The High Stronghold of Mount Chaberton

La batteria dello Chaberton, also known as forte dello Chaberton, was built by the Regio Esercito between 1898 and 1910. Situated on the summit of Mount Chaberton at 3130 meters, it is the highest structure of its kind in Europe. It was planned in the late 19th century as part of a plan to improve fortifications along the border with France. The project was for an autonomous long-range work, meant for bombardment of distant military positions.

Work began in 1898 with the tracing of the road connecting the town of Fenils to the summit. The battery was armed in 1906 with 8 cannons in rotating armored turrets. During the first world war, the battery was disarmed and the cannons were used on the eastern front. During the construction of the Vallo Alpino, the battery was included as the caposaldo del VII Settore di Copertura Monginevro, a sector intended to guarantee access control to the Val di Susa through Monginevro and Claviere while being able to hit the Val Claree and Briançon.

The battery became active for the first time when Italy declared war on France in 1940, used for bombarding military targets without causing significant military damage. On one occasion, a shell partially distorted but did not penetrate a turret at the nearby Janus. The opposing side responded the next day with a barrage of four 280 mm Schneider Mle 1914 artillery pieces, which put out of use six of the eight turrets, causing nine deaths and fifty injuries, as well as damage to the service funicular and notable structural damage.

The battery was abandoned after September 1943, then occupied by RSI units in the autumn of 1944, and finally abandoned after the surrender of Germany and the RSI in 1945. Following the 1947 agreements, the entire Mount Chaberton passed into French territory. The structure was emptied of all metal parts in 1957, and the road connecting Fenils to the peak was closed in 1987.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons