Sebastiano plant
The Sebastiano ( ital. Forte Dosso Cherle ) was one of a total of seven barriers of the Austrian fortifications on the border with Italy . It belonged to the Sperrgruppe on the plateau of Lavarone-Folgaria and, together with the rest, secured the imperial border against a breakthrough across the plateau of the seven communities to the south . The construction planning, which began in 1909, was in the hands of First Lieutenant E. Luschinsky. Captain Proksch became the first in command. The estimated construction costs were 1,600,000 crowns, but then totaled 1,682,000 crowns.
Situation and task
It is located on a ridge southeast of the Passo del Sommo at an altitude of 1,445 meters and had the task of sealing off the road from Passo Tonezza del Cimone to Folgaria . It also covered the Valle Orsara to the right with its neighboring plant in Sommo and the Val d 'Astico with the road from Arsiero to the plateau with the neighboring plant in Gschwent on the left.
- Own activities
The Sebastiano plant fired a large number of shells on the Italian lines. From May 24, 1915 (i.e. the beginning of the war) to May 22, 1916 (the time when the Italian front got out of range of the guns due to the offensive ) 21,647 shells with a caliber of 10 cm were fired from tower howitzers and casemate howitzers. In the period from May 15 to 18, 1916, the plant fired 5,105 shells to support the offensive.
description
The factory was built in the years 1910 to 1913 according to the more modern knowledge that the battery block and the casemate block were separated from each other in order to reduce the impact of the fire. The distance between the armored turrets was in the middle at 24 meters (thus the distance was more than twice as large as in the Verle plant, which was only two years older.) Both parts were connected by a postern . The system was constructed in concrete and was already partially integrated into the natural rock. The ceiling, between 2.5 and 2.8 meters thick, was reinforced with I-beams above the casemates, which could only be penetrated with a 30.5 cm caliber. The strength of the I-girders on the top floor was NP 40 (40 cm high), in the false ceilings NP 26. The work was surrounded by a ditch six meters deep and between eight and nine meters wide. On the right in the jutting corner of the front ditch there was a trench , which was also connected to the battery block by a postern. On top of the battery block sat four armored turrets and two armored machine gun stands; in the casemate block an armored observation dome, two armored machine gun stands and the traditional battery. The concrete of the factory roof was covered with galvanized sheet metal to keep out moisture.
Casemate block
The casemate block consisted of the ground floor, the upper floor and the combat or battery floor
- ground floor
- a workshop with material depot
- a fuel depot
- an engine room (emergency generator)
- a toilet with an anteroom
- two food depots
- a defensible guard room in a throat trunk
- the factory access
- two ammunition magazines for tower howitzers
- a living room for sappers
- an accommodation room for 11 men
- a room for 24 men
- a sick bay with 11 beds
- a medical area
- a kitchen
- a general depot
- a fuel depot
- a spotlight stand in the Traditor
- a central corridor with access to the postern to the battery block and a staircase
- First floor
- a storage room
- a lavatory with an anteroom and spotlights in the throat
- two food depots
- the throat case with two armored casemates for two machine guns each and a 21 cm searchlight to cover the throat
- a crew accommodation for 24 men and a spotlight stand for a 21 cm spotlight
- three crew quarters for 24 men each
- accommodation for the commander
- accommodation for the remaining officers
- a switchboard
- the optical signal station to Monte Rust and Carbonare, a spotlight stand for a 21 cm spotlight, an emergency exit with stairs to the roof
- an ammunition magazine for 10 cm casemate howitzer (traditional guns)
- the optical signal station to the Sommo intermediate plant
- two armored casemates for 10 cm M12 casemate dowels in the Traditor
- an armored casemate for two machine guns (in the Traditor - direction of fire on Werkstrasse)
- a staircase
- Battery bullet
- a rotating armored observation dome with the possibility of adapting a machine gun
- a fixed machine gun armored dome with two reject openings for one machine gun each
- Between the two machine-gun domes was a long corridor that also served as a ready room
- a spotlight stand (so-called hangard)
- a staircase
- There was a concrete wall on the factory roof, the so-called infantry line for close defense. It could be reached through the emergency exit from the upper floor via an iron external staircase.
Battery pack
The battery block was single-story and had:
- an optical signal station for the Lusern and Gschwent plants, as well as a spotlight stand for a 21-cm spotlight
- an armored casemate for two machine guns to cover the northern and northeastern gap
- an exit to the infantry position laid out on the deck between howitzers domes No. III and No. IV
- two fixed armored domes with two reject openings each for one machine gun
- four howitzers domes each with a 10 cm M.9 tower howitzer in a depression mount
- two storage rooms
- the postern for trenching
- the postern from the casemate block
- an exit to the convertible top with a stand for a headlight
- four ammunition magazines under the gun wells of the howitzers and connected to them by ammunition elevators.
Trench pranks (also counter-mount case)
Two-story in the outer wall of the southern tip of the trench, armed with:
- two machine guns in a double tank casemate
- two 6 cm casemate cannons in a double armored casemate
Armament
- 4 × 10 cm tower howitzers M.9
- 2 × casemate cannons 6 cm M.10 in the trench streak
- 2 × Casemate doves 10 cm M.12 in the Traditor
- 1 × tank casemates with two machine guns in the trenches
- 2 × armored casemates with two machine guns each in a throat case
- 1 × armored casemate with two machine guns in the Traditor
- 2 × fixed armored domes with two machine guns each on the battery block
- 1 × fixed armored dome with two machine guns on the casemate block
- 1 × rotating observation dome with a machine gun on the casemate block
- 1 × armored casemate with two machine guns in the northeast flank of the battery block
This system was the only one in the traditional battery of the casemate block to have two 10 cm M.12 casemate downders; all other plants here had only 8 cm M.9 cannons. A total of 17 M 07/12 machine guns , two 35-centimeter and six 21-centimeter headlights were part of the equipment.
crew
According to the standard, the crew should consist of five officers and 128 men. The then actual crew, however, had a strength of three officers and 236 men and temporarily consisted of up to 400 men, who also sought protection inside the Landsturm workers deployed at the fort.
