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The Alpine Line (french: Ligne Alpine) or Little Maginot Line (French: ''Petite Ligne Maginot'') was the component of the
Maginot Line The Maginot Line (french: Ligne Maginot, ), named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by France in the 1930s to deter invasion by Germany and force the ...
that defended the southeastern portion of France. In contrast to the main line in the northeastern portion of France, the Alpine Line traversed a mountainous region of the
Maritime Alps The Maritime Alps (french: Alpes Maritimes ; it, Alpi Marittime ) are a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps. They form the border between the regions of France, French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and the regions of Italy ...
, the Cottian Alps and the Graian Alps, with relatively few passes suitable for invading armies. Access was difficult for construction and for the Alpine Line garrisons. Consequently, fortifications were smaller in scale than the fortifications of the main Line. The Alpine Line mounted few anti-tank weapons, since the terrain was mostly unsuitable for the use of tanks.
Ouvrage Rimplas Ouvrage Rimplas is a work (''gros ouvrage'') of the Maginot Line's Alpine extension, the Alpine Line, known also as the Little Maginot Line. The ouvrage consists of one entry block, two infantry blocks and three artillery blocks at an altitude o ...
was the first Maginot fortification to be completed on any portion of the Maginot Line, in 1928. The Alpine Line was unsuccessfully attacked by Italian forces during the Italian invasion of France in 1940. Following World War II, some of the larger positions of the Alpine Line were retained in use through the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
.


