Pétange (; ; ) is a commune and town in south-western Luxembourg. It is part of the canton of Esch-sur-Alzette. Pétange lies on the borders with both Belgium and France. , the town of Pétange, which lies in the north of the commune, has a population of 7,399. Other towns within the commune include Lamadelaine and Rodange. The commune is one of the smallest communes of Luxembourg, yet is the fifth-most populous. It is the most-populous commune without city status. History The modern settlement of Pétange was first mentioned in 938 by the name 'Perdgitten'. Six centuries later, Pétange had still not acquired much prominence; in 1536, it was home to only about 25 people. In 1601, the boundary between Luxembourg and the Duchy of Lorraine was definitively demarcated for the first time. The modern commune was divided between the two, with the town of Pétange going to Luxembourg, but the towns of Rodange and Lamadelaine, which are further to the south, lying on the Lorrainian side of the border. When, in 1795, Luxembourg was annexed into Revolutionary France as part of the département of Forêts, its former territories were reunited, and the commune's territory was established as it is today. However, when Luxembourg passed to the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, after the Congress of Vienna, the towns of Rodange and Lamadelaine passed with it. The town's importance grew greatly in the late nineteenth century, thanks to the booming iron-mining and steel industries. The first railway into Pétange was opened in 1873, running to Esch-sur-Alzette. Further railway lines were added to Ettelbruck (1873) and Luxembourg City (1900). On 9 September 1944, Pétange became the first commune in the country to be liberated by Allied soldiers at the end of the German occupation in the Second World War. In remembrance to the first soldier to die in the liberation, a memorial was erected in his honor: Hyman Josefson Square. On August 9, 2019, a high-end F2 multiple-vortex tornado hit the town; this is a rare occurrence in Luxembourg. 19 people were injured, two seriously, and over 160 buildings were destroyed. The tornado reached windspeed between 200 and 250 km/h, suggesting F3 intensity. Many roofs were completely torn off, some of which landed on houses and vehicles. Large mast were also downed. The tornado traveled 14 km (8.6 miles) in total across a widespread area. Geography The commune lies in the