Bitche ( , ; German and Lorraine Franconian: ) is a commune in the Moselle department, administrative region of Grand Est, northeastern France. It is the Pays de Bitche's capital city and the seat of the Canton of Bitche and the communauté de communes du Pays de Bitche. The town belongs to the Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park and is rated 4-flowers at the towns and villages in bloom competition. The town's population at the 2013 census was 5,225. The inhabitants of the commune are known as Bitchois and Bitchoises. The town is known for its large citadel originating from a castle built at the beginning of the 13th century. The fortress is noted for its resistance during the Franco-Prussian War. Louis-Casimir Teyssier, its commander and chief, held the place for about eight months with 3,000 men against about 20,000 Prussian and Bavarian soldiers until the French government ordered him to surrender after the ceasefire in 1871. The town became part of Germany after that date until the end of the First World War, when it was given back to France. During the Second World War it was annexed by the Third German Reich (1940–1944). Geography Bitche is located near the German border on the small river Horn, at the foot of the northern slope of the Vosges between Haguenau and Sarreguemines. History The town of Bitche, which was formed from the villages of Rohr and Kaltenhausen in the 17th century, derives its name from the old stronghold (mentioned in 1172 as Bytis Castrum) standing on a rock some above the town. This had long given its name to the countship of Bitsch, which was originally in the possession of the dukes of Lorraine. In 1297 it passed by marriage to Eberhard I of Zweibrücken-Bitsch, whose line became extinct in 1569, when the countship reverted to Lorraine. It passed with that duchy to France in 1766. After 1766 the town rapidly increased in population. The citadel, which had been constructed by Vauban on the site of the old castle after the capture of Bitche by the French in 1624, had been destroyed when it was restored to Lorraine in 1698. This was restored and strengthened in 1740 into a fortress that proved impregnable up until the 20th century. The attack upon it by the Prussians in 1793 was repulsed. During the Napoleonic Wars, 1804–14, the citadel at Bitche became a