The Italians advance at high altitude. The Battle of San Mateo. August 13, 1918.

On this date in 1918, the Italian Army launched a small scale, but very high altitude, assault on Austrian positions in the Italian Alps.

Italian mountain troops, Alpini, launched a company sized attack on Austrian Jägers at San Mateo, taking the 3678 meter high peak (the Austrians would take it back a few weeks later on September 3). In doing this, they managed to seize a position that was used for artillery to control nearby passes.

The battle was the highest battle on record until a 1999 conflict between India and Pakistan would surpass it. 

The battle is interesting for a variety of reasons, including the use of specialized troops on both sides, and featuring an Italian assault that is a monument to mountaineering.  While it was a small scale battle, the loss of face to Austria was significant and they dedicated an inordinate amount of forces to take it back, even though the Italians regarded holding the position as impossible and didn't really attempt to do so.  The September 3, 1918 recapture of the peak is regarded as the last successful Austrian operation of the war, but it was a Pyrrhic one both because Austrian fortunes in the war, now that the 1918 German Spring Offensive had failed, were becoming increasingly and obviously rather poor, and because the Italian counter bombardment was so bloody that losses to the Austrian forces were excessive.

The battle serves as a grim reminder of the war to this day. As recently as 2004 the bodies of a few Austrian soldiers were recovered from a nearby glacier.