The cross probably marks the place where French soldiers found their death during the War of the Sixth Coalition. In 1814, a Napoleonic army of young recruits retreated on the road leading to Saarlouis, when it was effectively stopped by Prussian troops. Excavations were conducted in 1936, however, they did not yield any mortal remains. This could also be due to the fact that the cross had been moved several times in the past. Before the construction of a sewage plant, the cross stood on a meadow on the banks of the river Theel, southeast of the small Woogwäldchen forest.