of the Janus massif. Skirmishing took place on the 23rd, when the Italians captured the avant-poste Est du Chenaillet. Chaberton began firing again, receiving counter-battery fire from the French batteries in reply. The exchange continued the next day, and stopped only when the armistice took effect on the 25th, with six of eight Italian gun positions destroyed. Farther south in the Queyras, the Italian Julia Division mounted weak probes without much success. In the Ubaye, the Italian 2nd Army Corps (2o Corpo d'Armata) under General Bertini sought to move across the Col de Larche in Operation M (named for the Italian name of the pass, Colle della Maddalena). The corps was composed of five divisions: the 2nd Alpine Group (Raggrupamento Varaita-Po), and the Cuneense, Forli, Pusteria and Livorno Divisions. The principal activity took place, as expected, in the vicinity of the Col de Larche, starting on 17 June with infantry patrols that were engaged by the artillery of Roche-la-Croix, producing heavy Italian casualties. On the 20th the Observatoire de Viraysse was heavily bombarded, prompting retaliatory fire from Roche-la-Croix against Italian observation positions. The next day a strong column of Italians of the Acqui Division moving across the Col de Sautron and the Col des Monges to the Fort de Viraysse were turned back by field artillery fire. On the 22nd Italian artillery again concentrated on the Observatoire de Viraysse and the avant-post de Larche, again answered by Roche-la-Croix's 75mm gun turret. Other batteries took on a new advance over the Col des Monges. The Fort de Viraysse was encircled. Snow fell on the 23rd, but late that day the Italians launched an unsuccessful assault on the Fort de Viraysse. The bad weather continued on the 24th, but a sharp engagement on the Col Rémi and around Tête-Dure resulted in heavy Italian casualties and a number of prisoners. The area around the Col de Restefond was subject to heavy snow, and had been unoccupied from October 1939 to mid-May 1940, when enough snow had cleared to allow the positions to be used and occupied. Apart from some skirmishing and artillery barrages, more decisive action was hampered by bad weather. Action in all areas stopped when the armistice took effect on 25 June. The Italians had failed to accomplish any significant penetration of the frontier, but German forces had come down the valley of the Rhône and were operating to the rear