Concept

As France studied measures to protect its northeastern frontier with Germany, a parallel effort was made to examine the improvement of France's defenses against Italy in the southeast. France's Italian border was a relic of the 1860 Treaty of Turin in which the
Duchy of Savoy The Duchy of Savoy ( it, Ducato di Savoia; french: Duché de Savoie) was a country in Western Europe that existed from 1416. It was created when Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, raised the County of Savoy into a duchy for Amadeus VIII. The du ...
and the
County of Nice The County of Nice (french: Comté de Nice / Pays Niçois, it, Contea di Nizza/Paese Nizzardo, Niçard oc, Contèa de Niça/País Niçard) is a historical region of France located around the southeastern city of Nice and roughly equivalent t ...
were incorporated into France. The treaty boundary roughly followed the crest of the Maritime Alps inland through the Cottian Alps to Switzerland. The precise line of demarcation left the upper reaches of many westward-draining valleys in Italian hands, thus giving Italy positions on high points overlooking French territory, those however were most impractical and inadequate. The region had been extensively fortified in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, most notably by Vauban, whose fortifications of Briançon have been designated a
UNESCO World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...
, and by Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières in the late nineteenth century, who expanded the
Fort de Tournoux The Fort de Tournoux is a fortification complex in the Ubaye Valley in the French Alps. It was built between 1843 and the early 20th century to defend France against invasion from Italy and Savoy. It was described as the "Military Versaille ...
and other fortifications in the area as part of the
Séré de Rivières system The system was named after Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières, its originator. The system was an ensemble of fortifications built from 1874 along the frontiers and coasts of France. The fortresses were obsolescent by 1914 but were used during ...
of fortifications. Passage through the Alps was possible only at a series of comparatively low passes, and movement toward the major cities of southeastern France such as
Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...
,
Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...
or
Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...
was possible only along a series of deep river valleys. Defenses therefore tended to concentrate in consistent locations: * Bourg-Saint-Maurice in the Tarentaise, facing the
Little St Bernard Pass The Little St Bernard Pass (French: ''Col du Petit Saint-Bernard'', Italian: ''Colle del Piccolo San Bernardo'') is a mountain pass in the Alps on the France–Italy border. Its saddle is at 2188 metres above sea level. It is located between ...
*
Modane Modane (; ) is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France. The commune is in the Maurienne Valley, and it also belongs to the Vanoise National Park. It was part of the Kingdom of Sardinia unt ...
in the Maurienne, facing the
Mont Cenis , photo = Col du Mont Cenis.jpg , photo_caption = Lake at the pass , elevation_m = 2085 , elevation_ref = , traversed = Route nationale 6 , map = Alps , map_caption = Location of Col de Mont Cenis , map_size = , label = Col de Mont Ce ...
pass *
Briançon Briançon (, ) is the sole subprefecture of the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. It is the highest city in France at an altitude of , based on the national definition as a community conta ...
, facing the
Col de Montgenèvre The Col de Montgenèvre (; elevation 1860 m.) is a high mountain pass in the Cottian Alps, in France 2 kilometres away from Italy. Description The pass takes its name from the village Montgenèvre (Hautes-Alpes), which lies in the vicinit ...
*
Barcelonnette Barcelonnette (; oc, Barciloneta de Provença, also ; obsolete it, Barcellonetta) is a commune of France and a subprefecture in the department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It is located in the souther ...
, facing the Col de Larche * Approaches to Nice from the north, with defenses in the Tinée and Vesubie valleys, around
Sospel Sospel (; Mentonasc: Sospèl, Italian Sospello) is a commune (municipality) and former schismatic episcopal seat (1381-1418) in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France near the Italian border and not far from Monte Carlo. His ...
and on the
Authion Massif The Authion is a long river in western France located in the departments of Indre-et-Loire (Centre-Val de Loire) and Maine-et-Loire (Pays de la Loire). It is a tributary of the river Loire on the right side. It flows into the Loire in Sainte-Gem ...
*
Menton Menton (; , written ''Menton'' in classical norm or ''Mentan'' in Mistralian norm; it, Mentone ) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italian border. Me ...
and Nice, guarding the coastal road and railway line In 1925 General Charles Nollet, the Minister of War, directed General Jean Degoutte to survey the southeastern frontier and to make recommendations for their defense. Degoutte's proposal used principles of
defense in depth Defence in depth (also known as deep defence or elastic defence) is a military strategy that seeks to delay rather than prevent the advance of an attacker, buying time and causing additional casualties by yielding space. Rather than defeating ...
to economize on manpower and funds, which were needed for the main Maginot defenses in northeastern France. The still-ambitious plan proposed in 1927 envisioned a series of fortified positions right on the frontier divides at every potential crossing, backed by thirty-six centers of resistance, each with fourteen infantry casemates and twelve infantry shelters, a total of about one thousand blockhouses. Costs were estimated at 250 million francs. The proposed plan was criticized for placing the fortifications too far forward by the ''Commission de Defense'', but the overall organization was approved by Minister of War (and former Prime Minister) Paul Painlevé, with a strategy of fortifying
Menton Menton (; , written ''Menton'' in classical norm or ''Mentan'' in Mistralian norm; it, Mentone ) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italian border. Me ...
, Sospel and the valleys of the Vésubie and Tinée. Revisions in late 1927 proposed about 400 positions at a cost of between 400 million and 500 million francs. The plan was altered in 1928 by General Fillonneau, who proposed to concentrate fortifications along potential invasion axes, rather than along a continuous line. The geographic emphasis remained on Menton and Sospel, but the concept of frontal confrontation was replaced by a strategy of attack from the flanks of a potential advance. Fillonneau was assisted by the new management organization for the Maginot fortifications, the ''Commission d'Organisation des Régions Fortifiés'', or CORF. The proposal was estimated to cost 700 million francs to build 103 ''ouvrages'' and to reconstruct 28 old fortifications. An initial phase, designed to protect Nice, was estimated to cost 205 million francs Unlike the relatively thin, linear defenses of the northeast, the revised Alpine fortifications extended some distance back from the frontier, with forward defenses supported by rearward defenses, compartmentalized by the terrain into distinct sectors. A final proposal in 1930 established a scaled-back, prioritized programme of 362 million francs to be executed in two phases, with the second phase to cost an additional 62 million francs.


Description

As with the main Maginot Line of the northeast, positions took the form of concrete-encased strongpoints linked by tunnels, which housed living quarters, magazines and utilities for the ''ouvrage''. Larger ''ouvrages'' were provided with
narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller struc ...
rail lines to move materials and munitions, although unlike the northeastern positions, none were electrified. Because of the mountainous terrain and the vertical character of the sites chosen for fortification, individual blocks typically emerged from rock faces in a steep hillside or cliff with mined galleries within under rock cover. By comparison, most northeastern ''ouvrages'' were semi-submerged into the gently rolling soil with galleries deeply buried beneath earth cover. In addition to the linked complexes of blockhouses that formed the grand and petit ouvrages, the country around and between each position was provided with isolated blockhouses, observation points, shelters (or ''abris''), outposts (''avants postes'') and batteries, using much the same vocabulary of rounded concrete forms as the primary line of fortifications. These positions allowed the use of mobile supporting artillery, and provided rallying and control points for the necessary infantry support in the country between strongpoints, as the security of the border did not and could not depend on subterranean fortifications alone. The disposition of forward outposts, backed by heavier fortifications some kilometers to the rear, provided a defense in depth that was, in the case of the Alpine fortifications, supported by the difficult terrain.Mary, Tome 4, p. 34


