Austrian Mountain Rangers 'resting in the shade of southern flora' on the Italian front. The card was postmarked from Berlin on January 5, 1916.
Reverse:Vom Italienischen KriegsschauplatzRast im Schallen der südlichen Flora.From the Italian frontRest in the shade of southern flora.
"On the same day, 29 August, the Second Army tried to capture Mount Rombon, at the northern limit of the Isonzo front. After belatedly occupying Flitsch, the Italians were pinned down by fire from Rombon, towering overhead. Boroević had wisely garrisoned Rombon with the 2nd Mountain Rifles, a regiment that was almost 90 per cent Slovene. The soldiers were fighting to save their nation from Italian domination as well as defending their emperor against traitors. Rombon was a bulwark, guarding over a million Slovenes, and the troops were packed onto a narrow summit, still snowbound in late August."
The Italians failed in their attempt near the end of the Second Battle of the Isonzo to capture Mount Rombon. Along most of the Italian-Austro-Hungarian front, the Hapsburg army held higher ground including alpine summits. The Second Battle cost Italy 42,000 casualties, Austria-Hungary 47,000.
The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919 by Mark Thompson, page 111, copyright © 2008 Mark Thompson, publisher: Basic Books, publication date: 2009
1915-08-29, 1915, August, mountain, Rombon, Mount Rombon, Slovenia, Slovene, Slovenes, Second Battle of the Isonzo, Battles of the Isonzo
