The situation in which we found ourselves was one which did not present itself to many soldiers during World War I. Thousands of the enemy, retreating in orderly fashion in a narrow valley hemmed in to the right and left by unscalable mountains sixty-six hundred feet high, were in complete ignorance of the danger which threatened their flank.
The hearts of the mountain riflemen leapt with delight. Those Italian forces must not retreat farther, that was certain. I quickly put my ten carbine soldiers in dense clumps of bushes a hundred yards south of the road, and we proceeded to open fire on the
Sketch 67
The Piave river near Longarone. View from the east.
Columns on the Rivalta-Pirago road at a range of about fourteen hundred yards. We concentrated our fire on a place where escape was impossible for the enemy; on the right, the rocky wall; on the left, the Piave! The leading elements of the 3rd Company began to arrive breathless at the mouth of the pass, and they reinforced the firing line. (Sketch 68)
In a few minutes our rapid fire had split the hostile column in two. The northern half marched back toward Longarone while the southern half quickened its pace. Minutes later, the enemy turned a large number of machine guns against us. The fire was ineffective for we had occupied good positions among the bushes on the forward slope and had moved away from the mouth of the Vajont ravine. The Italians only fired at the road and up the Vajont ravine, but their actions did slow the advance of our reinforcements.
Small groups of the enemy in Longarone now tried to run the gauntlet to the south. A platoon of the 3rd Company, with two light machine guns, was now in position south of the Vajont ravine and it quickly discouraged these ventures.
Suddenly, one of my runners noticed a company of Italian in-
Sketch 68
Position in the bushes just south of the mouth of the Vajont ravine. View from
The west.
Fantry descending the rock walls in our rear (from the direction of Hill 854). I moved a few riflemen and a light machine gun to meet this new threat. The enemy continued to climb down the steep wall in column of files and came to within three hundred yards of us. Things looked promising, for any man hit when we opened fire would have fallen down the cliff and dragged several of his comrades along. I was sure of success. But I did not fire immediately; rather, I shouted to the enemy to surrender. The enemy saw that the game was up and surrendered. Had we discovered him five minutes later, he would have been down the steep wall and could have done us much harm.
In the Piave valley the enemy blew up the bridge east of Longarone. An attempt to move off in the direction of Mudu in closed column was thwarted by our fire. Only in very small groups was it possible for the enemy to move at all on the Mudu-Belluno road or along the railway line running south. The situation remained unchanged even when several hostile batteries chimed in from the knolls south of Longarone. They did not find our positions south of the Vajont ravine either. Instead, dozens of shells hit on the pass road in front of and in the Vajont ravine, as well as on the cliffs above the road. In spite of the very unpleasant effect of the hostile machine-gun and artillery fire, which was increased considerably by falling rocks and stones, by 1145, the remaining units of the 3rd Company, as well as the 1st Company and a platoon of the 1st Machine-Gun Company, had reached the heights a hundred yards south of the entrance of the road into the Vajont ravine.
In order to block the road and railway toward Belluno on the west bank of the Piave and to capture all hostile units coming from the north, I sent the 1st Company, reinforced by the heavy machine gun platoon, through Dogna to the west bank of the Piave in the vicinity of Pirago. The entire 3rd Company furnished fire support for this movement and prevented the enemy from marching anywhere in closed formation.
In file with very short intervals, the 1st Company hurried off in the direction of Dogna. Its way there led over a steep, grassy slope devoid of cover and fully exposed to enemy observation. Italian machine guns and batteries turned their fire on the company, but it managed to reach the protecting houses of Dogna almost without losses. The hostile machine-gun and artillery fire increased perceptibly with its bulk falling in the Vajont ravine.
Then we saw the 1st Company west of Dogna moving across the bed of the Piave. But the river bed offered no protection against observation, and still less against fire. Very soon the Italians around Longarone poured such a hail of fire on the 1st Company that only rapid retreat to Dogna prevented heavy losses. While this action was in progress I hurried to Dogna with the detachment staff. Telephone wire was laid to the 3rd Company, which remained in the former position. Shells and machine-gun fire sped us on our way. The enemy was firing on each individual.
In Dogna I met the 1st Company, which had just returned from the Piave channel. This failure did not discourage me. That an entire company did not manage to get through the hostile fire zone in the Piave River bed did not mean that such a manoeuvre was im-
Sketch 69
Crossing the Piave at Pirago and Fae.
Possible for a few men who could take better advantage of the terrain and perhaps veer off somewhat farther to the south.
