Fort Valmorbia

Werk Valmorbia
     
Název:
Name:
Fort Valmorbia Fort Valmorbia
Originální název:
Original Name:
Werk Valmorbia
Další názvy:
Other Names:
Forte Pozzacchio
Obec:
Municipality:
Trambileno Trambileno
GPS souřadnice:
GPS Coordinates:
45°49'38.28"N 11°05'16.21"E
Fotografie nebo nákres:
Photo or Sketch:
Druh objektu:
Sort of Object:
uzávěrový fort Barrier Fort
Typ objektu:
Type of Object:
pancéřový fort Armored Fort
Vyšší pevnostní celek:
Upper Fortress Complex:
Pevnostní uzávěr Etsch-Arsa Fortress Barrier Etsch-Arsa
Zahájení stavby:
Start of Construction:
DD.MM.1912
Dokončení stavby:
Completion of Construction:
DD.MM.RRRR
Výzbroj:
Armament:
2x věžová houfnice (neinstalováno)
6x 8cm kanón s min. střílnou
12x 8mm těžký kulomet M-7/12
2x Tower Howitzer (not installed)
6x 8cm Cannon with the minimal Loophole
12x 8mm Heavy Machine Gun M-7/12
Posádka:
Crew:
5+167 (plán)
Bojové využití:
Combat Use:
DD.MM.1915-DD.MM.1918 1. světová válka
DD.MM.RRRR-DD.MM.RRRR
DD.MM.1915-DD.MM.1918 1st World War
Současný stav:
Current Condition:
zachovalý well maintained
Přístupnost:
Accessibility:
volně přístupno open free
Poznámka:
Note:
- -
Zdroje:
Sources:
www.trentinograndeguerra.it
URL : https://www.valka.cz/Fort-Valmorbia-t124300#423447 Version : 0
The Austro-Hungarian Werk Valmorbia was the only object of the planned Etsch-Arsa fortress closure, the construction of which was not only started (1911) but also brought to the stage of at least partial usability by the beginning of World War I. The fortress was built on a rock outcropping on the eastern slope of the Vallarsa valley, above the town of Valmorbia (Pozzacchio). A concrete monolithic base for one observation tower and two rotating artillery turrets was being prepared on the top of the promontory (908 m above sea level). By May 1915, three floors of corridors and rooms had been cut into the rock below this future artillery battery. The underground of the fort was connected by corridors to both the artillery battery and the rear ditch cut across the promontory. At the southern end of the moat was the main entrance to the fort, protected by a machine gun emplacement located inside a rock bridge that was left approximately one-third of its length when the moat was excavated. At the northern end of the trench, a concrete caponier, protruding from the corner of the fort, served to protect it and to shell the western front. The barracks and headquarters buildings, built about 150 yards from the northern edge of the ditch, were used to house the garrison in peacetime. The approach road also ended here, passing through two tunnels in its last section, the closer of which to the fort was also a guardhouse and machine-gun emplacement to protect the approach road. From this tunnel, a passageway ending in a staircase was cut later in the war, leading to the underground of the fort.

>
After the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, construction work continued, but as early as March 1915 the Austrian command decided that in the event of an Italian attack they would rather clear out the unfinished fort. The prepared armoured turrets for the 10cm howitzers were therefore taken back to Trient, and instead 5 field guns and 23 machine guns were placed in improvised positions in the underground of the fortress, manned by a crew of 5 officers and 206 men from the 1st Home Guard Gendarmerie Assistance Company and the 1st Company Fortress Artillery Battalion No. 4. However, at the end of June 1915, this garrison also retreated to field positions in front of Roveret and the fort was occupied by the Italian army without a fight...

In May 1916, the Austro-Hungarian retaliatory offensive called "The May Offensive" or (but not in Austrian official documents) "Strafexpedition", literally "Punitive Expedition" was launched. In the course of it, the Austrians recaptured Werk Valmorbia and the fortress was for a time in deep rear. After the end of the offensive, the Austro-Hungarian troops retreated to the more defensible Zugna Torta - Werk Valmorbia - Monte Pasubio line, making Werk Valmorbia a frontline position again. Captain Platter, commander of the IV Battalion of the Regiment of Field Rifles No. I, was stationed there at the time. The commander of the 4th Company of this battalion, stationed north of the fortress in the tunnel-guard, was Lieutenant Alfred Enrich.