The emergency crew for all plants initially consisted of a detachment of the kk Landesschützen-Regiment Bozen No. II , the 2nd company of the fortress artillery battalion No. 1 from Tenna (battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Ludwig Pengov) and the 1st – 4th. Company of the fortress artillery battalion No. 8 from Haidenschaft and Wippach (battalion commander Colonel Alfred Langer).
War events
Since the plant was not in the attack section of the Italians (as with all plants of the Vielgreuth / Folgaria group, there were no infantry attacks here either) it was by far not as intensely shelled as the local plants Verle , Lusern , Gschwent and the Vezzena post .
It was fought by artillery only by a 28 cm howitzer battery on Monte Campomolon and two other 28 cm howitzers in the courtyard of the unfinished Forte Campomolon . The total number of 28 cm shells fired at the factory is believed to have been around 3,400. In addition, there are around 10,000 rounds of 14.9 cm caliber from a field artillery battery on Monte Toraro, which fired on the Werkstrasse and on the 20 cm thick front armor of the casemate howitzer in the traditional battery. These were hit several times; however, since armor-piercing ammunition was not available, they were not penetrated. Nothing is known about those who fell within the plant.
- Hit position
- On August 17, 1915, a 28 cm shell struck the armored armor of the rotating observation post on the casemate block. The armor was deformed and the dome could no longer be moved. The damage could no longer be repaired.
- On August 18, the armored vehicles were penetrated by two tower howitzers. This led to the brief failure of the two howitzers.
- On August 24th, a shell penetrated the concrete ceiling and exploded at the level of the gun well of tower howitzer No. IV. By concreting the ring gallery in this, the gun initially failed, but could be repaired again.
- On August 26, 1915, another 28 cm shell got stuck as a dud in the dome of the tower howitzer No. II. It penetrated 19 cm into the steel without causing any damage.
- The front wall of the casemate block was hit several times during the bombardment in August 1915 in front of the ammunition magazine next to the Traditor and was finally torn open. However, the magazine concerned had already been cleared so that no further damage occurred.
No serious damage was caused to the concrete ceiling of the plant, and repair work was carried out successfully on an ongoing basis.
Further improvement work
After the experiences that had been made during the bombardment of the Verle and Lusern plants in particular (the constant fire with medium calibers on the access roads had made them impassable), the construction of an underground access tower was also started at Sebastiano in June 1915 Starting from the Traditor, it was 120 meters long and parallel to Werkstrasse and was completed on October 11, 1915. In addition, rock caverns were built below the complex in order to offer the crew safe cover in the event of any fire with 30.5 cm shells and another passage was drilled through the natural rock for trenching.
By December 17, 1915, replacement beds for the tower howitzers had been prepared outside the actual facility, but these were no longer required due to the changed situation from June 1916. The plant was kept in working order until the end of the war.
Current condition
During the steel embargo by the League of Nations against Italy on the occasion of its war against Abyssinia in the 1930s, the armored domes were dismantled and the steel used was blown out. As a result, the casemate block collapsed. The battery block is also completely demolished and only appears as a heap of rubble. From 1990 onwards, extensive clean-up work was carried out. The facility is accessible in parts.
literature
- Erwin Anton Grestenberger: Imperial and Royal fortifications in Tyrol and Carinthia 1860–1918. Verlag Österreich ua, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-8132-0747-1 .
- Wilhelm Nussstein: Dolomites. Austrian fortresses in Northern Italy. From the seven municipalities to the Flitscher Klause. Mittler, Hamburg et al. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0496-0 , ( military history travel guide ).
- Rolf Hentzschel: Fortress war in the high mountains. Athesia, Bozen 2008, ISBN 978-88-8266-516-6 .
- Rolf Hentzschel: Austrian mountain fortresses in the First World War. The Folgeria and Lavarone plateaus. Athesia, Bozen 1999, ISBN 88-8266-019-2 , ( Athesia workshop. Non-fiction book ).
- Vienna War Archives
- Compass Carta turistica Trento-Lévico-Lavarone No. 75 Fleischmann S.ar.I., Instituto Geografico, I-38014 Gardolo (Trento) ISBN 3-87051-085-4 .
Remarks
- ↑ Originally it was called "Cherle Plant"; In order to avoid confusion with the Verle plant, it was finally named after the hamlet (San) Sebastiano located about two kilometers to the northeast.
- ↑ These guns were only installed in the Sebastiano plant. (see Hentzschel p. 75). The adjacent picture shows such a howitzer in field position. Since they have not been removed, it can only be another cannon that has not yet been used.
- ↑ oval floor plan, not rotatable, with two reject openings
- ↑ according to the regulations
- ↑ In Austria-Hungary there was no career group of NCOs, so they were among the teams
- ↑ Classification of the war for the spring of 1915 in: “Austria-Hungary's Last War” Volume II, Appendix 14. The planned occupation was still on the Eastern Front, so everything that was somehow tangible was initially taken.
- ↑ access road
Web links
Coordinates: 45 ° 54 ′ 55 ″ N , 11 ° 13 ′ 44 ″ E
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