Transport, roads, trails - Written in the landscape

The war at high altitude required considerable logistical and material effort for the care of the wounded and sick. In the high mountains there were only first aid structures, while intermediate structures, more spacious and organized, were located in the valley floor. For the most serious cases, transfer to military hospitals in territories even farther away from the front was organized. In addition to historical photographs, there remain recollections of the health infrastructure and biographies of doctors who worked at the front or who visited it.
For many, religiosity played an important role in making the harshness of war bearable. The private one, of the individual soldiers, can be reconstructed with extreme difficulty through some objects or personal diaries. The rites of official religiosity, on the other hand, are well documented by photographs, drawings and written sources. These sources show that religiosity itself was often exploited for propaganda purposes and to support the war effort. Parish priests and chaplains, such as Feldkurat Josef Hosp on the Austrian side and Don Pietro Zangrando on the Italian side, supported with conviction the causes of their respective staffs, to the extent that they intervened at times: on the front, faith and patriotism were closely intertwined.
The general staff prepared numerous cemeteries for the fallen. At high altitude, there were emergency cemeteries, in some cases located near the front lines. Time has left barely visible traces of these places. On the Austro-Hungarian front, the cemetery of Toblingerdörfl and that of Zirbenboden are known, both well documented by photographs of the time. Between the two wars, the remains of the soldiers were exhumed and moved to the large cemeteries dedicated to the fallen, in ossuaries or in village tombs, partly for ideological and political reasons. (GF, SK)

The landscape that characterizes the area on which the research of the Written on the Landscape project focused is the Dolomite medium and high mountains, upon which military structures and infrastructures were grafted. From a naturalistic point of view, a monographic report of the Italian I Army Corps of 1917 proves to be particularly revealing, in which we read: “The region in question is part of the Dolomite Alps, of which it forms the extreme eastern edge, and, in this region, the characters of the Triassic formation are very marked, with local tectonic disturbances […]. The phenomena of erosion have acted intensely on dolomite, a constituent element of these rocks, so as to form irregular and steep slopes, furrowed by deep gullies. The typical example of the intensity of this erosion is given by the Tre Cime di Lavaredo; and where erosion has manifested itself most, shales and sandstones have been laid bare.”
The report is very detailed and also focuses on the intricate situation of water: “From the orographic complexity of the region results, by natural consequence, a corresponding hydrographic complexity, and it is noteworthy that in a relatively small area there are watercourses unfolding in different and opposite directions. Thus, while the Rio Marzon, the Rio Cengia and the Rio Giralba all have the general north-south direction, the Bacher Bach goes from south to north; and while the Boden Bach runs from west to east, the Schwarze Rienz [Rienza Nera] descends from east to west.” This is followed by climatic considerations, in which the minimum winter temperatures that have been recorded can drop to -30° C, and insights on the vegetation, ranging from coniferous forest, to mountain forest, to rhododendron.1Archivio dell’Ufficio storico dello Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, Roma, Monografie del I Corpo d’Armata – Genio – Sistemazione difensiva, AUSSME_B1_110D_23A.
A complex natural landscape, therefore, that did not make life at high altitude easy for the hundreds of men who faced each other for twenty-nine months, summer and winter, in the Dolomites. (GF)

For the soldiers who found themselves fighting on the Three Peaks Plateau, winters were long and snowy. The snow fell from October to April and could last until late June in the shaded areas of the highest peaks. The minimum temperature often dropped to -30°C at night, hovering around 0°C during the day.
Frostbite and avalanches soon became familiar dangers. To help the soldiers survive in such conditions, both staffs provided detailed equipment and instructions. Each Italian soldier, for example, received two sets of woolen garments and three heavy blankets. The troops in the trenches also received coats and shoes lined with fur, clogs, balaclavas, leg wraps, socks, waterproof clothing and sleeping bags. To avoid frostbite, antioxidant fat was distributed to spread on the feet. To limit the damage caused by avalanches, officers from both armies had maps at their disposal showing the points most likely to cause snow loss. Despite this, the winter at high altitude resulted in hundreds of victims.
As time went on, the general staffs began to take advantage of winter conditions. The attack on Sasso di Sesto/Sextenstein on 21 April 1917 is a clear example of this. The approach of members of the Austro-Hungarian army to the Italian lines took place through a tunnel dug hundreds of meters in the snow. This tunnel made it possible to catch the sentinels by surprise and temporarily conquer the position. It also required the training of departments specialized in the use of winter equipment, including skis used for stealth and surprise attacks as well as sleds for the transport of materials. (GF)

The need to supply troops at high altitude required the construction of a very complex road system throughout the area and the surrounding valleys. As for the Italian side, a main artery followed the course of the Ansiei, from Cima Gogna, to Auronzo and up to Misurina, and it was met by cart roads, mule tracks and paths coming from the secondary valleys. A line of entrenchment on the other side of the positions, from Pian di Cengia/Büllelejoch to Piano di Lavaredo and Longeres/Longere, led to Misurina.
In the correspondence of the I Army Corps, a document edited by the Commander of the Engineers of the sector, Captain Cristofori, reports on all the communication routes built in the area, indicating the type of road (truckable, path, etc.), the development in meters, the slope and the state of conservation at the time of reconnaissance.1Archivio dell’Ufficio storico dello Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, Roma, Carteggio I Corpo d’Armata, AUSSME_B1_110D_34A, 1 ottobre 1917.
As far as means of transport are concerned, the use of baggage trains and porters (with them in good season and hand sleds or dog sleds in winter) was indispensable. In case of need, means of transport were temporarily requisitioned from the civilian population (in an Italian report we read, for example: “If necessary, from the inhabitants it will be possible to requisition about thirty four-wheeled wagons and their quadrupeds, and about forty sleds of various sizes”). In the winter months it was important to clear the snow, to prevent the front from remaining isolated. For this purpose, street cleaning services were expressly provided (in the same report we read: “Pay maximum attention to the very important snow removal service. On the main arteries it must be prepared with snowplows pulled by quadrupeds; On secondary arteries, smaller snowplows, shovels, wooden shovels, etc. can be used, each position must be provisioned with these items. Keep in mind that the clearing must be continuous, as soon as the snow has reached 6/10 cm. The mule tracks and paths, subject to being covered by snow, must be promptly identified with poles of such a height as to allow for the recognition of the direction to follow, even if the snow layer is particularly high”).2Archivio dell’Ufficio storico dello Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, Roma, Monografie del I Corpo d’Armata – Genio – Sistemazione difensiva, AUSSME_B1_110D_23A.
Russian and Serbian prisoners of war were increasingly used to transport supplies to high-altitude positions on the Austrian side. In Val Fiscalina/Fischleintal alone, at the Hotel Dolomitenhof of the well-known mountain guide Sepp Innerkofler, 183 prisoners of war were quartered with porterage duties. In the camp of Tre Scarperi/Dreischusterhütte there were 177 men who had to take charge of the transport, which was often extremely tiring.

(GF)

Carteggio I Corpo d’Armata, AUSSME_B1_110D_34A, Archivio dell’Ufficio storico dello Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, Roma.

Monografie del I Corpo d’Armata – Genio – Sistemazione difensiva, AUSSME_B1_110D_23A, Archivio dell’Ufficio storico dello Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, Roma.

Kriegsarchiv Wien, Neue Feldakten, Gruppen- und Abschnittskommando, Italienische Front, Grenzabschnitt 10 (Tirol), 1184, Kriegsgefangenen Arbeiter Abteilung Nr. 41, 1915/16.

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