At the beginning of 1918 Austro-Hungarian troops set up a fortified position with small artillery pieces on the top of the San Matteo Peak, from which they were able to shell the road to the Gavia Pass and thus harass the Italian supply convoys to the front line. On August 13, 1918 a small group of Italian Alpini (307th Company, Ortles Battalion) conducted a surprise attack taking the fortified position, half of the Austro-Hungarian soldiers were taken prisoner and the other half fled to lower positions.