The heavy machine-gun platoon was so emplaced on the top floor of a house that it covered the railway and highway bridge at Pirago, a thousand yards away, across which small groups of Italians were moving southward. Its mission was to bar this road to larger units. We had less than a thousand rounds per gun and this meant close economy in our ammunition expenditure.
Then I sent several scout squads, under particularly capable leaders, across the Piave. They were to cross the river in very loose formation and, once on the west side, were to move to the vicinity of Pirago and capture all the small enemy groups which were straggling south. As soon as a fairly large number of prisoners had been gathered, they were to send them to the east bank of the Piave in the direction of Dogna. This was a difficult mission and required a maximum of skill and dash from the men as well as from the leaders.
The five scout squads moved forward under strong fire support but their progress was slow. Under these circumstances, I doubted whether any of them would reach the west bank of the Piave.
Meanwhile, Major Sproesser had arrived at the mouth of the pass with the signal company and the attached 1st Battalion of the 26th Imperial and Royal Rifle Regiment. Upon my request, the signal company now relieved the 3rd Company in the position south of the mouth of the pass. Then, by rushes in small groups, the 3rd Company joined us in Dogna.
We saw no signs of the scout squads in the river bed, although hostile machine guns were spraying the bare gravel banks of the half mile wide river bed. Toward 1400, I attacked from Dogna with the 1st and 3rd Companies on a broad front in the direction of Pirago. My idea was to get some units across the river and block the valley road on the west side by the fire of the rest of the detachment. Heavy machine-gun and artillery fire drove us to ground after we had covered a few hundred yards, and we had to dig to find cover. Our net achievement was that we were deployed on a broad front six hundred yards from the enemy's line of retreat and that our attack had drawn the enemy fire from the scout squads farther to the south.
I was sceptical as to whether or not any of the five scout squads had reached the west bank of the Piave, so I sent out two other squads under Lieutenants Streicher and Triebig. The former was soon incapacitated by the blast effect of an Italian shell on the main branch of the Piave, and the latter was wounded by machine-gun fire. It seemed impossible to get a single man across the river. From two sides the Italian artillery cut up the terrain in which we were lying. His guns were in position just south of Longarone and in the vicinity of Mount Dregnon (southwest). The enemy did not seem to lack ammunition.
The detachment staff dug in behind a small stone wall in the bed of the Piave. This place was the favourite target of an Italian battery. Various gaps in the stone wall showed that the enemy had made his bracket but we had used the spade to good effect.
Technical Sergeant Dobelmann studied the region south of Longarone with his powerful glass; the adjutant was out on reconnaissance, and I dictated the Cimolais combat report to Sergeant Blattmann who was being trained as detachment clerk. The fire of the enemy continued in undiminished intensity and the 3rd Company bore the brunt of it. Now and again on the west bank, we could see small groups of the enemy and occasional vehicles hurrying southward through our fire zone.
Toward 1430, the 3rd Company and the 1st Machine Gun-Company of the 26th Imperial and Royal Rifle Regiment arrived in Dogna. They were to support us. The leaders reported at my command post. I did not want to expose additional troops to the hostile fire in the river bed, so I left these new units in reserve in Dogna and committed only one heavy machine gun platoon, in order to increase the volume of fire being laid by the Wurttemberg Mountain Battalion on the Longarone-Belluno road and railway. I expected to be across the river before dark.
Seven scout squads had been on their way to the far bank of the Piave for hours. Not a single one had reported back. Could none of them have been able to cross the river? On the opposite bank we could still observe some of the enemy slipping away to the south but we were powerless to stop them. Ammunition, especially for the machine guns was running low and we had to use it sparingly The minutes dragged on while the hostile fire continued, claiming an occasional victim.
Toward 1500, Technical Sergeant Dobelmann reported that he thought he saw mountain troops to the southwest on the opposite bank. He said an Italian, coming from the hill west of Fae, had been captured by a soldier standing behind a house near the railway. I grabbed the glass and convinced myself that everything was in order. No Italians would get past Fae.
But we waited in vain for the agreed return of prisoners to the east bank of the Piave. I had expected to make maximum use of their passage of the river by crossing my people at the same time.
Finally, toward 1530, we saw a dense mass of captured Italians a mile and a half south of us in the broad bed of the Piave. Most of them were already on the east bank heading toward Dogna. I was getting angry because we had lost our chance of shifting to the other bank, when the Italian artillery around Longarone opened on this mass of prisoners. Apparently, the artillery thought they were German. The fire forced the prisoners to return to the west bank near Fae. This incident did not change our situation; as before, the enemy kept us pinned down with artillery and machine-gun fire.
