The Fort de Champillon is a twentieth-century Swiss fortification located in the heights overlooking the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

valley from the north between

Montreux Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approxi ...

and

Monthey Monthey (; frp, Montê) is the capital of the district of Monthey in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. History The castle in the town center was built in 950 on a hill, the first houses of Monthey surrounded it. Monthey is first menti ...

. Completed in 1944, the fort secures the road and rail lines running east from

Lausanne Lausanne ( , , , ) ; it, Losanna; rm, Losanna. is the capital and largest city of the Swiss French speaking canton of Vaud. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway between the Jura Mountains and the Alps, and fac ...

to the mountainous interior of Switzerland. The position is an

advanced work An advanced work, advance-work or advanced outwork is a fortification or outwork in front of the main defensive building or castle.

protecting the approaches to

Fortress Saint-Maurice Fortress Saint-Maurice is one of the three main fortification complexes comprising the Swiss National Redoubt. The westernmost of the three, Fortress Saint-Maurice complements Fortress Saint Gotthard and Fortress Sargans to secure the central ...

, part of the

Swiss National Redoubt The Swiss National Redoubt (; ; ; ) is a defensive plan developed by the Swiss government beginning in the 1880s to respond to foreign invasion. In the opening years of the Second World War the plan was expanded and refined to deal with a pote ...

. It is entered from the plateau just downhill from Corbeyrier, a village on the heights at the foot of the

Tour d'Aï The Tour d'Aï is a mountain in the western Bernese Alps, overlooking Leysin in the canton of Vaud. It is located near the Tour de Mayen, on the range lying between the Rhone and Col des Mosses, south of Lake Geneva, from where both summits c ...

Description

The Fort de Champillon (Swiss Armed Forces designation A365) is an artillery fort, intended to provide coverage to advanced positions in the Chablais plan at the eastern end of

Lac Léman , image = Lake Geneva by Sentinel-2.jpg , caption = Satellite image , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = Switzerland, France , coords = , lake_type = Glacial lak ...

, and to support advanced positions such as the Fort de Chillon to the west and other positions to the south. The Chablais and Chillon forts were not considered part of Fortress Saint-Maurice proper, but were important advance works to delay and weaken an attacker before they reached the Saint-Maurice stopping line, or ''fort d'arrêt''. The entire region is fortified with anti-tank barriers, permanent minefields and other barriers, while tunnels, bridges and retaining walls are mined or prepared for demolition. Construction at Champillon began in 1942, and was complete in 1944. The fort is located in a massif overlooking the Rhône beneath Corbeyrier. The shelf stands high over the flat floor of the Rhône valley, which in this area is known as the Chablais plain. The Fort de Champillon is armed with two 105mm guns in northwest-facing

casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" mean ...

s, cut into the rock face of the west-facing cliff. An underground passage runs back into the mountain to ammunition magazines, utility areas and two-story underground barracks. The fort's entrance is on the plateau behind the fort. Two additional 105mm casemates, each with their own magazine, were planned but never built. A variety of smaller blockhouses, observation posts, anti-tank lines and infantry shelters are in the immediate area, none connected directly to Champillon. The position was manned by elements of Fortress Regiment 19, and was designated part of Fortress Group 4.

Present situation

The Fort de Champillon was decommissioned in 1994 and sold to private owners in 2005. In 2010 plans were announced to install the Swiss Explosives Museum in the site, called ''Pyromin''. A portion of the fort is used by NL Pyrotechnics as a warehouse. The fort and museum are planned to be opened to the public.

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Fort Champillon
official website Fortifications of Switzerland built in the 20th century Museums in the canton of Vaud World War II museums in Switzerland Forts in Switzerland 20th-century architecture in Switzerland