When we refer to the war front, the zones behind the frontlines, trenches and barracks, very often we think that all these concerned only military personnel. However, the presence of the civilian population in the war zones was very extensive. Both before as well as after the defeat of Caporetto several towns in Friuli and Veneto were not evacuated and residents remained in their homes, in close contact with soldiers. But besides these residents, many other people from all over Italy came to these warzones; these were workers who were engaged by the State to build the large infrastructural network that was required by an army at war.
Even today people who cross, for example, the plains of Friuli, the zones of Basso Isonzo and the Isonzo Karst or the valleys of Carnia, the slopes of Grappa or the Asiago plateau, would unknowingly be crossing the roads and the railway lines that were actually built by these workers between 1915 and 1918.
It is estimated that the number of civilian employees who were engaged in these very dangerous works amounted to slightly less than a million. These employees were men aged between seventeen and fifty years, came largely from the South and had to remain in the warzone for at least two months. The daily hours of work could vary from six to twelve hours, both during the day as well as during the night (depending on the needs as they arose) while there were no holidays and there was no possibility to strike.
Although not in uniform, these men were treated in the same way as soldiers. When they reached their destination, their documents were taken away from them and were replaced by identity cards so as to prevent any possible escape. As if this were not enough, they were cut off from the local population so as not to influence or to be influenced by the creeping wave of resignation to defeat; and as a result, barracks were built for workmen where thousands of them would meet to share sleeping facilities and meals of low quality and cope with poor standards of hygiene.
These men would work hard in the midst of bombs that continually pounded the frontline as well as the areas behind the war zone (by means of planes). It is estimated that they built over 5,000 kilometres of roads and mule tracks in addition to having maintained some 10,000 kilometres of rolling stock in the areas behind the frontline. Depending on what happened, their work would increase or decrease and would either be very urgent or less urgent; besides roads they were required to build bridges, barracks, canals, defensive lines and railroads. In particular, worthy of mention are the impressive works subsequent to the Strafexpedition, the conquest of Gorizia and preparations for the Tenth and the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo (especially those on the waste Bainsizza Plateau).
