Spartane
100 followers / "Ils ne passeront pas"
The battle of the Alps was a battle that opposed France and Italy during 15 days at the end of the battle of france (10 to 25 june). At the time Italy was lead by Mussolini who had the ambition to recreate the roman empire, in june 1940 when he saw that Hitler was managing to defeat France he decided to declare war to France too in order to acheive an easy victory against the falling republic and to annex the south-est of France. But even if the italian were 3 times more numerous than the french they encountered difficulties crossing the Alps because of 2 factors: the bad equipment that didn't really protect the soldiers from the cold and the french "chasseur-skieur" who harrassed the italians during the crossing of the Alps. The Italian objective was to invade Nice so most of the offensive took place in the southern alps but some also occured in the northern Alps in order to encircle the French. During 15 days of intense fights the Italian only managed to advance a few kilometers through the border but didn't reach the french main defense line, in fact they were quickly stopped by the small fortifications of french Alpine Maginot line with the help of the artillery from the big forts behind. For exemple in Menton (a french village a few hundred meters from the border) 9 french men in a pillbox with a machine gun and a 25mm canon managed to stop the advance of 5 000 Italian until the Armistice and abandonned the bunker several days after the Armistice taking the guns and locking the door. At the end of the battle the french Alpine army commanded by René Olry managed to stop the italian advance but also the germans that were coming from the North using the advantages of the high terrain and the few colonial renault FT's. The Italian even lost their main fort in the region that was located on the Mont Chaberton after french mathematicians managed to calculate a trajectory for french heavy mortar to hit it and destroy it (the fort was located at an altitude that was over the usual limit). That victory allowed Vichy France to exist until 1942.
This is a MOC I made a few monthes ago depicting an engagement in the middle section of the Alps (that's why it'n not snowy) between an italian light motorized section and a french pillbox from the maginot line. It's not representing an official part of the battle in particular, but I tried to reproduct an Alpine terrain according to what I've seen from a trip there some time ago (it was in a valley near Cervières next to "l'ouvrage des Aittes"), it's the reason why I decided to put so many plant pieces because the grass is really high in this part of the Alps ^^. I also built a small pillbox, a destroyed house and a few other stuff all around. If you have any question just ask because it would be too long to describe everything :P
This was my surprise (which is not one for some ^^) for the 100 subscribers, so thank you for following me and I hope you like it :)
Also special thanks to Anáhuac Brick Customs who helped me to draw a bit of attention when I just began, to Lego pilot for helping me for my plane builds and to all of you !
100 followers / "Ils ne passeront pas"
The battle of the Alps was a battle that opposed France and Italy during 15 days at the end of the battle of france (10 to 25 june). At the time Italy was lead by Mussolini who had the ambition to recreate the roman empire, in june 1940 when he saw that Hitler was managing to defeat France he decided to declare war to France too in order to acheive an easy victory against the falling republic and to annex the south-est of France. But even if the italian were 3 times more numerous than the french they encountered difficulties crossing the Alps because of 2 factors: the bad equipment that didn't really protect the soldiers from the cold and the french "chasseur-skieur" who harrassed the italians during the crossing of the Alps. The Italian objective was to invade Nice so most of the offensive took place in the southern alps but some also occured in the northern Alps in order to encircle the French. During 15 days of intense fights the Italian only managed to advance a few kilometers through the border but didn't reach the french main defense line, in fact they were quickly stopped by the small fortifications of french Alpine Maginot line with the help of the artillery from the big forts behind. For exemple in Menton (a french village a few hundred meters from the border) 9 french men in a pillbox with a machine gun and a 25mm canon managed to stop the advance of 5 000 Italian until the Armistice and abandonned the bunker several days after the Armistice taking the guns and locking the door. At the end of the battle the french Alpine army commanded by René Olry managed to stop the italian advance but also the germans that were coming from the North using the advantages of the high terrain and the few colonial renault FT's. The Italian even lost their main fort in the region that was located on the Mont Chaberton after french mathematicians managed to calculate a trajectory for french heavy mortar to hit it and destroy it (the fort was located at an altitude that was over the usual limit). That victory allowed Vichy France to exist until 1942.
This is a MOC I made a few monthes ago depicting an engagement in the middle section of the Alps (that's why it'n not snowy) between an italian light motorized section and a french pillbox from the maginot line. It's not representing an official part of the battle in particular, but I tried to reproduct an Alpine terrain according to what I've seen from a trip there some time ago (it was in a valley near Cervières next to "l'ouvrage des Aittes"), it's the reason why I decided to put so many plant pieces because the grass is really high in this part of the Alps ^^. I also built a small pillbox, a destroyed house and a few other stuff all around. If you have any question just ask because it would be too long to describe everything :P
This was my surprise (which is not one for some ^^) for the 100 subscribers, so thank you for following me and I hope you like it :)
Also special thanks to Anáhuac Brick Customs who helped me to draw a bit of attention when I just began, to Lego pilot for helping me for my plane builds and to all of you !