The Ormont Massif, of which Tête de Raves is part, was overrun by the Germans at the start of the First World War but recaptured by the French army in September 1914. This did not change until the end of the war.
'Qui tent les hauts, tent les bas'
The French enjoyed a crucial strategic advantage: from the almost nine-hundred-meter-high summit, they could watch German movements.