Category Archives: Military History

INFANTRY REGIMENT 97 – DIFFERENT HISTORIES IN THE REDEEMED LANDS

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Men of Infantry Regiment 97 leaving from the Trieste train station for the Galician front.

Stuck away on the east side of multiple train tracks at the train station in Trieste is a small monument.  It stands forlornly nest to a like sized monument dedicated to rail workers who died in World War 2.  The monument in question reads: “In riccordo di cittadini del littoral Austriaco partiti da questi binary nell’agosta del 1914 per lontani cmapi di battaglia” – “In memory of citizens of the Austrian Littoral who left from these tracks in August 1914 for battlefields far away.”  The sign is fixed on a large stone on which also is placed, a cap design for the Imperial and Royal – Kaiserliche und Königliche (K. und K.) – Infantry Regiment 97.  The K. und K. Infantrie Regiment 97 entrained from here to the battlefields of Galicia from which many of the men, locals from Trieste and the surrounding region, would never return.

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EMPHEMARILTY OF SPENDING – DEFENSE OF THE PANAMA CANAL

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Squadron of B-17 bombers flying over the entrance to Panama Canal with Fort Amador below.
Squadron of B-17 bombers flying over the entrance to Panama Canal with Fort Amador below. Defense of the Canal beginning to pass from the gun to the air.

Recently, I made my fourth trip to Panama.  Each trip, a short visit to the Canal in one form or another, gets included in the itinerary.  To understate the importance of the Canal to Panama and the World from an economic point of view is not possible.  The Canal gives Panama money to do things many other countries in Latin America – especially in Central America – can only dream about.  Large freeways, light rail, subways, and a seemingly burgeoning economy from a casual tourist outlook reflect success in the heat, humidity, and constant drip – or sudden deluge – from the skies here in Panama. One factor hiding from plain sight today are the former huge efforts made in defense of the Canal.

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EMILIO AGUINALDO – HOME AND TOMB OF THE INSURGENT ENIGMA

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The Man - Emilio Aguinaldo - and his Shrine. Aguinaldo family home in Kawit, Cavite, Philippines.
The Man – Emilio Aguinaldo – and his Shrine. Aguinaldo family home in Kawit, Cavite, Philippines.

Emilio Aguinaldo is considered by many to be the “George Washington” of the Philippines.  His family home is preserved – much like Washington’s at Mount Vernon – and a museum is dedicated to his life and times.  Additionally, to the Aguinaldo home, the leader himself is entombed on the grounds behind the house. The grounds became the official Aguinaldo Shrine in 1964 just after his death.

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DEFEAT ON THE KOLOVRAT CHANGES INTO CATASTROPHE

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Restored Italian trench line atop Na gradu – Green mountain in background is Mrzli vrh.

Standing in the renewed Italian positions of the open-air museum of the Kolovrat, you are rewarded with an all-world view over the Isonzo River valley with the Krn-MonteNero massif rising dramatically on the other side. Of the Bovec-Kobarid open-air museums, the view from here is only matched by what you gain at the former Austrian artillery base on Čelo above Bovec.

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MAGINOT FORTS – COUNTERWEIGHTS TO DARK MAGIC OF THE EAST

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Machine gun turret - in eclipsed position - atop Block 2 at Gros Ouvrage Schoenenbourg.
Machine gun turret – in eclipsed position – atop Block 2 at Gros Ouvrage Schoenenbourg of the Maginot Line.

As the Cold War ended, a resurgence in interest took place in France as many of the former fortifications the country spent so much time, money, and hope in keeping war away from the home door.  The jury of historical writers seem a bit divided in opinions regarding whether the fortifications built between the late 1920 and 1930’s accomplished much.  Forts have had a history of being very expensive and difficult to upgrade, keeping them current with the rapid advances in artillery.

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HOUSE OF SAVOY LEADS ITALY INTO THE NEW

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The magnificent Savoyard fortress complex at Fennestrelle erected soon after the House of Savoy joined the ranks of kings in 1713.

World War One – La Grande Guerra in Italian – destroyed four of the great ruling houses of Europe.  The House of Savoy was not one of them.  That would take another war.  The House of Savoy is one of the older families of Europe making it into the rarefied heights of ascendant nobility.  Like most of these families, the family history is complicated by time and politics.  That history becomes confused further by looking at maps of the feudal lands over the years as they waxed and waned with time.  Little bits of color interspersed with each other, seemingly with no rhyme or reason at times.  So much of history tied up in abstruse, rarefied, esoteric stories understood by only a few of the most dedicated students.

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REDIPUGLIA, FASCIST TWIST TO THE GREAT WAR

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The Redipuglia Ossuary climbing the slopes of the Carso above the Via Eroica.
The Redipuglia Ossuary climbing the slopes of the Carso above the Via Eroica.

Italy remembers World War One – la Grande Guerra – a bit differently than World War Two.  First off, they were on the winning side in the first war.  Second, a little over a hundred thousand more Italians died during the First than the Second – 651,000 to 689,000 compared to approximately 500,000.  The vast cost of the First War in treasure and men along with THE thought by Italians as unfair results of their sacrifices at the treaty tables at the war’s end ended destabilizing the nation.  Enter the Blackshirts and Benito Mussolini.

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LONG-DISTANCE PATHS RECOUNT THE GREAT WAR HIGH IN THE ALPS

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Unknown Austro-Hungarian grave in one of the countless sinkholes - dolinas - of the Carso found along the Pot miru - Path of Peace.
Unknown Austro-Hungarian grave in one of the countless sinkholes – dolinas – of the Carso found along the Pot miru – Path of Peace – one of Europe’s long-distance paths.

Long-distance paths have acquired quite a following in the past few decades.  In the US you have ways like the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail standing as the Big Three.  There are plenty of other long-distance paths to spend days upon days on, as well, such as the Arizona Trail, the Green Mountain Trail, and on and on.  Of course, the American examples pale in number when compared to the Old World.

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MONTE SAN MICHELE ZONA MONUMENTAL – MEMORIES OF THE LONG YEAR

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Flagpole atop Monte San Michele remembers the Italian brigades who fought here as well as the Unknown Soldier in Rome whom was one of the Fallen from the battles here.
Flagpole atop Monte San Michele remembers the Italian brigades who fought here as well as the Unknown Soldier in Rome whom was one of the Fallen from the battles here.

Monte San Michele.  Welcome to one of the battlefields upon where so many Italians, as well as their opponents from Austria-Hungary, spilled blood during the 1915 to 1916. These campaigns fought in the harsh limestone hills just east off the Isonzo River.  The extreme efforts of that long year and three months remembered by King Vittorio Emanuele III’s proclamation in 1922 of the hill’s inclusion as a zona sacra, a place of special memory to the Italian nation.  At least three zone sacra in Italy relate to World War 1 – Pasubio and Monte Grappa are the other two.  There might be more but those along with Monte San Michele are the big three.

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TUNNELS UNDER THE PAN-AMERICAN HIGHWAY – STORIES FROM RIO HATO

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Flight simulator view south of the Pan-American highway tunnel under the Scarlett Martinez International Airport – formerly Rio Hato – runway.

Always new things to learn in Panama.  One is the airstrip which the Panamerican highway tunnels under about 1-2 hours west of Panama City.  I have been driven under the runway on six occasions and have never seen a plane nor really much in the way of any activity at all. Local Lions club members told me it was just an expensive affair on the government’s part to attract tourists to an underdeveloped area of the coast.  This is true regarding the last decade or so of the airstrip’s life but does not explain the rest of the history of the site.

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