Battle of San Matteo
Memorial in honor of the fallen at the Gaviapass
| date | August 13, 1918 to September 3, 1918 |
|---|---|
| place | Punta San Matteo |
| output | Austria-Hungary victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
|
|
| Troop strength | |
| 307th Company, "Monte Ortler" battalion | 3rd assault company of the 22nd Rifle Division |
| losses | |
|
low |
low |
1915
1st Isonzo - 2nd Isonzo - 3rd Isonzo - 4th Isonzo - Lavarone (1915-1916)
1916
5th Isonzo - South Tyrol offensive - 6th Isonzo - Doberdò - 7. Isonzo - 8. Isonzo - 9th Isonzo -
First Dolomites Offensive - Second Dolomites offensive -
Avalanche disaster
1917
10th Isonzo - Ortigara - 11th Isonzo - 12th Isonzo - Pozzuolo - Monte Grappa
1918
Piave - San Matteo - Vittorio Veneto
Due to its strategically favorable location above the road over the Gaviapass , the Punta San Matteo was the scene of one of the last significant victories of the Austro-Hungarian army in the First World War .
At the beginning of 1918 the Austrians occupied the top of the mountain in order to be able to fire artillery on the Italians' supplies on the Gaviapassstraße. On August 13th, however, Italian Alpini of the 308th Company of the "Monte Ortler" battalion were able to conquer the Punta in a surprise attack and take half of the Austrians as prisoners.
On September 3rd, however, Imperial and Royal Kaiserschützen managed to recapture the summit of the 307th company of the "Monte Ortler" battalion in an assault attack and with strong artillery fire as part of Operation Gemse . 150 men with 10 machine guns were involved in the attack, led by Lieutenant Tabarelli De Fatis, who consisted of the 3rd Assault Company of the 22nd Rifle Division, reinforced with parts of high mountain and mountain guide companies , including parts of the 30th High Mountain Company commanded by Captain Luis Molterer, which had already conquered the Trafoier Eiswand on September 1st, 1917 . The subsequent bombing of the positions claimed numerous victims on both sides. The Austrians lost 17 men, the Italians 10.
In August 2004, the frozen bodies of three Kaiserschützen were found just below the summit at an altitude of 3400 meters. The battle on the Punta San Matteo had one of the highest arenas and was at the same time the last victorious battle between Austria and Hungary in the First World War.
bibliography
- Udalrico Fantelli, Giuseppe Magrin, Giovanni Peretti: Agosto - Settembre 1918 Battaglie per il San Matteo. Le battaglie più old della storia , Alpina, Bormio 2008, ISBN 978-88-87584-33-2 .
- Giuseppe Magrin: La battaglia più alta della storia. Punta San Matteo nel Gruppo Ortles-Cevedale 1918 , Rossato, Valdagno 1994.
- Giuseppe Magrin (ed.): Il Capitano sepolto nei ghiacci. Lettere e diari di Arnaldo Berni. Vicende della guerra 1915 - '18 sui monti tra Stelvio e Gavia , Alpina, Bormio 2012, ISBN 978-88-87584-32-5 .
- Walther Schaumann: The Austrian counterattack on Punta San Matteo (3692 m above sea level) on September 3, 1918 In: Allgemeine Schweizerische Militärzeitschrift No. 10/1968 (PDF; 14.3 MB), accessed on March 9, 2017.
proof
- ↑ Walther Schaumann: The Austrian counterattack on the Punta San Matteo (3692 m above sea level) on September 3, 1918. P. 583 f.
- ↑ Italian website Alpinia.net about the struggles on the Punta ( Memento of 4 February 2006 at the Internet Archive )
- ↑ WWI bodies are found on glacier. BBC report of 23 August 2004.
- ↑ Georg Bönisch: The Eastern Front: War in the Eternal Ice of the Alps. Spiegel Online from March 30, 2004.
photos
Photo from 1917 from Monte Vioz to Punta San Matteo (in the middle) and Pizzo Tresero
Graves of the fallen Kaiserschützen from Operation Gemse
Punta San Matteo
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