Logística: Matemáticas y Ejército I. - Universidad de Zaragoza

lindly fired irregular intervals. A War
of attacks, pre-announced by enemy
bombardments, lit up by floodlights
positioned on the surrounding summits.
The gallery emplacements, protected
from the wind and enemy fire, gave a
false sense of security, resounding in
places to the sound of enemy digging
that threatened a possible mine. It was a
war of fear and anguish in dark tunnels,
cold and damp, that wore the men out in
the wait for an enemy attack, a mine or
watch duty in the intense cold outside
at 3000 metres above sea level.
The Tre Sassi Fort (Three Stones
Fort)
At Valparola Pass the Tre Sassi
Fort is one of the most interesting
testimonies of the Great War left on the
Dolomite Front. It was build in 1897 as
a defence on the alliance treaty signed
in 1882 (The Triple Alliance) between
Germany, the Austrian Hungarian
Empire and Italy. The construction,
in stone and concrete (not reinforced),
was quickly found to be inadequate
against the destructive capacity that the
developments in artillery had reached
since the building of the fort, even after
being modernised in 1910. There was a
garrison of 110 soldiers and 4 officers
and was supplied with water, electricity,
provisions and ammunitions for at least
100 days. It was hit after a few weeks
after war broke out by a shell fired from
the Cinque Torri which perforated the
roof and it was there evacuated. In the
years of self sufficiency (1930s), the
steel armour plating was removed by
salvagers who gathered scrap metal left
by the war activities on these mountains,
which had become a precious resource
in a sanctions affected Italy. This
restored Fort has become the site of the
Great War Museum.
Conclusion
For twenty months the soldiers
of the two opposing troops endured
terrible battles of indescribable
suffering and hardship, loss of life
and deprivation. One need only think
of the two long winters spent on those
peaks, one man against the other,
more often than not separated by just
a few metres. Suffering together, yet
controlling one another and shooting
at each other, each enduring the same
cold and hardships. This terrible
war, which saw many acts of true
heroism, was fought out on and in
these mountains.
Both armies dug a network of
tunnels and trenches to bypass and
surprise the enemy. It was the war
of attacks with bayonets, used to
conquer some anonymous summit,
perhaps only to be regained by the
enemy immediately afterwards.
These assaults cost innumerable
lives: 6400 Italian soldiers and 1800
Austrian soldiers lost their lives in a
single battle on Col di Lana. And it
was also a war of mines that exploded
beneath enemy positions after months
of exhausting work excavating the rock.
After October 1917 the Italian army
withdrew to the River Piave, where the
famous battle of Caporetto took place, a
COL DI LANA
28 ARMAS Y CUERPOS
Alpine is transported by cable car to the
front. (Next to cable cars mules were an
important means of transport in mountain
warface)
prelude to the Italian army's insurrection.
The Dolomites eventually returned to
their original state of being fantastic
mountains to look at. Even today
though signs of these battles remain,
wounds cut deep into the rocks
by bombs and mines. Their heart
will always remain pierced by the
labyrinth of tunnels which can still
be visited at the Lagazuoi, Castelletto
della Tofana, and 'Citta di ghiaccio',
the "Ice city" constructed by the
Italian Alpini who fought on the
Marmolada.
(Source: Booklet “The Vertical Front”
The Great War from Cortina d’Amezzo
to the Little LAGAZUOI)
ICE CITY
MARMOLADA
Bomb Crater
at MONTE SIEF
Picture of Col Di Lana with the mine funnel (Monte Sief) – in the
background Marmolada glacier (Ice city)