Adolphe Pégoud circular in Petit-Croix

Park in the car park in front of the town hall, 20 Grande Rue Petit-Croix, opposite the Pégoud monument. Take the time to consult the information board, which is very detailed.
The hike is marked with a yellow ring.

(S/E) Start on Grande Rue, heading east towards Montreux-Château. Walk past the church and cemetery.

(1) Turn left onto Rue des Champs and continue along a path that crosses the fields. Further on, cross the D29 and continue straight ahead.

(2) Be very careful at this point. A signpost indicates that the path goes right towards Cunelières and left towards Petit-Croix. You are now on a section of the hike that you will take both on the way there and on the way back.

On the way there, turn right towards Cunelières.

(3) This is where the section of the hike that you will take on both the outward and return journeys ends. Turn right towards Cunelières.
50 metres further on, you will pass the spot where Pégoud's plane crashed. See the explanatory panel.
Continue straight ahead. (altitude 364m). Take the D29 on the left for 600m (with caution)

(4) Turn right onto a small path before reaching the Étang des Boules.

(5) Turn right onto the D11 (Rue des Orgues) and 50m later, turn left onto Rue Saint-Nicolas. Then turn right onto Rue Sous les Vergers and 200m further on, take a path on the left that crosses the fields of Sous les Vergers. You will arrive at the D29.

(6) Turn right and then immediately left onto the path. After 50 metres, admire the bridge over the Saint-Nicolas river. It is an "Arromanches" type bridge, built in 1952 and completely renovated in 1997.
Reach the D419 in Foussemagne. Take it to the left (with caution) towards the west until you reach the village exit.

(7) Just before the last houses, the road curves to the right. It is protected by a safety rail. The path starts on the left behind the safety rail. Be careful, it is difficult to see.
Cross the D11 and walk along a small forest. When you reach the Étang des Cratsch, turn left and then continue straight ahead at the start of the right-hand bend at the end of the southern branch of the pond.

(8) At the crossroads, turn left. The signposting is helpful in this area. The path arrives near the spot where Pégoud's plane crashed.

(3) Continue to the right, taking the section you saw earlier.

(2) Continue straight ahead, leaving a path on your left, then turn left to join the tarmac road that leads to Petit-Croix (D28).

(9) Turn left and return to the starting point (S/E).

Departure from Petit-Croix.
Parking available in front of the town hall, 20 Grande Rue 90130 Petit-Croix.
Visorando was informed by Mr Chevalley, a volunteer member of Balisage90.
This hike was created by the Bourbeuse Basin Community of Communes, which is now part of Greater Belfort.

The Pégoud monument

On 31 August 1915, flying ace Adolphe Pégoud (1889-1915), assigned to the MS49 squadron based in Fontaine, was shot down in the skies above Petit-Croix by a German opponent and his Nieuport crashed in a field. The hike passes close to the site where a monument was erected on 23 September 1917, then moved to the centre of the village on 15 May 1982 for practical reasons: it commemorates this tragic end.

A very detailed information board recounts the information given here.

Petit-Croix
The inhabitants are known as Peticruciens and Petitcruciennes.

Located in the Madeleine basin, Petit Croix benefits from the riches of the river while accepting its floods. The river rises in the Vosges mountains in the aptly named village of Lamadeleine.
The village is on the edge of the railway line. The TGV line passes nearby.

The name Pilicors first appears in 1105 in the charter founding the priory of Froidefontaine (symbolised by the fleur-de-lis on the coat of arms). The village was limited to a simple chapel around which a hamlet developed, attached to the town hall of Haute-Assise, one of the five districts that made up the seigneury of Belfort. In the 13th century, the village was divided into two fiefdoms belonging respectively to Richard de Belfort and the Lord of Montreux. Both encouraged the establishment of new farms.
In 1295, the village was named Petit-Croix.
In 1390, it took the name Petit Cropt and the chapel became a parish church dedicated to Our Lady.
In 1441, the village was called Bittikropff and the parish was part of the diocese of Basel.
In 1492, the village became Piticorp, then Petitcroq in 1613, before reverting to Petit-Croix around 1648.
The name of the village comes from a misunderstanding: the original name was Petit Creux. The German administration read Creux as Kreuz and interpreted the name of the village as Kleinkreuz, which translates into English as Petit-Croix.
The current church was built in 1852. It has the distinctive feature of having an open bell tower. Damaged several times, the roof of the bell tower was finally replaced by a spire formed of four reinforced concrete beams topped with a metal cross and a weathercock.
It was not until 1782 that it was attached to the Diocese of Besançon. Then, more recently, it was attached to the Diocese of Belfort-Montbéliard when it was created in 1979. The church is dedicated to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, symbolised by the crescents on the coat of arms.