All language subtitles for Buried Secrets of WWII Series 1 Part 6 Bloody Road to Rome 1080p

Narrator: Italy.

The ancient abbey
of monte cassino is one
of the most important and

Spectacular
monuments in europe.

But this dramatic landscape
conceals hidden scars.

From the bloodiest
and most ferocious land
battle in western europe.

World war ii was fought
on vast landscapes
across the planet.

Marty (over radio):
Where we're going,
we don't need roads.

Narrator:
But the evidence of that
war is disappearing fast.

Pete: That is one of
the coolest things I've
ever seen in the water.

That's it.

Man (over radio):
Congratulations.

Narrator: Now, technology
expert pete kelsey...

Pete: I've gotta scan this.

Narrator: And military
historian marty morgan...

Marty: Oh my god,
look at this view!

Narrator: Are using 21st
century technology to strip
away the present and reveal

The buried secrets
of world war ii.

This time, will a
mountain ridge reveal the
secrets of a bloody siege?

Marty: How could
anybody survive this?

Narrator: Can cutting edge
technology uncover the truth
about one of america's worst

Military disasters?

Pete: You are walking
into a hornet's nest!

Narrator: And the
destruction of an iconic abbey
is revealed as never before.

Marty: Oh god.
This is total war!

♪ ♪

Narrator: The apennine
mountains in central Italy.

Steep, rugged and wild.

The allied campaign
in the winter of 1943 to
capture this ground from the

Germans should have
taken just a few weeks.

Instead it became
one of the most protracted
and bloody conflicts of the

Second world war.

Fought in some of the
harshest terrain on earth.

(gunfire and explosions)

In early September 1943,

170,000 allied troops
had stormed beaches

In southern Italy,

And began to
fight their way north.

The allies made
rapid progress...

Advancing 250 miles
in just twelve weeks.

More than 75 years later,

Technology expert
pete kelsey and war
historian marty morgan

Are retracing the allies'
route through central Italy.

Marty: This is route 6.

This is the road to rome.

And in September 1943,
this thoroughfare was critical
to allied strategy in Italy.

Pete: What was the
allies' objective?

Marty: The objective
is to get to rome.

And they hoped that
by liberating rome they
would score an important

Psychological victory.

Narrator: The fascist dictator
mussolini was under arrest.

Italy had joined the
allies, the germans were
suddenly over-stretched.

Rome and victory
looked certain.

But a few months later,
there were some 55,000
allied casualties.

And much of the
country lay in ruins.

What went wrong?

How did the allied advance
against a broken enemy turn
into such a brutal bloodbath?

Pete and marty are heading
to the place where the allied
advance came to a deadly halt.

The medieval hillside
town of san pietro infine.

With a population of 1,500
people, san pietro sat on the
slopes of monte sambucaro,

Overlooking route six.

On December 7th 1943,

2,400 men of the us army's
36th infantry division
advanced on san pietro...

Like any other town on
their route through Italy.

But this time it
was different.

In ten days of fighting,
there were over 1,200
american casualties.

Gi's called the flat
ground outside the town,
'death valley'.

What happened here that stopped
the allies in their tracks?

Much of the town is
overgrown with foliage.

To look for clues
hidden in the landscape,
pete launches a drone.

It's equipped
with state-of-the-art
remote sensing technology

Called lidar.

Man: Are we good?

Pete: Yeah, you're clear up.

Narrator: Using its
on board laser capability,

Pete will produce the
first ever three-dimensional
digital model

Of san pietro infine.

Pete: What we really
wanna do is make the
invisible visible by

Removing all these trees.

Narrator: Lidar can
penetrate foliage to reveal
man-made structures beneath.

Pete: We're probably gonna
see things that haven't
been seen in 75 to 80 years.

Narrator: While the lidar
team continues their survey,

Pete and marty head up
into the town to look for

Other clues to explain
why the allies got bogged
down in heavy fighting here.

Marty: Ammunition box.

Pete: German?

Marty: No, british,
but world war ii.