Shortly before dark, a great number of Italian prisoners appeared near an old levee damming the westernmost arm of the Piave in the vicinity of Hill 431, a mile north of Fae and began to cross the Piave. What I hoped for all day happened. I moved the bulk of my detachment to the weir. We no longer worried about the hostile fire which was still being directed at our old positions and on the west edge of Dogna.
On the main branch of the Piave, hundreds of prisoners protected us from further hostile fire. The shifting of the detachment took little time. The prisoners showed us the best means of crossing the wild river with its many arms, some of which were very swift and chest-deep in places. A single man, even a good swimmer, reached the far shore only with difficulty; the strong current simply carried him away. The Italians grabbed each other's wrists and walked obliquely into the river, facing upstream with the body more or less bent forward, according to the strength of the current. We imitated them and were soon across. However, once there we set out for Fae. The ice-cold bath in the Piave helped us maintain a rapid pace.
We were glad to meet the scout squads at Fae. They quickly informed us as to their activities. Deputy Officer Huber and Technical Sergeant Hohnecker with sixteen men of the 1st Company succeeded in fording and swimming the Piave a mile south of Pirago, in spite of the very violent hostile machine-gun fire from Longarone, and took possession of Fae castle. Private Hildebrandt was killed. At Fae the small group blocked the road and railway to Belluno and captured the small squads of Italians coming from Longarone who believed they had reached safety. Lieutenant Schoffel arrived later. In the course of the afternoon the units of the 1st Company at Fae captured 50 Italian officers and 780 men, and a large number of vehicles of all types.
They were glad to see the arrival of these welcome reinforcements. At times it had been rather uncomfortable for so few men to have so many prisoners. Above all, the Italian officers needed to be strictly guarded. It had been impossible to move them off, and they were confined in an upper story of the castle and were guarded by two mountain troops. I had more important things to do than to worry about them.
Our scout squads had cut all telephone lines connecting Longarone and Belluno. Nevertheless, I was convinced that help was on the way for the Italians who were trapped in Longarone—at the very least the hostile battery on Mount Degnon knew exactly what was going on in the vicinity of Longarone. I therefore gave the 3rd Company of the 26th Imperial and Royal Rifle Regiment, reinforced by a heavy machine-gun platoon of the Wurttemberg Mountain Battalion, the mission of providing security and reconnaissance toward the south, the most advanced outpost being about half a mile south of Fae with the reinforced company in the neighbourhood of Fae.
I did not count on receiving additional forces. The encircling detachments of the Wurttemberg Mountain Battalion (the Gossler and Schiellein detachments and the 2nd Company), even if they did not encounter the enemy, could not have arrived at the mouth of the Vajont ravine, eleven hundred yards east of Longarone, before midnight. There, Major Sproesser had the remainder of the 1st Battalion of the 26th Imperial and Royal Rifle Regiment, the signal company of the Wurttemberg Mountain Battalion and the 377th Mountain Howitzer Detachment, which was out of ammunition.
Should I have been satisfied to block the Piave valley to the north and south on the west bank? Should I have waited until the enemy attacked? No, that was not according to my taste. In order to gain the decision at Longarone quickly, I decided to make a night attack on Longarone with the units of my force still at my disposal (1st, 3rd Companies of the Wurttemberg Mountain Battalion and 1st Machine-Gun Company of the 26th Imperial and Royal Rifle Regiment).
Night fell. The retreat of the enemy from Longarone toward Fae had ceased shortly after our passage of the river. Italian artillery delivered rapid fire in the vicinity of our crossing of the Piave channel. The enemy probably knew that the road to Belluno had been blocked. He had surely seen the eight hundred prisoners and the Rommel detachment crossing from bank to bank in the evening twilight. What did he have up his sleeve? A breakthrough attempt in the night? I had to anticipate him.
The heavy machine-gun platoon at Dogna was, from time to time, still delivering harassing fire on the road and rail bridges near Pirago as well as on the open road cut one hundred yards north of that town. I now had a telephone message sent ordering them to cease fire since the detachment itself would be advancing along the road toward Longarone.
We moved off to the north. I led the point. The column moved in the following order: The light machine gunners marched on the right-hand side of the road with their weapons loaded for steady fire; in the ditch on the left were the riflemen in column of files at ten-yard intervals. The companies followed in columns of files. The detachment staff was at their head. We moved as quietly as possible for hostile sentries had excellent audibility on that clear and quiet night.
In spite of all precautions, the point was fired on by an Italian sentry three hundred yards south of Pirago. In the pitch-black night we saw the flashes of a few shots; then my light machine gun on the right hammered away. Its fire struck sparks from the road, a house wall to the right, and the steep rocks on the left of the road. The enemy did not answer for he had been swept away.
