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.
From the summer of 1915 until the fateful days of late October 1917, Italian artillery guns roared here from the crests 900-1000 meters above the valley floor below. The main targets were Austrian positions in the little hillocks making up the Tolmin bridgehead below to the east, but the killing fields of Mrzli vrh and Monte Rosso also lie within range.
PREWAR
With Italy’s declaration of war 23 May 1915, Austria-Hungary had few troops available to defend its long border with Italy. Fortifications of sorts only existed on the bridgehead below. Also, around Gorizia and the small fort of Kluze just east of Bovec to the north. Italy mobilized 1.2 million men, though supplying them turned out to be a major problem. Initially, only a little under 750,000 could be brought to the front. Mobilization turned out problematic, with units advancing to the front in piecemeal fashion. Still, Italy outnumbered the Imperial forces three to one. Austrian Chief of Staff, Conrad von Höttzendorf planned to give up the Carso region and Trieste to the south. At the same time, he would allow the Italians to march into the Julian Alps, seeking to engage them further to the east.
BAD TIMING
Breakthrough at Golice – Tarnow eased the Eastern Front situation for Austria-Hungary.
Timing was bad for Italy just entering the war.
Timing is everything, however. Italy signed the secret Treaty of London at the end of April. An offensive on their part was to follow their declaration of war one month later. Up until the date the treaty was signed, the Austro-Hungarian army suffered immense losses. Their peacetime army ceased to exist in the face of the huge casualties incurred against Russia and Serbia. Half of their forces which entered the war became casualties by the spring of 1915. With German help, the two allies struck hard at the Russians achieving a breakthrough which collapsed the front driving the lines to the east by over 100 miles. Over a million Russian casualties would ensue from the two-month long offensive – just under 500,000 for the Germans and Austrians.
With the dire situation solidified in Galicia and Poland, and Serbia quiet for the moment, Conrad was able to move five divisions from the Serbian front and three from the Russian front to face their new enemy. Fortifications quickly built while Conrad changed his mind about giving up territory, especially in light of the initial Italian moves.
BATTLE ENSUES
To the south, Italian forces were stymied by spring melt off and flooding of the Isonzo. Here, in the north, Italian soldiers captured Kobarid – renaming it Caporetto – on the first day against no opposition. Their next steps were to climb up into the mountains to the east, capturing Krn-Monte Nero in spectacular fashion 16 June. Tardy follow up allowed the Austrians to rush reinforcements onto the peaks and a stalemate on Batognica resulted. A similar situation occurred further to the south on the steep slopes of Mrzli vrh where no defenders stood in the first days of the war. By the time Italians climbed up, the lack of defender problem changed dramatically.
Italian positions from Krn to Tolmin.
Moving west from Tomin Bridgehead – right to left – note all three Italian lines.
Below, against the fortifications in the Tolmin Bridgehead, the Italian offensive faltered with no artillery support. It would take a while for the artillery bases atop the Kolovrat to establish.
With time the guns took up residency here. Trenches built, barracks constructed, command and observation posts dug and made solid with the help of tons of concrete. One post here even featured a spiral staircase restored for your exploration today. The whole program of positions became part of the third line of the Italian defense here on the Isonzo front. Reserve infantry units, artillery bases, communication and command centers all maintained up high here.
STALEMATE
So, the war dragged on here. Across the way – Mrzli vrh – and below – Tolmin Bridgehead – men fought and died inconclusively. The many battles of the Isonzo fought themselves out. Some of them involved this front as a sideshow to the main events further downriver around Gorizia.
By 1917, even with Russia and Serbia mostly out of the equation, Austria-Hungary was just barely hanging on. Collapse of the empire was in the air. The new emperor, Karl, reached out, without German knowledge, to the Allies to attempt to bring about a separate peace. Defense of the Isonzo front was beginning to get serious for the Austrian defenders especially after the Tenth and Eleventh Battles of the Isonzo. They had succeeded in blunting the latest Italian attacks, but the cost dear. One more push and Austria looked at the possibility of the front collapsing.
