Olry and the Army of the Alps — Briançon

General René Olry has commanded the Army of the Alps since the spring of 1940. With about 175,000 men — Alpine chasseurs, fortress troops, Foreign Legion — he holds nearly 300 km of frontier from Switzerland to the Mediterranean, facing a far more numerous Italy. His dispositions rest on the roughly 100 works of the Alpine Maginot Line, which bolt the passes.

From 21 June, the Italian offensive breaks on his positions. Olry must also guard his rear: the Wehrmacht, having come down the Rhône Valley after the collapse of the main front, threatens to take him from behind. He thus fights a 2-fronted battle — Italians to the east, Germans to the north.

With the armistice imminent, the strategic question is whether to turn the defensive success into a counter-attack toward Piedmont, to maintain a strict defensive, or to settle for limited raids. The stake: to preserve a victory which, amid the general disaster, has the value of a symbol.