We continued the advance, reached Pirago without further encounter with the enemy, and crossed the bridge which we had blocked with fire during the day. Our machine guns at Dogna were silent, presumably because of the order sent them by telephone.
We worked our way forward on the road. On the cliff to the left some hundred yards away Italian artillery was firing shell after shell out over us in the direction of the crossing used by us in getting over the Piave. The shell fuzes left a peculiar luminous trail behind them in the dark night. It was a fine gratuitous fireworks display.
Only a hundred yards or so separated us from the first houses of Longarone. We moved forward slowly. There, in the light of the fireworks, a black wall extended across the bright road. It was about a hundred yards away. We did not know if it was a bend in the road or a roadblock. We moved up to within seventy yards and I made certain that it was a road block. We were expected.
I ordered a halt and brought up the machine-gun company. The company commander (a first lieutenant) received the mission of silently bringing several heavy machine guns into position alongside each other on the road and preparing a fire attack on the barricade. After a short fire for effect, I intended to attack with the 1st and 3rd Companies and take the south entrance to Longarone.
Preparations for this undertaking were in full swing. The crews of four heavy machine guns were just about to bring their guns into positions eighty yards in front of the barricade, when a sudden burst of machine gun fire hit us in the flank. Our own machine guns in Dogna were firing! The order to cease fire had not been transmitted to them. Sparks flew everywhere. We tried to take
Caught in a crossfire at the roadblock.
Cover and in doing so created quite a rumpus as the machine-gun equipment was banged around. The roadblock opened up, and several machine guns began to sweep the area in which we had taken cover. Machine-gun fire at eighty yards, without a chance of taking cover, is enough to drive one crazy! Death stands very near at such moments. We ourselves did not get a chance to fire. The heavy machine-gun equipment was not assembled. We lay for minutes in the worst kind of crossfire. An attempt to take care of the enemy behind the barricade with hand grenades failed. The distance was too great. To attack on a narrow road against the fire of several machine guns was impossible. We sought shelter under semicircular recesses in the road wall, and when fire struck here from the flank, in the ditch to the left. Throwing hand grenades only increased the volume of fire from the roadblock. Losses mounted! Among others, the leader of the machine-gun company of the 26th Rifle Regiment lay severely wounded in the ditch to the left. It was a good thing that the night considerably decreased the Italians' accuracy.
The undertaking was a total failure and it remained to get away as quickly as possible without suffering excessive losses. I was pinned down by fire. By word of mouth I transmitted the order to withdraw to the bridge near Pirago. The units farther to the rear disengaged themselves with ease but those up front had a more difficult time. Moments when the enemy fire died down were rare. They were taken advantage of for short, quick sprints. We covered a few yards only to be forced to earth again when the machine guns opened up.
A few dashes brought us uninjured to the safety of a bend in the road, safety at least from hostile fire. Unfortunately, the machine gun platoons in Dogna caused a good deal of trouble even here. They blocked the highway bridge at Pirago. I had only a few of my mountain troopers with me. Part were already back in the direction of Pirago, but a considerable number were still up front near the barricade.
Strangely enough, the enemy ceased firing. Shortly after, the sound of voices came from that direction and came rapidly nearer. They were not mountain troopers. It was strange that none of the detachment came back. I hurried back to Pirago. On the way, I overtook a few mountain soldiers, among them a man with a flare pistol. I found no one at the bridge in Pirago. My orders to halt there had not been received.
A group of howling Italians came down the road and I did not know whether they were attackers or prisoners. I had no idea of what had become of my leading elements (3rd Company and the machine-gun company of the 26th Rifle Regiment). I decided to use a couple of flares and clear up the situation.
I fired them just to the right of the highway bridge near the low wall leading to the mill and, in their light, I saw a closely packed mass of handkerchief-waving men rushing toward Pirago. The head of the group was a scant hundred yards away and the light of the flares made me an excellent target. The shrieking Italians did not fire a shot as they approached, and I was still undecided regarding their status.
The four or five riflemen with me were insufficient to stem that mob and the rest of the detachment seemed to have gone back in the direction of Fae. I ran down the road intending to catch up with the bulk of my unit, face them about and stop the on-rushing horde.
A few minutes later I gathered about fifty men together near a group of houses, three to six hundred yards south of Pirago. Lieu-
Attempt to block the road south of Pirago. View from the south.
