Tre Cime di Lavaredo—The Three Peaks of Lavaredo—at War

Tre Cime di Lavaredo

By Richard Galli

Situated northeast of Cortina D'Ampezzo, the Tre Cime di Lavaredo (Drei Zinnen in German) are three enormous freestanding limestone towers. This trio of peaks are amongst the most beautiful and recognizable mountains in the Dolomites, the Alps, and the world. Tre Cime's three peaks almost resemble three fingers pointing toward the sky, thus offering many tourists a natural spectacle of shapes and colors. The Tre Cime are made up of the 2,857 meters Cima Piccola, the 2,973 meters Cima Ovest, and the Cima Grande, the central one, of 3,003 meters. Between 1915 and 1917, these peaks formed a front of the Great War; the remains of trenches, tunnels, equipped paths and barracks on the massif and on the nearby Paterno Mount still remain evident.

Location

In the half century before World War I, the Tre Cime or Drei Zinnen Group [of surrounding peaks] were unique for their advanced vertical rock climbing, which was an exciting new aspect of alpinism. Most climbing in the Alps had been mountaineering, to the summit on steep glaciers with the occasional rock outcropping or ridge. Local mountain guides developed techniques and gear for 90-degree rock face, chimney, and crack. The clear dry air and spectacular sunlit golden rock that had attracted the aristocracy and upper classes for decades now saw the arrival of a growing middle class of Europe for both exercise and relaxation. A new school of painters, writers, and naturalists also came to the Dolomites to record what seemed lost in the Industrial Age. Today the challenge of the great rock faces continues to make the area as well known to climbers as Yosemite or Patagonia.

In May of 1915, war came to the Dolomites. Italian Alpini raced Austrian Kaiseräger for control of summit and pass. The names of these natural citadels would become synonymous in history with alpine warfare—Marmolatta, Tofane, Monte Piano, Col di Lana, and the Tre Cime. Each great mountain was the linch pin of their sector, serving a purpose similar to today's reconnaissance satellites. From their outposts, enemy movement could be observed and attacks directed. Possession of these summits became a priority mission. 

Wartime Shelters at the Base of the Peaks

The first summer of war saw several Italian successes in the capture of major peaks and in withstanding Austro-Hungarian counterattacks. The Deutsches Alpenkorps sent several battalions to assist their Austrian allies. Enemy gunfire might be deadly, but the logistics of transport and supply in these mountains was the ultimate challenge of any nation's army. Supplies were carried on the backs of troops and mules, with loads averaging 25 and 100 kilograms, respectively. Entering "leeward" cliff faces into a labyrinth of tunnels, cable cars known as teleferiques were built to supply the growing forces of both sides. 

On the other side of the mountain or ridge was the battle zone. Iron ladders led to the highest positions. The snout of cannon and machine gun poked from concealed openings called galleria, often with hundreds of meters of vertical rock face below them and an unlimited view. [Or zero visibility if clouds were present.] Cheap, portable, and easy to conceal, the machine gun was the most effective weapon in mountain warfare. In the hands of a well-trained gunner, it was able to control an entire pass, mountainside, or valley.

Gallery Entrance Higher Up

The Tre Cime became an Italian fortress of cannons, spotlights, and a hornet's nest of machineguns. Nearby Austrian forces reciprocated with their own defenses at the Schwabenalpenkopf (2,685 m.) and Raut Kofel (2,607 m.) also known as Monte Rudo. Here were found similar batteries of cannon and mortars, trenches connected by deep tunnels, and fields of barbed wire. The Austrians' forward observation post was atop Torre di Toblin (2,613 m.). To the front of the Tre Cime was the most advanced Italian outpost, atop nearby Monte Paterno (2,746 m.). All Austrian forces lay below the Alpini forward observers, and the results were deadly. To capture or neutralize this post would take extraordinary climbing skills.

The Austrian Army had one such man, the master of the cliffs around the Tre Cime, the renowned guide Sepp Innerkofler, then a sergeant in the Standschutzen mountain militia. The climb and battle of Monte Paterno on 4 July 1915 is perhaps the greatest legend of alpine warfare. [See article on Sepp Innerkofler on Roads HERE.]  As thousands of men watched, in a storm of mortar, cannon and machine gun fire, Sepp Innerkofler died—killed by an Alpini-thrown boulder.

Austian Troops Bearing the Remains of Sepp Innerkofler

The alpine winter arrived in September, and tactical operations in the Dolomites shut down. For both sides, simple survival from the wrath of the mountains' two great killers, avalanches and cold, became an endless, unforgiving occupation. The summer of 1916 saw several pitched battles around the peaks, ridges, and valleys of the Tre Cime group and neighboring ranges, but the shooting soon subsided. Both sides' mountain fortresses eventually resulted in an impenetrable, deadly stalemate. In addition, the attrition of other battles and fronts became a steady drain of both sides' troops. 

Battles for outposts, raids, patrols, and underground mines continued to take their toll, as did all the natural dangers of the high peaks. The winter of 1916/17 and its avalanches was the deadliest in history. During one 48-hour period in December of 1916, 10,000 men from both sides would die as a result of avalanches in the Dolomites. At first, regular troops were replaced by reservists, but the meat grinders of Ortigara or Bainsizza demanded their presence as well. By 1917, the Isonzo or Altipiano [or Russia] had siphoned all but the minimum needed to control the area. In November of 1917 the Italians abandoned the Dolomite front they had fought so fiercely for, as their armies collapsed or retreated from Caporetto to the Piave River and Monte Grappa. Austrian troops followed to their fate on these lower peaks and plains. The Dolomites returned to nature's silence.

Alpini at Tre Cime with Their Mascot

To this day, around Tre Cime the trenches, tunnels, and iron ladders remind visitors of the fierce fighting witnessed by these peaks during three summers. The entire Dolomites, as well as ranges to the north, became Italian territory. Climbing, hiking, and skiing are once again the reasons to experience the Tre Cime.

 

This is a slightly update version of Richard Galli's article that originally appeared at our La Grande Guerra website.