Fort d'artillerie de Champex-Lac

At the southern entrance to Champex-Lac in the Kanton Wallis lies the Artilleriewerk Champex (A 46), a significant element of the fortress sector Saint-Maurice. The work was constructed during the Second World War and was intended to block the strategic axis over the Großen Sankt Bernhard and the road into the Val Ferret while supporting infantry on that route with artillery fire.

Between 1940 and 1943 a structure hewn into the rock was created at the foot of the south ridge of Le Catogne at an altitude of 1,450 metres. The rock-cut ouvrage comprises four casemates and roughly 600 metres of tunnels and was designed to operate autonomously in a crisis. From its position it dominates the basin of Orsières, which lies about 500 metres below.

The armament comprised two 10.5‑cm and two 7.5‑cm guns, flanked by six anti-aircraft guns. External defence included infantry positions with fortress machine guns and, later, 8.1‑cm fortress mortars, which were deployed downstream at several positions. Inside the work were fire-control and command posts, gun emplacements for two batteries, ammunition magazines, observation and survey posts, as well as extensive infrastructure: troop accommodation for around 300 men with kitchen and mess facilities, sleeping quarters for various ranks, two engine rooms with filtration systems and power generators, and an underground water reservoir.

The artillery work served as the coordination point for artillery fire in the Sankt Bernhard region and was organisationally integrated into fortress units belonging to a fortress detachment and a fortress regiment. During the Cold War the work was continuously modernised and adapted to the possibility of a nuclear conflict. In 1999 it was declassified and is owned by the association Pro Forteresse.