Send me to the front, just get me away from this avalanches

Betonov · 03-19-16, 05:06 PM

''This is the history of the road trough the Vršič pass, which should have been known as the Russian road, since it was built by Russian. The demand and death toll from the Russian prisoners was substantial'' wrote Franc Uran, construction advisor, into his memoirs about the construction of the highest Slovene road pass.

He lived above the spring of the Soča river for seven years, from 1909 when the construction started to 1916 when that fateful avalanche burried 110 Russians. The exact death toll is unknown to this day since the details were classified, but it is known that it exceeded that number. The number mentioned by Uran matches the telegram sent to Villach army HQ just a few hours after the avalanche, on March 8th 1916. A hundred prisoners and 3 cargo cable operators. A day later a more detailed report followed. One guard and 2 prisoners dead, 5 guards and 67 Russians injured and a folowing 12 guards, 71 Russians missing. A few days later another avalanche struck and killed even more. It is estimated that the two avalanches were fatal for between 200 and 300 people. Including there were even more avalanches that following May the number is closer to 300.

Slovene printed media didn't devote much attention to the avalanches. In the short March columns it was written, that numerous avalanches were also fatal for Italian soldiers and that snow and rain presented severe problems in the region. It was also noted that ''unusual spring weather'' in Slovene mountains caused ''a lot more avalanches than usual''. The paper Slovenski narod mentioned the material damage the avalanche from Mojstrovka mountain caused at the Vršič mountain cabin, any casualties were not reported. It is asumed the reason was that the exact number was not known and numerous avalanches were reported from a variety of Slovene mountains. It is estimated that between 1915 and 1917 about 1500 people were killed in avalanches in Slovene Alps.

In the years after the war the tragedy on Vršič gained a few more notes. Franc Uran decided to write the story of the construction and the suffering of the Russian prisoners on the 40th anniversary. The notes were published in Planinski vestnik, 1957. (page 151)
This month commemorates the 100th anniversary of the tragedy when an avalanche from Mojstrovka mountain burried numerous Russian POWs and traumatised the survivors, that they refused to return to their barracks at any price. A story told many times it deserves another telling.

Russian POWs. About 12 000 Russian prioners were set in that area, usually doing manual labor like the construction of the road over Vršič

The construction of the road began in the years prior to the war and since the begining the Austro-Hungarian army knew well the significance of this connection. The existing road over Predel pass was too exposed to the enemy artillery and the Austro-hungarian army used it only in night time. A tunnel between Rabelj mine and Log under Mangart was also used but both connections were not enough so a decision was made to build a road over Vršič. When the italians began to shell the Predel road, works on the 1611m high pass hastened.

Works began in the summer of 1915 as soon as the snow melted. It was useable in the following autumn, but along with maintenance works the construction took two and a half years. To raise the capacity and to bypass the winter limitations of the road, a parallel cargo cable, 30km long, was built and was completed in Log in Trenta valley in 1915. Later it was extended. A special pioneer (engineer) corps of the Austro-Hungarian army was in charge of the construction, among them was a team of civilian experts. Constrution engineers that included Czeck Germans and Hungarians. the Route to Trenta was quickly finished and divided into 12 or 13 sections.

The serpentine road was built under harsh conditions by about 10 000 Rusian POWs that were sent to Kranjska Gora, additional Russians built the cargo cabel or other works in the valley. Estiamtes range between 10 000 and 12 000 POWs in the area.
First Siberian prisoners arrived in Kranjska Gora in September 1914 and Uran noted: In autumn 25 Russians arrived in Kranjska Gora under the orders of the army command. They were Siberians, tall and dignified, lodged in the Pečar saloon, guarded by Austrian soldiers. Every monring they set off from Kranjska Gora and each of them carried one iron rod to Močilo. That iron rod was used as barbed wire support on Vršič. That was an everyday routine for these Russians. In the evening they would sing Russian folk songs and the natives would love to come and listen to them, even brought them gifts. At first the guards allowed such mingling, but later all contact was forbiden and also dangerous, for one could be branded a traitor.

POWs were allowed to receive letters and packages from home via Red Cross.