Right here we have some
vestiges of the german
occupation of san pietro.

These would have been used to
form, a road block, by putting
the two big blocks in the

Middle of the road
way, and you've got an
effective obstruction.

All it would take
would be one automatic weapon,
somewhere down the road there,

And nobody can get
anywhere near them.

Here follow me.

Watch your head.

Germans would occupy a
space like this and set
up a mortar battery.

Pete: Wow!

Marty: So, the mortar
battery is here completely
concealed from view.

Pete: Right.

Marty: Capable of throwing
the rounds out through
where the roof used to be,

And you have suddenly a
source of punishing firepower
that you're gonna have a

Heck of a time finding.

Narrator: Pete and
marty have made some
intriguing discoveries,

But they've found
nothing unexpected.

Marty: We've got a village
completely in ruin, we have
maybe a mortar position and

Two anti-tank barriers
and that's it.

There's not really
anything explaining why the
battle of san pietro lasted

As long as it did or cost
as many lives as it did.

Narrator: To continue
their quest they head toward
what was once san pietro's

Grandest building
the 'brunetti palace'.

Marty: This is incredible!
Pete: Wow!

Narrator: Eye witness
accounts tell us that
german soldiers turned this

Building into
their military headquarters.

Marty: Can you punch
into the village?

Pete: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Narrator: The first ever
3d survey of san pietro
infine is a revelation.

Marty: Oh my gosh,
look at that.

Pete: When you
remove the trees,

The devastation just sort of
jumps right out of that model.

Narrator: The results
show that 98% of the
town was wiped out.

Marty: That's almost
complete target coverage.

Pete: Unbelievable!

Narrator: But who
destroyed san pietro so
comprehensively and why?

Pete and marty
think the answer may not
lie in the town itself but

In the landscape around it.

So they change tack, and
head up into monte sambucaro.

A 4,000-foot high mountain,
directly behind san pietro.

This mountain top must have
been strategically important.

But can they find evidence
the germans were up here?

Marty has met up with military
historian damiano parravano

To scour the slopes for
signs of military activity.

Damiano: Marty!

There's a clear german
emplacement here!
Look at this.

Marty: Oh, really?
Damiano: Really.

Very well-preserved.

Marty: Oh my god,
yeah, look at that!

Damiano: Incredible!

Marty: And we walked right up
on it and didn't even know it.

This is what they
call a 'sanger'.

In an environment
where you can't dig in,

You simply just
pull up stones and create

An improvised fighting position.

Damiano: Yeah.

Marty: What an
extraordinary find.

Narrator: But the sanger
appears to be the only sign
of the fighting up here.

The might of the german
army is proving elusive.

So...

Pete: Starting engines...

Narrator: Pete
takes to the sky.

Pete: I'm doing a drone-based
3d photogrammetry survey of
this ridge line because you

Can see the entire
liri valley.

Narrator: Convinced the
germans must have occupied the
high ground above san pietro,

Pete hopes high-resolution
photogrammetry can capture
further signs of military

Activity here on the ridge.

Back in the brunetti palace,

Pete and marty
examine the results.

Pete: Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Oh you've gotta
love photogrammetry!

Narrator:
Pete's survey reveals
features it was impossible to

See from the ground.

Marty: Oh! See,
that is that stone
protective position,

They call it a 'sanger'.

Narrator: But the sanger
isn't the only military
feature on the mountainside.

Pete: Oh yeah!

See this rectangular
position right there?

That is the artillery
position on the reverse slope.

Narrator: They've discovered
a german artillery
emplacement still on the

Mountain with a forward
observer in the sanger in
direct contact with the gunners

Hidden behind the ridge.

Pete: Let's zoom out, see!
See, I knew it!

There are artillery
positions and these sangers
along this whole ridge line.

Narrator: But the
germans weren't just
on monte sambucaro,

Records show they
also held monte lungo.

From both these mountains
german observers could direct
devastating artillery fire

Down onto allied troops
in the valley below.

Pete: God, what a nightmare!

Marty: No wonder they
called it death valley.

Pete: Yeah.

Narrator:
Us artillery fought back,

Bombarding german positions
on the mountain ridges,

And in san pietro with
more than 200,000 shells,
leaving the town in ruins.

But the destruction
of an entire town begs
a chilling question.

What happened to the
people of san pietro?

Marty: How could
anybody survive this?

San pietro infine

Was devastated in
a bloody 10-day battle.

98% of the town was destroyed.

So what happened
to the inhabitants?

Pete: Yeah, san pietro
was just devastated.

Narrator: But the lidar
results also reveal some
intriguing features.

Pete: You go up this ravine....

What are those?

Narrator: A series of
strange hollows in the
cliffs behind the town.

Marty: Are those caves?

Pete: We should have
a closer look at that.

Marty: Yeah, what's
that all about?

Narrator:
To find out, pete and
marty have met up with local

Historian maurizio zambardi.

Maurizio: When the germans
arrived in the town,

They wanted all the
civilians evacuated.

So, many escaped
and took refuge in caves.

Narrator: These caves aren't
natural, they're man-made.

Maurizio: See these marks?

Each one of these is
the mark of a pickaxe.

The civilians from
the town excavated the
caves using pickaxes and

Then threw the
earth out into the valley.

Narrator: Entire
families sheltered here
in freezing conditions

For weeks at a time.

They had very little food.

And there was no clean water.

Maurizio: These are the
people of san pietro.

This is a woman who is
crying in desperation,
after losing everything;

Her home, her family,
her loved ones.

This is my grandmother.

Marty: That's
your grandmother?

Maurizio: Yes.

Her name was marianna pirollo
and this photograph was taken
right here in these caves.

Pete: That's amazing
marty: That is incredible,
isn't it?

Pete: How many people
were in these caves?

Maurizio: About 500
people; one third of
the town's population.

Pete: What's that? 500?

Marty: 500 people.

Narrator: No-one
has ever surveyed these
caves digitally before.

So, for the first time,
pete is recording them using
a hand-held lidar scanner.

Pete: So, thousands of
times per second, this device
is sending out a laser beam,

And taking really, really
accurate measurements
of everything it sees.

And ultimately what we'll
have is a really accurate

3d model of this
whole system of caves.

Narrator: Pete hopes
the results will help to
illuminate what life was like

For the people
forced to live here.

Inside the brunetti palace,

Pete and marty
examine the results.

Pete: Check this out.

Marty:
Oh, it did well, didn't it?

Pete: It really did.
Marty: Yeah, look at those.

Narrator: The model
clearly shows a system of
more than a dozen caves.

160 feet end to end,
they extend up to 25 feet
back into the cliff face.

But the model also
provides a chilling glimpse
of the conditions inside.

Pete: Get your head around this,

The numbers work out to about
18 inches square per person.

Marty: Per person.
Oh my god, they're
crammed in like sardines!

Pete: Yeah.

Narrator: According to
contemporary accounts, the
town's inhabitants excavated

Separate caves to begin with.

But that changed after they
witnessed a terrible tragedy.

Maurizio: Artillery shells
exploded in front of the caves.

People were buried inside.

So they decided to link
the caves together with an
internal passageway so people

Could escape if
it happened again.

Narrator: Finally
on December 17th 1943,

The allies drove the
germans off the mountain tops

And out of the town.

By the time the 10-day
battle for san pietro was over,

300 civilians had been killed.

American soldiers
were astonished to
see surviving townspeople

Emerge from the caves.

Sick and malnourished,
they looked like ghosts.

Marty: I'd like to say
that I could understand the
experience that these people

Endured in these caves.

But I can't.

There's never been
a moment in my life where
I was forced to retreat into

A cave simply to survive.

But then you also
see this one quality of
the human spirit that they

Could come out
of that experience,

Confront the destruction
of their village, and
still find reasons to smile.

That's human spirit.

And this experience
didn't conquer it.