CHANGE IS SOUGHT
Early thoughts of an Austrian offensive in the upper Isonzo had floated about for some time. Conrad always thought of offensives against the Italians in terms of assaults on the Asiago Plateau area. Here he tried in 1916 turned back by topography, supply issues and a Russian offensive. By the spring of 1917, Conrad had left, eased out of office by Karl. Conrad’s place as chief of staff fell upon the more amiable shoulders of Arthur Arz von Straußenburg. Arz was seen as a capable commander who did not speak down to Karl unlike Conrad. Karl reportedly said he was “not wanting a genius to command his armies”.
Arz finally was able to convince German commander Paul von Hindenburg to help sort things out on the Isonzo. Hindenburg, over the protests of his chief of staff, Erich Ludendorff. A new Austro-German army was created – the 14th – which was to be led by a German. In addition, all German troops were only used until December 1917 when they would redeploy to France for the 1918 Spring Offensives.
ATTACK
One of the two main points of the Austro-German offensive was the Tolmin Bridgehead. Forces here then directed up the valley toward Caporetto-Kobarid with the outside hope of pushing the Italians backwards to the Tagliamento River in the Veneto of Italy, thus reducing the Italian pressure along the Isonzo.
The main thrust in the river valley below was delivered by the German 12th Division. Included in the force erupting out of the bridgehead was the German Alpenkorps consisting of three Bavarian regiments – two Jäger regiments and the Lieb (Life Guards) regiment – and the Württemberg Gebirgsbattalion – Mountain Battalion. These units were given the responsibility of pushing up the mountain slopes to push through the third and last Italian defensive line.
FOG OF WAR
When the attacks came early on 24 October, they were not totally unexpected by the Italians. The even knew of German troops transferring in to the Isonzo. Fog and rain muddied the scene for the now defending Italians. The scope of the preceding barrage also never experienced like this by the Italians before this. Plenty of gas shells made matters worse.
In this area, the artillery barrage centered upon Italian command control centers. Knocking out these centers made Italian responses to ensuing attack non-existent. Commanders wandered about not knowing what was happening, totally out of touch with their units. Unable to see or know what was happening below kept Italian batteries silent for the most part while Austro-German forces pushed through the confused Italian lines on the valley floor. While men of the 12th Division – Silesians – pushed upriver capturing Kobarid in the afternoon, the Alpenkorps concentrated on scaling the heights above.
UP THE SLOPES OF THE KOLOVRAT WHERE BLUE MAXES LURK
The highest award an officer within the Imperial German Army could aspire to, was the Order Pour le Mérite, better known as the Blue Max. Commanders used the award as an incentive for their officers to overachieve. One offered for the first to lead men atop Na gradu and another for the peak of Matajur.
The alpencorps climbs ever upward
The main attack on the Kolovrat was taken up by Bavarians of the Life Guards Regiment with the 1st and 2nd Jäger Regiments attacking on the right. Further south, the German 200th Division and the Austrian 1st Division moved against Italian artillery-command posts also atop the ridges.
Looking below from the Italian trenches towards Tolmin, an obvious ridge ascends alongside the north edge of the Kamnica valley. A road makes several hairpin turns to gain the ridge – Hlevnik 886 meters – lying north and slightly lower than Na gradu. The Life Guards came up the valley and the ridge through the rain, mists and gas. The Württemberg Mountain Battalion stayed on the right flank of the Life Guards keeping their main attack lower down focused on the hamlet of Foni about halfway up Hlevnik from the valley floor. One force was led by a young lieutenant Erwin Rommel. Pushing his men up the ridges, his men helped capture the trenches below Na gradu by the end of the first day.
A BLUE MAX IS FOUND
The unit led by Rommel pushed it way up over Hlevnik looking for a way around the defenses on Na gradu the next day. A unit of the Life Guards led by Lieutenant Ferdinand Schörner – like Rommel, a future field marshal in another war with another army – were able to come up the south side of Na gradu. They found a meter wide hole in the defense line late in the day. Punching through, they took the defenses focused upon attacks coming up from Hlevnik to the north, by surprise.
