Souffelweyersheim (; also , ; in the Alsatian dialect) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department, Alsace, Grand Est, northeastern France, and is part of metropolitan Strasbourg. Etymology Souffelweyersheim means: the village on the pond of Souffel. Souffel (the Souffel river) + Weyer (the pond) + S (of) + Heim (hamlet, village). Locally the name is shortened and the village is called Souffel. Geography The village covers an area of 451 hectares (1114 acres), and is located 6 km (3¾ miles) north of Strasbourg at an altitude of 140 metres (460 ft). Located in the plain of Alsace, between the massifs of the Vosges and the Black Forest, the plain is bisected by the Souffel river from which the village takes its name. This river rises in Kuttolsheim and joins the Ill river, a tributary of the Rhine, a little south of Wantzenau after flowing . History In 1790, the formerly common pasture meadows were subdivided, and sections were given to Souffelweyersheim, Hoenheim, Bischheim, Adelshoffen and Schiltigheim. In 1792, Austria and Prussia began hostilities against France. From October to December 1793, engagements between the troops of the French Republic and the Austro-Prussian alliance centered on a front near Hoenheim – Griesheim-sur-Souffel – Dingsheim before the Austro-Prussian troops were pushed back out of Alsace in January 1794. After his disastrous Russian campaign, Napoleon Bonaparte managed with difficulty to return to France, but enemy forces in the Sixth Coalition followed. In January 1814, the French troops lost Strasbourg to Cossacks who cantoned in Hoenheim, Bischheim and Schiltigheim. Napoleon abdicated in favour of Louis XVIII, and was banished to the isle of Elba. Napoleon escaped from Elba and returned to France on 26 February 1815. In a campaign that lasted a Hundred Days he attempted to remain on the throne of France. Ten days after Napoleon's final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, General Jean Rapp led the French forces against the Crown Prince of Württemberg in the Battle of La Suffel near Souffelweyersheim and Hoenheim. The day after the battle, the Crown Prince of Württemberg ordered the burning of the village of Souffelweyersheim. It took all of the nineteenth century to rebuild the village. 1852 was the year of the inauguration of two new transportation routes near Souffelweyersheim: the Marne-Rhine Canal which connects Vitry-le-François to Strasbourg, and the railway line between Paris and Strasbourg. On 19 July 1870, the Franco-Prussian War began.