The Hochgränten military cemetery is situated near the Hochgräntenjoch on Karnischer Kamm (Carnic Ridge). Austro-Hungarian troops established this military cemetery in 1915, near the Hochgränten Lake in this region; in it are buried the soldiers who lost their lives during the battles in this sector. The cemetery still contains the graves of four riflemen.
The Karnischer Kamm formed a section of the so-called Southwestern Front – the front situated between Austria-Hungary and Italy from May 1915 onwards – which stretched from the Swiss border to the Adriatic coast along a linear length of around 600 kilometres. Italian, Austro-Hungarian and German soldiers faced each other on this part of the front between 1915 and 1918, primarily in high-Alpine terrain and usually at an altitude of 2,000 to 3,900 metres above sea level. In 1915, the soldiers on both sides initially had to make the terrain suitable for military operations. Apart from a few mountains made accessible for tourists and trails used by the indigenous population in summer for cattle driving, hardly any well-developed paths or tracks existed between the Ortler (3,899 m) near the Swiss border and the Julian Alps.
To enable Austria-Hungary to control the region of the front, the area was subdivided by the army into several administration units. Border sector 10, for example, consisted of several border sub-sectors (GUA), and these in turn consisted of battle sectors (KA): GUA 10a consisted of the battle sectors Ruffredo, Gemärk and Landro (later called Schluderbach), GUA 10b of battle sectors Zinnenhochfläche, Fischleintal, Burgstall and Hornischeck/Hornischegg (known as “Seikofel” from 23 June 1915), and GUA 10c of the battle sectors Eisenreich and Filmoorhöhe. While border sub-sector 10a continued to be under the command of Field Marshal Lieutenant Ludwig Goiginger, the two border sub-sectors 10b and 10c came under the responsibility of the 56th Mountain Brigade and the command of General Major Karl Englert in November 1915.
The front on the Karnischer Kamm belonged to border sub-sector 10c. It was approximately 30 kilometres long and stretched from Hornischegg/Mt. Arnese (2,550 m) to Steinkarspitz/Mt. Antola (2,524 m) in the East. From 1916 onwards, border sub-sector 10c was administered as a border sector and subdivided into battle sectors I: Hochgränten, II: Obstans, III: Filmoor/Leiten and IV: Obertilliach. The most northern area of the Kreuzberg front was integrated into battle sector I: Hochgränten. From October 1916 on, the official name of border sub-sector 10c became “Karnischer Kamm”.
The Hochgränten military cemetery is situated on the long-distance hiking trail Karnischer Höhenweg (No. 403), also called the Trail of Peace (“Via della Pace”). The trails of peace were set up by the Austrian Dolomitenfreunde association in the 1970s.
www.karnischer-hoehenweg.at
www.dolomitenfreunde.at
