Verle plant

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Verle plant - throat side of the casemate block. To the left of the path behind the single tree are the remains of the melee system
Remains of the throat case and the battery of traditors seen from the south

The Verle plant was one of a total of seven fortifications ( forts ) of the Lavarone-Folgaria barrier and thus part of the Austro-Hungarian fortification bar erected on the border with Italy . It is located above the Val Sugana and south of the town of Levico Terme or Lake Caldonazzo, southeast of Trento on the plateau of Lavarone - Folgaria . The official name of the Austro-Hungarian military administration was "Werk Verle", on Italian maps there are also the names "Ex Forte di Busa Verle" and "Forte la Pozzona".

Construction began on October 22, 1908 and was completed on March 30, 1913. The captain of Lehmayer's staff of geniuses was responsible for the planning . Three officers and 233 men were planned for the war occupation.

location

The plant is located at an altitude of 1508 meters above sea level between the Cima Vezzena ( 2015  m ) and the Vezzena Pass ( 1417  m ) in a very exposed position, as it is here from the Italian Forte Monte Verena , which is seven kilometers south and 500 Meters higher, could be fully seen and shot at. In contrast, the M9 tower howitzers from the Verle plant, despite their maximum range of 7.3 kilometers, could not reach Fort Monte Verena because of the difference in altitude.

Armored turret

The neighboring Vezzena post served as an observation station for Verle in the non-visible Suganertal (Val Sugana, also called Val Brenta) and across the plateau .

Plan of the Verle plant

The construction

Verle plant was built as a unitary fort that combined the artillery and infantry close defense in one plant. The ground plan of the plant formed an irregular quadrangle with two approximately 130 m and 60 m long faces (fronts), a 130 m long valley and a 50 m long right flank, the inner surface (without ditch) of around 160 m wide and 70 m Deep surrounded. A ditch was only present in front of the two fronts, the majority of the throat and right flank were formed by the walls of the casemate block and the traditional complex. There was a gap between the melee system and the trench on the left face that had not been closed by walls. This gap was only covered by the machine guns of the close combat system, the storm clearance was established by the barbed wire barricade built later. The fort was laid out with separate battery and casemate blocks, which were connected via the traditional complex and a short postern . The battery block with the four 10 cm howitzers in armored domes as the main armament formed the right face, thus lying in front of the casemate block and at the same time considerably lower. The back of the casemate block also formed the throat, in it were the accommodations and technical facilities such as the emergency generator (the plant was connected to the regular power supply) and the telephone exchange, as well as a cistern, a crypt for several coffins and other things. At the right throat point, the casemate block went directly into the throat case with 3 × 2 machine guns and the traditional system with two 8 cm minimal card cannons. For this, the in came Contrescarpe built grave pranks with four 6-cm Kasemattkanonen and two machine guns type Schwarzlose M07 / 12 and a melee system with 2 x 2 machine guns on the left Kehl point. After it began to appear that Italy would give up its neutrality in favor of the Allies and enter the war, the facility was surrounded by a 30 to 50 meter wide barbed wire obstacle. This consisted of angle irons rammed into the ground with recesses for hanging the wire and also round irons that were twisted in a ring shape at regular intervals. Since today's wire reel systems did not yet exist, the wires were tightly crisscrossed. Spanish riders were also used in the access area .

Armament

Construction

The fortress was built entirely from concrete, which was only partially reinforced. The factory ceiling consisted of a 2.15 m thick layer of rammed concrete, the top layer of which was reinforced with 2 cm thick round bars at a distance of 50 cm. The concrete ceilings lay on so-called I-beams (also called double-T-beams ), which prevented larger parts of the ceiling from flaking off and transferred the energy from the floors to the side walls. Steel sheets were inserted between the girders to prevent chipped concrete pieces from falling down. (The number and size of the girders differed depending on the room.) Although the work was largely sunk, it was not built underground: the battery block was built into an excavated construction pit, with the back merging into the rock wall behind it. The casemate block was only attached to the rock on the enemy side; the ceiling and throat front were free-standing concrete. The windows on the valley side could be closed with steel shutters. The original postern between the casemate block and the battery block was only sunk and not driven underground through the natural rock; it started on the upper floor of the traditional complex. The guns and machine guns were built into armored domes on the ceilings or in flanking wall gaps behind armor plates (so-called casemate armor). The factory ceiling was covered with galvanized sheet metal to protect it from the elements.

