Follatères artillery plant
Map with all coordinates: .jpg)
The artillery plant Follatères (army designation A 66) is a former artillery plant in the fortress area of Saint-Maurice , which is located above the Rhone bend in the municipality of Dorénaz and Fully in the Swiss canton of Valais .
Follatères artillery plant
The artillery, together with Champex and Commeire, was one of the major works in the fortification system of the Great Saint Bernard region . It protected the opposite entrance from the Great Saint Bernhard into the Rhone Valley near Martigny and was equipped with numerous guns on four levels.
Its mission was to prevent any enemy advance into the Rhone plain and in the direction of Reduit Brigade 21 and to hold the fortified area of Saint-Maurice between Chiètres and Follatères.
The rock is at 550 m above sea level. M. about 100 meters above the valley floor and has about 50 notches. The plant was accessed from the valley floor next to the Rhone with a cable car, with a mountain station in the rock. The system was built on several floors with long connecting tunnels.
The armament consisted of four 7.5 cm cannons with the direction of fire Martigny as well as two 10.5 cm cannons (cannons No. 11 and 12) on a stand mount with a field of fire on the axis of the Great Saint Bernard and two fortress mine launchers 8.1 cm 1956/60 A 0066 Swiss coordinates five hundred seventy-one thousand four hundred fifty-nine / 107990 . There were also numerous gun positions for machine guns and anti-tank cannons.
In addition to the flanking entrance defenses , the access to the fortress from the Crêtadon infantry factory was under fire. Down the Rhone, the two blocking points Vernayaz and Evionnaz had to stop the enemy between Follatères and Saint-Maurice.
- Artillery Works Follatères A 66 ⊙
Crêtadon infantry factory
The Crêtadon infantry plant (army designation A 67) was built to secure access to the Follatères artillery plant in the event of an enemy advance from the Saint-Maurice area. The small rock is located around 400 meters down the Rhône at point 519 “Crêtadon” (Swiss national coordinates 571 323/108 260).
- Crêtadon A 67 ⊙ infantry factory
Lock point Vernayaz
The Vernayaz infantry plant (army designation A 68/69) is located on the southern outskirts of Vernayaz . It is built into a vertical rock wall. With its guns, it had to protect a brook, which had been developed as a tank barrier, as well as the traffic connections in the Rhone Valley.
The access for people was on the southern bank of the brook, so that the guns of the external defense there and those of the plant could give each other fire protection. The plant had a cable car from the entrance to a gap in the rock face to transport materials.
- Vernayaz Infantry Plant A 68/69 erk
Lock point Evionnaz
The blocking point consisted of an anti-tank obstacle (GPH), the Evionnaz infantry factory (army designation A 80), four infantry factories (A 82/83/85/86), a stand for infrared spotlights and the Dufourschanze from 1848. The A 83 infantry factory is located at Punkt 569 039/113 969.
The alluvial cone of the Rhone near Collonge, which winds across the Rhone Valley, forms a natural barrier. This was supplemented with an artificial barrier with a cusp line lying across the Rhone Valley as a tank obstacle (GPH) and ten infantry works and shelters, including the integration of the Dufourschanze of Evionnaz and the works from the First World War on the heights of Collonges.
The main A 80 plant is located south of the village of Evionnaz in the foothills of the valley. The three-storey rock structure consists of 300 meters of tunnels, combat stalls ( 9 cm anti-tank cannons , machine guns, close-range defense), accommodation and the corresponding infrastructure. It affected the GPH between Collonges and Evionnaz. It was heavily rebuilt in the 1960s.
The fact that the Rhone winds across the valley due to the alluvial cone of Collonges and forms a natural barrier is ideal for defense. The artificial barrier consists of ten infantry units and shelters and a GPH. The facility also integrates the Dufourschanze of Evionnaz from 1848 and the works on the heights of Collonges from the First World War. The main plant, the first part of which was designed as passive air protection from 1938, is located south of the village of Evionnaz in the foothills of the valley; it was massively rebuilt in the 1960s. At right angles to the valley, this hump line blocks the valley floor as an anti-tank obstacle, covered by anti-tank guns, up to the rock walls that border the valley. The Evionnaz-Collonge barrier is a military-historical monument of national importance.
Les Follatères nature reserve
Today the Follatères artillery plant is located in a nature reserve. The 5 km² area of Les Follatères extends from the Rhone plain ( 450 m ) to the subalpine plain ( 1800 m ) and is due to its geographical, geological and climatic (Atlantic climate of the Lower Valais and continental climate of the Central Valais) location and its unique natural biodiversity at the crossroads of the inner alpine valleys as a nature reserve of international importance.
literature
- Jean-Christophe Moret: Les Fortifications du Grand-Saint-Bernard / Le dispositif fortifié des Dranses . Pro Forteresse, Martigny 1999.
- Raymond Delarze: Les Follatères grandeur Nature . Appeared in the series La richesse de la nature en Valais . Imprimerie Pillet, Martigny 1988.
Web links
- Fortress world: La Follatères
- Forteresse Saint-Maurice
- Admin.ch: Military monuments in the canton of Valais
- Swiss Commission for the Conservation of Wild Plants: Case study on a threatened wild plant
- Fortress Oberland Video 2016: Artillery Follatères A 66
Individual evidence
- ^ Artillery Works Follatères In: Silvio Keller, Maurice Lovisa: Military Monuments in the Canton of Valais , Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport, Bern 2002, page 43
- ↑ Fortress World: Cretadon
- ↑ Oberland: Lock point Vernayaz VS
- ↑ Fortress World : Lock Evionnaz
- ^ Lock point Evionnaz-Collonges In: Silvio Keller, Maurice Lovisa: Military monuments in the canton of Valais , Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport, Bern 2002, pages 20-21
- ↑ RandoNature: Les Follatères nature trail
- ↑ Moret: The fortifications of the Great Saint Bernard
Coordinates: 46 ° 7 '19.6 " N , 7 ° 4' 17.5" E ; CH1903: five hundred and seventy-one thousand six hundred and twenty-two / 107914