Cindey Fortress
Map with all coordinates: 
The Cindey fortress (army designation A 155) is a former artillery plant in the valley of Saint-Maurice in Switzerland . Together with Fort du Scex, it forms the flanking works to the fortresses Dailly and Savatan and, together with them, is one of the most important works in the fortress area of Saint-Maurice .
Fort Cindey is located on the left bank of the Rhone above the Saint-Maurice castle and is connected to Fort du Scex, one kilometer south, by a natural cave called Grotte aux Fées , where the fortress entrance is also located. The army widened this cave into an accessible tunnel.
history
Three generations of military fortifications dominate the Saint-Maurice pass with the bridgehead : Saint-Maurice Castle from 1476, the Dufour fortifications on both sides of the Rhone from 1831 and Fort Cindey from 1941.
According to the fortress planners, Fort Cindey, with the forts Savantan on the right bank of the Rhone in the canton of Vaud and the two small artillery works Petit-Mont and Toveyres, was supposed to defend the axis of Bex behind the hill from Chiètres towards Saint-Maurice and prevent an advance from the north. The axis was fixed with the natural obstacles of the Rhone Canal and the Le Courset stream, as well as with anti- tank barriers and barriers for roads and railway lines.
Construction of the fortress, which began in 1941, was completed in 1946 and expanded with two 10.5 cm cannons from 1948 to 1952. ⊙
The Cindey fortress was supplied by the Z 104 aerial cableway from the valley, while electricity and transmission were provided by Fort Scex . ⊙ ⊙ The water was drawn from Saint-Maurice during peacetime; in case of war there was an underground water intake in the Grotte aux Fées , right by the waterfall.
In 1995 the fort was decommissioned with the Army 95 and opened to visitors in 2002.
Armament
As a typical anti -tank fort, Cindey was equipped with artillery and infantry weapons: two 10.5 cm anti-tank guns 1946 L52 with lever mounts, four 9 cm anti-tank guns 1950/57 on fortress mountings and three 7.5 mm machine guns 1951/80 as fortress weapons Fortress mounts. Six 8.3 cm rocket tubes, three 8.1 cm mine launchers (mortars) in 1933 and two 7.5 mm machine guns in 1951 were assigned as mobile weapons.
crew
Fort Cindey was operated by a fortress company with a nominal number of 173 soldiers, 8 officers, 28 NCOs and 137 soldiers. From 1985 to 1995 the fortress company IV / 1 occupied the fortresses of Scex and Cindey with 258 men.
museum
The fort was bought by the canton of Valais and opened to the public in 2002 by the Fondation historique de St-Maurice . The Fondation historique de St-Maurice organizes public tours. Cindey is still fully equipped, just as the troops took over at the start of duty until 1995: technical equipment as well as work and corps material from dishes to can openers.
Notched 10.5 cm cannons
10.5 cm cannon on the left
10.5 cm cannon notch
10.5 cm cannon outside
Fortress machine gun
Petit-Mont artillery plant
The artillery plant Petit-Mont (army designation A 130) ⊙ is located southeast of Le Châtel, a hamlet belonging to the municipality of Bex, which is located in a hollow at the northwest foot of the Dent de Morcles. The work was built in the rocks below the Petit Mont site at 666 m above sea level. M. built. The armament consisted of two 7.5 cm cannons, two anti-tank cannons (BPak), two machine guns and two observation loops.
The SB 8 Pré Landon – Aiguille military cable car ("Forclettaz" battery) connected the Petit-Mont and Toveyres artillery works with the Dailly fortress.
Toveyres Artillery Plant
The Toveyres artillery plant (army designation A 140) ⊙ is located south on a rock face of the Forêts des Ecovaux at around 640 m above sea level. M. above the valley floor and east of Saint-Maurice. It is located south of the Petit Mont plant and behind the obstacle of the Le Courset stream.
The armament consisted of two 7.5 cm cannons and machine guns. In addition to its task as a counter-work to Cindey and Scex, it had to give fire protection to the double-row anti-tank barrier Vasselin ⊙ lying on the valley floor below .
literature
- Julius Rebold: Building history of the federal fortifications 1831-1860 and 1885-1921 . Association St-Maurice d'Etudes militaires, Saint-Maurice 2017, ISBN 978-3-906812-02-1
- Jean-Jacques Rapin: De la Garrison de St-Maurice à la brigade de forteresse 10. (1892-2003), ASMEM, St-Maurice, 2004.
Web links
- Saint-Maurice Fortress Foundation
- Fortress World: Cindey Fortress
- Forteresse Saint-Maurice: History of Fort Cindey
- Museums Switzerland: Forteresse Saint-Maurice
Individual evidence
- ↑ Works Scex-Cindey In: Silvio Keller, Maurice Lovisa: Military monuments in the canton of Valais , Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport, Bern 2002, page 42
- ↑ bunker friends: Plants in the canton of Vaud
- ^ Opening times and guided tours Fort Cindey
- ↑ Fortress Oberland: A155 Artillery Plant Cindey
- ↑ Emergency exit of the "Forclettaz" battery at the mountain station of the Pré Landon – Aiguille cable car
- ↑ Video: Pré Landon – Aiguille military cable car
