History
The Mont Agel ouvrage was originally planned as a series of casemates in the eastern edge of the summit plateau, with four casemates each for 75mm and 155mm guns. An access gallery would run across the width of the plateau to an aerial tram station. The plan that was adopted and built was much more compact and could fire in all directions. The ouvrage was built by Thorrand et Cie. between November 1931 and July 1933 at a cost of 23 million francs, including the observation post. The aerial tram cost 1 million francs.
On 23 June 1940 Mont Agel's 75mm gun turrets fired at least 1251 shots at Italian forces assaulting Ouvrage Cap Martin, destroying an Italian armored train in the process.
On 6 September 1944, allied cruisers opened fire with eight-inch guns on Mont Agel, forcing the German garrison to withdraw into the galleries. A ground attack followed and the ouvrage was captured.
The ouvrage and Fortress Mont Agel are occupied by Nice Air Base of the French Air Force and feature a prominent set of radomes.
Read more about this topic: Ouvrage Mont Agel
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“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)