US geospatial Soldiers study World War I lessons at Italian battle site

U.S. Soldiers assigned to U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa's (SETAF-AF) 517th Geospatial Planning Cell conducted a team-building offsite exercise that featured a hike up Mount Ortigara, located north of Vicenza, Italy, July 18, 2025.

Members of the 517th GPC took turns briefing at various points along the way with historical lessons from the Battle of Ortigara that took place in June 1918. Mount Ortigara was a position on the Asiago Plateau, a significant front line during World War I that Italian and Austrian forces fought to capture. While the Italians were initially successful in taking Mount Ortigara, they did not hold that position, and Austrian forces ultimately won the battle.

Using this visit, the 517th's leadership sought to build morale, provide a case study in combined arms operations and warfighting functions in combat, while also giving Soldiers an appreciation for the complexities of war and sacrifices made for others.

"A key objective of the hike was just bringing all our Soldiers together," said U.S. Army Maj. Bryan Underwood, the 517th's officer in charge. "Some of them are just out of advanced individual training, and others transferred here shortly before the hike, so they have never hiked these mountains before. It was a great camaraderie-oriented event for everybody to get to know each other and a chance to develop junior Soldiers by putting them in charge of briefs on warfighting functions."

This staff ride had special relevance for the 517th GPC due to its mission focused on creating overviews (maps) of the 53 countries SETAF-AF covers in Africa. The overviews generated by the 517th give commanders data on potential areas of operation, such as airfields, seaports, major cities and significant terrain features, among other relevant factors. If U.S. forces need to mobilize, those basic overviews act as baselines. If those overviews need edits tailored for specific missions, Soldiers can make them without affecting readiness.

"If you think 'Google Maps on steroids,' that's essentially what we do," Underwood said. "Whether you're on the continent conducting training with mission partners, or you're here at SETAF-AF [in Italy] conducting land navigation or other field training, we help you understand what's in front of you. If it's a terrain feature, like a river, we can get you the width of that river, or other aspects of the environment to improve knowledge."

The 517th's geospatial engineers and analysts became students of World War I military history during the hike, which included multiple lessons in logistics and warfighting in real-life scenarios that are still relevant today.

They began at Piazzele Lozze, the starting point of the 10-kilometer hike on the Asiago Plateau, and reached their first stop at some nearby caves. Those caves once housed supplies for both sides during the battle, and the 517th discussed medical logistics and operations as they explored.

"There were a couple tunnels we went into that led to observation posts looking over a valley… where soldiers were posted around the clock to observe enemy movements," Underwood said. "Those observation posts were critical to [both sides] understanding where the enemy was, their movement, what equipment they had, as well as being able to formulate their own battle plans."

U.S. Army Pfc. Samuel Marmol, a geospatial engineer assigned to the 517th's plans and analysis section, said a major takeaway for him was the importance of terrain. He explained that having the high ground not only changed the combatants' plans of action, but it also significantly factored into casualty rates. Historical records indicate that Italian forces lost approximately 2800 soldiers, while the Austrian death toll was 990. Wounded Italian soldiers totaled 16,000, compared to 6300 wounded Austrians.

"It was crazy to see how different it was on both sides, because in this battle, the Austrians had the high-ground superiority, even though the Italians had all the weaponry," Marmol said. "It went to show that one side can have all the weaponry, but the terrain favoring the other side can have a major effect on the battle. Despite the Austrians being outgunned and outnumbered, they still lost fewer people."

According to the 517th's research, Italian soldiers faced challenges caused by insufficient medical supplies, poor communication and dangerous evacuation logistics, in addition to fighting the elements in the mountains. Frostbite, hypothermia and fall-related injuries were common, which contributed to approximately one-third of the total deaths in the battle being medically related, not combat related.

Underwood explained that U.S. forces saw terrain similar to the Asiago Plateau in Afghanistan, which affected combat operations in a rugged-terrain battlefield, and how certain aspects of the tunnels that Ortigara combatants prepared are similar to what observers have noted in Ukraine today.

The 517th's next stop was an observatory where they focused on intelligence - an area wherein both sides experienced failures during the 1918 conflict. A misunderstanding of Austrian troop strength and fortifications disadvantaged the Italians. The Austrians, with a focus on other fronts, had neglected the area, which led to weaker defenses on the plateau.

At the "battlements" area, briefers focused on "fires operations," which involve the targeting, planning and the employment of weapons systems and munitions in combat, and then assessing their effectiveness. Both sides used small arms and machine guns, but Italian artillery and mortar crews struggled with steep, narrow supply routes. Austrian forces had a system of valley railroads and cable cars to supply heavier-caliber systems.

The 517th GPC's research noted that engineers on both sides fulfilled important roles by building tunnels throughout the area. These complex tunnel systems provided both Italian and Austrian troops with trenches, cave shelters and observation posts.

"It was pretty cool to see where snipers would've been located, how they built the trenches - which are still there - and getting an understanding of how important every factor in the battle was," Marmol said. "For example, they had to build tunnels to protect from mortar attack. I've never seen anything like that back in the U.S."

At a second observatory location, the GPC's Soldiers concentrated on communications operations. The Austrians enjoyed an advantage in this area with better defensive positions that featured cave shelters and tunnels for communication hubs, as well as underground cable systems and protected observation posts that provided messaging from headquarters to field units. Italian forces found that the terrain hindered their efforts to lay and maintain telephone lines. The weather disrupted signal flags, which required the Italians to rely on runners who were highly vulnerable to enemy fire and exhaustion.

The team finally stopped at a chapel near the end of the route where they discussed the chaplaincy and its role in military operations before hiking back to the starting point.

For other units considering similar offsite trips with a historical emphasis, Underwood said that SETAF-AF's G7 section provides detailed staff ride handbooks that ease the research burden on a unit's training personnel.

"As geospatial engineers, understanding that terrain is critical to winning the battle is how we provide and contribute [to the force's lethality]," Underwood said. "It's helpful for our GPC Soldiers to go out and actually see a battle site in person. When they're creating modern battlefield overlays, they can understand what soldiers in the past have been through, and that can help build better products."

About SETAF-AF

U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) prepares Army forces, executes crisis response, enables strategic competition and strengthens partners to achieve U.S. Army Europe and Africa and U.S. Africa Command campaign objectives.

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