The Verle and Lusern plants are much more compact than the Gschwent and Serrada plants , which were built a little later and have larger gaps between the individual blocks and thus reduce the number of hits.

Battery pack

The front of the battery block points approximately to the southeast, with a protruding angle between the second and third armored turret cupola. The distance between the third and fourth guns is greater than that between the others, as there is an armored machine gun cupola in this area. In the battery block there is a longitudinal corridor from which stairs lead to the higher-lying gun turrets and the machine-gun armored dome. There are also entrances to three ammunition rooms and the entrance to the postern, which leads to the trenches. There are also two standby rooms for the crew integrated in the corridor. At the left end of the corridor there was an emergency exit and the light signal station for the Vezzena post . At the right end of the corridor, before the transition from the postern to the casemate block, there was a spotlight station (for a spotlight 25 cm), an emergency exit and a toilet. Due to their design, the howitzers could be used to fire in the negative elevation range up to an elevation of −15 ° (use as a depression gun ).

Casemate block

The casemate block (also known as the casemate block) consisted of a total of three floors, with the basement floor being smaller than the two above. Originally there were only storage rooms, a cistern and the crypt for the fallen. It points almost in a straight line to the north and is connected to the battery block on its right flank.

ground floor

The entrance of the postern to the close combat facility was on the ground floor. Also found here:

  • 1 × abortion
  • 2 × crew rooms
  • 1 × accumulator compartment
  • 1 × engine room with emergency generator
  • 1 × workshop
  • 1 × kitchen
  • 4 × storage rooms
  • 1 × doctor's room
  • 1 × infirmary with eight beds
  • 1 × guard room next to the entrance

In addition, there was the lower part of the Kehlkoffer and two staircases to the upper floor in the main corridor on the rock side . Another staircase to the upper floor was in front of the guard room.

First floor

On the upper floor there were two exits to the factory roof as well as access to the armored observation post. Farther:

  • 1 × abortion
  • 4 × crew rooms
  • 2 × officers' quarters
  • 1 × commanders room
  • 1 × ammunition magazine
  • 1 × ready room
  • 1 × switchboard

The upper part of the Kehlkoffer was also located here and - in the main corridor facing the rocky side - two staircases to the ground floor. Another staircase to the ground floor was in front of the ready room. This was also where the access to the postern, which led to the battery block, was given up from the basement to the battery block after the rock post was built. After the second phase of the bombardment, this floor was also abandoned in September 1915, the floor was filled with an approximately 1 meter thick layer of concrete and the ceiling on the first floor was considerably reinforced.

Contrescarpen case

The Contrescarpenkoffer (also called trench streak) is one-story and is located in the outer trench wall at the tip of the protruding angle. It is placed on the grown rock and only attached to the front. The ceiling is made of concrete. From the ceiling, the glacis leads down into the valley in a line with the battery deck. The contrescarpen case dominated the trench in both directions. It consisted of:

  • 1 × staircase to the postern
  • 1 × ready room
  • 1 × abortion
  • 2 × headlight stands for 21 cm headlights
  • 1 × armored casemate for two machine guns and a flare gun stand
  • 2 × gun rooms for two 6 cm casemate cannons each

Melee system

The close combat system was on the left throat and was connected to the left end of the casemate block by a concrete post. It covered the flank of the Vezzena post and was equipped with:

  • 1 × armored headlight stand for headlights 35 cm
  • 2 × armored domes for two machine guns each
  • 1 × ammunition room
  • 1 × defensible standby room
  • 1 × abortion

The close combat system was completely destroyed in the course of the bombardments, the two machine gun domes were shot out and lay in the trench. The access post was also penetrated twice and completely destroyed by the constant bombardment.