Organization

The Alpine Line was divided into three major sectors. From north to south, they were: *
Fortified Sector of Savoy The Fortified Section of Savoy ''(Secteur fortifié de la Savoie)'' was the French military organization that in 1940 controlled the section of the Alpine Line portion of the Maginot Line facing Italy in the Savoy region. The sector constituted part ...
''(secteur fortifié de Savoie)'', divided into two principal sections, the Tarentaise valley around Bourg-Saint-Maurice, and the Maurienne valley around Modane.Mary, Tome 5, pp. 8–22 *
Fortified Sector of the Dauphiné The Fortified Sector of the Dauphiné (''Secteur Fortifié du Dauphiné'') was the French military organization that in 1940 controlled the section of the Alpine Line portion of the Maginot Line facing Italy in the vicinity of Briançon. By compari ...
''(secteur fortifié du Dauphiné)'', protecting Briançon and the
Ubaye Valley The Ubaye Valley is an area in the Alpes de Haute-Provence ''département'', in the French Alps, having approximately 7,700 residents. Its residents are called ''Ubayens''. Its principal town is the ''sous-préfecture'' of Barcelonnette. 350p ...
opposite the Col de Larche.Mary, Tome 5, pp. 23–44 *
Fortified Sector of the Maritime Alps A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
''(secteur fortifié des Alpes-Maritimes)'', covering the Tinée and Vésubie valleys and the coast around Sospel and Menton.Mary, Tome 5, pp. 45–73 In addition, the area to the north of the principal fortifications was organized as the
Defensive Sector of the Rhône The Defensive Sector of the Rhône (''Secteur Défensif du Rhône'') was the French military organization that in 1940 controlled the section of the French border with Switzerland and Italy in the area of Geneva. The area was not regarded as a like ...
, with virtually no fixed fortifications, since it faced neutral Switzerland.Mary, Tome 5, pp. 4–5 The Alpine region was under the overall command of the Army of the Alps, General René Olry in command at
Valence Valence or valency may refer to: Science * Valence (chemistry), a measure of an element's combining power with other atoms * Degree (graph theory), also called the valency of a vertex in graph theory * Valency (linguistics), aspect of verbs rel ...
. Its chief units were the 14th Army Corps in the SF Savoy and SF Dauphiné, and the 15th Corps in the SF Maritime Alps.


Construction

Work had already begun on
Ouvrage Rimplas Ouvrage Rimplas is a work (''gros ouvrage'') of the Maginot Line's Alpine extension, the Alpine Line, known also as the Little Maginot Line. The ouvrage consists of one entry block, two infantry blocks and three artillery blocks at an altitude o ...
, which was in fact the first Maginot ''ouvrage'' to be built in either the northeast or southeast. The construction contract was signed 7 September 1928 with incomplete plans. Rimplas was a prototype project, not representative of other alpine or Maginot positions. CORF took over responsibility for construction in 1931, standardizing design practices, although each project was closely adapted to local circumstances. Construction was made difficult by poor access, high altitude and a short construction season. In 1931 work commenced at twenty-two sites. In 1932 Ouvrage Cap Martin was sufficiently complete that it could be used in an emergency. Work continued through 1936, even though CORF had been disestablished at the end of 1935. While most of the larger positions were complete, a number of the smaller, higher-altitude positions were never completed in time for war in 1940. From 1939, the ''main d'oeuvre Militaire'' (MOM) built a number of positions and blockhouses, usually in locations close to the frontier. Many of the MOM positions were incomplete in 1940. Compared with the northeastern Maginot positions, the Alpine fortifications made comparatively little use of retracting turrets, using instead concreted casemates in mountainsides surveying prepared fields of fire. The Alpine Line featured relatively few artillery ''ouvrages'', tending instead to use mixed-arms positions that combined artillery casemates and infantry positions. The main fortifications were supported by infantry shelters, or ''abris'', of both the "passive", lightly armed type, and "active" ''abris'' with heavier armament. Some of the mountaintop ''gros ouvrages'' used aerial tramways for their primary means of access. Military roads were often constructed in the absence of existing access. All of the large positions were provided with subterranean barracks and central utility plants. Nearly all fortifications were excavated from solid rock. Coverage could therefore be reduced compared to the ''ouvrages'' of the northeast, which were at depths of up to in deep soil to resist heavy siege artillery. Independent means of power generation were a necessity in the absence of a utility distribution system. Likewise, telephone communication was problematic, with many positions using line-of-sight optical semaphores for communication.Kauffmann, pp. 66–67


