Ouvrage Coume Annexe Sud is a lesser work (petit ouvrage) of the Maginot Line

Maginot Line

The Maginot Line , named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, was a line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defences, which France constructed along its borders with Germany and Italy, in light of its experience in World War I,...

. Located in the Fortified Sector of Boulay

Fortified Sector of Boulay

The Fortified Sector of Boulay was the French military organization that in 1940 controlled the section of the Maginot Line to the north and east of Metz in northeastern France. The left wing of the Boulay sector was among the earliest and strongest portions of the Maginot Line...

, the ouvrage consists of two infantry blocks, one artillery block and one observation block, and is located between petits ouvrages Coume

Ouvrage Coume

Ouvrage Coume is a lesser work of the Maginot Line. Located in the Fortified Sector of Boulay, the ouvrage consists of two infantry blocks, and was located between petits ouvrages Coume Annexe Nord and Coume Annexe Sud, facing Germany.- Design and construction :The site was surveyed by CORF , the...

 and Mottemberg

Ouvrage Mottemberg

Ouvrage Mottenberg is a lesser work of the Maginot Line. Part of the Fortified Sector of Boulay, the ouvrage consists of one entrance block and two infantry blocks, and is located between petits ouvrages Coume Annexe Sud and Kerfent, facing Germany.- Design and construction :The site was surveyed...

, facing Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

Design and construction

The site was surveyed by CORF (Commission d'Organisation des Régions Fortifiées), the Maginot Line's design and construction agency; Coume was approved for construction in May 1931. It was completed at a cost of 13 million francs. The petit ouvrage was to receive a separate entry block in a second phase, never carried out.

Description

Coume Annexe Sud comprises four infantry blocks, connected by underground galleries, with a small underground utility area and barracks. The galleries are excavated at an average depth of up to 30 metres (98.4 ft).

• Block 1: Infantry block with one automatic rifle cloche (GFM)
  GFM cloche
  The GFM cloche was one of the most common defensive armaments on the Maginot Line. A cloche was a fixed and non-retractable firing position made of a thick iron casting which shielded its occupant...
  
   and one twin machine gun cloche (JM)
  JM cloche
  The JM cloche is an element of the Maginot Line. It is a non-retractable non-rotating cupola of steel alloy like GFM cloches, but are armed with twin heavy machine guns, as opposed to the lighter automatic rifles associated with the GFM. There are 179 JM cloches on the Maginot Line.JM is an acronym...
  
  .
• Block 2: Infantry block with one GFM cloche, one grenade launcher cloche (LG)
  LG cloche
  The LG cloche was a defensive element common to many Maginot Line ouvrages. The fixed cupola was deeply embedded into the concrete on top of a combat block, with only the top surface visible. The opening permitted the ejection of grenades from the interior of the cloche, providing a means of...
  
   and one twin machine gun cloche (JM)
  JM cloche
  The JM cloche is an element of the Maginot Line. It is a non-retractable non-rotating cupola of steel alloy like GFM cloches, but are armed with twin heavy machine guns, as opposed to the lighter automatic rifles associated with the GFM. There are 179 JM cloches on the Maginot Line.JM is an acronym...
  
  .
• Block 3: Entry/infantry block with two GFM cloches, one twin machine gun embrasure, one JM/AC47 embrasure and two 81mm mortar embrasures.
• Block 4: Infantry/observation block with one GFM cloche, one JM cloche and one observation cloche (VDP)
  VDP cloche
  The VDP cloche was an element of the Maginot Line fortifications. A cloche was a fixed and non-retractable firing position made of a thick iron casting which shielded its occupant. By comparison, turrets could be rotated and sometimes lowered so that only the top shell was exposed. VDP cloches...
  
  .

Casemates and shelters

In addition to the connected combat blocks, a series of detached casemate

Casemate

A casemate, sometimes rendered casement, is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired. originally a vaulted chamber in a fortress.-Origin of the term:...

s and infantry shelters surround Coume Annexe Sud, including

• Casemate du Bisterberg Nord I: SIngle armored block with two mortar cloches and one GFM cloche.
• Casemate du Bisterberg Nord II: SIngle block with one JM/AC47 embrasure, one JM embrasure and one GFM cloche.
• Casemate du Bisterberg Sud III: SIngle block with one JM/AC47 embrasure, one JM embrasure and one GFM cloche.
• Casemate du Bisterberg Sud IIII: SIngle block with one JM/AC47 embrasure, one JM embrasure and one GFM cloche.

Manning

The 1940 manning of the ouvrage under the command of Captain Faucoulanche comprised 194 men and 5 officers of the 160th Fortress Infantry Regiment. The units were under the umbrella of the 3rd Army, Army Group 2. The Casernement de Ban Saint-Jean provided peacetime above-ground barracks and support services to Coume Annexe Sudand other positions in the area.

History

See Fortified Sector of Boulay

Fortified Sector of Boulay

The Fortified Sector of Boulay was the French military organization that in 1940 controlled the section of the Maginot Line to the north and east of Metz in northeastern France. The left wing of the Boulay sector was among the earliest and strongest portions of the Maginot Line...

 for a broader discussion of the Boulay sector of the Maginot Line.

Coume Annexe Sud played no significant role in either the Battle of France

Battle of France

In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...

 in 1940 or the Lorraine Campaign

Lorraine Campaign

Lorraine Campaign is a term used by U.S. Army historians to describe operations of the U.S. Third Army in Lorraine during World War II from September 1 through December 18, 1944. Official U.S. Army campaign names for this period and location are Northern France and Rhineland. The term was...

 of 1944.

See also

• List of all works on Maginot Line
• Siegfried Line
  Siegfried Line
  The original Siegfried line was a line of defensive forts and tank defences built by Germany as a section of the Hindenburg Line 1916–1917 in northern France during World War I...
  
  
• Atlantic Wall
  Atlantic Wall
  The Atlantic Wall was an extensive system of coastal fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the western coast of Europe as a defense against an anticipated Allied invasion of the mainland continent from Great Britain.-History:On March 23, 1942 Führer Directive Number 40...
  
  
• Czechoslovak border fortifications
  Czechoslovak border fortifications
  The Czechoslovak government built a system of border fortifications from 1935 to 1938 as a defensive countermeasure against the rising threat of Nazi Germany that later materialized in the German offensive plan called Fall Grün...