Ouvrage Restefond
Encyclopedia
Ouvrage Restefond is a work (gros ouvrage) of the Maginot Line
's Alpine extension, the Alpine Line
. The ouvrage consists of one artillery block and three observation blocks at the summit of the Col de la Bonnette. The entry block and an artillery block were not completed, and a further block was never built. At 2733 metres (8,966.5 ft), Restefond is the highest Maginot ouvrage.
Restefond includes 668 meters of underground galleries at a depth of 64 meters. The position remains the property of the French military, with much of its equipment intact. Some of the uninstalled equiopment remains at the Restefond barracks nearby.
Block 6 fired on Italian forces in June 1940 as they advanced toward the Col des Fourches.
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...
. The ouvrage consists of one artillery block and three observation blocks at the summit of the Col de la Bonnette. The entry block and an artillery block were not completed, and a further block was never built. At 2733 metres (8,966.5 ft), Restefond is the highest Maginot ouvrage.
Description
- Block 1 (unfinished entry): one 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...
and one heavy twin machine gun embrasure. A 47mm anti-tank gun was planned. - Block 2 (infantry block): one machine gun cloche and two 81mm mortar embrasures.
- Block 3 (infantry block): one machine gun cloche and one heavy twin machine gun embrasure.
- Block 4 (infantry block): 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...
, one machine gun cloche and one heavy twin machine gun embrasure. - Block 5 (uncompleted artillery block): three 75mm gun embrasures.
- Block 6 (artillery block): three 75mm gun embrasures, intended primarily for indirect fire.
- Block 7 (unbuilt): three 75mm gun embrasures, later proposed to be armed with a twin 75mm gun turret.
Restefond includes 668 meters of underground galleries at a depth of 64 meters. The position remains the property of the French military, with much of its equipment intact. Some of the uninstalled equiopment remains at the Restefond barracks nearby.
1940
- See Fortified Sector of the DauphinéFortified Sector of the DauphinéThe Fortified Sector of the Dauphiné was the French military organization that in 1940 controlled the section of the Alpine Line portion of the Maginot Line facing Italy in the vicinity of Briançon...
for a broader discussion of the Dauphiné sector of the Alpine Line.
Block 6 fired on Italian forces in June 1940 as they advanced toward the Col des Fourches.
External links
- Rimplas (gros ouvrage du) at fortiff.be
- Patrimoine XXeme, Ouvrage Restefond