Fort du Mont-Froid

Tragic military site, witness of French and Piemont revolutionary battles in 1794, and French and German Chasseurs Alpins in Aparil 1945. Ruins, relicts of forts and memorial cross. Fortification accessible by day hike.
Following the transfer of Savoy to France and the signing of the Triple Alliance by the Kingdom of Italy, the strategic situation on the border changed radically and the Mont-Cenis sector was interested in major fortification works which continued in alternating phases until the eve of the Second World War.
Between 1897 and 1906, a complex was built on the summit of Mont-Froid, dedicated to the surveillance of the Col du Petit Mont-Cenis, an easy route around the dreaded Petite Turra fort. The Mont-Froid site had a few pieces of artillery and was served by a connecting road to the mountain pastures of the Ramasse.
After the failed attempt to break through by the Italian army (June 1940), the Mont-Froid fort was occupied by German troops until April 1945, when, after hard fighting, the site was regained by French soldiers: a bollard and a large metal cross commemorate the victims of this fighting.
The panorama, although limited by the Pointe du Mont-Cenis, is very extensive: the Massif de la Vanoise with its glaciers is on the horizon towards the North, while in the opposite direction, one can see the Col Clapier with the Lake of Savine, at the end of the homonymous valley.