Ouvrage Coume is a lesser work (petit ouvrage) of the Maginot Line

Maginot Line

The Maginot Line , named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, was a line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defences, which France constructed along its borders with Germany and Italy, in light of its experience in World War I,...

. Located in the Fortified Sector of Boulay

Fortified Sector of Boulay

The Fortified Sector of Boulay was the French military organization that in 1940 controlled the section of the Maginot Line to the north and east of Metz in northeastern France. The left wing of the Boulay sector was among the earliest and strongest portions of the Maginot Line...

, the ouvrage consists of two infantry blocks, and was located between petits ouvrages Coume Annexe Nord

Ouvrage Coume Annexe Nord

Ouvrage Coume Annexe Nord is a lesser work 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....

 and Coume Annexe Sud

Ouvrage Coume Annexe Sud

Ouvrage Coume Annexe Sud is a lesser work of the Maginot Line. Located in the Fortified Sector of Boulay, the ouvrage consists of two infantry blocks, one artillery block and one observation block, and is located between petits ouvrages Coume and Mottemberg, facing Germany.- Design and...

, facing Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

Design and construction

The site was surveyed by CORF (Commission d'Organisation des Régions Fortifiées), the Maginot Line's design and construction agency; Coume was approved for construction in early 1931. It was completed at a cost of 7 million francs by the contractor Duval-Weyrich of Nancy. The petit ouvrage was originally planned as a gros ouvrage with twelve combat blocks, mounting artillery. The project was progressively scaled back to the point that the two infantry blocks that were actually built were not even connected by an underground gallery. A second phase was planned to link the two, never carried out.

Description

Coume comprises two unconnected infantry blocks. A subterranean connection was planned for Phase 2, and was started but not completed before the outbreak of war:

• Block 1: infantry/entry block with two automatic rifle cloches (GFM)
  GFM cloche
  The GFM cloche was one of the most common defensive armaments on the Maginot Line. A cloche was a fixed and non-retractable firing position made of a thick iron casting which shielded its occupant...
  
  , one twin machine gun embrasure and one machine gun/anti-tank gun embrasure (JM/AC47
  AC 47 anti-tank gun
  The AC 47 was a French anti-tank gun of 47mm caliber. It was principally used in the ouvrages and casemates of the Maginot Line in the late 1930s; another version was created for naval use....
  
  ).
• Block 2: Infantry block with two GFM cloches, one retractable twin machine gun turret, one twin machine gun embrasure and one JM/AC47 embrasure.

The original gros ouvrage was to include two casemate blocks, each with three 75mm guns, a block with a 135mm gun turret, three casemates covering an anti-tank ditch, and a block with an 81mm mortar turret. Separate blocks were planned for the rear for munitions and personnel entry, while the deep underground gallery system was to include barracks and a large "M1" magazine.

Manning

The 1940 manning of the ouvrage under the command of Lieutenant Soubrier comprised 95 men and 2 officers of the 160th Fortress Infantry Regiment. The units were under the umbrella of the 3rd Army, Army Group 2. The Casernement de Ban Saint-Jean provided peacetime above-ground barracks and support services to Coume and other positions in the area.

History

See Fortified Sector of Boulay

Fortified Sector of Boulay

The Fortified Sector of Boulay was the French military organization that in 1940 controlled the section of the Maginot Line to the north and east of Metz in northeastern France. The left wing of the Boulay sector was among the earliest and strongest portions of the Maginot Line...

 for a broader discussion of the Boulay sector of the Maginot Line.

Coume played no significant role in either the Battle of France

Battle of France

In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...

 in 1940 or the Lorraine Campaign

Lorraine Campaign

Lorraine Campaign is a term used by U.S. Army historians to describe operations of the U.S. Third Army in Lorraine during World War II from September 1 through December 18, 1944. Official U.S. Army campaign names for this period and location are Northern France and Rhineland. The term was...

 of 1944.

See also

• List of all works on Maginot Line
• Siegfried Line
  Siegfried Line
  The original Siegfried line was a line of defensive forts and tank defences built by Germany as a section of the Hindenburg Line 1916–1917 in northern France during World War I...
  
  
• Atlantic Wall
  Atlantic Wall
  The Atlantic Wall was an extensive system of coastal fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the western coast of Europe as a defense against an anticipated Allied invasion of the mainland continent from Great Britain.-History:On March 23, 1942 Führer Directive Number 40...
  
  
• Czechoslovak border fortifications
  Czechoslovak border fortifications
  The Czechoslovak government built a system of border fortifications from 1935 to 1938 as a defensive countermeasure against the rising threat of Nazi Germany that later materialized in the German offensive plan called Fall Grün...