Defenders of the Dolomites

From 1915 until the end of the Great War, the War in the Alps received much attention in the contemporary media. Perhaps far greater than its weight and importance. There is no more unimaginable terrain for warfare than a chain of 2-3,000-meter-high mountain peaks dotted with narrow valleys. It is no coincidence that Tyrol has always been an extremely hard nut to crack for its conquerors throughout its previous history. The Italian attack of 1915 could not cope with it either. The defenders, of course, fought tough and well, many lost their lives there. Yet, this section of the front has employed an order of magnitude less military force than the Russian front. The great attention was obviously attributed to the fact that at this point the ancient nucleus of the Monarchy, the Habsburg Empire, had been attacked even if this ancient nucleus was not a direct Habsburg family estate and had extensive self-determination within the Monarchy.

The Dolomites are located on the eastern border of Tyrol. An earlier post could already be read about the battles taking place here. The Italian attack got stuck at the foot of the high mountains in the first few weeks and could not continue to develop later. Nevertheless, the Italian presence and threat meant constant battles, care had to be taken to avoid trouble.

A wide variety of badges have also been made for the troops stationed here, which are the most feared treasures in the collections today. They are extremely rare, as the number of monarchical troops here was much smaller than on other fronts, so the number of badges was also more limited. The badge (plaque) that is the subject of the post is one of the rarest. It was issued on Christmas Day 1915 to soldiers standing in the Dolomites. As the attached postcard shows, the motif of the beautiful badge was also used to decorate the postcard. The badge shows the peaks of the mountains unknown to me. The text addresses those who faithfully guard the borders in the Dolomites.