Narrator: But if the gi's
of the 36th infantry division
thought that taking san pietro

Infine was tough, it was
nothing compared to what
they were about to face.

In their next engagement
with the enemy two
entire regiments would be

Virtually wiped out.

Pete: That is
absolutely chilling!

You are walking into
a hornets' nest!

The us army's 36th infantry
division has taken the

Hillside town of
san pietro infine.

The division is back on
the road and heading north
along route 6 toward rome.

Marty: After allied
forces capture san pietro,

The curtain drops on
one drama but it's about
to lift on yet another drama.

Because then they have to
move onto the next objective.

And the next objective
is the liri valley.

Narrator: Seven miles
west of san pietro
lies the liri valley;

Strategically important
because the road to rome
runs right through it.

Blocking the allies' path
is a river called the rapido.

Dug in on the opposite
side is a heavily-armed
german division.

On January 20th 1944,

6,000 us infantrymen
mount an amphibious
river assault.

The two-day battle here
ends with nearly 2,000

Casualties and one
of the worst defeats

For the us army in
the second world war.

So serious that
a congressional inquiry
is convened to look

Into what happened.

Why did the assault across
the rapido end in a massacre?

To find the answer,

Pete is helping remote
sensing expert doctor
richard dowdeswell to

Launch a robotic boat.

It's equipped with
underwater mapping technology
called multi-beam sonar.

Pete: And what kind
of range, how far can you
be from the base station?

Richard: Two kilometers,
line of sight.

Narrator: Pete wants
to conduct the first ever
survey of the section of river.

Where american
soldiers attempted their
assault 75 years ago.

Richard: Okay, thanks.

Narrator: He's hoping
the results might help
to explain why it failed.

Pete: Richard, what is
this robot gonna do?

Richard: On the bottom of the
boat there's a sonar sensor.

So this is going to send out
a sound pulse into the water.

That's going to bounce off
the banks of the river,
the bottom of the river.

Pete: So a three-dimensional
very accurate
model of the river bed?

Richard: Yeah.

Pete: Oh, amazing!
Why don't I give you a hand?

Narrator: No-one has
conducted a systematic search

Of the battlefield
like this before.

While pete starts
to survey a 300 foot
section of the river,

Another team sets to
work in the adjacent field.

A group of metal
detectorists are searching
the battlefield on the

American side to
see if they can find any
evidence of the fighting.

Damiano: Oh!

That's shrapnel, yes.

And it's definitely
from an artillery shell.

This area around the
river was continuously
bombed, shelled.

Narrator: Contemporary
accounts tell us that as

Us troops attempted
their assault,

They came under heavy
artillery bombardment.

But how many german
artillery positions
were there?

And where were they dug in?

Armed with a battlefield
map from 1944,

Marty is searching the
riverbank on the opposite side.

Marty: This is it.

Oh my god, look at this!

Narrator: He's beginning
to understand how tough a

Military objective
the rapido was.

Marty: Yeah! I'm
exactly where I think I am.

Right here at the
bend in the river, two
machine gun positions.

One just here.

One up a little bit
to its left flank.

One machine gun aiming
this way, the other machine
gun aiming that way.

And look,
the machine gun here,

Straight out over the flat
plain that the men of the

36th division had
to cross before they could
even make it to the river.

Narrator:
But the two german
machine gun positions

At the river's edge
were just the tip of a

Massive defensive complex
made up of multiple
lines of machine gun,

Artillery and mortar
entrenchments.

Marty: So, the two weapons
that were right here were
only just the beginning of the

Withering fire that these men
were going to be exposed to.

It's a miracle that
anybody survived this!

Narrator: From across the river,

German weapons teams
had created 'killing zones'

For us servicemen trying
to cross the river.

But heavily defended enemy
emplacements were nothing new.

Allied troops had overcome
german positions like
this many times before.

Pete thinks there must
be another explanation
for the rapido massacre.

The vessel beams the sonar
data back to base control;

It's processed to
start building a 3d model

That could explain why
the assault failed.

