White Friday occurred during the Italian front of World War I. The most significant avalanche struck the Austro-Hungarian barracks on Mount Marmolada, killing 270 soldiers. Other avalanches on the same day would strike Italian and other Austro-Hungarian positions, killing hundreds. According to some reports, both sides deliberately fired shells into the weakened snowpacks in an attempt to bury the other side.
Marmolada in 2004
Remains of a destroyed Austro-Hungarian weapons cache, Marmolada
Italian front (World War I)
The Italian front was one of the main theatres of war of World War I. It involved a series of military engagements in Northern Italy between the Central Powers and the Entente powers from 1915 to 1918. Following secret promises made by the Allies in the 1915 Treaty of London, the Kingdom of Italy entered the war on the Allied side, aiming to annex the Austrian Littoral, northern Dalmatia and the territories of present-day Trentino and South Tyrol.
The digging of trenches on the Isonzo front by k.u.k soldiers
Italian infantry soldier in full marching order
The Italian Front in 1915–1917: eleven Battles of the Isonzo and Asiago offensive. In blue, initial Italian conquests
Italian Alpini troops; 1915