Throat suitcase

The throat case was attached directly to the casemate block and served to secure the rear of the casemate block and the entrance. It stretched across the ground floor and the upper floor. In the lower part it had an armored casemate with two machine guns to secure the throat, in the upper part there were two armored casemates with two machine guns each for covering the rear terrain. A rotatable armored observation post was located above the throat case, which could also be equipped with a machine gun.

Traditor battery

At the southern, right throat point, where the connection from the casemate to the battery block began, the traditor battery (called Traditor for short , also: interstice) was attached to the casemate block. This was where the two 8 cm minimal chart cannons were located, which secured the space to the south to the Lusern plant.

Verle plant during the First World War

crew

Detachments of the Imperial and Royal Landesschützen Regiment “Trient” No. I , the fortress artillery battalion No. 6 from Trient and Chiesa di Lavarone were assigned as standardized war crew ; a total of three officers and 233 NCOs and men. However, since these units were all on the Eastern Front when war broke out with Italy, everything that was available was initially used. (In total, only the second-rate infantry troop divisions No. 90-94, 49 artillery batteries and low cavalry forces were available for the entire front.)

The emergency crew for all plants initially consisted of 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). The infantry defense of all factories lay with a marching battalion of the Imperial and Royal Landesschützen-Regiment Innichen No. III , of which a detachment of 50 men was in the Verle factory. Standschützen of the Imperial and Royal Standschützen formation Folgaria-Sebastiano, Lavarone, Borgo and Lusern were called up not directly to the factory crew, but for close defense . A company of Tyrolean state riflemen, the Upper Austrian volunteer young riflemen, stand riflemen from Kitzbühel and Schwaz , the stand rifle battalion in Sterzing and the stand rifle battalion Meran I joined them northwards to the Vezzena post . After all artillery except for a tower howitzer and a minimal charter cannon had already been expanded in the autumn of 1915, and also because of the fighting activity that subsided in winter, the crew had been reduced to about 50 men at the turn of the year 1915/16. The artillery command in the works was with Fortress Artillery Battalion No. 6. (Like all operational units, FstArtBaon No. 6 was initially relocated to the Eastern Front at the beginning of the war.) The fortress commander was First Lieutenant Julius Papak from Fortress Artillery Battalion No. 5 from Trento.

Fighting

From the beginning of the war up to the Austro-Hungarian offensive in June 1916, Verle was massively fired at with heavy artillery in several phases: probably since May 24th between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m. by the 14.9 cm cannons of the forts Monte Verena and Campolongo, since May 26, 1915 at the latest with heavy 28 cm howitzers and 21 cm howitzers, and since August 15 also with 30.5 cm coastal howitzers of the Italian Navy.

Location of the Italian forts of Monte Verena and Campolongo as seen from the Verle plant
View from the Vezzena post to the forts Monte Verena (left) and Campolongo (right)

Time of the first bombardment

The exact time when the first bombardment began is a matter of dispute. While Hentzschel in his work "Fortress War" gives this as May 26th, other sources speak of the fact that Forte Verena fired on May 24th, 1915. In the Italian WP under " it: Forte Verena " there is the comment:

"Alle ore 4 del 24 maggio 1915 dal Forte Verena partì il primo colpo di cannone da parte italiana della Grande Guerra che sancì l'entrata del Regno d'Italia nel primo conflitto mondiale."

"In the fourth hour of May 24, 1915, the Forte Verena fired the first cannon shot of the World War on the Italian side, with which the Kingdom of Italy entered the first worldwide conflict."

Hit location first bombardment period

  • May 26, 1915: A 28 cm shell penetrated through the armored armor of gun turret No. II. Two dead and two seriously injured.
  • May 27, 1915: 28 cm hit on howitzer dome No. IV. Four wounded.
  • May 28, 1915: 28 cm hit on the armored armor of gun turret No. I. The turret could no longer be turned.
  • May 31, 1915: Penetration in the corridor of the battery block level with tower IV
  • June 8, 1915: Hit on the armored spotlight of the close combat system
  • June 17, 1915: Two copies in the corridor of the casemate block
Simplified representation of the interior of a tank turret with a depression mount as used in the Verle plant. The elevation range was from −15 ° to + 43 °.

