Velo Veneto

Remembering the Monte Grappa

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

For those of us climbing the Monte Grappa on bikes, the mountain seems like a way to willfully and joyfully inflict pain upon ourselves. But to Italians, the mountain means so much more. Often called “Italy’s Thermopylae”, the fall and winter of 1917 saw a massive battle take place with the Grappa as the last line of defense before Venice. Before the Austro-German troops were repelled, the battle took the lives of 24,000 Italians, 4,000 English and French, and more than 100,000 Austrians. From WorldWar1.com:
 

On Monte Grappa the Italian Army did not breakdown. Outnumbered, outgunned, with their backs to the abyss and their faces to onrushing enemy and winter weather, they found a renewed spirit that would carry on until victory the following year. They opposed German flamethrower and gas with rifle and bayonet counterattacks. Against torrents of artillery and trench mortars, these soldati hurled hand grenades and finally without ammunition, the mountain’s stones.

 
Whether you are in Italy, remembering la Grande Guerra on November 4th (the Armistice of villa Giusti), or elsewhere on November 11th, it is tales like these that put our suffering on the bike into perspective.