Ouvrage Les Rochilles, Military fortification in Névache, France

Ouvrage Les Rochilles is a petit ouvrage of the Maginot Line's Alpine extension, set in the Cerces massif at the seuil des Rochilles on the commune of Névache. Its low pale concrete and stone walls and flat roofs sit against a light-gray rock face, with two rectangular embrasures on the right and a small blockhouse above a scree slope to the left. The work comprises an entry block, an observation block with a VDP cloche, two infantry blocks side by side, an emergency exit and a chimney block.

Construction started in 1931 as an extension of the Maginot Line into the Alps, yet the project remained unfinished when World War II began in 1940. This incomplete fortification was designed to integrate with a broader network of defensive positions across the mountain range.

The structure reflects how France approached border defense in Alpine regions during the interwar decades through concrete engineering and strategic placement. Visitors can observe the physical remnants of this military thinking expressed in heavy fortifications built at high altitude.

The ouvrage sits at the Seuil des Rochilles in the Cerces massif, on the Névache side, reached on foot from the valley; the approach is high and exposed. The underground galleries were never fully concreted and no ventilation was installed, so bring a torch and a helmet. The wartime barracks gallery was laid out for 40 men.

The aerial tramway near the site belonged to the Camp des Rochilles, the 1902–1907 barracks at 2,420 m, and linked it to Plan-Lachat; the ouvrage itself had no cableway. The camp's wartime gallery dormitory was designed for 40 men.