Champillon artillery plant

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Camouflaged entrance to the Champillon artillery plant
Corbeyrier barrier: pink = artillery, yellow = infantry
Champillon, Châtillon and Corbeyrier hills, left of the center of the picture, right the Rhone

The artillery plant Champillon (army designation A 365) of the Swiss Army is located on the territory of the municipality of Corbeyrier in the district of Aigle in the canton of Vaud . It is located in the Champillon forest hill southwest of the village at around 800  m .

Construction began in February 1942 and in October 1942 the plant was ready to fire. It was released from secrecy with the Army 95 .

history

The impetus for the construction of the plant was given by the new army position in the Reduit ordered by General Guisan (Operation Orders No. 11, 12, 13). The Champillon artillery plant served to strengthen the defense line between Lake Geneva and Great St. Bernard ( fortress area Saint-Maurice ). In 1942, the fire of the fortress Dailly only reached the south of Aigle and could not cover the obligatory road passages at Chillon Castle and Saint-Gingolph (Fenalet). The Chillon artillery plant could fire as far as Saint-Gingolph and the Porte-du-Scex ( Vouvry ). The Champillon fire reached Chillon and Saint-Gingolph and formed a complement to the Chillon artillery plant. From 1962, Dailly's new 15 cm cannons were able to reach the Chillon passage but not that of Saint-Gingolph.

The system was located in the operational area ( Lower Valais ) of the Valais Mountain Brigade 10 (from 1952 fortress brigade 10) in Chablais and was operated by fortress company 64 (1962-1994 fortress company I / 4), which belonged to fortress department 4.

Champillon was equipped with two 10.5 cm fortress guns 39 L 42 ( Eidgenössische Konstruktionswerkstätte in Thun ). Two additional gun stands with 7.5 cm cannons had to be dispensed with for reasons of economy.

Infrastructure

The work is a casemate built into the rock. The access (A 367) is west of altitude 783 at around 800  m . The work name is derived from the field name Champillon .

  • Main entrance zone (A 367): Entrance, blockhouse central defense, fresh air extraction
  • Technical zone: water reservoirs, engine room, filter room
  • Protected zone: Cantonnement 1 with office, fire control station, dining room, kitchen, sanitary facilities and Cantonnement 2 with four bedrooms and showers
  • Combat zone: pressure lock, gun positions 1 and 2, ammunition magazines 1 and 2, old observation post 2 (A 368 Dailly), explosion vent
  • Emergency exit zone (A 366): Blockhouse central defense, emergency exit stairs, old observation post 1, emergency exit, Schartenweg

Corbeyrier lockout

Corbeyrier terrain armor obstacle

The blocking point is located between the artillery plant and the village of Corbeyrier. It consists of two terrain armor obstacles (canton road T7001 and municipal road T7002) on both sides of the Châtillon hill with three infantry units (army designation A 361–363) and an explosive object for the road (M 1738). They had to block the passage to the Rhone Valley. The blocking point was released from service in 1994.

  • Ravin A 361 infantry plant: built in the summer of 1940 east of the GPH. It controlled the GPH and the Torrent d'Yvorne ⊙ gorge
  • Corbeyrier-Châtillon A 362 infantry plant: consisting of bunker east west GPH T 7001 and bunker west north GPH T 7002, each with a 9 cm Pak ⊙ ⊙
  • Corbeyrier superior A 363 infantry plant: above Corbeyrier, on the edge of the forest west of the village, Mg 51 ⊙
  • Artillery Works Champillon A 365 ⊙
  • GPH Saconnex T 7001 ⊙
  • GPH T 7002 ⊙

The armament of the infantry works (A 361, A 362) originally consisted of two 4.7 cm cannons and, from the late 1950s, two 9 cm anti-tank cannons (A 362 Corbeyrier-Châtillon) and a machine gun (A 363 Corbeyrier-superior).

Reuse

Logo of the Pyromin Museum

In July 2005 the plant was bought by NL Pyrotechnique SA. With the help of the members of the Association du fort militaire de Champillon, the Pyromin Museum was set up there, the first museum in Europe for explosives and pyrotechnics.

The museum, which opened in September 2011 with more than 1000 visitors, is open for guided tours from mid-March to the end of November, according to the website.

There is a measuring station of the Swiss Seismological Service in the entrance tunnel .

Publications

  • Pierre Delévaux: Champillon'94 - la dernière mission . Interactive CD by the former commandant about the A 365 artillery and the A 362 and 363 infantry.
  • Pierre Delévaux: Champillon'94 - la dernière mission . 65-minute film by the former commandant about the works of Fortress Company I / 4 from 1944–1994 with commentary, detailed plans, maps and historical excursions. Stroll through the A 365 artillery and infantry works.

Web links

Commons : Sperrstelle Corbeyrier  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ JC Moret: Northern fortified defense sector in the area of ​​Lake Geneva and the Great Saint Bernard: The Chablais
  2. ↑ JC Moret: The Chablais Dispositiv
  3. ^ Fortress Oberland: A 365 Artillery Plant Champillon
  4. ↑ Fort Champillon: Artillery Works A 365 ( Memento from July 1, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Fort Champillon: Infantry Dispositiv ( Memento from July 1, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ^ Fortress Oberland: Corbeyrier VD lock point
  7. ↑ Migros Magazine of March 19, 2012: L'homme qui fait parler la poudre (The man who makes the powder talk)
  8. ↑ 24heures: April 5, 2013: Le musée Pyromin pète le feu (The Museum Pyromin conquers fire)
  9. ↑ station AIGLE

Coordinates: 46 ° 20 '29.5 "  N , 6 ° 57' 13.1"  E ; CH1903:  five hundred sixty-two thousand six hundred and sixty  /  132353