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tomisitt.bsky.social

Author, historian, cyclist, hiker, occasional climber, idiot adventurer with unrealistic goals and expectations.

601 posts 1,037 followers 202 following

Posts 15 Comments 35

Western Front historians: the terrain was flat and muddy. Eastern Front historians: the terrain was flat and snowy. Mesopotamia historians: the terrain was flat and sandy. Italian Front historians: 😩

submitted 12 hours ago • 5 comments

The Monte Cristallo d’Ampezzo group was very much an outlier during WW1. The Italians held the high ground and were attacking downhill, the terrain is very steep, and it was under snow from October to May. There was terrible winter fighting on Rauhkofel and Costa Bèla in appalling conditions.

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Italian WW1 dugouts on Crode dei Piani, in the Dolomites, constructed between 1915 and 1917 #PicturePostcardWar

submitted 4 days ago • 3 comments

The #BattlefieldGoats are rather less appealing than the cows, but here they are anyway…on the Castellaccio ridge (Presena), in Val Dogna (Montasio), at Passo Gavia (Ortles) and near Paularo in the Carnic Alps.

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

After the surprising popularity of the Battlefield Botany thread, may I present to you #BattlefieldCows: seen here on the WW1 battlefields of Monte Peralba (Carnic Alps), Juribrutto (Dolomites), Giramondo (Carnic Alps), and Monte Zebio (Altopiano).

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

I bloody love making maps. This one has a hippo on it, which is nice.

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

Agonising choices being made regarding photos for the book. I’ve narrowed it down to around 300 😱 This is much harder than writing the damn thing.

submitted 14 days ago • 1 comment

This narrow, gravelly, unprotected ledge on the Tofana (Dolomites), with an 800ft/250m drop below, was used during WW1 by Austrian troops to access positions on the Tofana wall. Watching my son negotiate this was an absolutely terrifying experience. If my wife ever finds out what we’ve been doing… 🤫

submitted 19 days ago • 2 comments

Dipping my toe into 200 years of Balkan Whataboutism, with Bismarck’s words about “some damned foolish thing in the Balkans” ringing in my ears. They are as true now as they were in 1888, it would seem.

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

Yes, it’s a pop-up church on the Adamello, Italian Front, WW1.

submitted 21 days ago • 3 comments

The double-edged sword of researching “forgotten” history: you get pleasure from bringing it to a new audience, but there are so few people to talk to about it, or compare notes with.

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

It’s Sunday, so here’s my 6x Great Grandmother’s New Testament, printed in Paris in 1658. It’s a charming little thing, and in very good condition for something that’s 367 yeas old.

submitted 24 days ago • 2 comments

Authors, post the first line of your next book: Joseph Gál pulled his cap further down on his head as a bead of sweat trickled down the side of his grimy face. (Title TBC, 2025)

submitted 25 days ago • 0 comments

The spelling and grammar functions in Word are both joyless, and wrong. I hate it with a passion.

submitted 26 days ago • 3 comments

I thought translating German printed in Fraktur was challenging, but at least some words were familiar to this old monoglot. But Serbian? 😰

submitted 27 days ago • 1 comment