Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Ouvrage Restefond

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Built by
  
CORF

Controlled by
  
France

In use
  
Abandoned

Ouvrage Restefond wikimaginoteudocuments2014wikiphotos2001

Materials
  
Concrete, steel, rock excavation

Battles/wars
  
Italian invasion of France

Similar
  
Ouvrage Col de Restefond, Ouvrage La Moutière, Ouvrage Saint Ours Haut, Ouvrage Col du Granon, Ouvrage Rimplas

Ouvrage Restefond is a work (gros ouvrage) of the Maginot Line's Alpine extension, the Alpine Line. The ouvrage consists of one artillery block and three observation blocks at the summit of the Col de la Bonnette. The entry block and an artillery block were not completed, and a further block was never built. At 2,733 metres (8,967 ft), Restefond is the highest Maginot ouvrage.

Contents

Description

  • Block 1 (unfinished entry): one machine gun cloche and one heavy twin machine gun embrasure. A 47mm anti-tank gun was planned.
  • Block 2 (infantry block): one machine gun cloche and two 81mm mortar embrasures.
  • Block 3 (infantry block): one machine gun cloche and one heavy twin machine gun embrasure.
  • Block 4 (infantry block): one observation cloche, one machine gun cloche and one heavy twin machine gun embrasure.
  • Block 5 (uncompleted artillery block): three 75mm gun embrasures.
  • Block 6 (artillery block): three 75mm gun embrasures, intended primarily for indirect fire.
  • Block 7 (unbuilt): three 75mm gun embrasures, later proposed to be armed with a twin 75mm gun turret.

    • Restefond includes 668 meters of underground galleries at a depth of 64 meters. The position remains the property of the French military, with much of its equipment intact. Some of the uninstalled equiopment remains at the Restefond barracks nearby.

    1940

    See Fortified Sector of the Dauphiné for a broader discussion of the Dauphiné sector of the Alpine Line.

    Block 6 fired on Italian forces in June 1940 as they advanced toward the Col des Fourches.

    References

    Ouvrage Restefond Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA