All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S02E04.Desert.Ghost.Fort.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-DoGSO_track3_[eng]

Narrator: a huge
Abandoned facility

In the sprawling desert.

Man: this was a hardcore
Military base

Fully prepared
To survive all-out war.

*

Narrator: massive steel towers
In an industrial wasteland.

You're thinking it's some sort
Of steampunk theme park.

It's that weird.

*

Narrator: and an unusual
Concrete corridor

That leads to nowhere.

That leads to nowhere.

They're hardly noticed
By the general public,

But you can't build
An air force without them.

*

Narrator: once, they were
Some of the most advanced

Structures and facilities
On the planet,

At the cutting edge
Of design and construction.

Today, they stand abandoned,
Contaminated,

And sometimes deadly.

But who built them and how?

And why were they abandoned?

*

*

*

-- captions by vitac --
Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

*

Narrator:
In the gobi desert

Around the mongolian city
Of choir,

An empty landscape
Stretches unbroken

Across the horizon
For hundreds of miles.

[ whirring ]

[ whirring ]

*

But 19 miles northwest
Of the city,

A cluster of isolated,

Strange, grassy mounds springs
Out of the barren steppe.

[ wind whistling ]

Corum:
They're largely empty areas.

These were miserable places
In the middle of nowhere.

Narrator: standing 30 feet high
And 80 feet across,

Each of the 40 mounds that can
Be seen is connected to the next

Each of the 40 mounds that can
Be seen is connected to the next

By a strip of concrete
Overgrown with weeds.

*

Nearby, another
2-mile-long roadway

Leads off towards
Some low hills.

Most bizarre of all
Is row after row

Of crumbling apartment blocks
Buttressing the background.

*

Why would anyone build
A community

Why would anyone build
A community

In this vast
Remote wilderness?

And why was it abandoned?

[ crowd cheering ]

After world war ii, the west
Views china and the soviet union

As firm allies.

But by the 1960s,

A difference in ideological
Interpretations of communism,

A difference in attitude
Towards the u.S.,

And an ongoing border dispute

Bring the two mighty
Communist powers

Bring the two mighty
Communist powers

To the brink of war.

*

The reality is that
The communists in russia

And the communists
In red china,

They couldn't agree on
Where to have lunch.

Much bigger than communism
Was the in-built rivalry.

*

Narrator:
As distrust grows between soviet
Russia and communist china,

Military forces steadily
Build up along their borders.

Military forces steadily
Build up along their borders.

Wedged in between
These two adversaries

Is the u.S.S.R.'s ally,

The mongolian people's republic.

As tensions rise, this soviet
Satellite state finds itself

At the center of the
Potentially explosive situation.

Corum: mongolia is something
Of a contested area,

And, in fact, this heated up
Back in the early 1960s.

And, in fact, this heated up
Back in the early 1960s.

It got to the point where
There were some serious,

Not just skirmishes,
But actual battles.

[ gunfire ]

Nusbacher:
The soviets created

The mongolian people's republic

As a puppet state to buffer
Them against chinese attack.

The soviets are really concerned
That, as china modernizes,

As china grows stronger,

That russia and china
Will fight a war.

*

*

Narrator: in response,

The soviet union
Prepares to deploy

Hundreds of thousands
Of soviet troops

Near the mongolian border
With china,

To be backed up by a formidable
Network of air power.

*

This facility
Is a key component --

The bayantal air base.

*

This is the home of the 126th
Fighter aviation regiment.

This is the home of the 126th
Fighter aviation regiment.

This huge new base
Is designed to provide

A first line of defense
Against any chinese attack

On the soviet union's
Satellite state, mongolia.

*

Megs: this base is massive.

The runway's 2 miles,
With hardened bunkers

Where they can hide
Their aircraft

From even the most
Serious aerial attack.

Dickrell: at the air base,
There were 1,800 men

And the associated families that
Were in charge of the airplanes

And the associated families that
Were in charge of the airplanes

As well as the maintenance
And running of the facility.

Megs: this was
A hardcore military base

Fully prepared
To survive all-out war.

*

Narrator: in 1970, russia's
Red army engineers

Begin rapidly laying out
Foundations

In the vast expanse
Of the mongolian steppe.

*

*

In keeping with the secrecy
Surrounding its construction,

The cost of this massive
Installation is unknown.

*

But work at bayantal
Faces difficulties

Unknown to soviet
Air bases in europe.

*

A whole town has to be built for
The garrison and their families,

And every last nut and bolt must
Be brought in from the u.S.S.R.

*

*

Megs: one thing the soviets were
Really good at was building

Massive infrastructure
In the middle of nowhere.

It would be difficult
To build a 2-mile runway,

You know, 10 miles
Outside of moscow.

Imagine doing it
In the middle of nowhere,

Thousands of miles away from
Your normal sources of supply.

What you see on this base is

How much effort
And resources and money

The soviets poured
Into their defense system.

The soviets poured
Into their defense system.

Narrator: in 1972, bayantal
Becomes operational.

*

Surrounded by anti-aircraft
Missile batteries

And a network
Of defense bunkers,

The base is a tough nut
To crack.

*

And hidden in its blast-proof
Shelters is a strike force

Of several dozen mig-21
And 23 fighter jets.

*

Dickrell: at the air base, there
Was a squadron of mig-21s,

Dickrell: at the air base, there
Was a squadron of mig-21s,

Which, at the time, was a top-
Of-the-line fighter interceptor,

So a supersonic jet that was...
Deal with any airborne threats

That would come
From the chinese.

Corum: it's one of the 10 great
Aircraft of the cold war.

[ plane roaring ]

U.S. Encountered the mig-21
In the skies over north vietnam,

Where it was
A formidable opponent.

It was fun to fly,
Fairly easy to maintain,

And the people that flew it
Liked it and trusted it.

And the people that flew it
Liked it and trusted it.

*

Narrator: but can the bayantal
Air base defend mongolia

And the soviet union
From the chinese?

And why was it abandoned?

*

*

Narrator: in the gobi desert
Of mongolia

Is what remains
Of a vast 1970s air base

Built to defend the soviet union
Against chinese aggression.

But conditions are brutal.

In the summer, temperatures
Rise to 100 degrees fahrenheit,

While, in winter,

The icy winds blasting across
The desert steppe

The icy winds blasting across
The desert steppe

Bring everything to
A stop at minus 40.

*

The problems that they faced
On base were both,

From a maintenance perspective,

Keeping the machines operational
In the desert environment

As well as morale.

Keeping people motivated to live
In such a stark and barren place

Was quite a challenge.

Narrator: but despite this,
The soviets keep bayantal

On a high state of readiness

Throughout the 1970s
And early '80s.

Throughout the 1970s
And early '80s.

*

Nusbacher: at this point,
China's interests

Are clearly opposed
To soviet interests,

And as long as chinese and
Russians interests are opposed,

There is always going
To be tension

Between moscow and beijing,

And that tension is going to be
Stretched right across mongolia.

*

Narrator: bayantal air base
Prevents china

From taking any military action
Directly against the u.S.S.R.,

From taking any military action
Directly against the u.S.S.R.,

And an all-out war
Is narrowly avoided.

[ camera shutter clicks ]

When mikhail gorbachev
Comes to power in 1985,

He makes a determined effort
To decrease the tension.

*

But when the soviet union
Unexpectedly collapses in 1989,

Bayantal no longer has
The funds to be maintained.

*

*

Megs: this was not a country
With a lot of money at the time.

It's part of the reason
The soviet union

Ultimately collapsed --

Was the need to spend so many
Precious resources building

And maintaining this
Far-flung network

Of expensive
Military facilities.

And this base shut down,
As did hundreds of others.

Narrator: by december 1989,

The bayantal air base
Is abandoned.

*

Today, this once vital air base
Is a ghost town.

Today, this once vital air base
Is a ghost town.

Dickrell: the base is largely
Abandoned now.

None of the structures are used
For their original purpose.

Native people to mongolia
Can be found on the base

But not in the buildings
Themselves.

They live in and amongst
The buildings,

Using them for shelter
For the environments,

But largely, the buildings are
Completely empty and abandoned.

*

Narrator:
Bayantal air base shows
That nuclear armageddon

Narrator:
Bayantal air base shows
That nuclear armageddon

Could have started not
Just in cold war europe

Or the united states,

But even in the vast desert
Wastelands of mongolia.

Megs: like most military
Installations,

This one was never used in war.

But that's not necessarily
How you measure the success

Of an investment
In military infrastructure.

If it prevented a conflict,
Then it did its job as well.

*

*

Narrator: on the other side
Of the planet,

In pittsburgh, pennsylvania,

Is a perplexing wreck
Of rusting metalwork.

*

[ whirring ]

*

A steel-and-concrete mass
Rises above the trees

That grow along the banks
Of the monongahela river.

*

*

Gough:
It's really peculiar-looking.

You're thinking it's some sort
Of steampunk theme park.

It's that weird.

Dickrell: you see these large
Cylindrical metal structures

Coming up out
Of the ground.

They're completely alien
To the environment

That you encounter them in.

*

Narrator: the scale of this
Unusual construction dwarves

Nearby buildings.

*

*

A mighty chimney soars
280 feet tall,

And a row of rocket-shaped silos

Are flanked by two 110-foot-high
Pipe-covered steel towers.

*

Connecting them all is a midair
Rail line, but it leads nowhere.

*

Megs:
When people first see these,
I think they're just struck by

How big they are, this crazy
Collection of pipes and tubes

How big they are, this crazy
Collection of pipes and tubes

And intricate plumbing
On a massive superhuman scale.

It's kind of mind-blowing.

*

Narrator:
What exactly took place

In this jumble of pipework,
Concrete and steel,

And why was this gargantuan
Facility abandoned?

*

Narrator: just outside
Pittsburgh, pennsylvania,

Stands a hulking set
Of structures

That helped build america.

At the turn
Of the 20th century,

The explosion of building and
Transportation across the u.S.A.

Creates a huge industrial
Need for steel.

Megs: iron and steel were
The backbone of the development

Megs: iron and steel were
The backbone of the development

Of north
American infrastructure.

Every building, every highway,
Bridge, every car,

Every train,
Every ship and tank,

They all contained steel
That came from pittsburgh.

Gough: this was the birth
Of america really,

The industrial revolution,

The empire state building,
The brooklyn bridge.

Every city had
Its proud structures

That came from this dangerous,

Complicated process
Of producing steel.

Complicated process
Of producing steel.

[ dripping ]

Narrator: but not enough
Iron ore can be smelted

To keep up with the
Ever-expanding steel production.

*

They made iron that not just
Changed western pennsylvania,

But changed the world and helped
Build america's 20th century.

*

Narrator:
So u.S. Steel comes up with
A solution to the bottleneck.

These are carrie furnaces
6 and 7.

These are carrie furnaces
6 and 7.

These extraordinary towers are
Designed to produce more iron

For the production of steel.

Baraff: really, what you're
Doing is melting rocks.

It is a man-made volcano

That is reducing
Three basic ingredients,

Iron ore, coke,
Which is coal that's baked

And is a carbon,
And limestone,

And you're subjecting it
To immense amount of heat

And reducing it down to iron,

Which is then transported
From this site across the river

Which is then transported
From this site across the river

And be converted into steel.

*

Narrator: and there's a reason
Why these furnaces

Are built near pittsburgh.

That's because of the extensive
Natural deposits of coal

That exist in the nearby
Appalachian basin.

In that part of america,

You have a lot of structures
In the earth's crust,

Which have brought coal,
Have brought limestone,

And have brought iron ore
Close to the surface,

And have brought iron ore
Close to the surface,

And you need those
Three things to make iron.

*

Narrator:
Building begins in 1906.

It's no easy task to create

These 90-feet-high
Combustion chambers.

Made of 2.5-inch-thick
Steel plate,

They're lined with thousands
Of bricks

Capable of withstanding
Temperatures

Of 3,500 degrees fahrenheit.

Of 3,500 degrees fahrenheit.

A system
Of counterbalanced cars

Is designed to carry
Tons of ore,

Coke, and limestone
Up an inclined ramp

To be emptied into the furnaces.

*

Jerram:
We can think of the furnaces
Like a giant test tube

With a big bunsen burner
Underneath.

We're adding in the chemicals
To make the reactions

To get from a solid rock
With iron in it

To liberating
Free iron as a metal.

To liberating
Free iron as a metal.

We do that by reacting the iron
With the coke to free the iron,

And we also add calcium
To get rid of all the silica.

Baraff: all of this
Is happening in midair,

Suspended in midair,

This big push of air up,
Material coming down,

The coal burden coming down,
Being heated,

And the iron rains out.

*

Narrator: in 1907,

The new carrie furnaces
Go into operation,

But the basic technology
Used to empty the white-hot iron

But the basic technology
Used to empty the white-hot iron

From the furnaces
To waiting rail cars

Is no job for the fainthearted.

*

This is the tap hole
Here behind me.

It's a clay plug
That's drilled out.

The drill is right in front of
Me here, so it drills through.

The iron starts flowing.

Iron goes down this runner
And through a hole in the floor,

And hopefully stationed directly
Below that hole in the floor

Is a bottle car, or ladle car.

Is a bottle car, or ladle car.

Fatalities were high.

Injuries were extremely high.

Fatigue was always a problem.

You know, working
In these plants,

Especially early part
Of the 20th century,

You were an old man
If you were in your 40s.

It would eat you up
And spit you out.

*

Narrator:
Can the carrie furnaces

Keep up with the demand
To build america?

And will the dangerous process

Of smelting iron
Lead to disaster?

Of smelting iron
Lead to disaster?

*

Narrator: just outside
Pittsburgh, pennsylvania,

Stand the mighty iron-ore-
Producing carrie blast furnaces.

*

During the american
20th century,

Furnaces 6 and 7 prove
To be a phenomenal success.

Each produces up to 1,000 tons
Of hot iron every day

And up to 350,000 tons a year.

And up to 350,000 tons a year.

*

Thanks to the hot metal bridge
That takes the molten iron

Straight to the heart
Of the nearby

Homestead steel works,

This iron helps keep up
With the nation's demand

For steel even
Through world war ii.

Baraff: at its height,
And you're looking, you know,

Second world war on,
These furnaces alone,

Just this complex of furnaces

Were outproducing
Great britain.

You know, the pittsburgh region
Was outproducing

You know, the pittsburgh region
Was outproducing

All of the axis powers
Together.

This region gained the moniker
Of the arsenal of democracy.

This was the heart of
America's industrial might.

*

Narrator:
But as the years go by,

The way the furnaces operate
Becomes increasingly outdated.

*

It's incredibly dangerous,
Absolutely incredibly dangerous,

The force of the pressure
With inside this furnace,

The amount of gases
That are in there.

The amount of gases
That are in there.

It is a constant balancing act.

You have too much pressure
Build up in these vessels,

They can explode.
It requires teamwork.

It requires everyone being on
That same page and understanding

That they're trying
To tame a volcano.

Narrator: by the 1970s,

Demand for iron from
The carrie furnaces drops,

But even more seriously,

This early 20th century
Technology

Raises serious concerns
About safety.

Raises serious concerns
About safety.

*

Dickrell: conditions
Were quite brutal.

The heat, the molten iron,

The possibility of being
Severely injured or killed

Was actually quite high.

It's not a happy place
To work at all.

You had these high
Temperatures, toxic fumes,

Dangerous work that
Required a lot of skill.

This was work for very,
Very tough, motivated people.

Narrator: in 1978, time runs out
For the two giant furnaces,

Narrator: in 1978, time runs out
For the two giant furnaces,

And their fires
Are extinguished for good,

Leaving the site abandoned.

*

The rest of the carrie works
Around the region

Are also deemed too dangerous
And contaminated,

So they are demolished.

*

But today,
Furnaces 6 and 7 still survive.

Designated a national
Historic landmark in 2006,

Designated a national
Historic landmark in 2006,

They are now a local
Tourist attraction.

*

Baraff: where we're standing,
In 1907,

This was the high tech
Of its day,

And, you know, it's the building
Of america's 20th century.

It happened in places like this.

*

*

*

Narrator: over 3,500 miles
To the east,

Just outside london, england,

An unassuming, corrugated
Iron-and-concrete building

Stands over
The scattered offices

And workshops
Of an industrial estate.

Would you expect to find
Mysterious equipment

And enormous wooden devices?

Narrator:
The interior of this lopsided
Structure is even more bizarre.

Narrator:
The interior of this lopsided
Structure is even more bizarre.

Two huge circular apertures
With gigantic propellers

Lead to a 230-foot-long,

140-foot-wide and 50-foot-high
Concrete tunnel.

*

Its incredibly smooth walls
Are pierced by gigantic veins

And hidden channels.

Yet it leads nowhere,
Simply looping back on itself

In a series of right angles.

Nusbacher: the idea that
There is so much space,

Nusbacher: the idea that
There is so much space,

So much technology almost within
Arm's reach of ordinary people,

Ordinary houses,
Is really astonishing,

A little bit shocking.

*

Narrator: what complex process
Was carried out

In this mammoth tunnel

That made such technical
Features necessary?