Hit location second bombardment period

  • August 15, 1915: a 30.5 cm shell penetrated the armored armor of turret No. III. A hole 34 cm in diameter was created in the steel ring. Hit on the rotating observation tank. This became unusable. Breakthrough in the casemate corridor.
  • August 16, 1915: Breakthrough through the ceiling of the battery block between turret No. IV and the armored observation post. Three seriously injured. Renewed penetration through the armored armor of turret no. III. One fallen, two seriously wounded. Gun inoperable.
  • August 19, 1915: Breakthrough by the armored armor of gun turret No. II
  • August 20, 1915: Another penetration by the armored armor of gun turret No. II
  • August 22, 1915: Direct field gun hit on the left 8 cm cannon of the traditional battery. This made the pipe unusable.
  • 23 August 1915: 30.5 cm penetration through the ceiling of the battery block between gun turrets No. II and No. III into the ready room. Three killed and six seriously injured. Penetration in the postern to the close combat system.
  • August 27, 1915: The front armored machine gun stand of the melee system was torn from its bedding by a 30.5 cm close-up hit and fell into the front trench. Penetration in the passage of the casemate block.
  • August 28, 1915: Breakthrough through the ceiling above the ready room of the close combat system. Penetration through the access armor of the second armored machine gun stand of the melee system. This was also torn out and slid down the embankment. Breakthrough in the corridor of the casemate block. Hit at the emergency exit of the battery block.
  • August 29, 1915: Penetration through the corridor ceiling of the battery block. Several dead and seriously injured.
  • August 31, 1915: Breakthrough through the ceiling of the postern between the casemate and battery block. Penetration in the corridor of the battery block in the area of ​​the turret II.
  • 1st week of September 1915: A 30.5 cm shell hit the gap between the armored dome and armor of turret No. IV. The shell penetrated through and exploded inside the armored turret. The dome was torn in three and thrown out. The gun carriage was destroyed, but the gun barrel was later found undamaged on the factory deck. (Apart from this one, no armored dome of this type was ever destroyed. Later investigations revealed a material defect in the casting.) There were no losses to complain about.
  • October 31, 1915: Breakthrough through the ceiling of the casemate block into the switchboard
  • A breakthrough in the corridor of the casemate block. The exact date can no longer be determined.

Hit balance

From May 23, 1915 to May 15, 1916 (the start of the South Tyrol offensive ), a total of 1710 impacts with a 30.5 cm caliber, 3125 with a 28 cm caliber and around 1200 with a 21 cm caliber were counted. The hit rate on the concrete covering was around 60%. Not included in the count were the 14.9 cm and smaller shells, which on the one hand covered the access routes (guns of the forts) and on the other hand the field cannons that fired the artillery and machine gun slots with direct fire.

  • In 1872 severe impacts hit the concrete ceiling
  • 55 heavy impacts hit the steel armor
  • 28 hits were on the domes (no penetration) and the pre-armor
  • The armored armor of turret No. II was penetrated three times
  • The armored armor of turret No. III was penetrated twice
  • The concrete ceiling was broken through 16 times (12 × the ceiling above the corridor, 3 × the ceiling above the ready rooms, 1 × the ceiling above the switchboard).
View of the plant from the north. The exact date of the recording cannot be determined, either before September 1915 (Dome IV is still intact) or after July 1916 (Dome IV as a dummy dome made of concrete)

The factory has now been cleared, the guns removed and moved to field positions.

