In history books on the First World War that deal with the military operations in the Marmolada and Tofane areas, we often find references to the deeds of the Alpino Angelo Schiocchet, known as “the wolf of the Tofane” or “el diaol de le Tofane” (the devil of the Tofane).
He was born in Vezzano di Belluno on 11 September 1891. He moved permanently to Sois in 1939. He married Maria Mares and had three children.
Angelo’s military adventure began in April 1912, when he joined the “Belluno” Battalion of the 7th Alpini Regiment. In September of the same year he left Naples for Libya with the “Feltre” Battalion (also of the 7th Regiment) to take part in the Italo-Turkish War. He returned home at the end of June 1913. When Italy entered the war against Austria on 24 May 1915, the “Belluno” Battalion, to which he had returned (he was in the 79th Company), was in the upper Val Cordevole. Fifteen days later the 79th took the Ombretta and Ombrettola passes. On this occasion Angiolin (as his comrades called him) earned his first bronze medal, with the following citation: “Showing great daring, he contributed effectively to the surrender of an enemy guard post. – Passo Ombretta, 8 June 1915.”
In his book «Ghiaccio rovente», Bepi Pellegrinon describes that action. In short:
The 79th Company was mentioned in the order of the day of the 18th Division command, and the two men who had brilliantly resolved the situation at Passo Ombretta were the Alpini Angelo Schiocchet, from Belluno, and Giovanni Mezzacasa, from Agordo. Schiocchet would go down in Alpini legend as “the wolf of the Tofane” – the enemy called him “Teufel”, the devil – a sort of cat with nine lives, who distinguished himself in countless acts of valour; on the Tofane he is said to have waged a kind of private war, going out alone at night to hunt snipers. On 30 June the “Belluno” moved to the Cortina area. Between 7 and 10 July 1915 the battalion attacked Forcella and Cima Bois (Tofane). After a fierce fight it managed to occupy the Forcella and, after climbing a difficult gully, the summit. Here too it was Angelo who made that daring climb, with other volunteers, taking the Austrians from behind. As a sniper hunter he received a silver medal: “He volunteered with two companions to dislodge enemy marksmen from a position from which they were harassing our units with their fire. He carried out this task with remarkable skill, daring and contempt for danger in the fight that followed, in which his two companions were killed and he was wounded. In the evening he returned to the positions to recover the body of one of the fallen. – Cima Bois (Tofane), 7–12 July 1915”.
He received his second bronze medal for an act of selflessness on Monte Sief on 11 November 1915: “When the officer for whom he was serving as guide was seriously wounded under continuous enemy artillery fire, alone and in the open he lifted the officer onto his shoulders and carried him to the dressing station”.
At the beginning of December 1915 the bulk of the “Belluno” Battalion was sent to Col di Lana, where on the 16th of that month the 77th and 79th Companies attacked the enemy positions on the summit without gaining any advantage. It was during this fight that our man was wounded by shell splinters in the left thigh and face. On 24 December the 78th and 79th returned to the Cortina area.
After the winter “pause” the Alpini began digging the tunnel at the base of the Castelletto, in order to set off the mine that enabled them to take its summit. The explosion took place on 11 July 1916.
On 30 July that year “the wolf of the Tofane”, recently promoted to Sergeant, was taken prisoner at Forcella Bois. He was freed on 3 November 1918.
At the outbreak of the Second World War he was recalled for a short period and reached the rank of Sergeant Major.
This brave and legendary soldier died in Sois di Belluno on 30 August 1968. He was a member of the Salce Alpini Group.
A street in the hamlet of Sois has been named after Angelo Schiocchet. The Sois Alpini Group, founded two months after his death, was also named after him, with military honours rendered by an armed picket commanded by Second Lieutenant Ezio Caldart, who would later become head of the Salce Group.