In the early morning hours of 29 June 1916, soldiers of two companies of the Italian 72nd Infantry Regiment, numbering about 600 men, led by Captain Gilberto Bernasconi, penetrated the fortress area. They posed as retreating Austrian soldiers and succeeded at first with this wartime ruse. Although they did not succeed in penetrating the underground fort, they captured the headquarters of the Austrian battalion and its commander in the rear barracks. The battalion's signalman managed to warn Lieutenant Enrich's company post by telephone and he immediately led his 60 men in a counterattack. In the course of it, at the cost of seven killed and twenty wounded, he managed to free the captured staff officers, kill six Italian officers and 168 soldiers, capture four officers and 300 soldiers, and drive the rest to flight. Since the fall of Fort Valmorbia into Italian hands would most likely have meant the collapse of the entire Etsch-Arsa section, Reserve Lieutenant Alfred Enrich was awarded the Knight's Cross Order of Maria Theresa for this feat.

For the rest of the war, Werk Valmorbia remained in Austrian hands. Today it is freely accessible and, despite its incompleteness, it is a unique example of a fortification object, whose conception was decades ahead of its time.


Sources:
Edmund Glaise von Horstenau - Der Österreich-Ungarns Letzter Krieg, 1914 - 1918 (Wien 1931)
fortifikace.bloguje.cz
http://www.acrilforte.it/Forte.html
www.trentinograndeguerra.it
Fort Valmorbia - Pohled na pevnost z italské strany...

Pohled na pevnost z italské strany...
Fort Valmorbia - Plán bateriového bloku pevnosti. Průběh chodeb mnohde neodpovídá skutečnému stavu...

Plán bateriového bloku pevnosti. Průběh chodeb mnohde neodpovídá skutečnému stavu...
Fort Valmorbia - Letecký pohled v době bojů. Vpravo nahoře bateriový objekt, vlevo dole rakouské kasárny...

Letecký pohled v době bojů. Vpravo nahoře bateriový objekt, vlevo dole rakouské kasárny...
URL : https://www.valka.cz/Fort-Valmorbia-t124300#425495 Version : 0
Plan fortu Valmorbia

Source:
www.moesslang.net


1. Entrance.
2. Hallway with stairs to the lower floor and shooting the cavern in the direction of the Matassone.
3. Two staircases to the lower level (marked in orange).
4. Staircase(an elevator?) shaft 4 x 6.5 m, partly buried rocks and upwards open.
5a-e. Five shooting caverns (in the cavern 5e are two gun emplacements) in the direction of Valmorbia.
6a-b. Two shooting the cavern in the direction of the mountain pass.
7. Concrete kaponiéra to postřelování saddle and trench.
8a. The corridor to the kaponiéry.
8b. Staircase to the corridor, which connects the fort with the tunnel on the driveway.
9a. Room 20 x 9 m with a corridor leading into the ditch.
9b. Room 20 x 9 m.
10. Room with a length of 22 m.
11. Ramp between rooms.
12. In part, that the access shaft (impassable) to two firing units in the stone bridge.
13. The staircase to the firing stations at the stone bridge.
14. Room with a length of 22 m, a very difficult to access.
15. A stone bridge with two firing units to protect the ditch.
16a. Room 7 x 7 m with the passage of the three shooting caverns the direction of Matassone.
16b. The room is 16 x 7 m with the passage of the missile cavern direction Matassone.
16c. Room 12 x 5.5 m separated by a brick partition from shooting the cavern direction Matassone.
17. Missile cavern, the direction of the Matassone.
18. The staircase without the stairs, with a height difference of 1.5 m and a smooth and vhkým surface....
Fort Valmorbia - Copyright Ulrich Moesslang und www.moesslang.net

Copyright Ulrich Moesslang und www.moesslang.net
Fort Valmorbia - Náčrt celého areálu 
Copyright Ulrich Moesslang und www.moesslang.net

Náčrt celého areálu
Copyright Ulrich Moesslang und www.moesslang.net

URL : https://www.valka.cz/Fort-Valmorbia-t124300#429665 Version : 0
Fort Valmorbia at present:


Source:
Own
Fort Valmorbia - Hlavní vstup do bateriového bloku...

Hlavní vstup do bateriového bloku...
Fort Valmorbia - Příkop vyhloubený ve skále...

Příkop vyhloubený ve skále...
Fort Valmorbia - Zbytky nedokončeného palebného postavení...

Zbytky nedokončeného palebného postavení...
Fort Valmorbia - Jedno z kavernových postavení...

Jedno z kavernových postavení...
URL : https://www.valka.cz/Fort-Valmorbia-t124300#425500 Version : 0
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