Tenant Streicher took one half of the men and occupied a house on the right of the road, the remainder were used to bar the road. The men lined up with their carbines ready. Lieutenant Schoffel was on the left against the rock wall; Technical Sergeant Dobelmann and I were on the right by the house. The riflemen were instructed to fire only on my command. There were no flare pistols or flare ammunition. The enemy masses were unable to turn off to the left and darkness and lack of time prevented us from determining how things stood on the right where we assumed the Piave to be. We only had a few seconds to complete our preparations. The howling mob drew closer.
The night limited visibility to a bare fifty yards along the road and the terrain to the right and left was pitch black. When the enemy was within fifty yards I shouted “Halt!” and demanded their surrender. The answering roar was neither affirmative nor negative. No one fired and the yelling mass drew nearer. I repeated my challenge and got the same answer. The Italians opened fire at ten yards. At the same time a salvo rang out on our side, but before we had a chance to reload (light and heavy machine guns were
Unfortunately missing) we were overwhelmed and trampled down by the powerful mass. Almost all who were on the road fell into the enemy's hands. The bulk of the garrison in the house, whose upper story had only black painted windows, and consequently was poorly adapted for defence, escaped in the dark across the Piave. The Italians raced along the road to the south.
At the last moment, I escaped capture by jumping over the road wall and I raced the Italians moving along the road. I tore across country over ploughed land, small brooks, over hedges and fences. The 3rd Company, 26th Imperial and Royal Rifle Regiment and a heavy machine-gun platoon of the Wurttemberg Mountain Battalion were still at Fae, a mile away. They faced south and were ignorant of the impending danger. The thought of losing this last remnant of my force gave me superhuman strength. I felt a path under my feet and raced on toward Fae.
I succeeded in arriving before the enemy, and, with everything available, I hastily formed a new front to the north. I was firmly resolved to fight to the last man. Scarcely had the 3rd Company of the 26th occupied the north edge of Fae, when we heard the Italians coming down the road. I opened fire when they were still some two to three hundred yards away. The hostile advance slowed down immediately and the Italian machine guns began to rattle, spraying their fire against the walls which sheltered the Styrian troops. The enemy appeared to be attacking to right and left of the road. A thousand men were yelling —Avanti, Avanti!” (“Forward!”)
If I wished to defeat a hostile breakthrough to the south, my reinforced company had to hold a line extending from the sawmill on the Piave, four hundred yards east of Fae castle, across the north edge of Fae to the cliffs of Mount Degnon, three hundred yards west of Fae, or a total front of nearly seven hundred yards. In the middle of this line the reinforced 3rd Company of the 26th was already engaged on both sides of the road. Large gaps existed between Fae and the river and Mount Degnon. My last reserves consisted of one or two squads of the 1st and 3rd Companies, the remnants of the forces which had advanced against Longarone. (Sketch 70)
In order to be able to sense hostile attempts at encirclement, and in order to have better visibility, I ordered a squad of mountain troopers to light fires along the entire front from the Piave to Mount Degnon. The riflemen knew that “the chips were down.” Soon the sawmill on the Piave was burning and flames began to rise from a large haystack fifty yards to the right of the road and from various houses and barns on the left above the road.
Units of the 3rd Company of the 26th were withdrawn from the battle line and used for a continuous, if scant, garrison of the front.
Sketch 70
Position at Fae just before the enemy night attack.
In spite of the fierce hostile fire we succeeded in closing all gaps. My valiant orderly Unger offered to get help from the eastern bank of the Piave. He was a good swimmer and thought he had a good chance of getting through. Meanwhile dozens of hostile machine guns hammered against the walls of the castle. The hostile infantry lay densely massed ready for an attack about a hundred yards in front of us in ditches and ploughed furrows. Again and again the battle cry: "Avanti, AvantiV" was heard above the rattle of rifles and machine guns. The rapid fire of the good men of the Styrian and Wurttemberg Mountain troops prevented the enemy mustering sufficient courage to rise and advance. The enemy's fire front widened.
During this battle, Technical Sergeant Dobelmann, severely wounded, dragged himself across the field in the vicinity of the sawmill and into our lines. The splendid fellow had received a chest wound in the night battle on the road a mile north of Fae, but had been able to escape capture in the darkness and was able to make his way back to us.
I held a few riflemen ready in case the superior enemy succeeded in penetrating our thin line at some place. Two soldiers still held the fifty Italian officers prisoner upstairs in the castle; the latter, knowing that their own troops were near at hand, became very bellicose, but did not dare attack the two soldiers.
