I. WW Italian-Austrian Front, today

[AirCommando]

I. WW Italian-Austrian Front, pictures taken days ago, when I went with my bike at 1.900 meters o.s.l. to the old frontline. Bunkers, Main Supply Road Tunnels, Positions and Command Posts. Somewhere in northern Italy. Everbody is welcome to post own pictures and post comments and questions.

[kitatatsumi]

My great grandfather fought with the 332 Inf (see avatar) on the Italian front in WW1, Vittorio-Veneto, 1918. Near Venice, the river Pavaise (?) Is that near-by?
Know anything about this?

thanks for the pics.

[theholeinthedonut]

Great pics, quite an interesting chapter of the great war.

[AirCommando]

Is that near-by?.
It´s on the regional border between Lombardia and Trentino Alto Adige (at I. WW time, the Italian-Austrian border) west from the Garda Lake.

Here some facts from Wikipedia:
"Passo del Tremalzo (el. ca. 1702 m.) is a mountain pass in the Autonomous Province of Trent in Italy. It lies near Trento and Lake Garda. The pass road was built for strategic reasons during World War I. The south side of the pass requires an all-terrain vehicle. Chains are required from September to May. The pass road has a maximum grade of 14%. "............"On the Trentino front, the Austro-Hungarians took advantage of the mountainous terrain, which favoured the defender. After an initial strategic retreat, the front remained largely unchanged, while Austrian Kaiserschützen and Standschützen and Italian Alpini engaged in bitter hand-to-hand combat throughout the summer. The Austro-Hungarians counter-attacked in the Altopiano of Asiago, towards Verona and Padua, in the spring of 1916 (Strafexpedition), but made little progress."......."In the autumn of 1917, thanks to the improving situation on the Eastern front, the Austrians received large numbers of reinforcements, including German Stormtroopers and the elite Alpenkorps. The Central Powers launched a crushing offensive on 1917-10-26, spearheaded by the Germans. They achieved a victory at Caporetto. The Italian army was routed and retreated more than 100 km (60 miles). They were able to reorganise and stabilize the front at the Piave River. In 1918, the Austro-Hungarians repeatedly failed to break through, in a series of battles on the Asiago Plateau, finally being decisively defeated in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto in October of that year. Austria-Hungary surrendered in early November 1918."

[Kingswat]

nice pics.

[Syncmaster]

I. WW Italian-Austrian Front, pictures taken days ago, when I went with my bike at 1.900 meters o.s.l. to the old frontline. Bunkers, Main Supply Road Tunnels, Positions and Command Posts. Somewhere in northern Italy. Everbody is welcome to post own pictures and post comments and questions.


You should visit Slovenia, the Soča river and the austrian part of the trenches. Lots and lots of leftovers there. The museum in Caporeto or Kobarid in Slowene as it is in Slovenia, is a must to see for a wwar I historian!

http://www.kobariski-muzej.si/

[Labud]

Italian front was "divided" in two parts: front on the Alpes and on the Soca river.
Nice thread, as I said once, I very like threads about unpopular things. :)

[Bombtrack]

My great grandfather fought with the 332 Inf (see avatar) on the Italian front in WW1, Vittorio-Veneto, 1918. Near Venice, the river Pavaise (?) Is that near-by?
Know anything about this?

thanks for the pics.

Small world.. My great-grandfather fought at Vittorio-Veneto as well, was even made a Kinght in the Order of Vittorio-Veneto, unfortunately I dont know his unit..

[Jac[ITA]]

My great grandfather fought with the 332 Inf (see avatar) on the Italian front in WW1, Vittorio-Veneto, 1918. Near Venice, the river Pavaise (?) Is that near-by?
Know anything about this?

thanks for the pics.

The river is Piave (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piave_River) is not near Trentino-Alto adige were thw photo was taken, is far to the east.