*

And after so much effort,
Why was it abandoned?

*

*

*

In germany, april 1932,
Adolf hitler orders

The creation
Of the reich aviation ministry.

This act is the first step
In the rebirth

Of germany's air force,

The luftwaffe.

[ whirring ]

Soon, the full weight of german
Aviation technology

Soon, the full weight of german
Aviation technology

Will pose a devastating threat
To the nations of europe.

Aircraft technology
Is transitioning

From oldie-timey biplanes

To what we think of
As a modern airplane,

And the british government says,

"We cannot allow the germans to
Get a technological edge on us."

*

Narrator:
With the prospect of war
Looming on the horizon,

An aviation arms race now breaks
Out between britain and germany.

An aviation arms race now breaks
Out between britain and germany.

Each side needs the very best
Aviation research facilities.

And for britain,
The result is this,

The gigantic farnborough
Wind tunnel.

*

This aerodynamic testing
Facility is designed

To let british engineers

Study the effects of air
Moving past solid objects,

And this research
Could be the key

And this research
Could be the key

To victory over the powerful
German luftwaffe.

*

Corum: a wind tunnel is
An absolutely essential part

Of designing and building
And testing aircraft.

Megs: every element
Of the aircraft

That's on the outside
Affects aerodynamics,

Even things like the struts
That hold the wheels

Or the way
The flaps are designed,

Or the way
The flaps are designed,

So everything had to be
Subjected to these tests,

And tiny, tiny,
Little variations

Can have massive impact
On how an aircraft performs.

Narrator: but can
The farnborough wind tunnel

Help the u.K.'s royal air force

Beat germany's extremely
Powerful luftwaffe?

And why was it abandoned?

*

Narrator: in april 1932,

Work begins
On a huge new wind tunnel

Just outside london
At farnborough.

Britain's royal air force
Needs this mighty structure

To keep up with advanced
German aircraft design.

The challenges of creating
The wind tunnel are immense.

It's not simply
A question of size.

It's not simply
A question of size.

Every component from the giant
Propeller to the concrete walls

Has to be carefully
Selected and engineered

To ensure optimum performance.

*

We're looking at 4 years
Of construction in concrete,

Asking the people
To work at tolerances

Which I find
Quite frightening.

Megs: every little feature in
The tunnel had to be perfect.

The airflow had to be able
To move past the walls.

The airflow had to be able
To move past the walls.

You couldn't have little bolts
Sticking out.

The louvers had
To be exactly right

To straighten out the airflow

And not add new layers
Of turbulence.

*

Narrator: in 1935,

The 24-foot wind tunnel
Goes into operation.

Instead of using scale models,
Full-sized aircraft

Are suspended between
The arms of the tunnel

So that
Their aerodynamic performance

Can be measured and faults
Could be corrected.

Can be measured and faults
Could be corrected.

*

The main question is whether
This vital research can make

An impact before europe
Is once again swept up by war.

*

Nusbacher: over the course of
The second world war,

The germans make their
Aircraft better and better,

And what's really
Important for the british

Is that the british have got
To be able to improve aircraft

Ever so slightly
Ever minute of every day

Ever so slightly
Ever minute of every day

In order to defeat the nazis.

Narrator: at the center of
The wind tunnel,

A giant 30-foot propeller blasts

A 115-mile-an-hour jet of air

Across the gap
Between its two arms.

*

The mighty fan rotates at up to
250 revolutions per minute,

Sucking in air, which spins
As it leaves the blades.

Sucking in air, which spins
As it leaves the blades.

This turbulent air is then
Progressively smoothed

As it flows through a series
Of straighteners and deflectors

Around the rectangle's
Corridors.

At the end, it exits
The tunnel's jet

Towards the test plane

As a smooth current of air.

*

At full whack, the wind
Was pushing around 4 1/2 million

Cubic feet of air,

And of the 24-foot diameter,

And of the 24-foot diameter,

We claim 18-foot diameter
Was perfect wind.

Outside of that, it'd start
To become slightly turbulent.

Narrator: in 1939,
Great britain

And other allies declare war
On germany.

And in 1940, the legendary
German luftwaffe invade britain.

*

With the battle of britain
Raging over the skies,

Farnborough becomes crucial
In improving the performance

Of british fighter aircraft,
Like the iconic spitfire.

Of british fighter aircraft,
Like the iconic spitfire.

