Fort de Tournoux

Fort de Tournoux
The middle hillside of Fort de Tournoux (photo 2006)
Creation time :	in the middle of the 19th century
Castle type :	Height fortress
Conservation status:	only partially preserved
Place:	Communauté de communes Vallée de l'Ubaye Serre-Ponçon
Geographical location	44 ° 28 '8 "  N , 6 ° 45' 17"  E Coordinates: 44 ° 28 '8 "  N , 6 ° 45' 17"  E

Fort de Tournoux , built as a fortress for defense purposes between 1839 and 1866, is located in the upper Ubaye Valley (French: Vallée de l'Ubaye ) between the communities of La Condamine-Châtelard and Saint-Paul-sur-Ubaye in the Provence region -Alpes-Côte d'Azur (arrondissement Barcelonnette ). The once small settlement called Tournoux, which is located on a plateau overlooking Ubaye, stands for the name of the defense complex. From the 7th to the 17th century, the upper Ubaye Valley was occupied by various powers. This justified itself in the vicinity of Tournoux to several passes to Italy, which was taken as an occasion for the establishment of the defense complex. At the time, these passes were essentially the Col de l'Autaret (2880 meters), Col de Larche (1990 meters), Col de Longet (2660 meters) and the Col de Mary (2640 meters), which were then used as crossings were trained for humans and pack animals , but not as pass roads .

description

The Fort de Tournoux consists of buildings for the barracking of defending troops and of various positions and batteries arranged at different altitudes , which, however, were not fully equipped with guns . In this respect, the various military installations form an ensemble of structures for defense purposes, which, from a height of 1290 meters above the valley floor, with what were once large barracks, extend over 700 meters to the highest part of the fort, the "Serre-de-l'Aut “At a height of around 2010 meters.

The financial planning of the original fortress, which was actually built between 1839 and 1866, included an estimated construction cost of 1,500,000 francs. Increased construction costs, extensions and construction obstacles resulted in a total of more than 3,500,000 francs in construction costs with a deficit impact on the defense budget.

West view of Fort de Tournoux (2019)

The fortress successfully fended off Italian attacks in early times and was permanently occupied by troops from 1890 onwards. During the First World War , the facility also served as a prison camp for German officers . During the Second World War , defending French soldiers initially withstood the attacks of Mussolini's Italian offensive in June 1940. The fort was occupied by German troops in 1943 until they were surrendered in 1945.

Fort de Tournoux was used militarily by the French army until 1948 and then served as an ammunition depot . At the end of military deployments in the Ubaya Valley in 2009, the fort was transferred to a community and thus civilian use was made possible. Some of the fortifications are open to the public for tourists .