The White War (Italian: Guerra Bianca, German: Gebirgskrieg, Hungarian: Fehér Háború) is the name given to the fighting in the high-altitude Alpine sector of the Italian front during the First World War, principally in the Dolomites, the Ortles-Cevedale Alps and the Adamello-Presanella Alps. More than two-thirds of this conflict zone lies at an altitude above 2,000 m (6,600 ft)), rising to 3,905 m (12,812 ft) at Mount Ortler. In 1917 New York World correspondent E. Alexander Powell wrote: "On no front, not on the sun-scorched plains of Mesopotamia, nor in the frozen Mazurian marshes, nor in the blood-soaked mud of Flanders, does the fighting man lead so arduous an existence as up here on the roof of the world."
Geography of the front
The front line
At the outbreak of the war, the border between Italy and Austria-Hungary was as determined at the Treaty of Vienna (1866) at the conclusion of the Third Italian War of Independence. One section along this border, the Trentino, offered major advantages to Austria-Hungary. Extending southwards towards the River Po, it potentially allowed Austro-Hungarian forces to strike towards the lower Adige and Mincio, cutting off Veneto and Friuli-Venezia from the rest of Italy. Another section, much smaller, favoured Italy around the Kreuzberg Pass and the headwaters of the Drava. In practical terms however, the road and rail systems did not allow the Italian commander Luigi Cadorna to mass his forces here, so instead he concentrated on the Isonzo front further east, where he hoped to make a decisive breakthrough.
From Bovec on the upper Isonzo to the Swiss border at the Stelvio Pass stretched around 400 km of border at an altitude above 2,000m. Halfway along this border, between the Trentino and the Kreuzberg, rose the Dolomites, that offered little strategic advantage to either side. Between Switzerland and Lake Garda the Ortler, and the Adamello-Presanella Alps controlled the Stelvio Pass and the Tonale Pass. From here the Austro-Hungarians could have broken through to threaten the industrial cities of Lombardy, while the Italians could have penetrated deep into the Tyrol. In fact, neither side developed major plans for this sector; once the passes were closed, both sides maintained a static posture.
Logistical challenges
The major challenge for both armies was to sustain modern warfare in such a hostile environment. The difficult terrain meant supplies had to be brought up on the backs of pack animals or of the men themselves, including heavy artillery and munitions. As the conflict developed a network of roads, mule tracks and pathways was established, reaching even the most remote places. Eventually, cableways were built too, and this building work itself was difficult, dangerous and exhausting.
In the High Alps, temperatures vary widely: above 2,500 meters, temperatures below zero are normal even in summer. In winter, during the war, temperatures as low as -35° were recorded. All year round the weather can change rapidly and storms are common. Finally, the winters of 1916 and 1917 brought some of the heaviest snows of the century, with the mountainsides often under 8 metres of snow, three times the annual average. This made it extremely difficult for the troops to stay at high altitudes, forcing the men to continually dig and clear the snow because of the risk of avalanches. Heinz Lichem von Löwenbourg stated: "On the basis of unanimous reports from fighters of all nations, the rough rule applies that in 1915–1918, on the mountain front, two thirds of the dead were victims of the elements (avalanches, frostbite, landslides, cold, exhaustion) and only one third victims of direct military action."
Servicing the troops on the front line required enormous manpower. To maintain a garrison of 100 men on a 3,000m peak, 900 porters were required, working in relays.
Military forces
Kingdom of Italy
On the western edge of the front, deployed from the Stelvio Pass to the Cereda Pass, Italy positioned the 1st Army under General Roberto Brusati based in Verona, spread over an arc roughly 200 km long as the crow flies or about 300 km on the ground. The III and V Corps were deployed under the command of Generals Camerana and Aliprindi, and mixed with the troops of the fortress of Verona, under the command of General Gobbo. The III Corps occupied the western side of the Trentino salient, from Stelvio to Lake Garda. The 6th Division was deployed on the border while the 5th was the reserve of the III Corps. To the south, between Garda and the Lessinico plateau, were the troops of the fortress of Verona, while the V Corps with the 9th, 34th and 15th divisions was positioned at the Passo Tre Croci and the Cereda Pass, defending the Trentino salient with the 35th Reserve Division near Brescia.
The 4th Army was deployed on the Dolomites sector under General Luigi Nava, based in Vittorio Veneto, which its forces from the Cereda Pass to Mount Peralba, over about 75 km as the crow flies, and about double the distance on the ground. The Cordevole sector, between the Pale di San Martino and the Rocchetta di Pelmo, was garrisoned by the IX Corps under the command of General Marini with the 17th and 18th Divisions serving on the front or in reserve. The Cadore sector, between the Valle del Boite and the sources of the Piave, came under I Corps of General Ottavio Ragni, with the 2nd and 10th Divisions deployed close to the border and the 1st Division in reserve. Unlike the Cordevole sector, however, the troops of the Cadore sector could count on the substantial fixed defenses of the Cadore-Maè Fortress.
Austro-Hungarian Empire
On the Austro-Hungarian side, General Viktor Dankl von Krasnik took command of the defense of Tyrol at the start of hostilities, based in Innsbruck. His field of operations stretched from the Stelvio Pass to the Croda Nera, located on the Carnic watershed just a little east of Forcella Dignas. This meant it was roughly facing the 1st and 4th Italian Armies. The region was divided into five sectors, called ‘rayons’. part of General Scholz's 90th Division, composed of eleven battalions, was assigned to sectors I and II, from the Stelvio to Presèna, with support from the fort at Gomagoi on the Stelvio route and modern artillery placed to defend the Passo del Tonale.
