Remains of the battles can be easily spotted – it is hard to go anywhere without coming across ruined defences, gun emplacements, trenches and camps. Austrian-Hungarian cemetery at Log pod Mangarton Memorials are everywhere, some being simple plaques, others on a grander scale such as the Memorial Church of the Holy Spirit (sv. Most notable perhaps is the Italian Charnel House that stands on the Hill of St Anthony above Kobarid. Military cemeteries can be found at Trenta, Log Pod Mangarton, Bovec, Kobarid and Tolmin and other locations in the valley. Today, it is impossible to imagine the horror of it all and the hardships that the soldiers must have endured, but scattered throughout the Soča Valley and on the surrounding mountains are reminders of that terrible time.
BATTLE OF THE ISONZO PLUS
The grim statistics are that on the Soča Front almost one million people lost their lives, soldiers, plus men, women and children behind the lines. Here the advance was halted and, almost exactly a year later, the war ended with the collapse of of the Central Powers. The 12th offensive (sometimes referred to as the Battle of Caporetto and described by Ernest Hemingway in his book, A Farewell to Arms) resulted in a major breakthrough for the joint Austro-Hungarian and German armies who pushed back the Italians to the Piave river, advancing more than 100km towards Venice. The Italians attacked 11 times but each time were unsuccessful.
Battle raged for nearly two and a half years and twelve offensives took place.
0 kommentar(er)
