Ouvrage Coume Annexe Nord

49°11′21″N 6°34′46″E / 49.18917°N 6.57944°E / 49.18917; 6.57944Site informationControlled byFranceSite historyIn useAbandonedMaterialsConcrete, steelBattles/warsBattle of France

Ouvrage Coume Annexe Nord
Type of work:	Small artillery work (Petit ouvrage)
sector └─sub-sector	Fortified Sector of Boulay └─Tromborn
Work number:	A30
Regiment:	161st Fortress Infantry Regiment (RIF)
Strength:	1 officer, 35 men

Ouvrage Coume Annexe Nord is a lesser work (petit ouvrage) of the Maginot Line. Located in the Fortified Sector of Boulay, the ouvrage consists of one infantry block, and is located between petits ouvrages Village Coume and Coume, facing Germany.

Design and construction

The site was surveyed by CORF (Commission d'Organisation des Régions Fortifiées), the Maginot Line's design and construction agency; Village Coume was approved for construction in July 1931. It was completed at a cost of 7 million francs by the contractor Duval-Weyrich of Nancy.^[1] The petit ouvrage^{[nb 1]} was in effect designed and built as an isolated casemate, as opposed to an ouvrage with multiple combat blocks, deep underground support services and accommodations^[4]

Description

Coume Annex Nord comprises a single casemate. Armament includes two automatic rifle cloches (GFM), one retractable twin machine gun turret, one twin machine gun embrasure and one machine gun/anti-tank gun embrasure (JM/AC47).^[4]^[5]

Manning

The 1940 manning of the ouvrage under the command of Lieutenant Dillenschneider comprised 35 men and 1 officer of the 161st Fortress Infantry Regiment.^[4] The units were under the umbrella of the 3rd Army, Army Group 2.^[6] The Casernement de Ban Saint-Jean provided peacetime above-ground barracks and support services to Village Coume and other positions in the area.^[4]^[7]

History

See Fortified Sector of Boulay for a broader discussion of the Boulay sector of the Maginot Line.

Coume Annexe Nord played no significant role in either the Battle of France in 1940 or the Lorraine Campaign of 1944.

Current condition

Coume Annexe Nord remains in good condition, in private ownership.^[5]

Notes

^ English-language sources use the French term ouvrage as the preferred term for the Maginot positions, in preference to "fort", a term usually reserved for older fortifications with passive defensives in the form of walls and ditches.^[2] The literal translation of ouvrage in the sense of a fortification in English is "work." A gros ouvrage is a large fortification with a significant artillery component, while a petit ouvrage is smaller, with lighter arms.^[3]

References

^ Mary|, Tome 1 p. 52
^ Kaufmann 2006 p. 13
^ Kaufmann 2006, p. 20
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Mary, Tome 3, p. 109
^ ^a ^b Puelinckx, Jean; Aublet, Jean-Louis; Mainguin, Sylvie (2010). "Coume (petit ouvrage A30 annexe nord de)". Index de la Ligne Maginot (in French). fortiff.be. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
^ Mary, Tome 3, p. 99
^ Wahl, J.B. "Festungsabschnitt Boulay" (in German). darkplaces.org. Retrieved 25 May 2010.^{[permanent dead link]}

Bibliography

Allcorn, William. The Maginot Line 1928-45. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2003. ISBN 1-84176-646-1
Kaufmann, J.E. and Kaufmann, H.W. Fortress France: The Maginot Line and French Defenses in World War II, Stackpole Books, 2006. ISBN 0-275-98345-5
Kaufmann, J.E., Kaufmann, H.W., Jancovič-Potočnik, A. and Lang, P. The Maginot Line: History and Guide, Pen and Sword, 2011. ISBN 978-1-84884-068-3
Mary, Jean-Yves; Hohnadel, Alain; Sicard, Jacques. Hommes et Ouvrages de la Ligne Maginot, Tome 1. Paris, Histoire & Collections, 2001. ISBN 2-908182-88-2 (in French)
Mary, Jean-Yves; Hohnadel, Alain; Sicard, Jacques. Hommes et Ouvrages de la Ligne Maginot, Tome 2. Paris, Histoire & Collections, 2003. ISBN 2-908182-97-1 (in French)
Mary, Jean-Yves; Hohnadel, Alain; Sicard, Jacques. Hommes et Ouvrages de la Ligne Maginot, Tome 3. Paris, Histoire & Collections, 2003. ISBN 2-913903-88-6 (in French)
Mary, Jean-Yves; Hohnadel, Alain; Sicard, Jacques. Hommes et Ouvrages de la Ligne Maginot, Tome 5. Paris, Histoire & Collections, 2009. ISBN 978-2-35250-127-5 (in French)