Rising as a bump on the long Krn-Vršič ridge just to the south of the pyramidal climax of Krn, Batognica looks nondescript from afar.  Closer up, say from the peak of Krn, that impression changes.  Standing not unlike an aircraft carrier as the last mound rising above the 2100-meter mark as the ridge begins its precipitous drop to the south – and the murderous grounds of Myrzli vrh – Batognica takes on a different impression.

WAR COMES TO THE JULIAN ALPS

The neighboring summit of Krn was captured by invading Italian forces on 15 June 1915.  Following that conquest, the Italians waited to regroup before moving south to gain the rest of the long ridge.  That pause would prove fatal to the Italian plans, eventually leading to the destruction of the better part of two divisions at the end of October, two years later during the battle of Caporetto.

Italy found itself pushed into World War 1 25 May 1918 by conservative prime minister Antonio Salandra, his foreign minister Sidney Sonino and a host of nationalistic voices hoping for a greater Italy at the expense of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with land grabs ahead from the Ottomans, as well.  The majority in the Italian parliament led by Giovanni Giolitti were for continued neutrality.  Giolitti acquiesced in the face of complications between crown and parliament – the secret London Pact already signed – and possible internal discord.

ITALY JOINS THE GREAT WAR

It was one thing to sign a treaty giving Italy large swaths of land at the expense of a former ally, but it was another to actually make it so.  The Italian army was far from ready for the horrific nature of the Great War.  It was still trying to recover from the efforts required to defeat the Ottomans in Libya 1911-1912.  Nominally allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary at the beginning of World War 1 – they had been initially involved in the Triple Alliance over fears of France thwarting their colonial hopes in Africa – Italy declared the alliance to be defensive in nature.  Austria-Hungary’s declaration of war against Serbia in response to the murder of Crown Prince Ferdinand made the alliance obligations null from the Italian perspective.

Italy still hoped to gain land at the expense of their ally, Austria-Hungary.  Dreaming of a renewed Roman Empire, Trieste e Trentino became a rallying cry for nationalists with a further eye towards the Dalmatian coastline.  Salandro also thought a war could reduce internal pressures brought on by the beginning of a rapid industrialization.

POLITICAL HOPES RUN INTO MILITARY REALITY

Italy’s hope of gaining new lands and quieting domestic discord relied on quick victories.  Alas, the Italian army was simply not capable in 1915.  Leadership, artillery and a slow mobilization led to early stymies along the Italo-Austrian border.

A side note of the First Isonzo Offensive – 23 June-7July 1915 – was the efforts in in the northern part of the Isonzo Front.  Austro-Hungarian forces were badly stretched at the beginning of the conflict with Italy.  Most of their army was involved in a fight to the death with the Russian Empire and Serbia.  There were few troops left for a third front.  A quick offensive by Italy had every chance of succeeding against a vastly overpowered Austro-Hungarian force at the end of May.  The slow mobilization wasted a month along the main part of the front near Gorizia.

ACTIONS IN THE UPPER ISONZO

Further to the north, the Italians were a little more aggressive.  Austria-Hungary never really accepted Italy as a reliant ally.  They had continued prewar to fortify their Italian frontier especially in the Trentino province.  Along the Isonzo front, fortifications were slower to build.  One major center was a couple of hillocks just west of the town of Tolmin across the Isonzo River.  These fortifications were built to protect the rail center coming south from Vienna to Trieste. 

The Italians realized the bridgehead needed to be neutralized before they could march on to Laibach/Ljubljana and Vienna.  In order to flank the bridgehead, Italian commander Donato Etna, pushed his forces through Plezzo/Bovec and Caporetto/Kobarid and up onto the Krn-Vršič above.  With guns mounted above, the Italians could then pound Mryzli vrh to the south and flank the Tolmin bridgehead.

The valleys fell with little opposition.  Early in June, the Italians pushed onto the Krnčica-Vršič ridge in the early days of June.  Next, they captured Krn itself in an intrepid operation on 15 June.  Batgonica laid just to the south but pushing in that direction was initially stymied.  Regrouping, the Italians made a major push a month later, though with the Eastern Front in much better shape after the large breakthrough at Golice-Tarnow, the Austro-Hungarians were able to transfer troops to the new Italian front.

Italian Alpini held fast to counterattacks from the Austrian 3^rd Mountain Brigade attempts to reclaim Krn.  On July 21, with troops from three Italian Alpini brigades, they attacked Batognica following an hour-long artillery barrage. 

ON TO MONTE ROSSO

Map courtesy of our friends at WW1 Front Line 3D- Italian FRONT

To fight a war in this terrain defies logic.  But the Italians were getting nowhere further south against the Tolmin bridgehead or on Mryzli vrh, so why not try something more difficult?  The attack began at 0445 with Alpini from the Intra brigade leading in two columns – the 7^th Company on the right and the 112^th Company on the left.  At the mountain saddle Q 2052 – Krnska škrbina – the men in the 7^th were stopped by strong Austrian resistance.  The 112^th Company wrapped around the north wall of Batognica to try and flank the position.  The Austrians responded by withdrawing out of the pass at Q2052 at about 0600.