Infantry attacks

  • May 30, 1915: Attack by the “Bassano” alpine battalion. This could be rejected.
  • August 24, 1915: Unsuccessful attack by parts of the "Ivrea" infantry brigade
Situation from May 1915 to June 1916

Expansion of the guns

After it had been found that the roofing of the plant could just barely withstand the 28 cm shells, but no longer the 442 kg heavy 30.5 cm shells, work began on August 24, 1915 with the removal of the precious artillery to position them in distributed field positions. First, the cannon of tower No. II was removed and placed behind the works on the Malga Cima di Verle (the so-called half-battery Malga di Cima Verle). The second still usable gun (from turret no. I) was also removed and placed near gun no. II on September 1st. By the end of the month they were ready to fire. By the end of October, the spare parts for the two damaged guns No. III and No. IV had arrived (No. III barrel, No. IV mount). These were set up in a firing position at 1558 m behind the Costa alta (half-battery Costa alta North). The 6 cm cannons of the trench blows, which had become useless due to the rubble that had fallen into the trench, were given a new position near the Basson infantry base, approx. 1.2 km southeast of Verle, and were ready for use at the end of September. The 8 cm cannon from the Traditor , which was temporarily unusable as a result of a hit on the barrel , was moved to a new location at infantry base no. 50 north of the plant near the Vezzena post . After a replacement barrel had arrived in December, this gun was also usable again. This meant that only the right 8 cm minimal charter cannon and a few machine guns were left in the factory. In this state, however, it remained occupied, although the crew was greatly reduced.

Structural reinforcements

After July 25, the shelling initially subsided. During this time the cannon domes could be repaired and made operational again. Even during the pauses in fire and at night, the hoppers were repeatedly filled with quick-setting concrete. Now the work ceiling was additionally reinforced from the outside with a one meter thick layer of crushed stone in wire baskets ( gabions ). The ring spaces in the gun wells of the tower howitzers were concreted out in an attempt to reinforce the weak armor. Since it was not possible to carry out the security of the factory ceilings, which had now become extremely urgent, in the open air under enemy surveillance, it was decided to do this inside. Extensive reinforcement measures began, believing that the ceilings in the battery block could be made safer from below by pulling in tightly packed 30 cm I-beams and continuing to strengthen them with the help of concrete. This went so far that in some places the clear height of the aisle ceilings in the battery deck dropped from 2.60 to 1.70 meters. In the casemate block, a one-meter-high layer of concrete was applied to the floors of the casemates on the upper floor, where nobody could be. After the postern was shot down from the casemate block to the battery block, a new corridor was driven through the natural rock from the basement of the casemate block to the fixed observation dome in the battery block. The planned 150 m long material tunnel from the throat to the rear, which should prevent the loss of personnel on the works road, which is under constant fire from the artillery of Monte Verena and Monte Campolongo, was started from both sides, but no longer completed. The plan was to equip the two howitzers at the Costa Alta position with armored turrets of the modern type M14 from the no longer completed Valmorbia plant . After the transport of the pre-armored vehicles had already started, the undertaking had to be abandoned because of the technical difficulties that could not be overcome at that time.

Last use

At the beginning of the offensive in 1916 , the howitzer from tower No. I was reinstalled, and there were two 9 cm mortars (one of them in the gun well of tower No. IV, which was now open at the top due to the armored dome being thrown out) and the remaining 8 cm traditor gun. These guns fired on the Italian positions before the offensive began.

After the front had shifted permanently to the south, extensive repairs were carried out. The armored turrets No. I, II and III were made operational again, and a dummy dome made of concrete was built over the gun well No. IV. However, there was no more fighting here.

Fritz Weber (here as a lieutenant) with the bronze and large silver medals for bravery

Ammunition consumption

By the time in May 1916, when the plant was no longer in the immediate front area, it had fired artillery ammunition:

  • 12,927 rounds of 100 mm tower howitzers
  • 6,541 shots 80 mm of the traditional battery

Personnel losses

13 soldiers died in the fort during the fighting. It is not known how many of the seriously injured people who were taken away died.

