Memories of War: April 2016

Peaking at 3,343 meters (1o,967 ft), the Marmolada, with its majestic appearance, well earns its name of “Queen of the Dolomites”. The highest mountain of the Dolomites, Marmolada is also characterized by the only large glacier in these mountains.

Before World War I, the border between Italy and Austria-Hungary ran through the mountain, which thus became a battlefield.

Italian forces held the rocky southern side of the Marmolada, while Austro-Hungarian troops held the northern side with its glacier. In the beginning, nobody thought it would be possible to maintain a permanent garrison on the summit; Austrian patrols, and in one instance also Alpini Lieutenant Barlese with guide Fermo Chenet, sometimes ventured till the peak, which was later secured by Austro-Hungarian forces. Austro-Hungarian outposts were also created on the rocky spurs called Col dei Busc, Sasso delle Undici and Sasso delle Dodici, as well as on Punta Rocca (3,259 m), where they placed a gun. These positions were supplied by a series of cableways that started in the Gardena Valley.

While Marmolada saw no important activity in 1915, during 1916 Italian forces started attacking Punta Serauta (3,069 m), Serauta Pass (Forcella Serauta, 2,880 m) and Point 3065 (meters) in an attempt to gain a foothold on the glacier.

On 8 April 1916, an Alpini platoon of the Val Cordevole Battalion captured the ridge between Serauta Pass and Point 3065; the Austro-Hungarian troops withdrew to nearby Forcella V, and five days later, with artillery support, they recaptured the ridge. Two days passed, then a patrol of the 51^st Infantry Regiment (Alpi Brigade) climbed the Antermoia Valley and recaptured Forcella Serauta. These men, however, were infantrymen, lacking both mountain equipment and experience, and they were not able to hold the position. On 17 April a new Italian attack failed, but on 30 April, following a plan devised by Captain Menotti Garibaldi of the 51^st Infantry Regiment (grandson of Giuseppe Garibaldi), they captured Forcella Serauta once again. On 2 May, Point 3065 was also captured by Italian forces. This time the Italians permanently occupied these positions, along with Punta Serauta.

From there, they could fire with guns and machine guns on anything that moved on the glacier; Austro-Hungarian bearers were cut down before reaching the position where they were headed, and movement became only possible in foggy days or with bad weather (which reduced the risk of being killed by Italian fire, but increased the risk of being killed by the mountain), as the Italians had placed on Serauta even three spotlights, to light up the glacier at night. Austro-Hungarian losses kept increasing, and their situation soon became unbearable; if they would not find a way to supply their strongholds without being fired on, they would soon have to abandon all the positions on the upper side of the glacier.

Starting in May 1916, the Austrian engineer Leo Handl designed and created a “city of ice” below the glacier; over twelve kilometers of galleries were dug in the ice, 40 meters below the surface of the glacier, linking all Austro-Hungarian positions. This city below the glacier included depots, accommodation for 250 men, kitchen, mess rooms, two coffees, infirmaries, privys, machinery rooms, a forge and even a chapel, all dug in the ice; the Austro-Hungarian garrison could thus be sheltered from Italian fire, and one could move from one position to another without risk of being hit. In March 1917, the “city” was even provided with electric lighting. At times, Italians broke into some galleries, resulting in short hand-to-hand fights in the depths of the glacier, “like cavemen”.

However, more Austro-Hungarian depots and barracks, forming entire villages, were built above the glacier, further down the mountain, outside of the Italian gun’s range. One of these villages of huts and depots, the Gran Poz, became known for one of the greatest natural disasters of the war: on 12 December 1916, when a period of heavy snowfall was followed by a sudden warming and rain, a huge avalanche (150,000 tons of snow) detached from the glacier and wiped away the entire village; of the 321 men who were there, 270 lost their lives. The last survivors were found five days later. One hut was later found a kilometer away from where it was, along with its occupants. Handl had foreseen the risk of such a disaster, and proposed to move the depots to the “city of ice”, but his suggestion had been refused for tactical reasons.

In the whole Marmolada group, thousands men on both sides were killed by avalanches, more than those killed in actual fighting.

Another contended pass was Forcella Marmolada (2,910 m). Left alone in the early months of war, the Austro-Hungarian commands decided to occupy it in Autumn 1915, after the finding of an Italian beret and cartridge case. This was done in January 1916 by Kaiserjäger led by Cadet Officer Ludescher; when they reached the pass, they found out that they had preceded the Italians by a mere few minutes, as an Alpini company of the Valde Cordevole Battalion (under Captain Arturo Andreoletti, whom in peacetime had made the eighth ascent of the southern side of Marmolada), coming from the other side of the mountain, was climbing 30 meters below. The Alpini had to retreat. Later on, an Alpini patrol climbed a vertical canyon that led to a position about 50 meters above Forcella Marmolada, but they were also repelled at last minute. The Austro-Hungarians then built a hut for a 50-man garrison on the pass.

More fighting involved the Forcella V, a deep crack in the southern face of the Marmolada, between Point 3065 and Point 3135. Its control by the Austro-Hungarians prevented the Italians from accessing the glacier; this position, defending the two main peaks of Marmolada (Punta Rocca and Punta Penia) was fortified with two overlapping caverns, linked to the “city of ice”.

On 17 June 1916, an Italian attack was repelled by Austro-Hungarian artillery using gas shells.

On 4 July 1917, the Italians started to dig a 250-meter long tunnel that, starting from the east side of Point 3065, would lead to Forcella V. On 20 July an Italian platoon (fifteen men led by Lieutenant Flavio Rosso), expressly created for this task and armed with submachine guns and flamethrowers, captured the lower cavern after fierce hand-to-hand combat; they planned to place a mine inside the cavern and blow it up, in order to destroy the other one, which was located directly above it, and was still in Austro-Hungarian hands. Before this was possible, however, Austrian soldiers, under Lieutenant Julius Pleichinger, realized the Italian plane and placed a mine of their own; the Austrian mine exploded first, on 26 September 1917, burying Lieutenant Rosso and all his men under the shattered rocks. Their bodies were never recovered.

Despite the loss of the platoon, Italian artillery fire eventually forced the Austro-Hungarian garrison to abandon the position; Forcella V thus fell in Italian hands. The next objective for the Italians was Point 3,153, which the Austro-Hungarians had turned into a stronghold. Frontal assault proved to be impossible, but the only other way was to climb a 500-meter vertical face (V-VI grade difficulty). The Italian commands even planned a surprise attack where an aerostat would land special alpine troops on the glacier, but this was never carried out. On 28 October 1917, instead, eight Alpini of the 206^th Company, led by Sergeant Giacomo D’Osbel, passed through an opening of the gallery that led to Forcella V, climbed down below the pass, then climbed a rocky tower that led to Point 3,153 and took the small Austro-Hungarian garrison by surprise. After a short fight, the Austro-Hungarians surrendered, and Point 3153 was thus captured by the Italians.

All was for nothing, however, as just a few days later, on 4 November, all Italian forces on the Marmolada were ordered to abandon their position: the Austro-Hungarian and German forces had broken the Italian lines at Caporetto, and the troops in the Dolomites had to whitdraw to Mount Grappa and the Piave River, after burning their huts to prevent them from being captured intact.