Ouvrage Saint Ours Bas

Ouvrage Saint Ours Bas
Part of Maginot Line, Alpine Line
Southeast France
Ouvrage Saint Ours Bas
Coordinates	44.47133°N 6.80881°E / 44.47133; 6.80881
Site information
Controlled by	France
Open to the public	Yes
Site history
Built by	CORF
In use	Preserved
Materials	Concrete, steel
Battles/wars	Italian invasion of France

Ouvrage Saint Ours Bas
Type of work:	Small artillery work (Petit ouvrage)
sector └─sub-sector	Fortified Sector of the Dauphiné, Vallée de l'Ubaye └─Ubaye-Ubayette, Quartier Meyronnes
Regiment:	83rd BAF
Number of blocks:	1
Strength:	1 officer, 24 men

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 in 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.^[1] The interior is laid out on two levels.^[2]

Construction began in July 1931, and cost 4.2 million francs to complete.^[3] The position controlled movement along RN 100.

See Fortified Sector of the Dauphiné 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 Haut, as part of the Museum of Saint-Ours-Bas.^[4]

See also

• List of Alpine Line ouvrages

References

1. Puelinckx, Jean; Aublet, Jean-Louis; Mainguin, Sylvie (2010). "Saint-Ours (po bas)". Index de la Ligne Maginot (in French). fortiff.be. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
2. Mary, Tome 5, p. 34
3. Mary, Tome 4 - La fortification alpine, p. 29
4. Kaufmann 2011, pp. 264-264

Bibliography

• Allcorn, William. The Maginot Line 1928-45. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2003. ISBN 1-84176-646-1
• Kaufmann, J.E. and Kaufmann, H.W. Fortress France: The Maginot Line and French Defenses in World War II, Stackpole Books, 2006. ISBN 0-275-98345-5
• Kaufmann, J.E., Kaufmann, H.W., Jancovič-Potočnik, A. and Lang, P. The Maginot Line: History and Guide, Pen and Sword, 2011. ISBN 978-1-84884-068-3
• Mary, Jean-Yves; Hohnadel, Alain; Sicard, Jacques. Hommes et Ouvrages de la Ligne Maginot, Tome 1. Paris, Histoire & Collections, 2001. ISBN 2-908182-88-2 (in French)
• Mary, Jean-Yves; Hohnadel, Alain; Sicard, Jacques. Hommes et Ouvrages de la Ligne Maginot, Tome 4 - La fortification alpine. Paris, Histoire & Collections, 2009. ISBN 978-2-915239-46-1 (in French)
• Mary, Jean-Yves; Hohnadel, Alain; Sicard, Jacques. Hommes et Ouvrages de la Ligne Maginot, Tome 5. Paris, Histoire & Collections, 2009. ISBN 978-2-35250-127-5 (in French)

External links

• Saint-Ours (petit ouvrage bas) at fortiff.be (in French)
• Base Mérimée: Ouvrage d'infanterie dit ouvrage bas de Saint-Ours, de l'organisation défensive de l'Ubaye, Ministère français de la Culture. (in French)