Based on newspaper and archival sources, the contribution focuses on the refugee experience of the civilian population of the Banjšice Plateau in 1917 and 1918. In spite of ten Italian offensives and the bombardment of the area that began soon after the Italian declaration of war against Austria-Hungary in May 1915 and lasted several months, the civilian population persevered in their homes and co-existed with the Austro-Hungarian Army in close vicinity of the defensive positions or in the immediate hinterlands. The situation changed during the eleventh offensive, when the Italian Army managed to occupy the western part of the Plateau, forcing the civilian population to retreat. Most of these people were refugees only for a bit longer than half a year and spent their exile in the Cerkno Hills and in the Idrija area as well as in the central and southeast Carniola. Their retreat was subject to severe shortage and adaptation to the new environment that had in most cases been ill-equipped for the arrival of several thousand people – mostly women, children, and the elderly.