The Gros Ouvrage de Latiremont is part of the French Maginot Line of fortifications. It comprises of an underground barracks for 600 men, an ammunition magazine and 6 artillery blocks, linked together by narrow gauge railway in a mile of tunnels. Each artillery block had lifts and stairs to the surface for men and ammunition.
In the first year of WW2, this fort fired 18686 large artillery rounds at German forces directly and in support of other units and forts.
Explored with Urban Junkie, Skydiver and Shadow, with thanks to Marraf for letting us know about this one.
The munitions entrance...
The machine gun post at this entrance, and a sign indicating that this was still military property...
Once inside the front doors, there's more machine gun posts and the blast doors, that protect the lifts that go down a long way...
At the bottom of the lift shafts, there's ammunition trolleys, and shopping trolleys...
and a bit further on, more guns and doors...
Splitting off to one of the fighting blocks...
...to the railway siding where the ammunition would be unloaded and moved to that blocks magazines...
Note the overhead gantry here. This could transport the ammunition to the magazine, and also from the magazine to the guns, via another lift.
Next we found the power station. Electricity was supplied from an external source, but there was also four backup generators in case power was cut.
The engines...
Some air ducts...
The gun emplacement overlooking the personnel entrance...
Hand cranked ventilation...
The infirmary...
In another artillery block now. The gun mechanisms were three floors high...
The lower level...
middle level...
and at the top, the two guns were still in place in the cupola. What you can see here is a hydraulic system on top of the two smaller barrels...
Unusual but simple cable ducting that ran throughout the fort...
The junction to block 1 and 2, with the railway maintenance tunnel on the left...
a blast door that accommodates trains and personnel, some of these were still in working condition...
and another...
There was six 75mm artillery pieces here, in two groups of three. Here's both the blocks where these guns were situated...
and a look at the magazines for these blocks, with the overhead gantry again...
In one of these blocks was this diagram of different shell types...
and finally, an external shot of one of the large artillery blocks...
BTW, it took us seven hours to get around here, it was immense.
In the first year of WW2, this fort fired 18686 large artillery rounds at German forces directly and in support of other units and forts.
Explored with Urban Junkie, Skydiver and Shadow, with thanks to Marraf for letting us know about this one.
The munitions entrance...
The machine gun post at this entrance, and a sign indicating that this was still military property...
Once inside the front doors, there's more machine gun posts and the blast doors, that protect the lifts that go down a long way...
At the bottom of the lift shafts, there's ammunition trolleys, and shopping trolleys...
and a bit further on, more guns and doors...
Splitting off to one of the fighting blocks...
...to the railway siding where the ammunition would be unloaded and moved to that blocks magazines...
Note the overhead gantry here. This could transport the ammunition to the magazine, and also from the magazine to the guns, via another lift.
Next we found the power station. Electricity was supplied from an external source, but there was also four backup generators in case power was cut.
The engines...
Some air ducts...
The gun emplacement overlooking the personnel entrance...
Hand cranked ventilation...
The infirmary...
In another artillery block now. The gun mechanisms were three floors high...
The lower level...
middle level...
and at the top, the two guns were still in place in the cupola. What you can see here is a hydraulic system on top of the two smaller barrels...
Unusual but simple cable ducting that ran throughout the fort...
The junction to block 1 and 2, with the railway maintenance tunnel on the left...
a blast door that accommodates trains and personnel, some of these were still in working condition...
and another...
There was six 75mm artillery pieces here, in two groups of three. Here's both the blocks where these guns were situated...
and a look at the magazines for these blocks, with the overhead gantry again...
In one of these blocks was this diagram of different shell types...
and finally, an external shot of one of the large artillery blocks...
BTW, it took us seven hours to get around here, it was immense.
