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The Blanket of the First Wounded Soldier from the Soča Front and the Prosthetics of Gabrijel Bukovnik

The Blanket of the First Wounded Soldier from the Soča Front

The Blanket of the First Wounded Soldier from the Soča Front and the Prosthetics of Gabrijel Bukovnik

Objects That Tell the Story of the Battles on the Soča Front and Their Consequences

Even today, traces of blood are still visible on the blanket in which the first wounded soldier from the Soča Front was wrapped in 1915. That man was Josef Schupp, who survived the horrors of World War I. The blanket is kept in the Kobarid Museum, which holds a rich collection of artefacts from this great war.

The Blanket of the First Wounded Soldier from the Soča Front and the Prosthetics of Gabrijel Bukovnik

Josef Schupp, who went down in history as the first wounded soldier of the Soča Front, was shot on May 23, 1915, at 10:40 PM. It was a Sunday, Pentecost, which is why newspapers in Austria-Hungary were not published that day. People had already been anxiously following events, fearing that “Italy would sooner or later enter the war and reach for our territory,” as contemporary newspapers reported.

After World War I had already lasted a year, that fear became a reality: Italy joined the conflict, but not on the side of its former allies, Germany and Austria-Hungary. Instead, it aligned with the Entente Powers, having secured promises in secret negotiations in London to satisfy its territorial ambitions along the eastern Adriatic, including parts of what is now Slovenian territory. That day marked the beginning of battles that, alongside the eastern and western fronts of World War I, opened a new, 600-kilometer-long and rugged southwestern front. This included a 90-kilometre stretch along the Soča River, which endured 12 offensives over 29 months of fighting.

Schupp, an Austro-Hungarian customs guard, was shot in the town of Bračan (Brazzano). Italian customs officers Pietro Dall’Acqua and Costantino Carta were guarding a wooden bridge over the border river Idrija (Iudrio) when they heard a patrol of Austro-Hungarian soldiers approaching to demolish the bridge. Dall’Acqua fired at the patrol and wounded Schupp. A firefight followed, but there were no other casualties, and the bridge remained intact.

The Blanket of the First Wounded Soldier from the Soča Front and the Prosthetics of Gabrijel Bukovnik

Gabrijel Bukovnik was severely wounded on August 31, 1917, on Škabrijel.
Photo: Kobarid Museum

The wounded Schupp was wrapped in a blanket by Austro-Hungarian soldiers and taken to a military hospital in Gorizia. The two Italian customs officers were awarded the Bronze Medal for Bravery for their actions. Schupp’s wounds were not fatal, and he lived to see the end of the war.

Josef Schupp was born around 1870 in Carinthia. He joined the customs service at a young age and, by the end of the 19th century, was stationed in Žaga. From there, he was transferred to Grado and later to Cormons, where he witnessed the outbreak of war between Austria-Hungary and Italy. He retired at the end of the war and lived in Klagenfurt, where he died shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War.

He left behind the blanket he had been wrapped in—an artefact that tells the story of the beginning of the fighting that, in the next two years, devastated the area and drove many people into exile. The rifle of Pietro Dall’Acqua has also been preserved and is kept at the Museum of the Customs Guard in Rome.

Gabrijel Bukovnik’s prosthetics can be seen as part of the permanent collection of the Kobarid Museum.
Photo: Kobarid Museum

The Blanket of the First Wounded Soldier from the Soča Front

The Leg and Arm Prosthetics of Gabrijel Bukovnik

Among the many small but meaningful objects that today tell the story of the war that shook and changed the world, one can also find the arm and leg prosthetics of Austro-Hungarian soldier Gabrijel Bukovnik in the collection of the Kobarid Museum.

Gabrijel Bukovnik was born on March 23, 1890, in Slovenske Konjice. He was drafted into the army two days before the start of World War I, on July 26, 1914. He was first stationed in Pula, then transferred to Shkodër in Albania. He served in the 87th Infantry Regiment. On the last day of August 1917, he was severely wounded on Škabrijel. He was carried off the battlefield by Italian soldiers and taken to a military hospital in Cividale, where he was operated on and received exemplary care. After the front was broken through, Cividale was occupied by German units on October 26. The final year of the war brought severe shortages and hunger. Despite this, Gabrijel Bukovnik survived and, after the war, worked as a kiosk vendor as a disabled veteran. He died on April 6, 1962, in Slovenske Konjice.

The mission of the Kobarid Museum is to preserve, protect, and present the heritage of the Soča Front, which deeplyimpacted the lives of people, animals, and the natural environment in the region where it took place. Many objects that have been preserved from that time – no matter how small or seemingly insignificant – are important witnesses of the past and serve as a reminder that the decisions of world leaders can have devastating consequences, affecting mostly ordinary people who only wish to live in peace. Among them, there are no real victors – only destroyed, broken, or forever scarred lives on both sides.

*Jaka Fili is a curator at the Kobarid Museum

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