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This is the third part of a three-part series about this tunnel, the horrific events which took place within it, and its recent archaeological exploration.
On April 29, 1945, the 86th Mountain Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division fought its way through a series of tunnels on the eastern shore of Italy’s largest lake, Lago di Garda. Company L of the 86th captured Tunnel Number Five, and found the remains of about forty German soldiers who had been killed when demolition charges meant to collapse the roof of the tunnel detonated prematurely. The gruesome scene led them to call the place “the Tunnel of the Dead.” German 88mm guns at the head of the lake opened a warm fire on the advancing mountain troops. Company M took shelter within Tunnel Number Five, and a meeting of several of the regiment’s officers was being held inside when the German gunners succeeded in firing a shell directly into the tunnel opening, inflicting terrible losses.
Total casualties sustained by both sides in the Tunnel of the Dead cannot be precisely known. The remains of the contingent of the Predazzo Gebirgskampfschule der Waffen SS were too scattered to offer a definite number killed by the premature detonation of demolition charges. Witnesses to the scene gave estimates ranging from twenty to sixty, and we may speculate that there were an unknown number of others wounded in the blast. Bob Krear says that eight more German troops were killed in the embrasure at the southern end of the tunnel by a hand grenade, and seven more were apparently killed in the bunker carved into the tunnel’s side. American casualties caused by the 88mm shell amounted to seven killed, forty-four wounded. It is likely that something over one hundred casualties were sustained by both sides within the limestone walls of a tunnel less than five hundred feet long.
In the aftermath of this carnage, the wounded mountain troops were sent to the rear. The bodies of their fallen comrades followed, to be shipped back to the states or to be buried in the US Military Cemetery in Castelfiorentino, Italy. The American engineers were quick to get the tunnel back into serviceable condition, and bulldozed the fallen rock and debris on the roadway, including many of the fragmented German corpses, straight into Lake Garda. Other German dead were hastily buried or simply closed off in the bunker, where they remained until relocated in 1954. Some of them may have joined the nearly 22,000 other German war dead at the cemetery at Castermano.
Tourism had become a mainstay of the economy of the region as early as the 1920’s, but the rise of extreme sports has caused a surge in tourism in the towns around Lake Garda. Hikers, bicyclists, rock-climbers and sail-boarders flock to the area. Corno di Bo’ has become a prime location for climbers looking to scale the almost sheer limestone face through which passes what was once known as the Tunnel of the Dead.
The bunker at Corno di Bo’ remained closed until 2011, when Aldo Miorelli, local historian and President of the Associazione Culturale Benách, opened the heavy doors and entered with a film crew to document the interior (see the video HERE). As the lights of the camera penetrated the inky time-capsule, the white of human bones gleamed through the darkness. They called the Italian Carabinieri, who came and removed a pelvis, several ribs, and part of a leg bone. Over the next several months Aldo discussed the bunker with his colleague, Ben Appleby, who recommended going in to clean the place and recover any artifacts.
A sketch of the bunker carved into the wall of the tunnel. (Click photo to view larger)
In 2012, Mr. Appleby entered the bunker with a small hand-held metal detector. He later recalled that,
It was very eerie doing this work in there alone. I wouldn’t say creepy but there was an atmosphere. Then mixed together with the sound of cars passing through the adjoining tunnel, breaking the silence or screams of adrenaline-filled cyclists, or the sudden roar of a motor bike engine. When I saw the bunker I never imagined that I would still find human remains, but I found some smaller fragments and about 15 human teeth. I informed one of the members who is a member of the carabinieri and to double check we had permission and what to do if we found any more remains. I also found a large number of bullets, many of which were unfired. I found numerous German buttons, rank shoulder pins, some German coins, a nazi eagle swastika, as well as pieces of a German style dog tag, unfortunately without the full details we are unable to work out any more. There were pieces of an old watch which appears to have been under intense heat, and what I assumed to be a medal. The few letters on the edge of this ‘medal’ Aldo believes indicates it’s a religious pendant.
(Click photos to view larger)
The fragmentary human remains were respectfully interred in the Torbole ossuary. Among the bullets and shell-casings that were recovered are German, American and even Italian calibers. The “nazi eagle swastika” is a broken pin from the ribbon bar of an NSDAP 10-year service award. Many of these artifacts have been on display in public exhibitions and private showings at the Alpini headquarters in Torbole. The Associazione Culturale Benách is working toward the establishment of a museum which, when completed, will become their permanent home.
But it is the shattered watch which may add another macabre episode to the story of the Tunnel of the Dead. The scorched leather and melted gears, pieces of burnt timber discovered among the debris, and shell casings torn open from the inside would seem to indicate that the bunker’s occupants had died in an inferno. No written source yet discovered has mentioned this, and it raises new questions.
Sgt. Bob Krear recounted in detail L Company’s capture of the tunnel, and how the Germans in the embrasure were killed by a grenade. It is possible that as his flanking party chased four enemy soldiers off into the next tunnel, other German troops holed themselves up within the bunker. As other elements of L Company, or of M Company entered the tunnel, they may have used a flamethrower on the bunker’s occupants. It can be hoped that further research and analysis will bring the implications of these findings into sharper focus.
This blog is part of a larger body of research culminating in the publication of the book ‘Heroes in Good Company: L Company, 86th Regiment, 10th Mountain Division 1943-1945’ which is available in select bookstores and on amazon.
Sources:
“3rd Battalion, 86th Infantry Regiment Killed and Wounded in Action.” Excel spreadsheet provided in 2013 by Archivist Dennis Hagen. 10th Mountain Division Resource Center. Denver Public Library. Denver, CO.
Appleby, Ben. Associazione Culturale Benàch, Torbole, Italy. e-mail messages to author. 2013-2016.
Bailey, Everett. personal interview by author. December 24, 2010.
Brower, David. Remount Blue: The Combat Story of the Third Battalion, 86th Mountain Infantry, 10thMountain Division. Unpublished Manuscript, c. 1948. Digitized version edited and made available through the Denver Public Library by Barbara Imbrie, 2005.
Carlson, Bob. A History of L Company, 86th Mountain Infantry. Self-published Manuscript, 2000.
Co L, 86th Mountain Infantry, 10th Mountain Division. Itinerary and biographies made for the reunion of L Company veterans at Las Vegas, NV, 1985.
Gruppo Culturale Nago-Torbole. “Nago e Torbole 1940-1945: La Ritrovamento di un SS,” La Giurisdizione di Penede, no. 5 (Dec. 1995).
Kiser, Patrick. e-mail messages to author. 2016.
Krear, H. Robert. The Journal of a US Army Mountain Trooper in World War II. Estes Park, CO: Desktop Publishing by Jan Bishop, 1993.
Meinke, Albert H., Jr., Mountain Troops and Medics: Wartime Stories of a Frontline Surgeon in the US Ski Troops. Kewadin, MI: Rucksack Publishing Company, 1993.
Trentinocorrierealpi.geolocal.it. Strage nel tunnel a Corno di Bo’ In mostra I reperti bellici. May 8, 2012. accessed January 26, 2016. http://trentinocorrierealpi.gelocal.it/trento/cronaca/2012/05/08/news/strage-nel-tunnel-a-corno-di-bo-in-mostra-i-reperti-bellici-1.4480151?refresh_ce