The shots striking the north front of the castle rattled like hail. Most of the Styrians were in position at a wall on the north edge of Fae and fired shot after shot—even if un-aimed—over the wall at the enemy. Whenever the Italians shouted their battle cry we increased our fire. This sort of fighting naturally required immense supplies of ammunition. Our supplies would have been soon exhausted had we been unable to fall back on the abundant weapons and stores of ammunition in the castle yard—the booty of the Huber-Hohnecker scouting expedition in the afternoon. In the course of the battle, the rearming of our forward elements with Italian guns and ammunition was accomplished with the help of my few mountain troops. It was none the less unfortunate that the heavy machine-gun platoon in position on both sides of the road had only fifty cartridges for each gun.
For officers I had only the commander of the 3rd Company of the 26th and Deputy Officer Huber. All others seemed to have fallen into enemy hands. I sorely missed Lieutenant Streicher.
The battle raged for several hours in undiminished violence. The front between the Piave and Mount Degnon filled and the enemy tried repeatedly to overwhelm us by sheer weight. Our uninterrupted rapid fire prevented a hostile breakthrough at all points. Our southern security element consisted of six men from the 3rd Company of the 26th. No others were available. It was already close to midnight. New fires were started on the front, since the old ones threatened to go out. We waited in vain for sorely needed reinforcements. We believed that units of the 22nd Imperial and Royal Infantry Division must be arriving on the east bank of the Piave and that the other detachments of the Wurttemberg Mountain Battalion also were there. We had no telephone communication with Major Sproesser's command post.
The enemy fire slackened shortly after midnight and allowed us to breathe more easily. Our losses were moderate, thanks to the skilful use of the small amount of available cover. We worked feverishly to strengthen our positions. Our outposts reported the enemy to be withdrawing and as soon as all firing had ceased we sent out patrols to maintain contact. One of these lost its able leader from fire at close quarters. Another returned at 0100 with 600 prisoners who had surrendered a short distance from our position. The bulk of the enemy withdrew to Longarone.
Reinforcements arrived at 0200 in the form of the entire 2nd Company, which under Lieutenant Payer had made the circuit around Mount Lodina, and elements of the 3rd and 1st Companies, which, after the night battle south of Pirago, retreated to the east bank of the Piave. We also welcomed the rest of the 1st Machine-Gun Company, which arrived with abundant ammunition, and the 1st and 2nd Companies of the 26th Imperial and Royal Rifle Regiment under Captain Kremling.
The whole defence was reorganized and the castle itself converted into a strong-point. Large quantities of ammunition were available. A company of the 26th Rifle Regiment provided security and reconnaissance to the south. Furthermore, the fifty Italian officers, who had been silent witnesses to the battle at Fae, were sent to the east bank of the Piave. Their crossing of the ice-cold Piave required a great deal of urging on the part of the escort.
Not without preparation, and therefore without surprise, the enemy launched another strong and vigorous attack about 0300 with heavy artillery concentrations at short range. Dozens of artillery shells burst along our line sending walls and gables crashing down. This was immediately followed by storming tactics against various positions, which led to hand-to-hand fighting. But our front held, since we succeeded in shifting our forces to the vital spot in every instance. In fact, we were not obliged to commit the reserve at any time and the whole affair was over in a quarter of an hour. Would the enemy try again? (Sketch 71)
This last assault, however, proved to be enough for the Italian command. Their considerable losses forced them to break off the battle and withdraw to Longarone. Unfortunately, we also had a few killed by the Italian artillery.
Shivering, we sat around in our wet clothes and waited for morning. We warmed ourselves by drinking a few bottles of Chianti with our comrades-in-arms from Styria. Before daybreak the 1st Company reconnoitred the road above the railway as far as the bridge at Pirago. Scout squads of the 2nd and 3rd Companies reported the territory between the Piave and the Longarone road to be free of the enemy as far north as Pirago. As usual, the scouts returned with prisoners.
By 0630, another battalion of the 26th Imperial and Royal Rifle Regiment had arrived at Fae castle and it was used on security missions to the south. At the same time the Rommel detachment renewed the advance on Longarone. The 2nd and 3rd Rifle Companies and the 1st Machine-Gun Company marched along the road while the 1st Company moved on the slope above the railway. Our idea was to tighten the noose about the enemy in Longarone.
We met Lieutenant Streicher on the way. He had escaped capture by the Italians in the fight south of Pirago, but in the attempt
Sketch 71
Italian night attack at 0300. View from the south.
To cross the Piave was swept half a mile downstream and washed ashore unconscious.
As we neared the Pirago bridges the enemy blew them up. Under cover of the 1st Company up on the slope to the left, we soon reached the site of the blown bridges to find, half buried under debris, a severely wounded mountain rifleman. There was no sign of the enemy on the other side.