New convoys with prioners began arriving. They were housed in wooden barracks with a kitchen, infirmary, warehouse and bakery. Because the local male population was pressed into war, the prisoners worked the cargo cable, valley road maintenance, railway construction, hospital work and the central project of the area, the Vršič pass road.
They were divided into 25men teams, guarded by one soldier and one translator. They did earthworks, stone works and bridge construction.
The intenrational convention prohibited prisoner work without a wage but that was largely ignored. They were forced to work underfed and in tough Alpine winter conditions and the barracks were poorly heated. Work injuries were frequent and the cold humid air spread diseases among the prisoners, made fatal by the poor nutrition and clothing. Uran wrote: prisoners were poorly clothed. They had to work in any weather meant their clothes were ragged uniforms. The Austrian army administration refused to issue replacement clothes. Diseases like dysentery, cholera and pox rampaged among the prisoners.
The harsh captivity was further hampered by some guards, engineers and civilians that treated the Russians inhumanely. For even the smallest offence the prisoner was tied to a tree and when he fell unconscious, was splashed with cold water to regain himself an left tied to a tree for a further two to three hours. The worst was a Hungarian engineer Kavalir that decided to flog prisoners with an iron rod everytime he got drunk. His hits fell randomly at the closest Russian that was unfortunate enough to stand there. Guards also enjoyed beating the Russians and any complaint was futile.
Because the continuation of the war was blamed on the italians, the Russians focused their anger on the italian POWs that were transported along that route. When guards escorted the italian POWs along the new road, the Russians attacked them with pickaxes and shovels, with a reasoning behind it that if the Italians hadn't joined to war to help Russia, the war would have been over by now.

Russians died due to disease, cold, hunger and work accidents. Their comrades burried them along the worksites, shallow graves marked with a wooden ortodox cross. Some of the dead were burried at the Kranjska Gora cemetary or the Trenta military cemetary.

Winter months of 1915-1916 were unusally mild. Locals haven't remembered a winter so mild for decades. The construction bosses laughed at the warnings from the locals that the winter is yet to bite and that they should still prepare for avalanches.
Uran wrote: In November the first lavine pillars were erected but there was no snow. Same in December. The engineers and officers that knew me made fun of me, where are those avalanches now. Christmas of 1915 came and the following day some snow fell. Enough to cause a small avalanche from the peaks above Močilo. The avalanche burried two Russians to their waists and they laughingly pulled themselves out. They also laughed at me. I was ashamed at that point since I haven't experienced a winter quite like that.
But the army decided that the road was too important for the war to risk being burried, avalanche barriers were errected, but proved a weak defence when tragedy struck.
Late February snow started falling. Light at first it picked up daily and refused to stop. Uran noted: It was as dry as flour. At that moment people started taking my fear of avalanches seriously. Even the Russians admited they never seen such quantities of snowfall. I never realised that the disaster is so close.The fatal avalanche broke March 8th 1916 sometime after 1PM. It rushed down the southern face of Mojstrovka and Robičje, destroyed avalanche barriers and then burried the entire road workers campsite of the northern camp.
Uran wrote: On March 8th right after lunch I started my ascent to the summit to observe the work. it was a real blizzard. As I aproached Huda Ravna I heard a terrible scream that was suddenly silenced. I slowly continued my path when a few Russian prisoners with terrified faces ran towards me, yelling ''lavina lavina'' Some Austrian guards followed. All that managed to reach the summit were to scared to provide usefull information. Everyone said they rather risk the firing squad than return back down. Even officers and engineers lost their compolsure since all communication with the HQ in Kranjska Gora was cut.
Despite declared indestructable, the avalanche destroyed the 20m tall Evgen monument. All work stopped and no one dared to trek to the summit to check the situation on the other side of the pass. No one was albe to be convinced to check the disaster site and help the afflicted.
We started guessing about the death toll, there was no way to know since prioners from the other side of the pass were also at work there. But we were able so quickly calculate that about a hundred Russians and some Austrian guards were absent. Officers from Tičar cabin reached us and told that everything on the summit is destroyed and the Tičar cabin was evacuated.
Traffic over Vršič was halted,both cable stations at the sumit destroyed, the fear between the prisoners, guards and officers too great to respond to any kind of orders.
The command in Kranjska Gora evacuated every structure to Vršič. The Russians were to terrified that the command was aware they won't be much help and the soldiers said that they preffer the front, just to get away from these damn avalanches.

The scale of the disaster was clear only after the snow began melting. 15 bodies per day were transported to Trenta and Kransjka Gora cemetary and a shallow grave site where the same year Russian prisoners built an ortodox chappel with the onion shapped towers to commemorate the fallen comrades. Bodies from the cemetaries and the shallow graves were transported to the chappel cemetary in 1937 and Josip Slavec erected a pyramid with the inscription Sinovom Rusije (to sons of Russia) next to the chappel when the road was reworked.

