My late grandfather, Jim Serpe, was born on December 13, 1916. I decided to see if anything was happening in the war at this time. After doing some research I found that several hundred Austro-Hungarian troops were killed by an avalanche at that time. About 500 Austro-Hungarian troops were stationed on Mount Marmolada, Italy, when a large avalanche came down right on top of their barracks. Somewhere around 300 of them were pulled to safety, but the rest perished in the disaster. This event, known White Friday, was one of the most catastrophic avalanche accidents in history. Around 10,000 Austro-Hungarian and Italian troops died by the end of December from avalanches alone. It is also suspected but not proven, that avalanches were set off on purpose by the enemy.
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