Alpine Line - Description

Description

As with the main Maginot Line of the northeast, positions took the form of concrete-encased strongpoints linked by underground tunnels, which housed living quarters, magazines and utilities for the ouvrage. Larger ouvrages were provided with 60 cm-gauge 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. Many of the high-altitude petits ouvrages could only be built during the brief Alpine summer, leading to extended construction schedules, and causing many of these high outposts to be uncompleted at the outbreak of war in 1940.

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.