The Shocking Italian Front Death Toll from Winter Avalanches

Austrian Troops Watching an Avalanche at
Vermiglio, Trentino (1916)

During the three-year war in the Austro-Italian Alps at least 60,000 soldiers died in avalanches. [This conservative statistic comes from the research of Heinz von Lichem, in his outstanding three-volume study Gebirgskrieg 1915–1918.] Ten thousand died from avalanches in the "lesser" ranges of the eastern half of the high front—the Carnic and Julian Alps. In the "high" Alps to the west, the Ortler and Adamello groups, the Dolomites, avalanches claimed 50,000 lives.

The winter of 1916/17 was the worst. It turned out to be one of the snowiest of the century. Between November 1916 and January 1917, a rain gauge located on today’s Italy–Slovenia border measured 56 inches  of precipitation, about 80 percent of the local mean annual total. After a dry February, an additional 22 inches fell between March and April 1917. [On average, the amount of snow is ten times the amount of rainfall, that is, one inch of rain is equivalent to ten inches of snowfall.]

Reports by contemporaries suggest that, for most of the mountainous front line between Stelvio and Mount Krn, the shovel was the most important tool for soldiers and civilians alike. Avalanches came down almost daily, causing new casualties again and again. On the front line, tunnels were dug in the snow to reach the foremost positions.

However, there was one particular day that tragically entered the history books—13 December 1916. On this day, following a week of abundant snowfall, advection of a warm and humid air mass from the Mediterranean brought intense precipitation and a rise of snow level, causing countless avalanches across the region. The number of human casualties was unprecedented for this kind of natural event. An accurate overall death toll is impossible to provide, but estimates of 10,000 by some sources are certainly too high.The largest single incident took place on the highest mountain of the Dolomites (Mount Marmolada, 3,343 m) at Gran Poz (2,242  m), where between 270 and 332 men died.

To put these casualties in perspective, a total of 25,000 troops were killed by poison gas on this war's Western Front in Belgium and France. Gas killed an additional 7,000 men on the Austro-Italian front, the greater part on the plains and plateaus along the Isonzo and Piave rivers. [Gas is not very effective in the cold windy atmosphere of mountains.]

Also, see our earlier article The Nightmare of Alpine Warfare: Avalanches!

Sources: European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts; Smithsonian