Heavy machine guns were emplaced on the steep slopes just south of the bridge sites, and under their cover we scrambled over the wreckage of the iron bridges. As we approached the spot where the barricade had been placed the night before, we saw Lieutenant Schoffel riding toward us from Longarone astride a mule. He was followed by hundreds of handkerchief-waving Italians. Schoffel, who had been taken prisoner in the night battle south of Pirago, brought the glad news of the capitulation by the entire Italian force around Longarone as written down by the enemy commander:
Headquarters, Fortress Longarone To the commander of the Austrian and German forces:
The forces in Longarone are not in any condition to offer further resistance. This Headquarters places itself at your disposal and awaits your decision as to the disposition of our troops.
Major Lay
This happy ending to days of hard fighting made us feel fine, especially since we knew that our comrades, who had been taken prisoner at Pirago, were free again. The Italians lined up on both sides of the road and our march to Longarone was to the accompaniment of their cheer “Evviva Germania!" The commander of the 1st Machine-gun Company of the 26th Rifle Regiment, who had been captured, severely wounded, by the Italians before Longarone with the greatest part of his company, was driven out toward us in an automobile ambulance. Our progress through the crowded streets was very slow. I went ahead with the ambulance and, in the Longarone marketplace, found the units of my detachment who had been captured. Their arms and equipment had been restored and they held the town pending our arrival. My detachment was the first body of German troops to enter Longarone. We marched in and quartered ourselves in a group of buildings south of the church. It began to rain. There were thousands of Italians and it was slow work moving them from Longarone to the Piave flats to the east. The remaining units of the Wurttemberg Mountain Battalion, following the 22nd Imperial and Royal Infantry Division, marched out of the Vajont ravine.
The other units of the battalion had attempted to come to our assistance during the pursuit and during the fighting on the west bank of the Piave. Immediately after the capture of the Italian positions west of Cimolais, Major Sproesser had initiated pursuit with the signal company of the Wurttemberg Mountain Battalion and the 1st Battalion of the 26th Imperial and Royal Rifle Regiment. This movement was contrary to the orders of the 43rd Infantry Brigade. The nature of the terrain and the type of combat we were engaged in were such that relief by other units was unfeasible. On arrival in St. Martino, Major Sproesser again received orders from the 43rd Rifle Brigade:
—The Wurttemberg Mountain Battalion will halt, camp, and spend the night in the mill at Erto. The 26th Rifle Regiment takes over the advance guard.” Major Sproesser answered:
—The reinforced Wurttemberg Mountain Battalion is fighting at Longarone and requests infantry support on the pass road and the forwarding of the 377th Imperial and Royal Mountain Howitzer Detachment.”
The tenacity with which Major Sproesser stuck to his task, and his refusal to be diverted by orders of the 43rd Brigade caused Captain Kremling, the commander of the 1st Battalion of the 26th Imperial and Royal Rifle Regiment, to remark: —I don't know which I should admire more, your courage before the enemy or your courage before your superiors.”
Toward noon, Major Sproesser reached the exit of the Vajont ravine eleven hundred yards east of Longarone. It took some time for the signal company and units of the 1st Battalion of the 26th to work their way out of the ravine, which was being subjected to heavy enemy fire. Then the signal company relieved the 3rd Company, which was advancing toward Dogna, and fired on the retiring enemy from the heights just south of the debouchment of the Vajont ravine road.
As soon as the leading companies of the 1st Battalion of the 26th Infantry cleared the Vajont ravine at 1400, they were sent to Dogna as reinforcements for the Rommel detachment. No other forces were at Major Sproesser's immediate disposal. The Gossler detachment (5th Company, 3rd Machine-Gun Company) had climbed the Forcella Simon (1483) from IL Porto over Cra Ferrona (955). Here its splendid leader, Captain Gossler, an expert mountaineer, had fallen to his death while hurrying ahead of his detachment across an icy slope. The Schiellein detachment (4th and 6th Companies, 2nd Machine-Gun Company) had climbed from Fornace Stadion across Mount Gallinut (1303) and had reached the Vajont ravine via Cra Ferrona (995). The 2nd Company under Lieutenant Payer was descending Mount Lodina and was headed in the direction of Erto.
After the unsuccessful night attack by the Rommel detachment on the west side of the Piave, unbelievable reports reached Major Sproesser at his command post by the exit from the pass: —Enemy breakthrough south of Longarone—Most of Rommel detachment including commander taken prisoner.” Soon thereafter, the sounds of the battle at Fae and the burning fires put an end to these rumours.
