Mines on the Italian front (World War I)

From 1915, the high peaks of the Dolomites range were an area of fierce mountain warfare.

In order to protect their soldiers from enemy fire and the hostile alpine environment, both Austro-Hungarian and Italian military engineers constructed fighting tunnels which offered a degree of cover and allowed better logistics support.

In addition to building underground shelters and covered supply routes for their soldiers (like the Italian Strada delle 52 Gallerie), both sides also attempted to break the stalemate of trench warfare by tunneling under no man's land and laying large quantities of explosives beneath the enemy's positions.

After November 1917 and the Italian retreat to Monte Grappa and the Piave river in the aftermath of the Battle of Caporetto, Pasubio with its elevation of 2,239 metres (2,449 yd)[1] remained the only underground war area on the Austro-Italian front.

Fighting under these conditions, often in exposed areas near mountain peaks and even in glacial ice, required extreme skill of both Austro-Hungarian and Italian miners.