The mines on the Italian front during the First World War comprised a series of underground explosive charges of varying sizes, secretly planted between 1916 and 1918 by Austro-Hungarian and Italian tunneling units beneath their enemy's lines along the Italian front in the Dolomite section of the Alps.
Background From 1915, the high peaks of the Dolomites range were an area of fierce mountain warfare. In order to protect their soldiers from enemy fire and the hostile alpine environment, both Austro-Hungarian and Italian military engineers constructed fighting tunnels which offered a degree of cover and allowed better logistics support. In addition to building underground shelters and covered supply routes for their soldiers (like the Italian Strada delle 52 Gallerie), both sides also attempted to break the stalemate of trench warfare by tunneling under no man's land and laying large quantities of explosives beneath the enemy's positions.
Between 1 January 1916 and 13 March 1918, a total of 34 mines were detonated in this theatre of war. Of these, 20 were Italian mines aimed at Austro-Hungarian targets and 14 were Austro-Hungarian mines aimed at Italian targets. The size of the explosive charges ranged from to of blasting gelatin. The largest Italian mine held of explosive.
Focal points of the underground fighting during the War in the Dolomites were Pasubio with 10 mines, Lagazuoi with 5, Col di Lana/Monte Sief also with 5, and Marmolada with 4 mines. The most intense episode was the seven-week period from 16 September to 3 November 1917 which saw 12 mine explosions. After November 1917 and the Italian retreat to Monte Grappa and the Piave river in the aftermath of the Battle of Caporetto, Pasubio with its elevation of remained the only underground war area on the Austro-Italian front.Robert Striffler, Die 34 Minensprengungen an der Tiroler Gebirgsfront 1916-1918 (1993), online , access date 2016-08-03
Unlike the mining efforts on the Western Front, where e.g. the mines on the first day of the Somme (1916) were constructed in a chalk and flint area and where e.g. the mines in the Battle of Messines (1917) were constructed in geology dominated by wet sand and clay, the mine galleries on the Austro-Italian front had to be executed at high altitudes in the hard carbonate rock of the Dolomites using hand-operated drilling machines and chisels. Fighting under these conditions, often in exposed areas near mountain peaks and even in glacial ice, required extreme skill of both Austro-Hungarian and Italian miners.
List of the mines
1916 No. Date fired Location Origin Explosive charge Notes 11 January 1916 Lagazuoi: Piccolo Lagazuoi (Ital) Kleiner Lagazuoi (Ger) Austro-Hungarian mine 1st Austro-Hungarian mine on Lagazuoi. Fired shortly after midnight, the mine causes a large rock above the Italian Cengia Martini stronghold to fall. Slight damage and some demoralizing effect on the Italian soldiers, but no casualties. 26 April 1916 Col di Lana Austro-Hungarian mine In early 1916, the Austro-Hungarian army learns through an artillery observer on Pordoi Pass that the fiercely contested Col di Lana summit (the Cima Lana) has been mined by Italian military engineering units. A Tyrolean Kaiserjäger unit on the summit attempts to halt the Italian efforts by firing a hastily prepared small counter mine. The Italian tunnels are damaged only slightly. 317 April 1916 Col di Lana Italian mine This mine consisted of the Galleria S. Andrea tunnel and two chambers beneath the Cima Lana summit on Col di Lana. The mine, which had only been damaged slightly by the Austro-Hungarian attack of 6 April, is fired at 23:35 Italian time. The detonation creates an oblong double crater long, wide and deep. More than 100 men of the 2nd Tyrolean Kaiserjäger regiment are killed and some 170 taken prisoner as the Italian infantry takes the summit.Among the Austro-Hungarian soldiers killed in the explosion was Father Anselm Blumenschein (born 1884), a Benedictine monk from Kremsmünster Abbey and Knight of the Order of Franz Joseph, who served as a military chaplain. See http://www.specula.at/adv/biograph.htm, access date 2016-09-04. 411 July 1916 Castelletto: Punta di Bois (Ital) Schreckenstein (Ger) Italian mine Placed at the end of a nearly -long gallery beneath an Austro-Hungarian stronghold on a plateau off Tofana di Roces. The detonation of the largest mine fired on the Italian front to that date deforms the plateau and the southern part of Castelletto. 13 enemy soldiers die in the explosion, many more in the ensuing battle until Alpini take the site on 14 July. 517 September 1916 Monte Cimone di Tonezza Italian mine ? Italian troops fire a mine in an unsuccessful attempt to halt an Austro-Hungarian mining attack. 623 September 1916 Monte Cimone di Tonezza Austro-Hungarian mine The mine attacked by the Italians on 17 September is fired and creates a crater wide and deep on the Monte Cimone summit. The Italians lose 1137 men in the detonation and ensuing battle, of which 500 are taken prisoner. 717 November 1916 Zoughi Ridge Italian mine ? Austro-Hungarian troops report an explosion, perhaps an accident, in an enemy gallery beneath the Zoughi Ridge. A shallow crater, some in diameter, is observed in the steep southern slope but no longer visible today.
1917