Back on the american side,
one of damiano's team has
made another discovery.

But they must exercise
extreme caution.

Damiano: So when we do
these kinds of activities,

We have to
be really careful.

Narrator: In the past,

They've uncovered live
ammunition and hand grenades.

Damiano: This area is full
of unexploded ordnance.

Investigating why,
in January 1944,

The river rapido was the
site of a military disaster.

Pete: Ah, james, any data?

James: Yeah, just looking
at the first results now.

Pete: Oh, yeah!

Narrator: Pete's convinced
there must be something
in the anatomy of this

River that can explain
why the us army
failed to take it.

Pete: Oh, it's great!
And in 3d!

This is why I love sonar!

James: Yeah.
Pete: Instant gratification!

Narrator: Back on
the american side...

Damiano: Wow!

Narrator: Damiano has made
another remarkable discovery.

Damiano: That's the fuse of
an mk2 american hand grenade.

That's incredible.

It means that they
used hand grenades here,
just close to the river.

And this is what survived
after so many years.

Narrator:
After searching the
fields for just one hour,

His team has found
seven military artifacts.

Showing that the battlefield
is still littered with
evidence of the fighting.

Eyewitness accounts speak
of multiple crossing
attempts over two nights.

But the us 36th infantry
division failed to establish
a lasting bridgehead,

And in the process, took
more than 2,000 casualties.

Combining the results of
his river and land surveys,
pete now thinks he knows why.

Pete: For me, the answer
is here in the data.

Narrator: Using the
first ever 3d model of the
battlefield he can piece

Together what happened.

Pete: The approach to
this river; it's wide
open, there's no cover.

Narrator: The fields
on the american side
of the rapido were exposed

They were muddy
and heavily mined.

Pete: You get up to
this river, it's in effect a
ditch that's 60 feet across,

About 10 feet straight down.

Narrator: But it's the
sonar results that reveal
the key to the mystery.

The rapido had
almost vertical banks,

Often as high as 6 feet.

With a steep incline
down into water that
was just above freezing.

And had a uniform depth
of between 8 to 12 feet.

Pete: So any poor guy
who goes in the water
doesn't have a chance.

It's over his head.

And it's bloody cold and
it is moving really fast.

If you even
get across at night,

You've got to go 10
feet up the other side and

Then back into no cover.

Marty: And look what
was waiting for them.

Narrator: On the other side,
us assault troops ran right

Into the german
main line of defense.

Barbed wire, minefields
and a barrage of enemy fire.

Pete: That is
absolutely chilling!

You are walking
into a hornet's nest!

Marty: Well to me,
it all boils down
to one simple point.

This proves that the
german military that fought
the second world war was

Excruciatingly effective.

Narrator: To understand
the full horror of
failed river assault,

Pete and marty are
retracing the steps of the

36th infantry
division 75 years ago.

Marty: The m2 wooden boats
that they were using weighed
over 400 pounds each.

In addition to that,

They had to cover almost
two miles of open ground

Just to get down to
the water's edge,

Carrying the
boats all the way.

Narrator:
Many of the assault troops
were raw recruits with no

Previous combat experience.

Marty: So many of these
men don't have experience
launching small boats

Into raging rivers.

But that's exactly what
they're about to have to do.

And they are also
still taking casualties
from enemy fire.

They get out into the water,
the boats flip over.

And when men
went into this water,

They sank like a rock,
straight to the bottom.

Narrator:
Those that made it this
far found the current was

Fast and unpredictable.

(speaking in native language)

(speaking in native language)

Marty: God we're flying.

Pete: We're picking up speed!

Heads up! Head up!

Marty: You just don't stand
a chance against this current!

There was one junior
officer of the 36th division
who started off the attack

With a company of 184 men.

And 48 hours later he
was one of 17 survivors.

He later went on to say
to the congressional
inquiry that,

“if this wasn't mass murder,
I don't know what is.”

Narrator: After the war,
the inquiry concluded,

While the casualties are
to be greatly regretted,

The commanding
officer had exercised sound
judgement in planning it,

And ordering it.