The III sector ran from the Adamello to the Pale di San Martino, and was the responsibility of the 91st Division made up of about thirty battalions, under the General Können-Horack, while one brigade controlled the garrison of the strongholds of Riva del Garda and Trento under General Guseck. This defensive system around Trento was of great strategic importance, and was divided into four sub-sectors, Lodaro, Lavarone, Rovereto and Pergine Valsugana, which had modern fortifications and various defensive works. The IV sector, from the Pale di San Martino to Mount Padonit was held by the 90th Division, with a mountain brigade of seven battalions. The V sector, from Mount Padon to the Croda Nera, was held by a mountain brigade of nine battalions. The massing of the Italian 4th Army meant that on May 27 this sector was removed from the 90th Division and made partially autonomous under the command of General Ludwig Goiginger and with three reinforcing battalions until the arrival of the German Alpenkorps, whose commander Konrad Krafft von Dellmensingen assumed command of the Tyrol and the responsibility of the IV and V sectors. He retained this until 14 October, when, having withdrawn the Alpenkorps from Alto Adige, he handed over to General Roth von Limanowa.
Balance of forces
Despite their numerical superiority, the Italian forces did not take the offensive on this front. The Italian commanders lacked intelligence about the strength of Austro-Hungarian numbers, had no detailed plans for a campaign and were also risk-averse.
The Austro-Hungarians were equally unprepared to take the offensive. In the decades before the war resources had been directed mainly to Galicia on the Russian front, and in 1915 the objective was simply to hold off any Italian invasion. As chief of staff, Conrad had also neglected the defence of the Dolomites in favor of a strengthening his position on the Asiago plateau, as a base from which to attack the Veneto. As a result, the defences that opposed the Italian 4th Army were second-rate compared to those of Trentino. In the first days of the war, instead of trying to maintain old strongholds Commander Goiginger had his men retreat and distributed the artillery around the surrounding mountains. By spreading their guns over isolated positions on the slopes and peaks, the Austrians exploited the Dolomite terrain very effectively, securing every possible advantage in an attempt to confine the Italians to the lower valleys and prevent them from accessing the strategic passes.
Fortifications
The peacetime defence doctrine of Austria-Hungary assumed that not an inch of land was to be conceded to an invader, and on this basis fortifications had been built up right on the border itself. However at the beginning of the hostilities the Austrians did not have sufficient forces to be able to maintain them. They therefore withdrew to defensive positions behind the border that gave them the advantage of high ground wherever possible and shortened their defensive lines from around 500 km to about 400 km. In contrast the Italians followed the practice of locating their fortifications well behind the border, meaning they had no role in the fighting in the Dolomites. An Austrian advance near Agordo would have been met at the fort of Listolade, while the Cadore was defended by the Chiusa di Venàs and the fort of Monte Rite, as well as by numerous concealed artillery positions. On the Austrian side, Ampezzo and the Cadore Dolomites area were defended by the Prato Piazza (Plätzwiese works) and Landro, which had been complemented with modern structures in the surrounding area (Col Rosson, Alpe di Specie, Col di Specie, Rautkofel). The forts of Haideck and Mitterberg (monte di Mezzo) in val di Sesto were intended to prevent any descent from the Monte Croce di Comelico pass towards Val Pusteria but they had not been modernised. To make up for this, Mount Dentro di Sesto was used as a fixed location for large calibre artillery.
The pass between the Ampezzo basin and the Val Badia was controlled by Forte Tre Sassi on the stony ground of the Valparola Pass, while the Livinallongo del Col di Lana was blocked upstream of Pieve by Forte Corte and Ruaz roadblock. Finally, near Moena stood Forte Someda, guarding the Fassa Valley and the mouth of the San Pellegrino valley, a few kilometres from the front. All these forts were of modest size, much less impressive than the large fortresses on the Trentino highlands and in the Adige valley. At the beginning of the war they were partially decommissioned because they were outdated and inadequate to resist modern artillery. Their guns were moved to more favourable positions less detectable by the enemy; the buildings were highly visible and at times the Austro-Hungarians continued to pretend that they were occupied in order to divert Italian fire towards useless targets.
Both armies, from the beginning of the conflict, began the constant work of excavating caves, tunnels, trenches, walkways, shelters and underground depots, which led to the creation of entire underground towns relatively safe from enemy fire. Monte Piana and Col di Lana were notable examples of such structures, with impressive defensive systems. Other examples can be found at the Sass de Stria with its tunnels and trenches, and Lagazuoi, more excavated than any other mountain in the Dolomites; within it, a bloody battle was fought with mines.
The Dolomites sector
Conca d'Ampezzo and Som Pouses
The war reached Cortina d'Ampezzo on July 31, 1914 with the conscription of men between 21 and 42 into the armed forces of Austria-Hungary. In November of the same year twenty-year-olds were also called up, and in May 1915, when Italy also entered the conflict, the draft was extended to men aged up to 50. Ladin speakers, Italian speakers from Trentino and German speakers from Tyrol were grouped into three regiments of Landesschützen and four of Kaiserjäger, hurriedly transferred to the Eastern Front.
On the eve of the hostilities, General Nava, commander of the Italian 4th Army, ordered that the first objectives on the Cadore front were: taking of possession of the entire massif of Monte Piana and the Cortina d'Ampezzo basin, both in the operational area of the 1st Army Corps of General Ragni.