Ouvrage du Gondran
The Ouvrage du Gondran is a fortress belonging to the French Maginot Line . It reaches a maximum of 2450 meters sea level and is located close to the Sommet des Anges , a summit of the Cottian Alps in the department of Hautes-Alpes ( Region Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur ).
etymology
The fortress ( French ouvrage ) with number O 374 is named after the Cime du Gondran , an alternative name for the Sommet des Anges.
geography
The fortress lies on the municipal boundary between Montgenèvre and Cervières . In the northeast rises the summit of the 2650 meter high Mont Chenaillet . The north ridge of the Sommet des Anges (2459 meters) leads over to the 2565 meter high Sommet de Château Jouan . To Briançon in the west it is 6 kilometers (as the crow flies).
geology
The Ouvrage de Gondran is underlain by sediments from the southern Pennine Lago-Nero unit . On the Sommet des Anges and along the north ridge to the Sommet de Château Jouan (and thus at Gondran A, B and C), black slates from the Middle Cretaceous fall flat to the east . In the direction of the Osteinsattelung ( Replatte du Gondran - and thus Gondran D and E), brown, pebbly and black slate limestones follow the formation de la Replatte from the Lower Cretaceous . At the Rocher de la Perdrix (2375 meters) white, pelagic Malm limestone and radiolarite can be found. The sediments form the overturned wing of a pointed anticline that dips slightly to the east .
introduction
Fortresses positioned along the state border in the Alps block access to French territory . In particular, they seal off the main traffic axes that all follow the great valleys. In Briançonnais, the upper reaches of the Durance forms the gateway to the Col de Montgenèvre . This traffic axis is controlled by the old fortified town of Briançon. Its former fortress ring was modernized in the 1930s with several concrete structures and brought up to the level of the rest of the Maginot line. The masterpiece of the sub-sector was clearly the Ouvrage du Janus, high above Briançon . It was followed to the south by the five installations on the Gondran ridge and the Ouvrage des Aittes , which monitored the valley of the Cerveyrette .
The fortress (Gondran E) was designed as an infantry structure that was erected on the Gondran in the 1930s. It complemented the existing systems Gondran A, Gondran B, Gondran C and Gondran D, which had already been completed between 1886 and 1893 under the Système Séré de Rivières . Gondran E was supposed to ensure the connection between the Ouvrage du Janus and the Ouvrage des Aittes. However, financing the Gondran E project turned out to be extremely difficult, so that the military ultimately had to do the work themselves. Some of the installations and armaments even came from other projects.
description
The Gondran is a ridge that continues the 2565 meter high summit structure of the Sommet de Château Jouan (also known as Mont Janus ) to the south. The ridge towers over the Replat du Gondran further east , a relatively flat end of the valley at an altitude of 2200 meters from which the source streams of the Durance arise. The ridge was fortified towards the end of the 20th century with a number of infantry positions from the Système Séré de Rivières mentioned above . The positions were created at high points of the ridge, Gondran A was at 2398 meters, Gondran B at 2347 meters, Gondran C at 2459 meters on the summit of the Sommet des Anges and Gondran D further east at 2432 meters. They secured and flanked the military road leading to Fort Janus and at the same time prevented the infiltration of enemy infantry. Gondran E, which belongs to the actual Maginot Line, was in an advanced position at an altitude of 2350 meters east below Gondran D.
Gondran E.
.jpg)
Gondran E, like all the other fortifications of the Maginot Line, was designed to withstand the bombardment with large-caliber ammunition. The living area was therefore relocated to the interior of the earth, protected by meter-thick rock. The battle posts were scattered on the surface, secured by thick steel armor and layers of reinforced concrete.
The approximately 100 meter long central corridor of the lounge area had 40 beds. For this purpose, vertical corridors housed the control center, magazine, kitchen, water storage, fuel supplies and power station. The individual combat posts were accessible via corridors.
The heating was done by means of a coal stove and central heating connected to it. The electricity for lighting and ventilation was generated by a generator, which was driven by a diesel engine with an electric generator. The water supply was based on a spring and subsequent storage in cisterns.