After three more
days of heavy fighting,

The us 34th division finally
crossed the rapido two miles

To the north where
the river was fordable
and less heavily defended.

The assault on
the rapido was designed to
be a diversion from a much

Larger allied operation...

The amphibious landings at
anzio, 25 miles south of rome.

But as allied forces
were driven back to the sea,

The anzio landings
also ground to a halt.

And during February 1944,

Fighting on the road
to rome escalated into
a bitter war of attrition.

It culminated in one
of the most infamous acts of
destruction of the entire war.

The annihilation of one
of the most spectacular
monuments in europe.

♪ ♪

Narrator:
Monte cassino and
its magnificent abbey,

Tower 1,600 feet
above the liri valley.

This was the allies'
final strategic obstacle
on the road to rome.

But the building
that stands here
today is a facsimile,

Constructed
after the war ended.

Because in 1944
allied commanders took one
of the most controversial

Decisions of the war;

They ordered the historic
abbey to be destroyed.

On February 15th,

More than 200 bombers took
off from foggia airfield.

In wave after wave,

They dropped more than
1,000 tons of high explosive
and incendiary bombs.

(explosions)

In just four hours, the
abbey was reduced to rubble.

The bombing triggered outrage.

Marty: One italian newspaper
said that, "the allies bombed
the abbey without any military

Necessity and with hatred
for european civilization."

The new york times
said that it was,

“the worst aerial and
artillery onslaught ever

Directed against
a single building."

Narrator: The germans had
claimed they had no troops or
weapons inside the building,

And that a 300-meter
'protection zone'
had been drawn around

The abbey complex.

So if the germans weren't
occupying the abbey, why
did the allies destroy it?

To look for answers,
pete begins a lidar
scan of monte cassino.

He's certain there must be
clues hidden in the landscape.

One thing is not in dispute.

In January 1944, the
allied imperative was to
capture the mountain top.

If the combined strength
of 240,000 allied,

Commonwealth and american
forces failed the

Liri valley and rome
would be beyond reach.

135,000 german soldiers
were determined to stop them.

For four months,

Monte cassino became
the epicenter of the most
ferocious european

Land battle in the
second world war...

That saw
55,000 allied casualties.

Man (over radio): It was
three days before they could
be brought down for burial.

Narrator: The wounded were
treated at a field hospital
known as 'the doctor's house'.

It's still here.

And it's the ideal place
to examine pete's results.

Pete: Let's bring in
the drone-based lidar!

Isn't that cool?

Marty: That is
amazing, look at that.

By stripping the trees away,

You're really providing
an insight into the
nightmare of this battle,

Because they have
nowhere to hide.

Narrator: As allied soldiers
attacked german positions,

The lack of cover meant their

Slightest movement was
visible and instantly
attracted enemy fire.

But this wasn't the only
obstacle they faced.

The steep slopes on either
flank meant there was
only one route to attack

Along a narrow approach
called 'snakeshead ridge'.

Pete: God help those guys
who try to make an assault
along that ridge line!

Narrator: Channeled
into a column by the terrain
allied soldiers on the ridge

Were an easy target.

Marty: They're sky-lined
when they try to approach
on 'snakeshead ridge'.

The enemy just dumps
fire on top of them.

Narrator: The lidar shows
how that monte cassino was
yet another 'killing zone'.

German troops also held
the neighboring hills.

Marty: These areas are
also dumping fire onto the
approaches to the abbey.

Pete: With no place
to hide, none!

(gunfire)

Narrator: Even with
artillery and air support,

Allied attacks
along the mountain top

Failed time and again.

For four months, they
could not take monte cassino.

As casualties escalated,

Allied commanders
became convinced that german
observers were using the abbey

To direct fire onto targets
across the battlefield.

Marty: And this is what
causes them to confront one
cold reality and that is,

If they're ever gonna
get out of the liri valley,

They are going to have
to destroy this incredible,

Historical, religious
and cultural icon.

