War in the high mountains meant always taking advantage of the terrain for defensive purposes. This is why, from 1916, the construction of caves to house men and weapons was promoted by the leaders of the Austrian army. In the rockface, soldiers and cannons were relatively well protected from enemy artillery fire, but digging tunnels in the mountain required an enormous outlay of resources and energy. Already in 1916, the shortage of materials had become painfully evident to the Austrians; the available explosives–consisting of dynamite, ecrasite and gunpowder–had to be used sparingly. Electric drills and hand-operated stone drills were used to complete the work.1Kriegsarchiv Wien, Neue Feldakten, Artilleriekommando der 21. Gebirgsbrigade, 3321, K.u.k. Rayons-Kommando V, Kavernenbau, Feldpost Nr. 601, 7. Mai 1916 (transcription).
In the second half of 1917, several sketches were made of the Forcella di San Candido/Innichriedl, the position of the left wing of the battle front, describing the caves then under construction. In September 1917, the construction of the 28-metre-long Cordier Tunnel was still underway at the Cadin station in San Candido/Innichen, which lacked only one slit to be completed, as well as the lower and upper guard posts. A large troop cave, a three-by-three-meter searchlight cave in the Cordier Gallery, and a twelve-meter-long machine gun cave with two firing slits had already been completed. Also in the position of the Forcella di San Candido/Innichriedl, two caves had been completed for the shelter of the troops and one for a mine launcher; only the Steinhart tunnel, with a length of 33.5 meters and eight slits, was still under construction.2Tiroler Landesarchiv, Standschützen Baon Innsbruck I 1914-1918, Faszikel II, Kavernenevidenz der Kampfgruppe "Innichriedl" am 19.9.1917.
The same system was also present in the corresponding Italian front, using mines, explosives and motorized drilling hammers. The most impressive constructions were those under Monte Paterno/Paternkofel, with excavations of hundreds of meters, but also those at Sasso di Sesto/Sextenstein: a system of tunnels capable of hiding up to 500 men, ammunition and food. Also behind the Forcella di Toblin/Toblinger Riedl, at the height of the Dito Piccolo (today Salsiccia di Francoforte/Frankfurter Würstl), several shelters and tunnels for machine guns were dug, in order to control the Valle di Rienza/Rienztal.3Archivio dell’Ufficio Storico dello Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, Roma, Diario comando Genio del I Corpo d'Armata, AUSSME_B1_110D_13A, febbraio 1916.
Diario comando Genio del I Corpo d’Armata, Archivio dell’Ufficio Storico dello Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, Rome.
Kriegsarchiv Wien, Neue Feldakten, Artilleriekommando der 21. Gebirgsbrigade, 3321, K.u.k. Rayons-Kommando V, Kavernenbau, Feldpost Nr. 601, 7 May 1916 (trascrizione).
Tiroler Landesarchiv, Standschützen Baon Innsbruck I 1914-1918, Faszikel II, Kavernenevidenz der Kampfgruppe “Innichriedl” am 19.9.1917.
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