My grandfather was on the other side... :roll:

[check point]

My great grandfather fought with the 332 Inf (see avatar) on the Italian front in WW1, Vittorio-Veneto, 1918. Near Venice, the river Pavaise (?) Is that near-by?
Know anything about this?

thanks for the pics.
also my great grandfather fought in the battle of Vittorio Veneto and his unit had been one of the first to enter in the town
he had also the medal of the Order of Vittorio Veneto
http://www.quirinale.it/onorificenze/ImmaginiGrandi/VittorioVenetoB.jpg

[pacifist]

Interesting.

This is one front i don´t know much about.

[kitatatsumi]

Wow, good stuff here.:)
A far as I know, the 332nd was the only US unit there.
I have only been able to find two articles on them, but it seems that they were sent to the Italian front while the rest of the Division (60th?) went to the Western Front. From what I understand, their main goal was to improve the Italian morale, and they were ordered to march from various city to city, changing clothes in each new city. Helmets one day, campaign hats the next. Tuesday boots with leggings, Wednesday without. This was intended to give the impression that the "Americans had arrived" and give the Italians heart.
Apparently it worked, as we can see the war in Italy ended soon after the Battle of Veneto.

According to the two sources, casualties were quite light and a few injuries were sustained from a mortar attack, some suggest the mortar attack was actually an accident. As it turns out, my grandfather, was wounded (head) at this time, by a mortar in fact. Either in action or by the faulty mortar round. He was on morphine the rest of his life and is well known, according to family sources, to have turned into a real jerk after returning from war. He was about 19, fresh off-of the boat from Poland via Rotterdam (1898) and thats how got his US citizenship, fighting in the war.

any other info on the 332 or Veneto would be greatly, greatly, appreciated.
I was actually in Slovenia a few months back, even drove by Veneto. But I was with a large group, and the prospect of leaving the Italian highway for Italian back-roads to look for something that we weren't sure existed met slight support.:|

[Bombtrack]

The Italian-Austrian front, especially The Isonzo Front was an extremely brutal front. It was fought mostly 10,000+ feet high in the Alps and various plateaus along the Isonzo river. Many men died on both sides from disease as all the water in the river became posioned from the thousands of corpses rotting in it. They faced freezing rain and scorching heat, mountain passes sometimes barely a foot wide, where many men died or had to stay still on for hours. There was rock everywhere and many of the men died from splintered pieces of rock acting as shrapnel

I read diaries of an Italian soldier and an Austrian officer on that front and couldnt believe how miserable it was. The Austrian officer was actually killed while writing about being bombarded, the person who found the diary found the diary had ended in mid-sentence and wrote "I found this diary in the hand of a dead officer on the Doberdo plateau: God Bless him.'

More info: http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/isonzo.htm

Cumulative casualties of the numerous battles of the Isonzo were enormous. Half of the entire Italian war casualty total - some 300,000 of 600,000 - were suffered along the Isonzo. Austro-Hungarian losses, while by no means as numerous were nevertheless high at around 200,000 (of an overall total of around 1.2 million casualties).

[IanSolo]

Also people of my family fought on those places ( my family comes from NE of Italy, regions of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, I still remember my grandma telling me about Austrian soldiers retreating and asking for food), and I read some books and diaries about the experiences of soldiers on both the sides, it was really a white hell...and a carnage... My God poor them!!!

If someone is interested I can suggest the books of Fritz Weber, Paolo Caccia Dominioni and Lorenzo e Paolo Pozzato.

[kitatatsumi]

I am certainly interested. Yet, I just did a quick Google search and all the sites seemed to be in Italian. I don't speak or read Italian. Any idea what the names of the books are? Perhaps I could find a Yankee version.

[IanSolo]

Hi, about Paolo Caccia Dominioi, in German I found this:

http://meteor.bibvb.ac.at/F?func=find-b&find_code=IDN&local_base=acc01&request=AC00805587

and about Fritz Weber these are the books I was talking:

Italienische Übersetzungen
Tappe della disfatta (Das Ende einer Armee)
Dal Monte Nero a Caporetto (Isonzo 1915, 1916, 1917)
Guerra sulle Alpi (Alpenkrieg)


Cheers.

[AirCommando]

Interesting to see how many "veterans" from this frontline are still in the memory of their families. Anyway, I will psot more when I´m back from my second tour next month. Have fun.