marcuzzo Posted 11 January , 2010 Author Share Posted 11 January , 2010 Inside monte Rasta battery (a pre-war fortified battery), it was the 1st line of AH "winterstellung", italian lines was behind the camera. the mountain in front is Monte Interrotto (on the top is visible Forte Interrotto a '800 old italian fort used by AH forces as emplacement for an elettric light) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcuzzo Posted 11 January , 2010 Author Share Posted 11 January , 2010 Along "Kaiser Karl Strasse"... the supply route that permit to fight & live to the AH armies on Asiago plateau. It's nearly rear area...on the right the crest mountains on Monte Interrotto & Monte Mosciag zone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockdoc Posted 12 January , 2010 Share Posted 12 January , 2010 I've recently obtained the War Diary for the Anti-Aircraft HQ in Italy, which operated between November 1917 and March 1919 in the Asiago region. It's only a few pages long but is a fascinating read - for an AA nerd like me at any rate! It contains two photographs of AA guns. One shows a pair of 13-pdr 9-cwt guns on standard high-angle mounts that have been, presumably, taken from their lorry chassis and bolted to the ground, seemingly high up on the mountains. The Diary names this site as CMA di FONTE, which I can't find. Not knowing the area nor having any Italian I have no idea whether CMA is an actual place-name, a mis-spelling or a contraction. The second shows another gun of the same type fitted to a locally-made, field-type carriage that still allowed high angles of elevation to be used. That's said to be at TRESCHE, the picture showing the gun in an open field below a large chateau or small town with some significant buildings on the crest of a hill. Any ideas about the sites would be appreciated. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil@basildon Posted 12 January , 2010 Share Posted 12 January , 2010 Marco. I noticed that the blog you posted is quite recent. Is Suma Concept still alive? If he is he must be one of the few surviving Great War soldiers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aliecoco Posted 12 January , 2010 Share Posted 12 January , 2010 Hi Marcuzzo, Thank you for all of the pictures that you have shown us, I have enjoyed looking through your thread. I was just wondering about the British Cemetery, Granezza, and whether you had any pictures of that? I understand that Edward Brittain is buried there, and I think I am right in saying that his sister, the author Vera Brittain, had her ashes scattered over his grave. Having read so much about her, and her family and friends, the last place I need to get to ,to complete the story as such, is to visit this cemetery. (having already visited Roland, Victor and Geoffrey!) I understand that it is quite impossible to get to during winter? Alie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heid the Ba Posted 12 January , 2010 Share Posted 12 January , 2010 Rockdoc, is it definitely CMA? My guess would be Comune di Fonte a town in the Veneto. It would normally be Cme for Comune (ie town) or Cmi for Comuni (ie district to include the surrounding villages). There is a village called Tresche Conca to the east of Asiago, it may be there. I can't find any useful photos on teh interwebs though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockdoc Posted 12 January , 2010 Share Posted 12 January , 2010 Yes, it's definitely typed as CMA but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it should have been CME. The Diary appears to have been written up in February 1919 in one go from notes so it isn't hard to imagine that mistakes would occur. The photo is from the National Archives so I'm loath to post it anywhere with all the current kerfuffle about MICs and the like. The site can't be close to the point shown as Fonte TV on Google Earth, though the closeness - or lack of it - to the place named as the site doesn't really worry me. It's common for the nearest village to be named in a Diary but if they give a map reference you find that the gun can be some distance away. The guns are bolted onto flat surfaces that look as if they've been hacked into a steep and rocky hill-side and are just above the tree-line, with snow-covered conifers and a horizontal ridge in the background. Each gun has a rough-and-ready ammo store nearby with a stock of 60 shells each. An on-line search suggests the tree line for the Italian Alps is around 7,000 feet so it must have been a pretty bleak spot! The Tresche photo shows quite a different place. This is more like Alpine meadowland. What trees there are look like broad-leafed species planted around the buildings, with the rest of it just long grass. The countryside is rolling, not steep and rocky like the first picture. I've managed to find some photos of Tresche Conca on-line and they fit the landscape perfectly. Thanks, Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcuzzo Posted 12 January , 2010 Author Share Posted 12 January , 2010 Hi Marcuzzo, Thank you for all of the pictures that you have shown us, I have enjoyed looking through your thread. I was just wondering about the British Cemetery, Granezza, and whether you had any pictures of that? I understand that Edward Brittain is buried there, and I think I am right in saying that his sister, the author Vera Brittain, had her ashes scattered over his grave. Having read so much about her, and her family and friends, the last place I need to get to ,to complete the story as such, is to visit this cemetery. (having already visited Roland, Victor and Geoffrey!) I understand that it is quite impossible to get to during winter? Alie. Iìve never see Granezza, but I think that is the same condition of Boscon (road closed for a nordic ski ring). I'll see in the next day (the 1st time that I'll go on the Altopiano) ciao marcuzzo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcuzzo Posted 12 January , 2010 Author Share Posted 12 January , 2010 Yes, it's definitely typed as CMA but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it should have been CME. The Diary appears to have been written up in February 1919 in one go from notes so it isn't hard to imagine that mistakes would occur. The photo is from the National Archives so I'm loath to post it anywhere with all the current kerfuffle about MICs and the like. The site can't be close to the point shown as Fonte TV on Google Earth, though the closeness - or lack of it - to the place named as the site doesn't really worry me. It's common for the nearest village to be named in a Diary but if they give a map reference you find that the gun can be some distance away. The guns are bolted