Fort Victor-Emmanuel

[Vladimir]

Fort Victor-Emmanuel (altitude 1350m) is one of the five forts known as the Barriere, which are lined along the Alpine border of France. It is by far the largest of the group.

The fort now lies abandoned, and is not really a tourist attraction, most walkers choosing to cross the Pont du Diable nearby before turning back. Only light repair work has been made to the structure, only so it looks good from a distance, and the buildings are crumbling, as you are warned at the entrance...




This winding mechanism pulled supplies across the deep gorge below to the fort , and is still in fairly good working order.





The fort sits on a cliff in the middle of a valley, on either side of it were two smaller forts, so the entire valley was covered.






These could date from the time of the resistance but are more likely modern.




The Savoie flag is flown more than the tricolour...at least in Savoie



http://www.flickr.com/photos/23655841@N00/sets/791991/

[Pgcc93]

Stunning mountain scenery Vlad

What height are the summits are we talking 2 or 3 thousand metres?

[Vladimir]

Something like that yes, the fort itself is pretty high up

[viceroy]

Vlad, how old is the fort? 19th/20th century?

I notice the word 'Milice' appears beneath the head drawn on the wall. That was a French pro-Nazi organisation during the war, wasn't it? Nothing to do with the Resistance?

[Vladimir]

Early 19th century, built as a result of the uncertainty relating to the unification of Italy. Id never heard about the Milice (notice someone has tried to rub it out at some point) I just saw the Croix de Lorraine and assumed it was resistance...

[viceroy]

Apparently the Milice was a paramilitary police force set up by the pro-Nazi Vichy regime to combat the resistance. They also helped round up Jews for deportation. Nice people! Most French citizens [those loyal to the Allies that is] considered them to be worse than the Gestapo or even the SS.

[Vladimir]

The fuckers are still around, they just changed their name to Front National

[Roxburgh]

Early 19th century, built as a result of the uncertainty relating to the unification of Italy. Id never heard about the Milice (notice someone has tried to rub it out at some point) I just saw the Croix de Lorraine and assumed it was resistance...

In 1859, France intervened on the side of Piedmont to wrest Lombardy & Venice from Austria. Following the carnage of Solferino & Magenta, the French negotiated an armistice with the Austrians and Piedmont got Lombardy. The price for this intervention was Savoy & Nice. Many Italian unifcationists were incensed by this and vowed to win back the "lost" territory.

PS. The carnage at Solferino was such that a shocked Henri Dunant, created the Red Cross.

[Vladimir]

Thanks for the info Roxburgh