To the people in the Hunsrück, the war's imminence was something that was unknown. Only in mid July 1914 did it become apparent that a military conflict of some kind lay just ahead. On 6 August, Kaiser Wilhelm II issued a decree. A few days later, soldiers from Mittelstrimmig were leaving their homeland. With Germany's defeat, the people in Mittelstrimmig saw the world that they had known fall apart. Not only was the monarchy gone, but the toll in blood had been quite high. Nine men from Mittelstrimmig had fallen “for Empire and Emperor”. When soldiers withdrew from the villages, they left behind weapons and ammunition. Civilians took these and used them for hunting. With the German soldiers gone, the villages on the "Strimmiger Berg" were occupied by the Americans, who were billeted in barns, stables, barrooms at inns and schools. Once Germany had been divided into occupation zones by the victorious powers, the Americans withdrew and the Rhineland, and along with it the "Strimmiger Berg", once again fell under French rule.