For the Russian prisoners the road, that was named after duke Eugen, was a road of death. Many lost their lives thousand of kilometers from their native land.
Along the road also marched countless Austo-Hungarian soldiers. Scared men who lost hope of a quick war long time ago, marching over Vršič towards the battlefields of Krnsko, Kanin mountains and Bovec, towards their own deaths.
After all this a small reminder of humanity and solidarity is found in this photo of Austrains and Russians in front of this ortodox monument.

The chappel was carred for after the war by the locals and some POWs that refused to return to Russia after the Bolysheviks took power.
Since 1992 every year Slovene and Russian delegations and a Catholic and Ortodox representatives gather to commemorate the dead.

Vršič pass today

Betonov · 03-19-16, 05:08 PM

Written by Maja Kač
Translated by Anže Beton

Original article

Rough map of the area

Torplexed · 03-19-16, 07:02 PM

Geez. I thought the Russian prisoners of war in the Second World War had it rough.

I wonder if any ghosts still haunt that high pass. Makes the Donner Party look like a picnic.

Thanks for the interesting article. Sheds some light on a not well known aspect of the Great War.

Catfish · 03-20-16, 06:14 AM

Interesting article, thanks for posting !

Jimbuna · 03-20-16, 11:28 AM

Nice one Anze

Betonov · 03-20-16, 12:19 PM

Slovene national radio and TV has a whole section devoted to the Great war, Soča front in particular.
The Soča front is largely ignored by western history. The BBC Great war series mentions it in about 20min tops and even missnames the area.

I'll transalte as many articles as possible for Subsim and I already have a roadtrip along the front planned with Aaron.

