Between 1915 and 1918, the Austro-Hungarian and Russian armies fought many battles and skirmishes in the Kolomyia area, and the town changed hands many times. Soldiers of the Polish Legions fought alongside Austrian soldiers, forming a separate formation of the Austro-Hungarian army. The graves in the military section of the Catholic cemetery date from the time of these battles. Both Polish legionaries and Austrian soldiers were buried here. The exact number of burials has not been established, it is only known that 629 soldiers and officers were buried here between 30.04.1915 and 18.02.1916.
The heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Karl Franz Habsburg, cavalry general Karl von Pflanzer-Baltin and the wife of US embassy councillor Thomas Kardec, Maria, donated funds to build a memorial to the fallen soldiers. The memorial was erected in the shape of a squat pylon at the top ending in a several-step base topped by an eagle on a rock, at the foot of which lie a naked sword, a cannon barrel and a broken wheel. Concrete benches have been placed at the sides and back adjacent to the walls, with a small concrete altar at the front. The upper part of the walls is decorated with reliefs imprinted in artificial stone, depicting warriors on foot and on horseback in ancient costumes. The panels below the bas-reliefs are filled with white marble slabs bearing the names of fallen soldiers, including Polish legionaries. A memorial plaque with the inscription in German was placed on the front of the monument: "Military pantheon for the fallen soldiers of Kolomyia, founded in 1915, during the famous reign of His Majesty Franz Joseph - Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and M.R.S. Mary Kardec in the generous manner and under the leadership of the Commander of the Imperial Royal Army Karl von Pflanzer-Baltin".
After the Second World War, the slabs with the names of the soldiers were torn off the monument and the soldiers' graves gradually deteriorated and disappeared. By the 1990s, a small number of graves and grave crosses had survived.
After 1991, on the initiative of the local Ukrainian authorities, several old soldiers' crosses were placed in the vicinity of the monument to symbolise the WWI military cemetery. Unfortunately, these crosses were placed not on the soldiers' graves but on the site of the graves of Poles who died in 1918-1919 in the Ukrainian internment camp in Kosachiv. A renovation of the monument was also carried out, but during the renovation the symbolism and purpose of the monument was completely changed - 4 planes created after the marble slabs with the names of soldiers who died in 1915-1916 were torn out were plastered over; 90 metal black name plates with the names of riflemen of the Ukrainian Halytska Army who died in 1919 were attached to the front wall, where a white marble cross with an inscription in German was located above the field altar; a trizub and Ukrainian inscriptions were added. The current inscription reads: 'Eternal Glory to the Heroes / may you dream a happy Ukraine'.

Compiled by T. Zachara / MKiDN, IX 2025