The Art of Dolomite War

Written by David Van De Velde

The dolomite front during World War I was very different from the Belgian trenches. One was flat, and the other had peaks that sometimes reached 4000 meters. (Daniel Marc Segesser 2018, 573) You couldn’t grab a shovel and dig yourself in. That limestone wouldn’t allow it.

But what was possible was tunneling! And both armies were very aware of this. But they needed geological knowledge to do this correctly. Because they needed to know the rock matrix, fault lines, and weak spots. (Angetter and Schramm 2013, 1)

But when they gathered all the necessary information, they were ready to use it to build tunnels. But why? A short cut? Maybe to protect their troops while navigating through the mountain?

Well, that is all true, but there was also another more explosive reason. Both armies would create tunnels underneath each other to just blow it up afterward, hoping to destroy their enemy.

One such example is the Col di Lana. The Italian army needed to eliminate the top encampment that the Austrians defended. This little fortress was a massive thorn in their eyes because it defended an important dolomite highway. (Keller 2009, 11)

So, the Italians tunneled through the mountain until they were right under the Austrian position. Then they filled it with five metric tons of dynamite and let lose the explosion. It was a spectacle.

The blast was so bad that it toppled the top of the mountain, making it smaller. (Keller 2009, 11) An Austrian survivor described the Col di Lana’s peak as a pillar of fire during the night sky. Then the mountain trembled, and its peak tipped over. (Keller 2009, 11)

Imagine that. The Italians really wanted to be sure that they used enough explosives that they literally cut off part of that mountain.

Well, if you want to be certain… You have to bring lots of dynamite to the problem.

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Bibliography

Angetter, Daniela, and Josef-Michael Schramm. 2013. “Engineering Geological Aspects of Subsurface Warfare in the High Al- Pine Rock and Ice Regions of Tyrol during World War I Ingenieurgeologische Aspekte Des Minierkrieges in Den Hochalpinen Fels- Und Eisregionen Tirols Während Des Ersten Weltkrieges,” 7.

Daniel Marc Segesser. 2018. “Fighting Where Nature Joins Forces with the Enemy: Nature, Living Conditions, and Their Representation in the War in the Alps 1915–1918.” The Hungarian Historical Review 7 (3): 568–593.

Keller, Tait. 2009. “The Mountains Roar: The Alps during the Great War.” Environmental History 14 (2): 253–274. https://doi.org/10.1093/envhis/14.2.253.