One of the zones most harshly fought on the Italian front during the First World War was the Isonzo Karst, the stony plateau that descends from Gorizia and reaches up to the back of Monfalcone and the present-day province of Trieste. The open-air museums in this area nowadays provide the best testimony of the terrible battles where thousands of men faced each other for over two years. One can still see trenches, barracks, artillery emplacements, roads and mule tracks that were used by soldiers to transport materials from behind the frontline to the battlegrounds.
But besides discovering these tracks, it is also interesting to understand how and when these facilities were built.
After the first advance in Habsburg territory by the Third Army, General Luigi Cadorna ordered the construction of the first line of defence that was set back. In July 1915 approximately 65,000 workers commenced work along the track that descended from Gorizia towards the Adriatic coastand crossed the rivers Versa, Torre and Isonzo. Bridgeheads were established at Romans, Villesse and Pieris and the first entrenched camps were set up in front of Gorizia and Monfalcone. In the following months trenches were strengthened with reinforced concrete while in towns in the plains of Friuli (that formed the rearguard) small defensive outposts were set up (formed by trenches and emplacements for heavy weapons) that were not linked to each other. Finally, after the first advances in the zones of Mount San Michele, Mount Sei Busi and Monfalcone, the three offensive lines on the front that were used up to 1916 took shape.
Between the Ninth and the Tenth Battle on the Isonzo, the Italian army advanced within the Vallone del Carso, at Oppacchiasella, near Dosso del Faiti and towards the area of Doberdò del Lago and Iamiano. As a result, the frontlines moved further ahead and the pedecarsico front (that crossed Sagrado, Redipuglia, Vermegliano and the northeasterly zone of Monfalcone) was reinforced by workers. Furthermore, taking advantage during this period of the works that had been carried out earlier by Habsburg soldiers, systems of fortified trenches were set up from Mount San Michele, crossing the Isonzo Karst up to Doberdò and Iamiano. Two thousand workers widened the roads that linked this area to enable materials and reinforcements to arrive with greater rapidity from behind the frontlines.
The last works to be performed in this area were those that were carried out in the summer of 1917 in the area behind Monfalcone and in Vallone with the construction of roads, tunnels, installations and barracks. All these extensive works were lost in a few days at the end of October 1917 when the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo transformed itself in the defeat of Caporetto.