The Giebermann affair

After a 28 cm shell had penetrated the armored front armor of Tower II on the first day of the bombardment and claimed two casualties, the works commander, Lieutenant Alfred Giebermann, who was described as unstable, saw action (Giebermann sat apathetically in the basement or during the bombardment most of the time Kehlkoffer) to request eviction from the blocking commandant Major Jelinek on May 26th around 8:00 p.m. (he paid no attention to the allegations of the other officers in this regard). So far only the howitzer No. II had failed, otherwise there had been no further breakthrough. The blocking commander granted the permit without examining the situation. Around 10:00 p.m. Giebermann announced that the facility would be cleared. Only 42 volunteers were to remain at the plant for close-up defense, the rest should move to the barracks located about 700 meters back. The ensigns Weber and Knöpfmacher then volunteered and stayed with another 40 (or 42?) Men for close defense.

On May 27, around 6:00 p.m. (after Lieutenant Giebermann had found himself unable to give further orders), Lieutenant Papak returned to the plant of his own accord and took over command there. Between May 28 and May 30, the Verle plant was again fully occupied and ready for use. He was then entrusted with the provisional management and from August 1915 also officially appointed plant commander. The Italians hadn't noticed anything about the incident.

Since Lieutenant Giebermann refused to return (whether he was then arrested, as is occasionally stated, is not certain) he was instead put on sick leave "because he was no longer in control of his senses" and was taken to a military hospital in Trento relocated. He was not charged by a court martial because an expert doctor certified him to be temporarily insane. More or less by mistake, at the suggestion of Major Jelinek, he received the Military Merit Cross III. Class awarded and after his recovery was transferred to Mortar Battery 14 on the Eastern Front. At the end of the war he was battery commander. After Giebermann's award had become known to the officers of the lock and had caused considerable unrest, Lieutenant Papak also received the Military Merit Cross III. Class and the ensigns Weber and Knöpfmacher the bronze bravery medal - Knöpfmacher was ultimately also with the Military Merit Cross III. Class excellent.

Current condition

After the factory had been severely damaged during the fighting, the Mussolini era began to remove the steel reinforcement from the concrete due to the steel embargo against Italy on the occasion of the war in Abyssinia . Due to the blasting required for this, the building is now completely ruinous and left to decay. Entry is prohibited.

Literary implementation

The writer Fritz Weber was stationed as an ensign in the fort and, 17 years later, described his experiences, the struggle over the Verle plant and the suffering of the occupation in his book Granaten und Avalanche (1932). In 1937 the autobiographical novel Sperrfort Rocca Alta appeared under the name of the writer and actor Luis Trenker , who was also stationed at the Verle plant, in which the battles and events surrounding the fort are also described.

Literature (according to relevance)

  • Rolf Hentzschel: Austrian mountain fortresses in the First World War. Athesia, Bozen 1999, ISBN 88-8266-019-2 .
  • Rolf Hentzschel: Fortress war in the high mountains. Athesia, Bozen 2008, ISBN 978-88-8266-516-6 .
  • Erwin Anton Grestenberger: Imperial and Royal fortifications in Tyrol and Carinthia 1860–1918. Verlag Österreich, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-7046-1558-7 .
  • 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 .
  • Robert Striffler: From Fort Maso to Porta Manazzo. Book Service South Tyrol Kienesberger, Nuremberg 2004, ISBN 3-923995-24-5 .
  • Walther Schaumann: Scenes of the Mountain War in 5 volumes. Ghedina & Tassotti Editori, Cortina 1973.
  • Heinz von Lichem : War in the Alps 1915–1918. Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 1992, ISBN 3-89350-545-8 .
  • Heinz von Lichem: With play cocks and edelweiss - the history of the Kaiserschützen. ISBN 3-7020-0260-X .
  • Heinz von Lichem: The Dolomite Front from Trient to the Kreuzbergsattel. 1997, ISBN 88-7014-236-1 .
  • Wolfgang Joly: Standschützen Universitätsverlag, Innsbruck 1998, ISBN 3-7030-0310-3 .
  • CH Baer: The struggles for Tyrol and Carinthia - eleventh volume. Hoffmann publishing house, Stuttgart 1917.
  • Rest-Ortner-Ilmig: The emperor's rock in the 1st World War. ISBN 3-9501642-0-0 .
  • Fritz Weber: Grenades and Avalanches . Leipzig / Vienna / Berlin 1932, DNB  363018530 (also contained in: Fritz Weber: The end of an army. 1933. and Fritz Weber: The end of the old army. Bergland-Buch, Salzburg / Stuttgart 1959, pp. 9–116.) .
  • Luis Trenker: Rocca Alta fort. The hero struggle of a tank factory. Knaur, Berlin 1937. Further editions Knaur, Berlin 1938, 1949, 1941; Berg, Munich 1977, 1983; Europäische Bildungsgemeinschaft ua, Stuttgart 1978. (The post-war editions show considerable differences to the older editions.)
  • Compass hiking map n ° 78 Folgaría - Lavarone. ISBN 3-87051-103-6 .

