Memories of War: Fort Corbin

Fort Corbin was built between 1906 and 1911 on a spur of the northern edge of the Monte Cengio plateau, 1077 meters above sea level, overlooking the Astico Valley and Assa Valley (specifically, the confluence of the Assa river in the Astico river) and with wide view on the Tonezza Plateau, Monte Cimone and Fort Luserna. Before the fort was built, in the same spot once stood an old artillery battery. Along with the underlying Fort Casa Ratti, located in the valley below at a height of just 350 meters, Fort Corbin was to bar the Astico Valley and to support the more advanced fortresses Verena and Campolongo, just a few kilometers away; together with them, Corbin was part of the Third Sector (Asiago) of the Agno-Assa Barrage. Fort Corbin was, in particular, the eastern element of Astico Valley barrage, while Casa Ratti was the western element.

The garrison consisted of 150 artillerymen from the 9th Fortress Artillery Regiment.

Designed by the Army Corps Engineers General Staff of Verona, Fort Corbin was structured on a main body with 149 mm guns, a command building, a powder magazine, connecting trenches, observation posts, warehouses and barracks. The fort was built in non-reinforced concrete, up to 2.5 meters thick, and was equipped with a sheltered observatory with view over the Astico Valley and a revolving and retractable armored turret for fire direction. On the side exposed to the enemy, there was a deep moat kept under fire by a concrete caponier a concrete, with machine gun embrasures; there were also two rows of covered trenches for close defense. The barracks for the garrison were located below the fort. A cable car linked the fortress to the valley floor near Pedescala.

For the construction of fortress, given its location, it was necessary to expressly build a military road that started from Tresché Conca (and that still remains the only access road to the fort). During the construction, which took five years, the workers lived with their families in a village set up in the vicinity of the fort (the construction works for the fortifications, with the resulting jobs, led to a small economic "boom" among the inhabitants of the plateau: during the war, however, they would deeply regret the strategic importance of their land).

Fort Corbin was one of the most powerfully armed fortresses in the Asiago plateau: its main armament consisted of six 149 mm steel guns (with a range of 11 km) in 14-18 cm thick rotating cupolas, instead of the usual four that armed most forts, as well as four old bronze 87 mm guns and four machine guns for close defense. Near the fort there were also some 75/27 mm guns, as well as trenches and riflemen positions for close defense.

All for nothing, since, at the outbreak of the war, the fort came to be in such a position that it was of little use in the military operations: after unsuccessfully firing a few shots in the initial phase of the conflict (from 24 May 1915 to July of the same year), against Fort Lusern, it was decided that its modern 149 mm guns would be more useful elsewhere, so they were removed and sent to other areas of the frontline, and they were replaced with spruce logs, to fool enemy observers.

The trick certainly worked: the Austro-Hungarian command believed that Fort Corbin still possessed all of his weapons, and at the beginning of the battle of Asiago, in May 1916, the fort was heavily shelled by Austro-Hungarian artillery, including the 381 mm howitzer called "Barbara" (located near Cost'Alta, more than 13 kilometers away), which uselessly fired 57 shells in the first day of the offensive (May 15, 1916) and more in the following days.

Various shots hit the target (one of the armored cupolas was torn off from its seat by a direct hit), but it was all wasted effort, since the fort was unarmed. In late May, the fall of Monte Cengio Corbin made the fortress untenable, so Corbin was sabotaged and abandoned by the garrison, who retired to avoid capture, and at 19.30 on May 29th it was occupied by units of the 24th and 47th Feldjäger Regiment (Colonel Kliemann). Already on the following day, however, it was decided to recapture the fortress; at 8.15 am on 30 May, five companies of the Third Battalion of the 2nd Grenadier Regiment assaulted Punta Corbin. The attack was initially successful, but at noon the arrival of Austro-Hungarian reinforcements led to the definitive loss of the position. About twenty Austro-Hungarians and forty Italians were killed in the fighting; among them the captains Tonini and Visdomini, while Lieutenant Colonel Camera, the battalion commander, was seriously wounded and rescued by sergeant Menegon. Lieutenant Carlo Stuparich, an irredentist from Trieste, found himself isolated and encircled: rather than falling prisoner - as an Austro-Hungarian citizen, he would be hanged as a traitor - he preferred to kill himself. Other men, led by Lieutenant Luigi Lega, managed to escape encirclement.

The occupation of the fort, used by the Austrians as a warehouse, lasted less than a month, since on June 24 the Austro-Hungarian troops withdrew to the northern slope of the Assa Valley; on the following day, Fort Corbin was reoccupied by Italian troops. The enemy occupation of the nearby Monte Cimone (located southwest of Fort Corbin), however, made it impossible to re-arm the fort, whose main entrance was kept constantly under fire: till the end of the war, Fort Corbin was used merely as a shelter and warehouse for the Italian troops manning the Cengio-Tresché Conca subsector.

After the war and till the late 1920s, Fort Corbin was still used as barracks for training units and for the State Forestry Corps; then it was completely abandoned and stripped by "recoverers", which removed all iron equipment and furnishings, starting with the armored cupolas (removed at the end of the 1920s).

In 1942 the fortress was bought by Emilio Panozzo, a local farmer, and in the 1980s, while the rest of the fortresses of the plateau were still completely abandoned, Severino Panozzo, Emilio's son, began to patiently clear the rubble and vegetation and to solidify the buildings. Since the 1990s, Fort Corbin can be visited as a privately owned museum; it can be reached by car from Treschè Conca. In the building that housed the command and the guard there is now a small museum with war relics found on the plateau.

The fort and, below it, the barracks.

The command and guard building.

Remains of one of the 149 mm gun emplacement where the cupola once stood.

The roof.

View towards Arsiero.

The precipice below the fort.

Service area - on the right, the drinking trough for the beasts of burden, still largely used back in the time.

Shell crater left by a 381 mm or 420 mm howitzer shell.

"Shell crater - Siege (artillery) shell - Meters 12 per 3 - Caliber, 380-420 (mm) - Range, 14 km - Weight, 10 quintals."

Another 380-420 mm shell crater.

Arsiero seen from the fort. The town was heavily damaged during World War I, especially with the "Strafexpedition" in May-June 1916, when the town was briefly occupied by Austro-Hungarian troops and shelled by Italian artillery.