Battle post
There were a total of four battle posts. They and the chimney of the lounge area were scattered in order to minimize the risk of hits in the event of a bombing. Each individual combat post had a certain degree of independence with its own ammunition magazines (magazine M 3 was near the weapon, M 2 shortly before entering the post), relaxation room, control center and ventilation. Since large artillery batteries were rarely used in the mountains, armoring was less expensive than in north-eastern France (such as the fortresses in Alsace, Lorraine or northern France).
Battle post 1 served as the entrance to Gondran E. The concrete is 2 meters thick (corresponding to protection level 2). The post was intended for long-range combat in the direction of Les Aittes. He had an embrasure for twin machine guns . There were also more machine guns behind the steel doors. The close combat was also served by a caponier slit for machine guns, a GFM type armored bell on the top and two grenade launchers . Access to the underground corridor was via a well staircase (a freight elevator was never installed).
The battle post 2 was an infantry casemate , the end of the corridor led to daylight, but was closed there by a meter-thick layer of concrete. Their only armament was a Hotchkiss M1914 heavy machine gun that could fire in the direction of Fort Janus. A planned twin machine gun was never delivered.
Battle post 3 was an observation post under 2 to 2.5 meters of concrete that monitored the Col de Gimont , Col de Bousson and Col de Chabaud saddles . It was equipped with an armored bell of the Digoin type (this replaced the originally intended GFM bell and came from the Ouvrage de Boussois ). The steel Digoin bell with a diameter of one meter and a wall thickness of 25 centimeters was cast between 1912 and 1914.
Battle post 4 was characterized by two chimney pipes through which the exhaust gases from the power plant and the kitchen fumes could escape.
Finally, post 5 was intended as a kind of emergency exit (with an iron grille door), but was never completed.
history
The first plans for Gondran E go back to 1929. The original plan was to build the facility below Gondran C, equipped with a turret for two 75 millimeter cannons and a casemate for six 81 millimeter mortars . However, due to a lack of funding, the project was postponed to May 1930.
Last but not least, new plans for another location of Gondran E were adopted on July 4, 1933, but with the condition that the work of the MOM ( main-d'œuvre militaire ) of the military had to be carried out as an austerity measure . Below Post 3, a battle post 5 with an armored bell of the combined type (anti-tank gun / twin machine gun) was to be built, with a field of fire to the southeast. Construction work lasted until 1938.
From August 1939, shortly before the general French mobilization, the Ouvrage de Gondran was manned for the first time by 42 soldiers from the 72 BAF ( Bataillon alpin de forteresse ). The commanding officer was Adjutant Douillard in December 1939, who was succeeded by Lieutenant Gandermer in 1940. From November 1939 to May 1940 the crew was withdrawn because of the winter, only a small part remained in Gondran C, the rest moved to Briançon. In the course of the Battle of the Western Alps (1940) the fighting against the Italian units was limited to military outposts . In the absence of artillery, the Ouvrage de Gondran could not intervene further.
Even today, the site is still in the hands of the French army, but the facilities have fallen into disrepair.
Individual evidence
- ^ Jean-Yves Mary, Alain Hohnadel, Jacques Sicard and François Vauviller (illustrations by Pierre-Albert Leroux): Hommes et ouvrages de la ligne Maginot . t. 5. Editions Histoire & collections, coll. "L'Encyclopédie de l'Armée française" (no 2), Paris 2009, ISBN 978-2-35250-127-5 , pp. 182 .
- ^ Jean-Yves Mary, Alain Hohnadel, Jacques Sicard and François Vauviller (illustrations by Pierre-Albert Leroux): Hommes et ouvrages de la ligne Maginot . t. 4. Editions Histoire & collections, coll. "L'Encyclopédie de l'Armée française" (no 2), Paris 2009, ISBN 978-2-915239-46-1 , pp. 182 .
literature
- Jean-Yves Mary, Alain Hohnadel, Jacques Sicard and François Vauviller (illustrations by Pierre-Albert Leroux): Hommes et ouvrages de la ligne Maginot . t. 4. Editions Histoire & collections, coll. "L'Encyclopédie de l'Armée française" (no 2), Paris 2009, ISBN 978-2-915239-46-1 , pp. 182 .
Web links
Coordinates: 44 ° 53 '35 " N , 6 ° 43' 13" E