Boutmy at Mont-Cenis

Captain Hubert Boutmy commands the fortified work of Saint-Gobain, on the Mont-Cenis pass (2,081 m), part of the Alpine Maginot Line. His garrison — about 200 men, a few 75 mm guns and machine guns — faces, from 21 June, several Italian divisions hurled into the assault on Mussolini's orders.

Conditions are extreme: melting snow, fog, high-altitude cold. The work was designed for Alpine defence; its reduction would require heavy artillery that the Italians struggle to haul up to the passes.

With the Franco-German armistice just signed and the Italian one under negotiation, Boutmy must decide the fate of his work. The Alpine forts, more recent than those of the North-East, were designed precisely for this kind of pass combat, where altitude and snow preclude the use of tanks. Boutmy can hold Saint-Gobain at all costs, withdraw toward Modane if encircled, or attempt an offensive sortie. The fate of a key bolt on the frontier depends on it.