Rocca Alta fortress

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Sperrfort Rocca Alta is an autobiographical novel published by Luis Trenker in 1937 and describes his experiences during the First World War , in particular the battles for the Fort (work) Verle on the Austro-Italian front, which was given the fictional name Rocca Alta . The text is one of the few reports that describe the struggle for permanent fortifications in the First World War from the perspective of the occupation, which is why it is also used as a source in works of military history.

Contents (edition 1941)

Luis Trenker, student at the Technical University, spends July 1914 in his homeland Val Gardena in South Tyrol. On August 1, he moved from there to war in Krakow for training, as he was postponed from military service as a student. At the beginning of December he was posted from there to the officers' school in Chiesa and at the beginning of 1915 to Fort Rocca Alta ( Verle plant ) on the border with Italy, with whose commander Albrecht Gimpelmann he shared deep antipathy. On May 23, Italy declared war and a little later the fort began to be bombarded with heavy artillery, with the pre-armored armor penetrating one of the fort's four howitzers and killing four men after just a few hours . The commandant suffers a nervous breakdown and, through exaggerated information, obtains the order to evacuate the plant, with the exception of a small remaining crew, including Trenker. The next day, Trenker fell asleep under the effect of the gunshot gases on the way back to the casemate block in an ammunition casemate , in which he was trapped shortly afterwards when a heavy grenade hit the entrance. He is only released three days later. Shortly afterwards the rest of the crew moved back into the fort, which was now ordered by Lieutenant Partik. Trenker was posted to a base on the Basson, where he participated as a machine gunner in the defense of a major attack. Some time later he leads a patrol on a climbing tour behind the enemy lines and scouts artillery positions . Trenker is still stationed at the Basson and observes from there how Rocca Alta has been under heavy fire and badly damaged since August 15, 1915. Eight days later, Trenker returns to the fort. Heavy shells penetrated the ceiling several times and caused heavy losses. The subsequent large-scale attack by the Italians is narrowly repulsed. Then the fighting and the shelling subsided. An Italian sniper is shot with cunning and an Italian raider who has penetrated the trench is forced to surrender. Over the next few months Trenker undertook several patrols to scout out the Italian positions. On a particularly risky one he was wounded and woke up in a sick bed when the front was now well in front of Rocca Alta thanks to the Austrian South Tyrol offensive [started on May 15, 1916]. Individual, often entertaining episodes and the love story about Noemi, whose family owned a farm near the front and had to give up, are repeatedly inserted into the main plot, and her brother and father were interned.

Authorship

There are no references to other authors besides Luis Trenker in any of the various editions. Nevertheless, after the Second World War there were several disputes in court when Fritz Weber , a comrade of Trenker's war, claimed the authorship of a total of four Trenker novels. At least for Rocca Alta and one other novel, Trenker admitted Weber's collaboration. Ultimately, the dispute probably ended in 1959 with a settlement, the content of which is apparently not publicly known, so that the exact share in the authorship of Rocca Alta is unclear. However, research tends to give Fritz Weber a substantial share.

Changes in later editions

The pre- and post-war editions of Rocca Alta show numerous and sometimes considerable differences. In addition to various minor changes, entire episodes have been left out or added. Some of these changes are undoubtedly due to the changed zeitgeist, as nationalistic or militaristic passages have been defused, as in other Trenker novels. For example, the episode in which an Austrian sniper uses ruse to identify an Italian, shoots him and is congratulated with “Waidmannsheil” is missing. Changes in content can also be seen in the descriptions of the fighting.

Fact or fiction

In the foreword Rocca Alta is referred to as a “factual report”, but at the same time Trenker explains that “names and actions have been changed, omitted or supplemented at their own discretion.” Thus, it is an autobiographical novel. The sequence of the most important combat operations (periods of bombardment, partial evacuation of the fort, major attacks, etc.) essentially corresponds to the events of the war; the details described are critically assessed in research on military history. In fact, by comparing the processes described in Rocca Alta with military-historical literature, inconsistencies can be demonstrated. For example, according to Rocca Alta, between the first penetration of a pre-armored vehicle [26. May] and the attempted handover of the neighboring plant in Lusern [28. May] lie at least seven days, including three days when Trenker was buried in the ammunition casemate. Since this burial is neither mentioned in the military history literature nor by Fritz Weber, nor is such a heavy breakthrough in the ceiling around May 27th, which could have buried the access to the ammunition casemate, the whole episode appears to be inserted and fictitious. Similar doubts apply to the alleged intrusion of Italian soldiers into the trench pranks.

literature

  • Luis Trenker: Rocca Alta fort. The hero struggle of a tank factory . Knaur, Berlin 1937 (further editions: Knauer, Berlin 1938, 1939, 1941; Berg, Munich 1977, 1983; European educational community, among others, Stuttgart 1978)
  • Rolf Hentzschel: Verle plant and Rocca Alta lock fort - facts, backgrounds and legends. In: Sperrfort Verle: Autobiographical novel about the Alpine front in the First World War. morisel, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-943915-11-2 .
  • Rolf Hentzschel: Fortress war in the high mountains . Athesia, Bozen 2008.
  • Gudrun Pilz: The storyteller. In: Köpf, Gerhard: Ezra & Luis or the first ascent of the Ulm Minster . Löwenzahn, Innsbruck 1994, pp. 167-173.
  • Erwin Anton Grestenberger: Imperial and Royal fortifications in Tyrol and Carinthia 1860–1918 . Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-7046-1558-7 .
  • Fritz Weber: The end of the old army . Bergland book, Salzburg / Stuttgart 1959.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pilz, p. 168.
  2. ↑ Pilz, p. 170.
  3. ↑ Hentzschel, Festungskrieg, p. 85; Grestenberger, p. 8.
  4. ↑ Hentzschel, Festungskrieg, pp. 87-101 u. 150-158.