June 1940

Like the main Maginot Line did with the Germans, the Alpine Line achieved the goal of preventing the Italians from advancing through the protected areas. And, as the Italians had no alternative but to directly confront the fortifications, the south of France was completely protected from the Italian advance. An advance along the main coastal road was delayed by stiff resistance at the Casemate du Pont Saint Louis on the border at Menton, which was manned by seven men led by a
non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who has not pursued a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. (Non-officers, which includes most or all enli ...
and was supported by main-line fortifications at Ouvrage Cap Martin. Horne, Alistair; ''To Lose a Battle: France 1940''. p. 565 A direct assault on Cap Saint Martin was suppressed by the ''ouvrage'' itself, supported by artillery fire from
Ouvrage Mont Agel Ouvrage Mont Agel is a work (''gros ouvrage'') of the Maginot Line's Alpine extension, the Alpine Line, also called the Little Maginot Line. The 1930s ''ouvrage'' was built in and around the earlier mountaintop Fortress of Mont Agel. The ''ouv ...
. Two more attacks were mounted, in the areas of
Briançon Briançon (, ) is the sole subprefecture of the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. It is the highest city in France at an altitude of , based on the national definition as a community conta ...
and the
Little St Bernard Pass The Little St Bernard Pass (French: ''Col du Petit Saint-Bernard'', Italian: ''Colle del Piccolo San Bernardo'') is a mountain pass in the Alps on the France–Italy border. Its saddle is at 2188 metres above sea level. It is located between ...
, with little effect due to weather and the difficult terrain. Positions in the high
Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, ...
were shelled by Italian forces but were not directly attacked.
Ouvrage Barbonnet Ouvrage Barbonnet is a work (''gros ouvrage'') of the Maginot Line's Alpine extension, the Alpine Line, also called the Little Maginot Line. The ouvrage consists of one entry block and one infantry block facing Italy. The ''ouvrage'' was built ...
traded fire with Italian positions prior to the armistice of 25 June 1940.


''Vallo Alpino''

The Italian counterpart to the Alpine Line was
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
's
Alpine Wall The Alpine Wall (''Vallo Alpino'') was an Italian system of fortifications along the of Italy's northern frontier. Built in the years leading up to World War II at the direction of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, the defensive line faced Fran ...
(''Vallo Alpino''), the western portions of which faced the Alpine Line across the Alpine Valleys.


See also

* List of works on the Alpine Line * List of all works on the main Maginot Line of the northeast *
Alpine Wall The Alpine Wall (''Vallo Alpino'') was an Italian system of fortifications along the of Italy's northern frontier. Built in the years leading up to World War II at the direction of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, the defensive line faced Fran ...


References


Bibliography

* Allcorn, William. ''The Maginot Line 1928–45''. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2003. . * Kaufmann, J. E. and Kaufmann, H. W. ''Fortress France: The Maginot Line and French Defenses in World War II'', Stackpole Books, 2006. . * Kaufmann, J. E., Kaufmann, H. W., Jancovič-Potočnik, A. and Lang, P. ''The Maginot Line: History and Guide'', Pen and Sword, 2011. . * Mary, Jean-Yves; Hohnadel, Alain; Sicard, Jacques. ''Hommes et Ouvrages de la Ligne Maginot, Tome 1''. Paris, Histoire & Collections, 2001. . * Mary, Jean-Yves; Hohnadel, Alain; Sicard, Jacques. ''Hommes et Ouvrages de la Ligne Maginot, Tome 4 - La fortification alpine''. Paris, Histoire & Collections, 2009. .


External links


Fortiff.be
detailed information on all Maginot fortifications {{Alpine Line list Maginot Line World War II defensive lines