Tagliata Val d'Assa

Casemate block on the front with trenched trenches and rifle galleries

Casemate block on the throat side with trenched trenches and rifle galleries

The Tagliata Val d'Assa , (German: road block Assatal) was an Italian defense structure on the border with Austria-Hungary .

It was located at an altitude of 950 meters in the province of Vicenza, about two kilometers north of Asiago and west of the towns of Rodighieri and San Domenico. The lock belonged to the second section of the first Italian fortification period and was completed between 1887 and 1892. A peace-based troop occupation was not planned, the war crew should have been between 40 and 70 infantry and 20 to 30 artillery men .

description

It was a building made of rubble stones, which completely cordoned off the road laid here on an approximately 35-meter-wide longitudinal step of a slope. The right (eastern) side leaned against the mountain (Monte Rasta), the left side was sloping towards the steep slope of the Assa stream bed. The barrier consisted of a front casemate corps (10.50 m × 33.60 m) and a throat-side casemate corps (8.20 m × 24 m), which were separated from each other by a narrow courtyard. In front of the front was a trench four meters wide and six meters deep, and in front of the throat block one four meters wide and eight meters deep. Both trenches ran into the steep slope to the creek bed. The road passage led through the building on the mountain side, was provided with a drawbridge on both sides and closed with iron gates.
The front casemate block was two-story and had two reject openings each for a 12 cm cannon and a rifle slot on the upper floor at street level. On the lower floor there were four rifle slots for trench defense.
The throat block consisted of three floors with a total of twelve casemates, which were used for crew accommodation and as a magazine.
On the mountain side, cavities had been blasted into the rock at the level of the drawbridges and closed with a wall. This contained two-story rifle galleries projecting to the front of the building for flanking trench defense, each with 2 × 3 rifle slots.
A blanket of earth about two meters thick had been laid on top of the cavities. This could be set up for infantry defense.

task

The task of the system was - together with the Caserma Interrotto and Battery Monte Rasta, also built in 1892 - to block the driveway in the upper Assatal and to secure the Asiago plateau. The shooting range of the barrier was on the road and the bottom of the valley as far as Val Grubach, but there were some blind spots due to the winding road and the dense forest that came right up to the road. The road as such only deserved this name up to the Osteria del Ghertele (today Alberga Ghértele - Cimbrian = little garden). From there to the Austro-Hungarian border it only existed as an almost impassable cart path. Since this work, due to its location, was to be regarded as free of storms by infantry and could not be fought even in direct fire with flat fire, only heavy mortars could have been used, which, however, would not have been possible without lengthy preparations due to the condition of the road. As a result, the roadblock could have done its job. The weak point of the complex, however, was the Caserma Interrotto, which was supposed to cover the flanks, but was completely unsuitable for this purpose. After this fortification had fallen, the state of the barrier would have become untenable, as it could now be attacked from above over Monte Rasta.

War events

At the beginning of the war, the facility was disarmed and the guns used in open field positions. On May 24, 1916 (on the occasion of the Austro-Hungarian offensive over the seven municipalities ) the barrier was fired three times by a 42 cm coastal howitzer . It was no longer possible to determine whether hits were achieved. Unsure about the actual situation of Caserma Interrotto and misjudging their own situation, the Italians gave up the position as untenable on the same day and blew up the facility at 8:45 p.m. The demolition was done less so as not to let the Austrians fall into the hands of the building, but rather to make the road impassable. This measure was crowned with success, especially since two prepared mine shafts between the roadblock and the confluence of the Galmarara brook were detonated and the road was buried at about 70 meters.
Through these explosions the advance of the III. Army Corps significantly impeded. On May 28, 1916, two pioneer companies began cleaning up and clearing the road. Since the passage between the remaining parts of the structure was only three meters wide, these were blown up by the Austro-Hungarian pioneers and the rubble thrown into the trenches or into the gorge of the Assa stream. Only the rifle gallery on the mountain side behind the retaining wall was preserved, but it was badly damaged and as early as June 1916 it was declared in danger of collapse.

As part of the road construction work of the Mussolini era, the remains of the Tagliata Val d'Assa were removed. There is nothing left, only the Alberga alla Tagliata , which is located at this point today , still reminds of the building.

literature

• War files of the kuk III. Army Corps . Vienna State Archives / War Archives.
• Carta Touristica Trento-Lévico-Lavarone. Compass Fleischmann S.ar. L. Istituto Geografico, Gardolo (Trento).
• Austria-Hungary's last war 1914–1918. Volumes I – IV, Verlag der Militärwissenschaftlichen Mitteilungen, Vienna 1933–1939.
• Ministero della Guerra: L'esercito italiano nella grande guerra (1915–1918). Volume I – III, Ufficio Storico, Rome 1929–1974.
• Robert Striffler: From Fort Maso to Porta Manazzo: History of the construction and war of the Italian forts and batteries 1883-1916. Book service South Tyrol

Coordinates: 45 ° 53 ′ 23 "  N , 11 ° 28 ′ 10"  E