Narrator: But what allied
commanders didn't foresee was
that bombing the abbey would

Have unintended consequences.

Marty: Oh god!
This is total war!

Narrator: In February 1944,
allied commanders in Italy
took one of the most

Controversial decisions
of the second world war
to destroy the iconic

Abbey of monte cassino.

But bombing the abbey had
disastrous consequences.

Over 200 civilians
sheltering inside and
40 allied troops on the

Mountainside were
killed by mistake.

Man (over tv): Und nach
der zertorung durch die

Anglo-americanische
luftgangster!

Narrator: The devastation
was a coup for nazi
germany's propaganda machine.

The abbey's destruction
was supposed to open
the way for the allies

To seize the mountain
but as a result,

The fighting escalated...

And continued
for three more months.

What went wrong?

To investigate, the
team have sourced hundreds
of wartime photographs.

And stitched the images
together to create the

First ever 3d model of the
abbey as it was immediately
after the bombing.

Marty: Oh, my gosh!

Narrator: It shows the
destruction was near absolute.

Marty: This is total war.

And total war doesn't
care how historically and

Religiously significant
a building is.

Narrator:
The model reveals why the
fighting escalated after

The abbey's destruction.

By bombing it,

The allies had turned
a box-shaped building
into a multitude of

Defensible positions;
that german soldiers
could occupy with impunity.

They were soon reinforced
by the elite 1st parachute
division and ordered by hitler

To hold their
ground at all costs.

It was now a fight
to the death.

But the allies prevailed.

On may 18th 1944,

They overcame the final
obstacle on the road to rome

And captured monte cassino.

But how did
the allies make the
decisive breakthrough

To win the battle?

Looking for clues
in the landscape,

Pete and marty examine
the 3d model again.

Marty: Can you just show me
that spot up there by caira?

Because do you see that track?

Pete: I do.
Marty: Is that a modern road?

Or is that something
that was there in 1944?

Narrator: To find out,
they locate the path,

And with military
historian damiano parravano,

They follow it as it ascends
uphill from the valley floor,

Behind monte cassino.

Damiano: Hey guys!
Look at this!

A bakelite cap from
a british hand grenade.

Pete: Grenade?
Marty: Oh yeah.

This is from the
number 69 demolitions grenade.

And this is a cap
from the fuse housing.

When you were ready
to use the weapon, you
unscrewed it and discarded it.

Pete: Wow.

Narrator: It's
an intriguing find.

But why were the
allies doing demolition
on the mountainside?

A few feet further uphill,
pete finds another clue.

Pete: Hey-hey-hey-hey.

You see this?

Clearly a linear feature.

This is a retaining wall.

Classic road construction.

And where would this
material have come from?

You can either haul
it all up this road...

Or you take it from here.

So this really vertical
slope right here,

This is man made and
clearly probably shot
with tnt, with explosives.

So all this
material removed here,

You can use in the
road bed and you can use
on this retaining wall.

And everything about this
says it was engineered
to carry a lot of weight.

Narrator: Pete's found
evidence of one of the
most extraordinary feats of

Engineering of the
second world war.

In February 1944, allied
sappers used demolition
explosives to blast this road

Out of the mountainside.

Constructed over 10 days,

And named
“cavendish road”
it allowed allied tanks

To outflank the germans.

A maneuver that led
to final victory.

On June 5th 1944,
just two weeks after
taking monte cassino,

The allies finally
liberated rome.

A giant leap towards
ending the war in europe.

But as pete and
marty have discovered,

Victory on the road to rome
was achieved at enormous cost.

Marty: Here, you have
1,051 reasons to study the
battle of monte cassino.

1,051 lives that
were cut short by it.

And this is only one of
the dozens of world war ii

Military cemeteries
on italian soil today.

You can tell that the
spirits of these men reach

Through the decades to
inspire people still living

Today because there are
flowers and memorial candles.

And these men are here
to teach us a lesson.

All we have to do
is stop, and listen.

♪ ♪

Captioned by cotter
captioning services.