During the years of 1915/16, Italian troops from 12 infantry and 14 Alpini companies repeatedly attempted to storm the peak, defended first by the German Alpenkorps and later by Austro-Hungarian regiments. These attempts resulted in heavy losses; 278 Italians died due to avalanches alone. On 8 November 1915 the Italians, under the command of Lt. Col. Giuseppe Garibaldi II conquered the summit but then could only mount a weak defence with rag-tag units against a well orchestrated pincer manoeuvre: the top of the Col di Lana fell back to Austro-Hungarian troops early the next day. A terrible winter then set in, doing its fair share of killing. However this is not the only reason that the Italians dubbed it Col di Sangue, Blood Mountain. Like all sides in the First World War, the Italian Army sought to conquer the summit with relatively large forces, paying a high price in casualties.