Ouvrage Cap Martin
Encyclopedia
Ouvrage Cap Martin is a work (gros ouvrage) of the Maginot Line
's Alpine extension, the Alpine Line
, also called the Little Maginot Line. The ouvrage, located on high ground in Roquebrune
, consists of two artillery blocks and one combination block facing Italy
. The ouvrage was at the southernmost end of the Alpine Line and overlooked the Mediterranean Sea
coastline at an altitude of 21 meters between Nice
and Menton
, facing towards Italy
. The ouvrage and its advance casemate at Pont Saint Louis controlled the coastal roads along the Mediterranean.
The fort is unusual for Alpine Line fortifications in possessing a circulation gallery some distance below the entrance and combat blocks, rising via steps and hoists to each block. This feature is more typical of the main Maginot Line in the northeast of France. The gallery was served by a network of railways of 60 cm gauge, pushed by the men. In the case of Cap Martin, the wagons were of a unique design.
Three observation posts are attached to Cap Martin, including the Observatoire du Cimitière de Roquebrune and the Abri Nord de Mont-Gros de Roquebrune.
. On 21 June 1940 Italian artillery
bombarded Cap Martin with 149mm and 210mm shells. The next day saw aerial bombing attacks on Cap Martin. An armored train attempting to enter French territory on the coastal line was fired upon by Mont Agel and damaged. Heavy Italian artillery fire damaged Cap Martin's 75mm gun in Block 2. A rumored Italian infantry attack prompted heavy French fire, but failed to materialize. On 24 June two armored trains, one with 120mm guns and another with 152mm guns, fired on Cap Martin in support of Italian troops advancing through Menton. The Italians occupied the surface of the fortification until they were fired upon by other French artillery and were forced to retreat. The Pont-Saint-Louis position, which had held out the entire time with eight men, forcing the Italians to go around on higher ground, was relieved by French forces in the evening. The armistice of 25 June brought combat to a close.
On 15 August 1944 Allied forces landed on the French Riviera
in Operation Dragoon
. Retreating German troops blew up Cap Martin's Block 3 to prevent it from firing on their rear. The end of the war found Cap Martin's Blocks 2 and 3 heavily damaged. Because of the perceived threat of a Soviet invasion through northern Italy, the blocks were repaired by the early 1950s. Through the 1960s, interest and funding for the Maginot works declined, and Cap Martin was eventually sold.
The Casemate du Pont Saint Louis was an advanced defensive work supported by Cap Martin and manned by the 96th BAF. It was the only fortification directly on the seacoast, located at the frontier between France and Italy, and was intended to block any advance along the coastal road. The CORF-designed post was equipped with a rolling anti-tank barrier, a 37mm anti-tank gun, and two twin machine guns.
The anti-tank gate was a rolling barrier which slid from a slot in a fortified concrete housing along the side of the road, forming a barrier some meters from the post's blockhouse. The road and post occupied a narrow shelf between a cliff and a steep slope to the sea. The gate housing included two small arms ports, while the blockhouse could cover the gate and the road beyond with its guns firing through embrasures in the heavy concrete guardpost. Tunnels in the cliff wall behind the post contained a magazine, living quarters, and an escape tunnel, like a Maginot ouvrage on a much smaller scale.
Maginot Line
The Maginot Line , named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, was a line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defences, which France constructed along its borders with Germany and Italy, in light of its experience in World War I,...
's Alpine extension, the Alpine Line
Alpine Line
The Alpine Line or Little Maginot Line was the component of the Maginot Line that defended the southeastern portion of France...
, also called the Little Maginot Line. The ouvrage, located on high ground in Roquebrune
Roquebrune
Roquebrune may refer to the following communes in France:* Roquebrune, Gers, in the Gers département* Roquebrune, Gironde, in the Gironde département* Roquebrune, the former name for Roquebrune-Cap Martin, in the Alpes-Maritimes département...
, consists of two artillery blocks and one combination block facing Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. The ouvrage was at the southernmost end of the Alpine Line and overlooked the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
coastline at an altitude of 21 meters between Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
and Menton
Menton
Menton is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.Situated on the French Riviera, along the Franco-Italian border, it is nicknamed la perle de la France ....
, facing towards Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. The ouvrage and its advance casemate at Pont Saint Louis controlled the coastal roads along the Mediterranean.
Description
The ouvrage was built between October 1930 and October 1933 by a contractor named Borie, at a cost of 17 million francs, of which 1.6 million francs were for property acquisition and 2,776,000 francs were for the fort's armament. Three observatories reported to Cap Martin.- Block 1 (entry): one FM embrasure, two machine gun clocheGFM clocheThe GFM cloche was one of the most common defensive armaments on the Maginot Line. A cloche was a fixed and non-retractable firing position made of a thick iron casting which shielded its occupant...
s, one grenade launcher clocheLG clocheThe LG cloche was a defensive element common to many Maginot Line ouvrages. The fixed cupola was deeply embedded into the concrete on top of a combat block, with only the top surface visible. The opening permitted the ejection of grenades from the interior of the cloche, providing a means of...
, two 81mm mortars - Block 2: (bloc de barrage) one 75mm gun, two twin machine guns and one observation clocheVDP clocheThe VDP cloche was an element of the Maginot Line fortifications. A cloche was a fixed and non-retractable firing position made of a thick iron casting which shielded its occupant. By comparison, turrets could be rotated and sometimes lowered so that only the top shell was exposed. VDP cloches...
