Artillery of Görz

In 1915-16, the most serious fightings on the Italian front were for the possession of the town of Görz and for the maintenance or liquidation of the Austro-Hungarian bridgehead established there. The defense of the Karst Plateau (Doberdo) to the south of the city was also very important so that the city could not be bypassed from this direction. Since the terrain conditions here allowed mass attacks, the Italian military leadership made the greatest effort to attack this front section. Of course, the defense was also the strongest here. This meant that the defenders here were not put at a fatal disadvantage in headcount even during the great Italian offenses. According to the memoires, however, Italian artillery prevailed many times over.

The artillery of the Monarchy was developed at a rapid pace during the war, increasing the number of new artillery units, introducing new types of cannon, but still failing to significantly reduce Italian supremacy. The consequence of all this was that the Italian mass attacks were repulsed at the cost of great human casualties, and there was not enough strength left for counter-attacks. The Monarchy only defended itself on this front until the end of 1917.

For some reason, much less information about artillery units remained for posterity. There are no post-war regiment histories or recollections. We know only few individual stories, apparently also because the “real” heroic deeds were performed by the infantry fighting in the front line trenches. They were exposed to melee, where personal courage, dexterity, toughness could be spectacularly demonstrated.

In the field of Kappenabzeichen, artillery was not strongly represented either. Of course, some of the extremely beautiful badges could also be admired by contemporaries. Here I am now presenting a simpler badge. This is a badge designed for all artillery units in the vicinity of Görz. Many of the badges show the medieval knight, here in front of the walls of the town of Görz. Exciting two-handed broadsword held in hand. In the background we can also see a medieval mortar cannon for the sake of order. Of the post cards decorated by artillery badge that are also rarely seen, a piece with this badge image can be seen here. It’s not even a post card, it’s an envelope. Presumably, the letter sheet inside could also have been decorated with the image of the badge.

Finally, the photo attached to the post is also worth mentioning. It was made from the Karst plateau south of Görz and shows the city. According to the title, the image was taken from the position of Mt San Michele on the north-western edge of the plateau. To the left you can see the river Isonzo, with an emergency bridge over it. The city is a little further away, in the middle of the picture. In the background you can see the mountains surrounding the city from the north (from left: Podgora, Sabotino, Mt San Gabriele).