Chaberton Battery

This fort, the tallest in Europe, was built at the end of the 19^th century at the top of Mount Chaberton (3,131 metres above sea level). Following its restoration in 1940, it was used by the Fascists to attack French military targets. Considered impregnable, it was equipped with eight rotating armoured turrets with cannons. The French nicknamed it the cuirassé des nuages, or the battleship of the clouds.

When Italy entered the war on 10^th June 1940, the French prepared to attack the fort. The violent clash took place on 21^st June 1940 with 10 Italians killed and 6 of the 8 towers destroyed by French mortars. Despite heavy losses, the surviving turrets were brought back into service and canons continued to fire until the armistice between France and Italy was signed on 25^th June.

Abandoned after 8^th September 1943, the fort was occupied once again by Folgore units of the Italian Social Republic in the autumn of 1944. After the war, it fell within the new French border and is now almost completely abandoned. Its memory has been kept alive by veterans of the 34^th Artillery Group and the Mount Chaberton Association, which campaigns for abandoned fortifications along the Western Alpine Wall to be turned into a museum. In August 2020, a permanent exhibition (War on the Alps, from Chaberton to Vallo Alpino) opened in Bardonecchia, depicting the events which occurred at the fort and the military campaign of June 1940.

Photo: Archivio Minola – Associazione Monte Chaberton