Ravelnik and Čelo are two open-air museums allowing visitors a chance to visit spaces where soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army defended the Bovec basin from invading Italian troops from the end of May 1915 until the end of October 1917. The two sites restored by locals and the Slovene government are different in what they offer as well as their original purpose with regard to their roles in holding off the Italians.
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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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Rombon sits at the eastern end of the dolomitic Kanin massif. It is a serious mountain. The climb is relatively straightforward, but it entails 1,750 meters of elevation gain over 5 ½ to 7 hours of climbing. Once you are up there, you have all of that elevation to lose. There is no water nor alpine huts up here. The mountain rises to 2298 meters while Bovec, the normal starting point, sits at a mere 460 meters. For over two years, Italians and soldiers from the Austro-Hungarian Empire grappled with each other amidst the alpine splendor. The fighting conducted sporadically, but when fought, bitterly.
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Early in the morning of 24 October 1917, the newly constituted Austro-German 14th Army launched the Caporetto Offensive – known on the Austrian side as the Das Wunder von Karfeit or the Miracle of Caporetto. An integral part of the “miracle” was “Der Durchbruch bei Flitsch” – “The Breakthrough at Bovec”. In the two-pronged offensive, the use of gas shaped the deadly results in both zones of the attack.
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