Web links

Commons : Werk Verle  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ In Austro-Hungarian usage, the fortifications on the border with Italy were referred to as works, but not as forts, except for the forts Hensel and Herrmann, which were the only ones named after personalities.
  2. ↑ In the Austro-Hungarian Army there was no rank group of NCOs, they were counted among the men
  3. ↑ The higher the target is above the location of the firing gun, the further it moves away from it in terms of targeting. The maximum firing range is only applicable if the target is at the same height above sea level as the gun.
  4. ↑ 6 ° Reggimento alpini - Fatti d'arme e Decorazioni alla Bandiera
  5. ↑ The realization that loosely hanging barbed wire is a bigger obstacle than taut one came later.
  6. ↑ The State Rifle Regiment I fought from May 9 to 15, 1915 in combat near Smerek, Krywe, Sokolowa wola, Zasadki, Sudkowice and Laszki Zawiadzane and did not arrive in Tyrol until June 12th - see ibid
  7. ↑ Rest-Ortner-Ilmig p. 12.
  8. ↑ 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.
  9. ^ Lichem: "The history of the Kaiserschützen" p. 208.
  10. ↑ There were forces of the standardized crew available but probably not in full strength, the allocation of other units suggests this
  11. ↑ Wolfgang Joly "Standschützen" p. 520.
  12. ↑ Hentzschel p. 38.
  13. ↑ Hentzschel, pp. 88–94 and 150 f .; Striffler: From Fort Maso to Porta Manazzo. P. 294 and p. 326; Nussstein Dolomiten p. 80 with reference to documents in the Vienna War Archives, compiled in 1937 by Rudolf Schneider, captain in the staff of genius and later field marshal lieutenant.
  14. ↑ Striffler p. 326
  15. ↑ http://www.fortificazioni.net/VICENZA/VERENA.html Forte Verena
  16. ↑ Whether this first shot was for the publisher directly opposite, or perhaps the rather unimportant Vezzena post , the Lusern plant (which was in the direct fire area of ​​Fort Campolongo anyway) or the almost empty Austro-Hungarian trenches (in contrast to the Italian commander-in-chief Cadorna was known In the Italian sections of the front, very precise information about the non-presence of the Austro-Hungarian infantry is not yet fully clarified.
  17. ↑ Possibly these guns were Krupp mortars 21 cm M10, which had been delivered to Italy (the former ally) in 1911/12. The statements about this are contradictory.
  18. ↑ The rubble covered the cannons' reject openings
  19. ↑ a b Hentzschel: Fortress War . Pp. 94 f., 129 for 150.
  20. ^ Hentzschel: Fortress War . P. 129 f.
  21. ↑ Weber and Trenker later argued about who the actual author of Sperrfort Rocca Alta was, see Christa Hämmerle: Forty months ago we were soldiers, six months ago we were men ... On the historical context of a crisis of masculinity in Austria. In: L'Homme. 79, 2, 2008, p. 67.

Coordinates: 45 ° 57 ′ 53 ″  N , 11 ° 19 ′ 57 ″  E