*

Corum:
You'll start world war ii --

The first models of the spitfire
Have a two-blade propeller.

End of the war, they have
An adjustable-pitch

Four-blade propeller.

An adjustable-pitch propeller
Is one of the things

That increases aircraft climb
And performance enormously,

And you can't develop propellers
Without a wind tunnel.

And you can't develop propellers
Without a wind tunnel.

Narrator: thanks to work
At farnborough,

The royal air force keeps pace
With the luftwaffe

And, incredibly,

Are able to defend the country

Against the nazis
During the battle of britain.

*

But engineers quickly identify

And introduce
New aviation features

To give its pilots an edge in
Combat for the rest of the war.

*

*

Nusbacher:
There's a process of the
Engineering of british aircraft

Getting better and better

While the nazis are still trying

To create the
Miraculous superweapon

That is going to win
The war for them,

And as a result,

The germans are tripping
Over their own

Attempts to improve
Their technology.

*

Narrator: by 1945, farnborough's
Wind-tunnel research

Narrator: by 1945, farnborough's
Wind-tunnel research

Plays a significant role
In defeating the luftwaffe.

But after the war,
Advances in aircraft design

Start to render
The wind tunnel obsolete.

Dickrell: having a large tunnel
Being propeller-driven

Wasn't as necessary

Because you could create
High-velocity airstreams

Using jet engines,

And that made an older style
Like farnborough obsolete

And basically doomed it
To the history bin.

Narrator: by 1992,
Its wind tunnel falls silent.

*

Today, the farnborough
Wind tunnel is designated

A historic building.

For decades, the courage
And skill of the r.A.F. Pilots

Who won the battle of britain
Has been acknowledged.

Far less well-known is
The painstaking work of the men

Far less well-known is
The painstaking work of the men

And women at places like this
Who helped give them the tools

They needed to help win the war.

*

Corum:
The farnborough tunnels

And the farnborough
Establishment itself

Was an absolutely essential part

Of the british military
And war effort.

They're hardly noticed
By the general public,

But you can't build
An air force without them.

But you can't build
An air force without them.

[ engine starts ]

*

[ plane roaring ]

*

Narrator: 600 miles away to
The south in the italian alps,

The cresta croce ridge sits
10,000 feet above sea level

Amongst the rugged mountains.

[ whirring ]

*

And standing on the very brink

And standing on the very brink

Of a sheer 656-feet
Vertical drop

Is an 11-foot steel cannon
Supported on a steel cradle

And two man-high
Wooden-spoked wheels.

*

The idea people could move
Something so massive

On top of a mountain
So high

Really is a testament
To what humans can do.

*

Narrator: there is no doubt
About the purpose

Narrator: there is no doubt
About the purpose

Of this 6-ton cannon.

*

But why does it stand
On this barren mountaintop?

Dickrell: if I came across
An old cannon like that

In the middle
Of the italian alps,

I would be utterly amazed
Because, how did this get there?

Narrator:
And why was it abandoned?

In 1915,
Italy enters world war I

On the side of the allies

On the side of the allies

Against the
Austro-hungarian empire.

[ explosions, gunfire ]

For italy, it's a war
Of barbed wire, machine guns,

And, above all, heavy artillery

Along the northern border
In the italian alps.

The austrians had,
For centuries,

Dominated italy
Along with the french,

And what the italians
See in the first world war

Is those austrians coming
Across the passes yet again

Is those austrians coming
Across the passes yet again

To try to dominate the country

That the italians
Had only just built,

And the italians had to stop it.

Narrator:
In 1916, there's a critical
Danger that austrian troops

Will break through
Italian mountain defenses

And straight through
What's then the border

Between italy and austria,

Just by the cresta croce ridge.

*

Nusbacher: you would never
Beat the austrians

Unless you got heavy artillery
Up into the mountains in italy.

Corum: one or two guns
Will dominate

A large amount of territory
In a mountain terrain.

Narrator:
The italian army is desperately
Short of modern heavy guns,

And the only solution
At hand is this,

An outdated gun from 1888,

An outdated gun from 1888,

The 5.9-inch g-model cannon.

*

Nicknamed the hippopotamus,
The g-model gun is designed

To fire a 60-pound shell
Over a distance of 6 miles.

It's easily outranged by more
Modern guns,

But it is all that italy
Has available

To defend its borders in 1916.

