[vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/1″][vc_custom_heading heading_semantic=”h1″ text_size=”h1″]Campogrosso[\/vc_custom_heading][vc_custom_heading]A strategic defensive line[\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text]Prior to the war, the Agno and Leogra valleys had already been the object of fortification programs for the defence of the Lora and Campogrosso Passes, and of the Fugazze Plain, located near the Austrian border.
\nIn May 1915, the rapid advance of the Italian troops in Vallarsa and on Mt. Pasubio moved the front line further away.<\/p>\n
The scenario changed quickly after the offensive launched by the Austro-Hungarian troops on 15th May 1916 (the so called \u201cStrafexpedition\u201d) on the Vicenza Plateaus front.
\nAfter harsh combats, the Austrian offensive was blocked at the cost of heavy losses in Vallarsa, a few kilometres from the Campogrosso Pass.<\/p>\n
Thus, the strategic importance of the pass became clear, as well as the need to set up a defence line going from north to south which, in case of fall of the Pasubio barrier, could restrain the advance of the Austrian army in the Agno and Leogra Valleys.
\nConsequently, the 1st Army commanders ordered the building of a series of defensive lines in upper Valdarsa, and a line of maximum resistance (second line) on the mountain ridge between Campogrosso and Mt. Pasubio.<\/p>\n
In February 1917 the construction of the third line began. The line went from the Lora Pass to the La Gazza stronghold, Le Some, the hills south of the Valli Dei Signori and Mt. Novegno.
\nIn this same period a fourth strategic line appeared, formed by two orthogonal lines (the first version of the Ortogonale 1 and Ortogonale 2 defensive lines).<\/p>\n
Towards the end of winter 1917 the first strategic line, initially called Destra Leogra, is well outlined on the orographic right of the Leogra stream, always running at the hillfoot, from the mouth of the Manfron valley to Case di Malo.
\nThe second strategic line, transverse to the Destra Leogra, later called Ortogonale 2 (which route was modified in the second half of 1917), cut through the Agno and the Leogra valleys, crossed the Destra Leogra at Ponte Delle Capre, then went up the opposite slope towards Novegno. Early in April 1917, General Cadorna, Chief of Staff of the Italian Army, recognized the strategic importance of the area, and ordered to complete the Destra Leogra line up to the entrenched field of Vicenza, and to build a new defensive line (the Ortogonale 1) on the divide between the Agno and the Leogra valleys, from Campogrosso to Monteviale.<\/p>\n
The Engineer Corps commanders of the 5th Army Corps immediately prepared a new design, whereby the two lines (Ortogonale 1 and 2) crossed on Mt. Civillina and encompassed multiple defensive compartments, included in other advanced lines on the Vicenza Plain (\u201cline of the plain\u201d), then finally connected to the entrenched field of Vicenza.<\/p>\n
After the Austrian air raids of 1916, the use of anti-aircraft batteries for the defence of trenches and towns became more and more widespread. Along the Ortogonale 1 strategic line three military airports were put into operation: in Castelgomberto, Sovizzo and Trissino.
\nThe Ortogonale 1 defensive line, built on the Agno-Leogra mountain spur, had thus become an important line of resistance in the event of a withdrawal of the front on the Mincio-Po line.<\/p>\n
The importance of these strategic lines was confirmed at the end of October 1917, when the Austrian troops broke the front line in Caporetto, reaching the Piave and the Grappa fronts.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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