. Block 2 covered the plain of Menton and supported the casemate at Pont Saint Louis. The block was damaged during the German retreat in 1944. - Block 3: (flanking block) two 75mm guns, 2 81mm mortars, 2 machine gun cloches. Block 3 covered the area between Cap Martin and Ouvrage RoquebrunneOuvrage RoquebrunneOuvrage Roquebrune is a work of the Maginot Line's Alpine extension, the Alpine Line. The ouvrage consists of one entry block, two artillery blocks and one observation block facing Italy. The fortification is located on the heights behind Roquebrune at an elevation of 321 meters overlooking Cap...
.
The fort is unusual for Alpine Line fortifications in possessing a circulation gallery some distance below the entrance and combat blocks, rising via steps and hoists to each block. This feature is more typical of the main Maginot Line in the northeast of France. The gallery was served by a network of railways of 60 cm gauge, pushed by the men. In the case of Cap Martin, the wagons were of a unique design.
Three observation posts are attached to Cap Martin, including the Observatoire du Cimitière de Roquebrune and the Abri Nord de Mont-Gros de Roquebrune.
History
Cap Martin was garrisoned by the 96th Brigade Alpin de Forteresse (BAF), supported by the 157th Régiment d'Artillerie de Position (RAP). The garrison comprised 343 men and 11 officers, commanded by Captain Jacques Hugard and Captain Paris. Cap Martin fired the first shots of the Italian confrontation on 14 June 1940, eight shots at the Pont-Saint-Louis bridge. The first overt Italian action took place on 20 June, when the Italians of the Cosseria Division attempted a frontal assault on the avant-post at Pont-Saint-Louis. Cap Martin opened fire, supported by Saint-Agnès and Mont AgelOuvrage Mont Agel
Ouvrage Mont Agel is a work of the Maginot Line's Alpine extension, the Alpine Line, also called the Little Maginot Line. The 1930s ouvrage was built in and around the earlier mountaintop Fortress of Mont Agel. The ouvrage forms a backup to the main curtain of Alpine Line forts, and was not...
. On 21 June 1940 Italian artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
bombarded Cap Martin with 149mm and 210mm shells. The next day saw aerial bombing attacks on Cap Martin. An armored train attempting to enter French territory on the coastal line was fired upon by Mont Agel and damaged. Heavy Italian artillery fire damaged Cap Martin's 75mm gun in Block 2. A rumored Italian infantry attack prompted heavy French fire, but failed to materialize. On 24 June two armored trains, one with 120mm guns and another with 152mm guns, fired on Cap Martin in support of Italian troops advancing through Menton. The Italians occupied the surface of the fortification until they were fired upon by other French artillery and were forced to retreat. The Pont-Saint-Louis position, which had held out the entire time with eight men, forcing the Italians to go around on higher ground, was relieved by French forces in the evening. The armistice of 25 June brought combat to a close.
On 15 August 1944 Allied forces landed on the French Riviera
French Riviera
The Côte d'Azur, pronounced , often known in English as the French Riviera , is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, also including the sovereign state of Monaco...
in Operation Dragoon
Operation Dragoon
Operation Dragoon was the Allied invasion of southern France on August 15, 1944, during World War II. The invasion was initiated via a parachute drop by the 1st Airborne Task Force, followed by an amphibious assault by elements of the U.S. Seventh Army, followed a day later by a force made up...
. Retreating German troops blew up Cap Martin's Block 3 to prevent it from firing on their rear. The end of the war found Cap Martin's Blocks 2 and 3 heavily damaged. Because of the perceived threat of a Soviet invasion through northern Italy, the blocks were repaired by the early 1950s. Through the 1960s, interest and funding for the Maginot works declined, and Cap Martin was eventually sold.
Casemate du Pont Saint Louis
43°47′10"N 7°31′46"EThe Casemate du Pont Saint Louis was an advanced defensive work supported by Cap Martin and manned by the 96th BAF. It was the only fortification directly on the seacoast, located at the frontier between France and Italy, and was intended to block any advance along the coastal road. The CORF-designed post was equipped with a rolling anti-tank barrier, a 37mm anti-tank gun, and two twin machine guns.
The anti-tank gate was a rolling barrier which slid from a slot in a fortified concrete housing along the side of the road, forming a barrier some meters from the post's blockhouse. The road and post occupied a narrow shelf between a cliff and a steep slope to the sea. The gate housing included two small arms ports, while the blockhouse could cover the gate and the road beyond with its guns firing through embrasures in the heavy concrete guardpost. Tunnels in the cliff wall behind the post contained a magazine, living quarters, and an escape tunnel, like a Maginot ouvrage on a much smaller scale.
Status
The Casemate Pont Saint Louis was opened for public visits by the Association AMICORF in 1995. The main ouvrage was restored beginning in 1997 and was opened to the public in February 2008. Both Cap Martin and the Pont Saint Louis post are open during summer months.External links
- Association AMICORF, preservation society for Cap Martin
- Cap Martin (gros ouvrage) at fortiff.be
- Pont Saint Louis (avant poste) at fortiff.be