Ouvrage Coucou - Description

Description

Coucou is a petit ouvrage with two combat blocks, overlooking the village of Kemplich. The blocks are linked by an underground gallery with barracks and a utility area (usine). The galleries are excavated at an average depth of up to 30 metres (98 ft).

  • Block 1: infantry/entry block with one automatic rifle cloche (GFM), three automatic rifle embrasures and one 37mm anti-tank gun (JM/AC37) embrasure.
  • Block 2: infantry block with two GFM cloches, one retractable machine gun turret, two machine gun embrasures and one 47mm anti-tank gun (JM/AC47) embrasure.

In addition, the ouvrage was linked to the Abri du Coucou by an 80-metre (260 ft) underground gallery. The above-ground infantry shelter was armed with two GFM cloches and five automatic rifle embrasures. It possessed its own generating plant. Other nearby posts include:

  • Abri des Chênes-Brûlés: Subterranean infantry shelter (abri-caverne) with two GFM cloches.
  • Observatoire des Chênes-Brûlés: Observation post with one VP observation cloche and one GFM cloche, reporting to Mont-des-Welches.

An observation block was planned for a second phase, never executed, directly over the caserne.

Read more about this topic:  Ouvrage Coucou

Famous quotes containing the word description:

    Once a child has demonstrated his capacity for independent functioning in any area, his lapses into dependent behavior, even though temporary, make the mother feel that she is being taken advantage of....What only yesterday was a description of the child’s stage in life has become an indictment, a judgment.
    Elaine Heffner (20th century)

    As they are not seen on their way down the streams, it is thought by fishermen that they never return, but waste away and die, clinging to rocks and stumps of trees for an indefinite period; a tragic feature in the scenery of the river bottoms worthy to be remembered with Shakespeare’s description of the sea-floor.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    The great object in life is Sensation—to feel that we exist, even though in pain; it is this “craving void” which drives us to gaming, to battle, to travel, to intemperate but keenly felt pursuits of every description whose principal attraction is the agitation inseparable from their accomplishment.
    George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)