When our messenger, Private Unger, reached the battalion command post, Major Sproesser sent additional units of the 26th Rifle Regiment through Dogna to Fae, and later the 2nd Company, which had arrived from its envelopment of Mount Lodina. The 1st Battalion of the 26th Infantry began to build a footbridge across the Piave west of Dogna.
On November 10, Major Sproesser had his available forces ready for combat on the high ground a thousand yards east of Rivalta. These forces consisted of Schiellein's detachment (4th and 6th Companies and 2nd Machine-Gun Company) and the Signal Company of the Wurttemberg Mountain Battalion, four infantry guns of the 1st Battalion of the 26th Infantry and the 377th Imperial and Royal Mountain Howitzer Detachment. The Grau detachment (5th Company, 3rd Machine-Gun Company) was marching up from Erto.
During the night Major Sproesser sent an Italian prisoner of war back to Longarone with the following message written in Italian by Dr. Stemmer:
—Longarone is surrounded by troops of a German-Austrian division. All resistance is useless.”
When Major Sproesser found out, at dawn, that the Rommel detachment had renewed its advance against Longarone and that the enemy in Longarone was laying down his arms, he started to march to Longarone with the units of the Wurttemberg Mountain Battalion located a thousand yards east of Rivalta, followed by the 43rd Brigade of the 22nd Imperial and Royal Rifle Division.
November 10 was a rainy day and it took a long time to clear all Italian soldiers from Longarone's streets. Piles of weapons lay in the public square, and even Italian cannon were delivered there. The lowlands east of Longarone were full of prisoners. In all, over 10,000 men—an entire Italian division—had laid down their arms. Our booty amounted to 200 machine guns, 18 mountain cannon, 2 semi-automatic cannon, and more than 600 pack animals, 250 loaded vehicles, 10 trucks, and 2 ambulances.
My detachment's losses in the fighting at Cimolais, in the Vajont ravine, at Dogna, Pirago, and at Fae amounted to 6 dead, 2 severely wounded, 19 slightly wounded, and 1 missing. The losses of the 1st Battalion of the 26th Imperial and Royal Rifle Regiment were unknown.
Lieutenant Schoffel was captured in the attempt to stop the Italians south of Rivalta. At first he was beaten by the Italians.
Upon his complaint, he was brought before a company commander, who did not even apologize for the bad treatment, but wanted to have a personal “souvenir” from the German officer. Then Schoffel had to march along in the front line to Fae. When fighting broke out here, Schoffel lay at the edge of the road close beside an Italian officer who balked all attempts at escape. Schoffel found German fire especially unpleasant. When the Italians disengaged themselves at Fae around midnight, Schoffel was taken back to Longarone, where he encountered the other captured mountain and Styrian troops. Toward morning the captives had to march again toward the south under heavy guard. But they soon halted because, once again, the Italians failed to break through. The prisoners were then led back to Longarone. In the course of the morning, the Italian officers became very friendly toward Schoffel, who made exaggerated statements as to our strength. Finally he was sent toward us with the written message containing the capitulation of the Italian troops in Longarone.
Toward noon on November 10, Longarone was full of German and Austrian troops and sentries with fixed bayonets were required to retain possession of the quarters we had occupied on arrival. Most of my soldiers took off their wet clothes and devoted themselves to well-earned rest in the good and comfortable quarters. In the evening the mountain troops insisted on forming a torchlight procession for their leader.
Observations: After we succeeded in breaking through the hostile positions west of Cimolais, the mobile units (horsemen and cyclists) took over the pursuit of the retreating enemy. They succeeded in catching up with them and, with the exception of one bridge, prevented the Italian demolition squad from doing much damage. This mobile force made it possible to continue the pursuit.
The use of a few riflemen at the ravine exit was sufficient to halt an entire division. The Italians subjected this handful to heavy machine-gun and artillery fire. The riflemen were well dug-in and the fire did little harm. The enemy defensive tactics were incorrect. An attack by part of the enemy forces against the western outlet of the Vajont ravine would have saved the situation.
The attack by the Rommel detachment across the unprotected Piave valley west of Dogna was carried out under heavy fire. The troops made quick use of the spade. Meanwhile weak scout squads on the west bank captured those enemy units escaping to the south after weathering the fire of our detachment.
Large fires provided the necessary illumination during the night fighting at Fae, and the ensuing lack of ammunition was made good by rearming with captured Italian guns and ammunition. Both were accomplished under the strongest hostile fire, a remarkable achievement by the mountain troops.
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