Map courtesy of our friends at WW1 Front Line 3D- Italian FRONT

The 37^th Company came up from reserve to connect to now separated 7^th and 112^th and to strengthen the push on the Austrians atop Batognica.  Men from the Val d’Orco brigade – 238^th and 239^th Companies – to help push the attack.  By about 0800, after hand-to-hand combat, the Austrians pulled back from the summit – Q2163.  About this time, men from the Val Toce brigade had also climbed up into the Krn Saddle to serve as a reserve.

Maps courtesy of our friends at WW1 Front Line 3D- Italian FRONT

At 0900, the Alpini began to try attacking the pass on the other end of Batognica, Q 2077 – Batogniško sedlo – at the same time repelling the first of several Austrian counterattacks.  Troops of the 21^st Schützen Regiment were able to hold the Q 2077 pass, but the Austrians were unable to reclaim ground atop the Batognica summit plain. 

STALEMATE

Over the next three days, the Italians would attempt to push on to Vrh and Peski – Q2178 – but the Austrians held firm.  The fighting came to an end on Batognica finally on 26 July after some 753 Italian casualties (241 dead outright) and about 800 Austro-Hungarian casualties.

In the immediate area, the Italians looked on 15 to 19 August to push down off the Krnčica-Vršič ridge but after many tries failed.  The positions here settled down by September with only 20 to 30 meters separating the two sides.

Atop Batognica, the two sides were slightly further apart – about 80 meters.  Those positions became static as campaigns in other sections of the long Italian front beckoned.  The positions were, however, manned even through the harsh winters, day and night. 

The battle slipped into mine warfare, like other parts of the front.  An Italian mine struck out to undermine the Austrian positions in the summer of 1917.  That mine was discovered and an Austrian countermine plunged into the Italian explosive fuse disarmed.   The Austrian commander, Oberleutnant Gjuro Hoffmann of the Saper Battalion 13 was awarded the Maria Therese Order for his role in the discovery.

CHECKMATE

Map courtesy of our friends at WW1 Front Line 3D- Italian FRONT

An Austrian mine was set off on 24 October 1917, the first day of the Caporetto Offensive.  The mine lowered the peak by three meters with results still visible.  The following Austrian attacked managed to push through the first Italian line of defense but no further.  In the end, it did not matter, for the Austro-German offensive succeeded along the Isonzo valley floor with the result cutting off the Italians high atop the Krn massif.  They became the first of many Italian prisoners.

BATOGNICA TODAY

Batognica is a hard hike from any of the several directions you can come at it from. Most people come up from the hamlet of Krn including the peak on a hike to the top of Krn peak. You can come up from the south over Jezero v Lužnici; from the east sliding around the former Austrian camp on the flanks of Vrh nad Peski – you can find a wartime monument still atop the ridge to the east of this peak; or from the north, Krnsko jezero – Krn Lake. The first and last option will take a long day. Coming over Peski is probably a multiday affair.

Conveniently located is the hut just below Krn Peak, Gomiščkovo zavetišče na Krnu, sitting at 2182 meters, some 18 meters higher than Batognica. Thunderstorms crop up with alarming regularity on summer afternoons. The hut might be a place of refuge as well as a base camp to explore the high grounds up here. It should be noted, the hut uses as its foundation an interwar monument erected in memory of Alberto Picco and the Italian conquest of Krn. Lightning destroyed it. I imagine there are lightning arresting systems in place, but the show would still titillate.

The area on Batognica and Krn after World War 1 lie firmly in Italian hands until the end of another war.

batognica trails

Trails on Batognica go over the top to the pass between Vrn nad Peski and Batognica. Another path loops around the summit base on to the north meeting the summit trail at the same pass.

The main trail ascends from Krnska škrbina, the saddle between Krn and Batognica, on steps made by Italian soldiers to gain their trenches atop the summit plain. The steps still impressively carved from the dolomitic rock.

ruins

Atop you find all sorts of ruins, caverns, trenches and war detritus. There are several signs posted to try and make sense of what you are seeing. During the war, barracks, command posts, machine gun nests, trenches and supply centers were all up on the Italian side. The old Italian command post still seems in good shape. Further on, the rubble of the series of craters created by the mines of 1917 still belies the seriousness of the fighting here above 2000 meters.

The Austrians built what the Italians did – barracks, command posts, mortar posts, flamethrower and searchlight positions. Both sides had small cemeteries up high. The bodies were moved to other grounds after the war, supposedly. The Italians to the Ossuary above Kobarid while the Austro-Hungarians, who knows.

path of peace – pot miru – gives batognica a pass

Interestingly, both the positions here atop Krn and Batognica, as well as Rombon to the north near Bovec, do not lie along the Pot miru – Slovenia’s Path of Peace linking many of the World War 1 sites together. Excellent outdoor museums exist at other locations around the Kobarid-Bovec-Tolmin area, but not up here. The strenuous nature of climbing up here has something to do with the decision, I am sure.

But if you have interest in the war, the ruins up here are remarkable considering a century has passed. Even if you did not have any historical interest, the views from Batognica and the ridges and peaks all around simply drop your jaw.