Ouvrage Barbonnet
gros ouvrage of the Maginot Line
Ouvrage Barbonnet is a work (gros ouvrage) of the Maginot Line's Alpine extension, the Alpine Line, also called the Little Maginot Line. The ouvrage consists of one entry block and one infantry block facing Italy. The ouvrage was built somewhat behind the main line of fortifications on the old Fort Suchet, which was already armed with two obsolete Mougin 155 mm gun turrets.
Fort Suchet was built between 1883 and 1888 at 850 metres altitude two kilometres to the south of Sospel, dominating the road from Nice to the Col de Tende. This corridor represented the main invasion route to Nice from the north.
Fort Suchet and Ouvrage Barbonnet operated separately, the former manned in 1940 by elements of the 157th and 158th Régiments d'Artillerie de Position (RAP) and the latter by the 95th Brigade Alpin de Forteresse (BAF), which also provided infantry support on the surface. The entire position was commanded by Captain Imbault. The Maginot fort's kitchens were used by the garrisons of both fortifications, but the mess halls were separate.
Ouvrage Barbonnet description
Barbonnet has only two blocks, an entry block and an artillery block, and, like all Maginot fortifications, is entirely subterranean. The Mougin battery is not linked to the Maginot fort.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7113109. Authority coordinates are 43.863, 7.434. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1883, 1888 and 1940.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ouvrage Barbonnet” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.