Ouvrage Saint Ours Bas
Encyclopedia
Ouvrage Saint Ours Bas is a lesser work (petit ouvrage) of the Maginot Line
's Alpine extension, the Alpine Line
. The ouvrage consists of one infantry block. The location is unusual on lacking the underground galleries typical of a Maginot fortification, making it more like a blockhouse than an ouvrage. It was armed with two machine gun cloches
and three heavy twin machine guns and six light machine gun embrasures. The interior is laid out on two levels.
Construction began in July of 1931, and cost 4.2 million francs to complete. The position controlled movement along RN 100.
, as part of the Museum of Saint-Ours-Bas.
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,...
's Alpine extension, the Alpine Line
Alpine Line
The Alpine Line or Little Maginot Line was the component of the Maginot Line that defended the southeastern portion of France...
. The ouvrage consists of one infantry block. The location is unusual on lacking the underground galleries typical of a Maginot fortification, making it more like a blockhouse than an ouvrage. It was armed with two machine gun cloches
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 three heavy twin machine guns and six light machine gun embrasures. The interior is laid out on two levels.
Construction began in July of 1931, and cost 4.2 million francs to complete. The position controlled movement along RN 100.
- See Fortified Sector of the DauphinéFortified Sector of the DauphinéThe Fortified Sector of the 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...
for a broader discussion of the Dauphiné sector of the Alpine Line.
Present condition
Saint-Ours Bas has been preserved and is now a museum, associated with Ouvrage Saint Ours HautOuvrage Saint Ours Haut
Ouvrage Saint Ours Haut is a work of the Maginot Line's Alpine extension, the Alpine Line, also known as the Little Maginot Line. The ouvrage consists of one infantry block, one artillery block, two observation blocks and one combination block in the vicinity of the Col de Larche. It is located...
, as part of the Museum of Saint-Ours-Bas.
External links
- Saint-Ours (petit ouvrage bas) at fortiff.be