Circolare 200

January 6th 1931 was to be the starting point of the Vallo Alpino. That day the Italian Ministry of War published the Circolare 200, instruction for the construction of a new line of defense that would later be called Vallo Alpino (Alpin Wall). According to the Circolare 200 the line of defense had to consist of three lines:

The first line would be constructed close to the border. It would consist of two positions. The first position would only have flanking weapons in so-called Centri di Resistenza, a combination of some casemates linked with underground galleries. I refer to them as work. The position would have a depth of 300 to 400 m. The second position had to support the first one. It would have both flanking and frontal weapons. Here underground infantry shelters had to be built. The infantry could launch a counter-attack.
The second line contained the artillery positions. At same strategic points some works would be built in the second line. In practise most of these works were never finished.
The third line was the last line. It would close the end of the Valley near the Po plateau. Several works, together with field positions for both infantry and artillery, had to constructed.

The Circolare 200 was based on the experiences of WW I. The casemates had to be very small. Most of them only consisted of one firing room for a heavy machine gun of 1,75 m. in width and 1,30 to 2,00 m. in depth. If it was possible the casemates had to be built in the rock-face because this made it less vulnerable and would take less concrete. Most of the casemate would only have one weapon. If it had more the firing rooms had to seperated by a thick concrete wall. The material the Italians choose was normal concrete without any reinforcement (See Casemates). As heavy bombardments and prolonged fightings were expected the works would have underground barracks for the crew.
work of the Circolare 200

This work is a typical example for the Circolare 200. It is composed of an entrance with a porta garitta, a double MG casemates and underground barracks for the crew. The toilet is located at the dead end of the gallery on the left, close to the entrance.