03-19-16, 05:06 PM	#1
Betonov Navy Seal Join Date: May 2009 Location: Slovenia Posts: 8,647 Downloads: 26 Uploads: 0	Send me to the front, just get me away from this avalanches ''This is the history of the road trough the Vršič pass, which should have been known as the Russian road, since it was built by Russian. The demand and death toll from the Russian prisoners was substantial'' wrote Franc Uran, construction advisor, into his memoirs about the construction of the highest Slovene road pass. He lived above the spring of the Soča river for seven years, from 1909 when the construction started to 1916 when that fateful avalanche burried 110 Russians. The exact death toll is unknown to this day since the details were classified, but it is known that it exceeded that number. The number mentioned by Uran matches the telegram sent to Villach army HQ just a few hours after the avalanche, on March 8th 1916. A hundred prisoners and 3 cargo cable operators. A day later a more detailed report followed. One guard and 2 prisoners dead, 5 guards and 67 Russians injured and a folowing 12 guards, 71 Russians missing. A few days later another avalanche struck and killed even more. It is estimated that the two avalanches were fatal for between 200 and 300 people. Including there were even more avalanches that following May the number is closer to 300. Slovene printed media didn't devote much attention to the avalanches. In the short March columns it was written, that numerous avalanches were also fatal for Italian soldiers and that snow and rain presented severe problems in the region. It was also noted that ''unusual spring weather'' in Slovene mountains caused ''a lot more avalanches than usual''. The paper Slovenski narod mentioned the material damage the avalanche from Mojstrovka mountain caused at the Vršič mountain cabin, any casualties were not reported. It is asumed the reason was that the exact number was not known and numerous avalanches were reported from a variety of Slovene mountains. It is estimated that between 1915 and 1917 about 1500 people were killed in avalanches in Slovene Alps. In the years after the war the tragedy on Vršič gained a few more notes. Franc Uran decided to write the story of the construction and the suffering of the Russian prisoners on the 40th anniversary. The notes were published in Planinski vestnik, 1957. (page 151) This month commemorates the 100th anniversary of the tragedy when an avalanche from Mojstrovka mountain burried numerous Russian POWs and traumatised the survivors, that they refused to return to their barracks at any price. A story told many times it deserves another telling. Russian POWs. About 12 000 Russian prioners were set in that area, usually doing manual labor like the construction of the road over Vršič The construction of the road began in the years prior to the war and since the begining the Austro-Hungarian army knew well the significance of this connection. The existing road over Predel pass was too exposed to the enemy artillery and the Austro-hungarian army used it only in night time. A tunnel between Rabelj mine and Log under Mangart was also used but both connections were not enough so a decision was made to build a road over Vršič. When the italians began to shell the Predel road, works on the 1611m high pass hastened. Works began in the summer of 1915 as soon as the snow melted. It was useable in the following autumn, but along with maintenance works the construction took two and a half years. To raise the capacity and to bypass the winter limitations of the road, a parallel cargo cable, 30km long, was built and was completed in Log in Trenta valley in 1915. Later it was extended. A special pioneer (engineer) corps of the Austro-Hungarian army was in charge of the construction, among them was a team of civilian experts. Constrution engineers that included Czeck Germans and Hungarians. the Route to Trenta was quickly finished and divided into 12 or 13 sections. The serpentine road was built under harsh conditions by about 10 000 Rusian POWs that were sent to Kranjska Gora, additional Russians built the cargo cabel or other works in the valley. Estiamtes range between 10 000 and 12 000 POWs in the area. First Siberian prisoners arrived in Kranjska Gora in September 1914 and Uran noted: In autumn 25 Russians arrived in Kranjska Gora under the orders of the army command. They were Siberians, tall and dignified, lodged in the Pečar saloon, guarded by Austrian soldiers. Every monring they set off from Kranjska Gora and each of them carried one iron rod to Močilo. That iron rod was used as barbed wire support on Vršič. That was an everyday routine for these Russians. In the evening they would sing Russian folk songs and the natives would love to come and listen to them, even brought them gifts. At first the guards allowed such mingling, but later all contact was forbiden and also dangerous, for one could be branded a traitor. POWs were allowed to receive letters and packages from home via Red Cross. New convoys with prioners began arriving. They were housed in wooden barracks with a kitchen, infirmary, warehouse and bakery. Because the local male population was pressed into war, the prisoners worked the cargo cable, valley road maintenance, railway construction, hospital work and the central project of the area, the Vršič pass road. They were divided into 25men teams, guarded by one soldier and one translator. They did earthworks, stone works and bridge construction. The intenrational convention prohibited prisoner work without a wage but that was largely ignored. They were forced to work underfed and in tough Alpine winter conditions and the barracks were poorly heated. Work injuries were frequent and the cold humid air spread diseases among the prisoners, made fatal by the poor nutrition and clothing. Uran wrote: prisoners were poorly clothed. They had to work in any weather meant their clothes were ragged uniforms. The Austrian army administration refused to issue replacement clothes. Diseases like dysentery, cholera and pox rampaged among the prisoners. The harsh captivity was further hampered by some guards, engineers and civilians that treated the Russians inhumanely. For even the smallest offence the prisoner was tied to a tree and when he fell unconscious, was splashed with cold water to regain himself an left tied to a tree for a further two to three hours. The worst was a Hungarian engineer Kavalir that decided to flog prisoners with an iron rod everytime he got drunk. His hits fell randomly at the closest Russian that was unfortunate enough to stand there. Guards also enjoyed beating the Russians and any complaint was futile. Because the continuation of the war was blamed on the italians, the Russians focused their anger on the italian POWs that were transported along that route. When guards escorted the italian POWs along the new road, the Russians attacked them with pickaxes and shovels, with a reasoning behind it that if the Italians hadn't joined to war to help Russia, the war would have been over by now. Russians died due to disease, cold, hunger and work accidents. Their comrades burried them along the worksites, shallow graves marked with a wooden ortodox cross. Some of the dead were burried at the Kranjska Gora cemetary or the Trenta military cemetary. Winter months of 1915-1916 were unusally mild. Locals haven't remembered a winter so mild for decades. The construction bosses laughed at the warnings from the locals that the winter is yet to bite and that they should still prepare for avalanches. Uran wrote: In November the first lavine pillars were erected but there was no snow. Same in December. The engineers and officers that knew me made fun of me, where are those avalanches now. Christmas of 1915 came and the following day some snow fell. Enough to cause a small avalanche from the peaks above Močilo. The avalanche burried two Russians to their waists and they laughingly pulled themselves out. They also laughed at me. I was ashamed at that point since I haven't experienced a winter quite like that. But the army decided that the road was too important for the war to risk being burried, avalanche barriers were errected, but proved a weak defence when tragedy struck. Late February snow started falling. Light at first it picked up daily and refused to stop. Uran noted: It was as dry as flour. At that moment people started taking my fear of avalanches seriously. Even the Russians admited they never seen such quantities of snowfall. I never realised that the disaster is so close.The fatal avalanche broke March 8th 1916 sometime after 1PM. It rushed down the southern face of Mojstrovka and Robičje, destroyed avalanche barriers and then burried the entire road workers campsite of the northern camp. Uran wrote: On March 8th right after lunch I started my ascent to the summit to observe the work. it was a real blizzard. As I aproached Huda Ravna I heard a terrible scream that was suddenly silenced. I slowly continued my path when a few Russian prisoners with terrified faces ran towards me, yelling ''lavina lavina'' Some Austrian guards followed. All that managed to reach the summit were to scared to provide usefull information. Everyone said they rather risk the firing squad than return back down. Even officers and engineers lost their compolsure since all communication with the HQ in Kranjska Gora was cut. Despite declared indestructable, the avalanche destroyed the 20m tall Evgen monument. All work stopped and no one dared to trek to the summit to check the situation on the other side of the pass. No one was albe to be convinced to check the disaster site and help the afflicted. We started guessing about the death toll, there was no way to know since prioners from the other side of the pass were also at work there. But we were able so quickly calculate that about a hundred Russians and some Austrian guards were absent. Officers from Tičar cabin reached us and told that everything on the summit is destroyed and the Tičar cabin was evacuated. Traffic over Vršič was halted,both cable stations at the sumit destroyed, the fear between the prisoners, guards and officers too great to respond to any kind of orders. The command in Kranjska Gora evacuated every structure to Vršič. The Russians were to terrified that the command was aware they won't be much help and the soldiers said that they preffer the front, just to get away from these damn avalanches. The scale of the disaster was clear only after the snow began melting. 15 bodies per day were transported to Trenta and Kransjka Gora cemetary and a shallow grave site where the same year Russian prisoners built an ortodox chappel with the onion shapped towers to commemorate the fallen comrades. Bodies from the cemetaries and the shallow graves were transported to the chappel cemetary in 1937 and Josip Slavec erected a pyramid with the inscription Sinovom Rusije (to sons of Russia) next to the chappel when the road was reworked. For the Russian prisoners the road, that was named after duke Eugen, was a road of death. Many lost their lives thousand of kilometers from their native land. Along the road also marched countless Austo-Hungarian soldiers. Scared men who lost hope of a quick war long time ago, marching over Vršič towards the battlefields of Krnsko, Kanin mountains and Bovec, towards their own deaths. After all this a small reminder of humanity and solidarity is found in this photo of Austrains and Russians in front of this ortodox monument. The chappel was carred for after the war by the locals and some POWs that refused to return to Russia after the Bolysheviks took power. Since 1992 every year Slovene and Russian delegations and a Catholic and Ortodox representatives gather to commemorate the dead. Vršič pass today Last edited by Betonov; 03-19-16 at 05:12 PM.

