Podgora

From May 1915 until the end of the year, one of the main targets of the Italian offensive was the Austro-Hungarian bridgehead in Görz. Mt Sabotino, located on the west bank of the Isonzo, was the main point of defense. The bloodiest clashes took place around the villages of Oslavija and Podgora on the southern slope. I have written about these fights here before.

Hungarian reminiscences highlight, in addition to the very heavy own losses, that the Italian troops attacked the increasingly strengthened defensive positions with mass attacks typical of the Great War. These were mostly repulsed by the defenders before they reached the first line of defense with the infantry fire from the covers and the artillery installed on the Sabotino hill. In November 1915, the Italians managed to occupy the first line of the Austro-Hungarian defense.

The heavy losses are indicated by the fact that an ossuary was built in the area at altitude 188 above Oslavija, which housed the remains collected from the war graves of this battlefield after the war. Another shocking reminder of the bloody losses is a plaque that I found recently. The wall of the most famous church of the city of Bologna, St Stefano, is covered in a long row by plaques with the names of the dead from Bologna of the Great War. The names are grouped according to years and battlefields on separate plaques. Most of the names were on the one with the inscription Podgora from 1915, as a visual reminder of the battles there. Of course, similarly long commemorative plaques with many names can also be seen in Hungarian cities. As an example, I would mention the Heroes’ Gate in Szeged, where we can also read the names of dead in endless rows.

It is not easy to match a suitable badge to the post. After all, the message of the post is respect and raising of hats before the dead of the enemy, something that did not occur very often on the insignia made during the Great War. The badges commemorating the victims can of course be applied afterwards to the memory of the victims of both sides.