A unit of the Life Guards, led by Lieutenant Ferdinand Schörner – like Rommel, a future field marshal in another war with another army – were able to come up the south side of Na gradu. They found a meter wide hole in the defense line late in the day. Punching through, they took the defenses focused upon attacks coming up from Hlevnik to the north, by surprise. Schörner earned a Blue Max for his efforts on Na gradu that day.
ONWARD PUSHES THE FUTURE DESERT FOX
Rommel and his men would go on ensuring themselves a place of valor in the history books over the next few days marching along the ridgetop of the Kolovrat capturing the highpoint of Matajur – 1641 meters – two days later unmasking a huge chunk of the defending Italian Second Army. By that time, most of the Second Army was in the rapid process of destruction. A retreat to the Tagliamento already ordered by late on the second day of the attacks by Italian commander Luigi Cardona, the retreat would not stop there.
Rommel’s force succeeded in capturing 150 officers, 9,000 men and 81 guns at the cost of six dead and thirty wounded. A Blue Max – the Pour le Merite, the highest medal for officers in the Imperial German army – was promised to man capturing Matajur.
Through a technicality, Rommel missed out on this medal, but would gain his Blue Max a couple weeks later in the campaign capturing more thousands of Italians attempting to flee from the Austro-German advance.
TODAY
the symbol
The understanding of Kolovrat points to ancient Slavic mythology. Gods fighting each other continually gave rise to the kolovrat symbol, some say a form of derivation on a swastika. But there are twice as many arms on a kolovrat alluding to one meaning in Russian “spinning wheel”. Looking at a map, the ridge line in this particular area is like such a feature with the main ridge facing Kobarid to the north and then sharply turning south here. Add in all of the subsidiary ridges and the “spinning wheel” motif becomes more apparent. Whether that is the story behind the actual name is purely conjecture on my part.
the museum
The road up to the open-air museum on the Kolovrat is steep and narrow, making its way up from the valley floor just south of Kobarid in the hamlet of Idrsko. From an elevation of 210 meters, the road twists and turns up to the smaller village of Livek at a pass along the ridge line. The ridge becomes part of the Kolovrat as you ascend more hairpins to the southeast – the ridge to the west-northwest leads along the path taken by Rommel’s group to Matajur. Just past the alpine reaches of Livške Ravne, the road final levels out just below the crest. Soon, you reach the parking area where a circular trail takes off to visit some of the positions here on the Kolovrat.
Two peaks rise gently above, Na gradu-Klabuk – 1,114 meters high – directly south and Trvinški vrh-Monte Piatto – 1,138 meters high. The Hlevnik ridge seems far below. From the parking lot a path past the information board leads off to the south and up the slopes of Na gradu. There is a plethora of refurbished Italian positions to visit. Much of the reconstruction work reused original Italian materials. A light of some kind is always useful walking about in the subterranean features. The areas of reconstruction represent only a slight amount of the trenchworks built by the Italians along the ridges here.
ALONG THE BORDER
Paths continue to the top of the hill. From here views extend far off into the Friulian plains of Italy. The Krn massif extends to the northeast. There are border markers from the post-World War 2 era representing the border between Italy and Yugoslavia. Ruins of an old Yugoslav border police station still stands in the little depression north of the peak. This was also the position of an important supply line for the Italians leading down the mountain to the west.
The path continues along the border to the northwest, most of the time on the Italian side. After about 400 meters, another vantage point takes in the ridgeline extending to Matajur. It is this ridgeline which Rommel and his men fought and bluffed their way up over two days to capture the peak 26 October 1917. More reconstructed positions offer exploration. To return, the path goes up over Trinški vrh. This was another important command center.
Returning to the road, on the opposite side, another path leads out to more Italian trenches where a former outpost offers a spectacular view over the Isonzo valley past Kobarid and onto the rocky massif of Kanin. Across the valley are spectacular views of Krn-Batognica-Sleme-Mrzli vrh.
Caporetto-Kobarid lies deep in the valley below to the center-left
Krn and Batognica rise on the right.
It is hard to imagine the difference between those days and the rustic peace of nature residing here on Kolovrat today.