03-19-16, 07:02 PM	#3
Torplexed Let's Sink Sumptin' ! Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 5,823 Downloads: 43 Uploads: 0	Geez. I thought the Russian prisoners of war in the Second World War had it rough. I wonder if any ghosts still haunt that high pass. Makes the Donner Party look like a picnic. Thanks for the interesting article. Sheds some light on a not well known aspect of the Great War. __________________ --Mobilis in Mobili--

03-20-16, 06:14 AM	#4
Catfish Dipped Squirrel Operative Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: ..where the ocean meets the sky Posts: 17,765 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	Interesting article, thanks for posting ! __________________ >^..^<*)))>{ All generalizations are wrong.

03-20-16, 11:28 AM	#5
Jimbuna Chief of the Boat Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: 250 metres below the surface Posts: 190,453 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 13	Nice one Anze __________________ Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something. Oh my God, not again!!

03-19-16, 05:08 PM	#2
Betonov Navy Seal Join Date: May 2009 Location: Slovenia Posts: 8,647 Downloads: 26 Uploads: 0	Written by Maja Kač Translated by Anže Beton Original article Rough map of the area

03-20-16, 12:19 PM	#6
Betonov Navy Seal Join Date: May 2009 Location: Slovenia Posts: 8,647 Downloads: 26 Uploads: 0	Slovene national radio and TV has a whole section devoted to the Great war, Soča front in particular. The Soča front is largely ignored by western history. The BBC Great war series mentions it in about 20min tops and even missnames the area. I'll transalte as many articles as possible for Subsim and I already have a roadtrip along the front planned with Aaron.