit and ...
Grand Est
Grand Est (; ) is an Regions of France, administrative region in northeastern France. It superseded three former administrative regions, Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine, on 1 January 2016 under the provisional name of Alsace-Champagne-A ...
in northeastern
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
.
Inhabitants are called ''Mandresayens'' or ''Mandresayennes'' in French according to gender.
Geography
Mandray is located some ten kilometres (six miles) southeast of Saint-Dié on the eastern side of the department, and at the western edge of the
Vosges Mountains
The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian (linguistics), Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its France–Germany border, border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the bor ...
. It nestles in the valley of the Mandresay, a small tributary of the Meurthe which itself rises nearby. The commune is within the Ballons des Vosges Regional Natural Park.
The commune comprises not one single village but rather a grouping of dispersed hamlets at varying altitudes, these being Haute-Mandray, Mi-Mandray, Basse-Mandray, Bénifosse, la Béhouille, la Nold, le Pré du Moulin, Mardichamp, le Raichant (meaning
garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...
in the local
patois
''Patois'' (, same or ) is speech or language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. As such, ''patois'' can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects or vernaculars, but not commonly to jargon or sl ...
), les Angles and les Carrières
Using the Mandray Pass, it is possible to drive to Fraize and to La Croix-aux-Mines. Despite a sign indicating an altitude of 707 meters, the actual altitude of the pass is now calculated as 694 meters.
History
Mandray was the scene of fighting early in the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. In retaliation, the Germans torched the church on 28 August 1914 and shot some civilians.