Bingen is a sleepy old German city on the Rhine. It contains only about 10,000 people, but its name is well known in history. On the hills that you see here, the Roman legions fought and defeated the Gauls 2,000 years ago. The old castle on the hill has Roman foundations and some of the main roads that lead into the city were built by the Romans. Such an ancient city must have many traditions centering about it. Near Bingen, according to legend, the treasure of the Nibelungs was hidden. Another strange tale concerns the Archbishop of Hatto, whose castle was in midstream. Here he had stored plenty of food. A famine came upon the land, and the Archbishop refused to feed the people. So a pest of mice was sent up to eat up all his corn. Then they attacked him. Finally the waters of the Rhine swept over the island and carried it out of sight. But you may be more closely touched by Bingen in history than in legend. In our Revolutionary War, the Hessians that fought against Washington were from near this city. In the last year of the Great War (1918) American soldiers, a hundred miles away, looked in the direction of Bingen and wondered when they would cross the Rhine. After Germany had signed the agreement to quit fighting, our soldier boys saw the valley of the Rhine. They were sent to guard it many miles below Bingen. Thus it came to pass that the boasted "Watch on the Rhine" was kept by our soldiers and those of our Allies. What other cities are on the Rhine? In what country is the mouth of the river? Where is its source? Keystone ID: 10377 Note: All titles, descriptions, and location coordinates are from the original Keystone Slide documentation as supplied by the Keystone View Company. No text has been edited or changed.