*

Nusbacher: when you needed
Fire support,

You wanted not
Small mountain guns

That you could transport
On the back of a donkey.

Everybody had those.

You needed heavy artillery.

*

Narrator: so how will
The italians

Get the hippopotamus
To the top of the mountain?

And why was it abandoned?

*

Narrator: during world war I,
The italian army is locked

In a life-and-death struggle

With austro-hungarian troops
High up in the freezing alps.

*

On february 9th, 1916,

The hippopotamus cannon
Arrives in the valley below.

It faces a daunting journey
Up the mountains

Near the town
Of passo del tonale.

Near the town
Of passo del tonale.

But there are no roads,

And the mountains
Are covered in deep snow.

So the only option is to
Manually haul the 6.6-ton cannon

10,000 feet
Up the mountain at 20 below.

*

Dickrell:
Well, as an engineer and as
An amateur mountain climber,

The idea of taking a cannon
And hauling it up

Is almost impossible to imagine

Is almost impossible to imagine

Because of the weather
And the snow conditions

And just the absolute misery
That those men had to go through

To get that cannon up
On that mountain.

To imagine, you know,
18-year-old, 19-year-old kids,

You know, hundreds of them,

To get this up here
In lots of snow,

From a mountaineering point
Of view, it's incredible.

*

Narrator: freezing temperatures
Aren't the only obstacle

Narrator: freezing temperatures
Aren't the only obstacle

To the gun's progress.

During the grueling
March upward,

Avalanches bury the gun twice
And kill some of its tow team.

Mountain troopers
And artillerymen dig it out

And continue the long haul.

Dickrell: no, the friction
Capacity of snow

Is very much a function
Of the weather conditions,

So cold, dry snow
Is almost like sand,

So imagine dragging a heavy
Weight through a sand dune

Where wet, sticky snow
Is almost like mud,

Where wet, sticky snow
Is almost like mud,

And so there's really
No great way

To drag a heavy weight
Through snow.

*

Narrator: despite this, after
78 days of incredible effort,

The cannon arrives
At its first firing position,

But the location
Proves problematic.

The austrians were positioned
On that ridge over there,

And from its original position,

And from its original position,

The austrians were just
A bit too far away,

So that's why they had to then
Move it over onto cresta croce,

And then cresta croce, they
Could easily hit the austrians.

Narrator: but the troops face
Yet another problem.

*

There's basically no recall
Mechanism on this gun.

When you fire it, it's going
To slam straight back,

And there's nothing you can do
About that other than try

And stop the roll back.

And stop the roll back.

Each wheel had a wooden
Wedge behind it,

And when it fired,
The wheel would rock back up,

Cut up the wedge and then
Slide back into position again.

That was the only way
They had of stopping it

Basically recoiling straight off
The back of the mountain.

Narrator: the cannon's murderous
Barrages hammer home.

Austrian shelters dug deep
Into the ice, snow, and rock

Are pulverized by the
Hippopotamus' enormous shells.

*

*

Caldwell-evans:
This was the largest-caliber
Gun at high altitude

Anywhere
In the first world war.

The austrians had nothing
To compete with it,

So although it was obsolete,

Although it was well past
Its sell-by date in world war I,

It still was bigger
Than anything else

Up at this altitude.

What this gun is doing really
Is saturation fire.

Narrator: for two long years,

The battle above the clouds
Ebbs to and fro.

Corum: the two sides simply
Battered each other,

Corum: the two sides simply
Battered each other,

And, of course,
The mountain positions

Gave you a very
Important advantage.

*

Narrator: in 1918,
Italian troops storm forward

With the help of the g-model gun
Atop cresta croce ridge

And drive the austrians
Back for good.

*

And when world war I
Comes to an end,

The obsolete hippopotamus
Is simply abandoned.

The obsolete hippopotamus
Is simply abandoned.

*

Today, the surviving heavy guns
Of the first world war

Are gathering dust in museums
All over the world.

However, the extraordinary
Hippopotamus

Still stands where it fired
Its last epic shots.

It was a real, if you like,
A war winner for the italians,

It was a real, if you like,
A war winner for the italians,

And it was well worth
Bringing up here.

Although it was out of date,
Although it didn't compare

With more modern guns
In use in france,

It still did its job
And did it very well.

*

Narrator: the story
Of the cresta croce cannon

Is a reminder that
A decisive weapon

Doesn't have to be
Technologically advanced.

It just has to be in the right
Place at the right time.