onto flat surfaces that look as if they've been hacked into a steep and rocky hill-side and are just above the tree-line, with snow-covered conifers and a horizontal ridge in the background. Each gun has a rough-and-ready ammo store nearby with a stock of 60 shells each. An on-line search suggests the tree line for the Italian Alps is around 7,000 feet so it must have been a pretty bleak spot! The Tresche photo shows quite a different place. This is more like Alpine meadowland. What trees there are look like broad-leafed species planted around the buildings, with the rest of it just long grass. The countryside is rolling, not steep and rocky like the first picture. I've managed to find some photos of Tresche Conca on-line and they fit the landscape perfectly. Thanks, Keith Tresche is Treschè Conca a village on Altipiano Fonte may be Onè di Fonte (a town) or water source ciao marcuzzo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heid the Ba Posted 12 January , 2010 Share Posted 12 January , 2010 I understand that it is quite impossible to get to during winter? Ski-ing sounds like the way to get there! Though if it is anything like the ones I have seen in the Dolomites in winter the graves will be under 2m of snow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockdoc Posted 12 January , 2010 Share Posted 12 January , 2010 Thanks for confirming Tresche as Treschè Conca, Marcuzzo. The landscape in the modern photos I've found certainly matches the photo in the War Diary. The other one is still a puzzle. The typing is definitely CMA di FONTE and the guns are clearly in a mountainous area. If it helps, another gun is recorded as being at CMA DEL PORCO. If we can agree what CMA stands for then perhaps we stand a decent chance of identifying the site. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcuzzo Posted 12 January , 2010 Author Share Posted 12 January , 2010 Thanks for confirming Tresche as Treschè Conca, Marcuzzo. The landscape in the modern photos I've found certainly matches the photo in the War Diary. The other one is still a puzzle. The typing is definitely CMA di FONTE and the guns are clearly in a mountainous area. If it helps, another gun is recorded as being at CMA DEL PORCO. If we can agree what CMA stands for then perhaps we stand a decent chance of identifying the site. Keith Cima del Porco is a Mount on Altipiano, try to look for Cima di Fonte... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcuzzo Posted 12 January , 2010 Author Share Posted 12 January , 2010 Thanks for confirming Tresche as Treschè Conca, Marcuzzo. The landscape in the modern photos I've found certainly matches the photo in the War Diary. The other one is still a puzzle. The typing is definitely CMA di FONTE and the guns are clearly in a mountainous area. If it helps, another gun is recorded as being at CMA DEL PORCO. If we can agree what CMA stands for then perhaps we stand a decent chance of identifying the site. Keith find it! look here http://www.procalvene.it/il_territorio.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockdoc Posted 12 January , 2010 Share Posted 12 January , 2010 Thank you!! Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1690philip Posted 12 January , 2010 Share Posted 12 January , 2010 Hi Marco, Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing your photographs. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcuzzo Posted 12 January , 2010 Author Share Posted 12 January , 2010 Hi Marco, Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing your photographs. Phil thanks to you marco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kibe Posted 12 January , 2010 Share Posted 12 January , 2010 scuse me for my english, I can't say what I want... this is a present for all of you and in special mode for "aliecoco"... Summer 2008... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Saunders Posted 12 January , 2010 Share Posted 12 January , 2010 Thank you Kibe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kibe Posted 13 January , 2010 Share Posted 13 January , 2010 I found some new pics... other... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kibe Posted 13 January , 2010 Share Posted 13 January , 2010 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aliecoco Posted 13 January , 2010 Share Posted 13 January , 2010 Awwww kibe, thank you so much! That was so sweet of you! Your pics are just what I wanted to see. There is something about children at a cemetery too.... just makes me think of the future, guess I think of my own young son with that, but life goes on....but we should not ever forget.... The photos have really made me visualise everything, and after visiting, Vera's and Edwards friends, and after reading so much about them all, I can now see where he ended. Thank you, you have made my day! Alie. PS On my next visit to the NA, I ought to get out his service record..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heid the Ba Posted 13 January , 2010 Share Posted 13 January , 2010 Cima, of course. Well done Marcuzzo. kibe, don't worry about your english, we understand you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kibe Posted 13 January , 2010 Share Posted 13 January , 2010 Aliecoco, I'm very glad to make you a pleasure, I know the story of Edwuard and Vera Brittain.. a fascinating story...but not very famous in Italy...I'm tryng to tell it to everyone... Heid the Ba'...thank you for encoragement! A last thing, I try...some years ago with my family I was in Asiago, at S. Sisto, In holidays (I'm from Genoa but this is another story...). My sons play in and out british trenches when one of them, tryng to climb on a big stone, fall down, taking away a big piece of moss. So we could discover a cross carved on it. Some times after, I bought the book of Francis MacKay "Asiago" ( I think that all of you know it...) and at page 64 I found the map with the site where Captain Brittain was killed...the same place where I found the cross. I like to think that the cross was carved by Vera, during one of her trips in Italy; I really should like it... WoW! One hour for 10 lines... here the picture: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mandy hall Posted 13 January , 2010 Share Posted 13 January , 2010 Thanks for posting photo's of Edward Brittain's grave Kibe I have just finished reading A Testament of Youth. Hopefully visit myself one day. Mandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcuzzo Posted 13 January , 2010 Author Share Posted 13 January , 2010 News from Asiago..... http://www.lagrandeguerra.net/ggnotizierecenti.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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