The town of Feltre (formerly known in German as Felters) is located between
Bolzano and Venice. Its surroundings give the war cemetery a very special character
special character.
Description
A wide valley lined with wooded slopes; cornfields, vineyards, country houses and farms on
And farms characterize the landscape. The
The limestone entrance building is situated on a low hill. In an
the names of those buried here are inscribed in an adjoining stone arbor.
Crosses made of reddish-brown porphyry - a volcanic rock - mark the grave locations on the lawn
Grave locations on the lawn.
Occupancy
271 soldiers who lost their lives in the First World War are buried here
lost their lives in the First World War. 68 of them came from Austria.
History
Before the First World War, Italy, together with Austria-Hungary and the German
the German Empire in the "Triple Alliance". But instead of joining the Central Powers in 1914
Germany and Austria-Hungary, it sided with the Entente in 1915
1915 on the side of the Entente powers - Great Britain, France and Russia
Russia. To support Austria-Hungary, Germany sent the "Alpine Corps"
"Alpine Corps" to support Austria-Hungary. From August 1916, Germany was formally at war with Italy
State of war.
Feltre was an important place behind the front line, where many military hospitals
were located. At the river Piave and in the area of the heavily contested Monte Grappa and
monte Tomba, a German-Austrian offensive came to a halt at the end of 1917.
For the approximately 16,000 German soldiers who died in the First World War in
In northern Italy, the German War Graves Commission (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge) laid out seven
War cemeteries and dedicated them in 1939 - Feltre is one of them. The
The dead were transferred to these cemeteries after the conclusion of a German-Italian war graves
1937 by the War Graves Commission at these cemeteries. Today the
Association looks after 14 war cemeteries in Italy.
Special feature
Small military cemeteries and scattered graves in the surrounding area were later
and the remains were transferred to Quero. Only the small
Military cemetery in Feltre remained. It bears the nickname "San Paolo",
after the nearby 16th century church of the same name.
Century.
