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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:04,440 An epic terraced construction 2 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:07,640 once at the heart of a mighty Asian empire. 3 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:12,920 You see this overgrown structure kind of tumbling down the mountain 4 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:16,240 and then reaching away from it are these long pipes 5 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:19,720 stretching out over the hills, almost like tentacles. 6 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:24,680 A forbidding Ukrainian palace shrouded in intrigue. 7 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:26,760 It's brooding. 8 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:28,800 Every one of those windows 9 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:34,360 looks like it ought to have a ghost hiding in the draperies. 10 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:42,320 Mountain-side ruins forged in one of humanity's darkest hours. 11 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:45,480 Emerging from the tunnel, you see a grey stone building. 12 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:49,320 Grass and vegetation are starting to climb up the walls 13 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:51,200 and nature's beginning to reclaim it. 14 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:57,240 And a massive facility that powered america to the forefront 15 00:00:57,280 --> 00:00:59,600 of aviation technology. 16 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:01,760 It's an eerily deserted town. 17 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:04,760 The houses are all boarded up. There's an old theatre. 18 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:09,160 And the focal point is these three huge, hangar-like structures. 19 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:16,480 Decaying relics, 20 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:20,120 ruins of lost worlds, 21 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:26,280 forged through years of toil, now haunted by the past, 22 00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:29,760 their secrets waiting to be revealed. 23 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:48,000 On the rugged coastline of jinguashih, Taiwan, where mountains 24 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:51,600 rise out of the ocean, an imposing structure 25 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:54,960 breaks the otherwise lush, green vegetation. 26 00:01:57,240 --> 00:01:59,720 There looks to be some kind of fortress built 27 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:01,640 into the mountainside. 28 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:05,160 Fortress or castle, it's not really very clear. 29 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:11,960 It's terraced and it's magnificent in its monumental scale. 30 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:17,080 It looks like some old fortress or palace tumbling down the hillside 31 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:20,320 or maybe some overgrown Tibetan monastery. 32 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:26,960 But it's not luxurious, it's not ceremonial, but nor is it domestic. 33 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:30,960 There are no doors or windows that are apparent. 34 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:36,000 Clues as to its function may lie in the surrounding infrastructure. 35 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:39,320 Reaching away from it are these long pipes, 36 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:43,000 almost like tentacles disappearing over the nearby ridges. 37 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:48,720 They're like veins protruding out from this main fortress structure. 38 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:54,880 On a hill overlooking both the main complex and these giant pipelines 39 00:02:54,920 --> 00:02:56,920 is something altogether different. 40 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:02,200 It looks quite grand and intricate compared to the other structure. 41 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:07,120 Maybe a sign of a more luxurious period of time for this area 42 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:11,120 or perhaps the influence of a different culture or ruler. 43 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:14,960 What kind of facility was this 44 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:18,920 and why would hundreds of Americans find themselves working here? 45 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:27,440 For local resident mr Cheng, this place is in his blood. 46 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:32,360 I've been through so much at this place. 47 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:36,520 I was born, educated, worked here. 48 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:42,600 Even after I retired, I'm still living here. 49 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:51,960 Now in his mid-'80s, he remembers this facility in full flow. 50 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:58,160 I was involved with an experiment with sulphides and copper. 51 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:03,880 If the density of the sulphides were too high, 52 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:07,520 we weren't able to extract the gold and copper from it. 53 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:15,000 So, we'd have to grind it in order to extract them. 54 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:20,200 This is the shuinandong smelter, 55 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:24,280 known locally as the remains of the 13 levels. 56 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:30,000 A processing plant for refining and smelting copper and gold. 57 00:04:32,840 --> 00:04:36,520 The tunnel is a transportation system for mining. 58 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:40,160 The rocks are transported out from here. 59 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:47,120 This is tunnel six. 60 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:49,560 The miners used to work here, 61 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:52,680 but there's no work anymore. 62 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:55,800 It's dangerous, so they shut it down. 63 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:00,760 Once the high-grade gold ore was extracted 64 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:04,440 from beneath the mountains, these tunnels and railway lines 65 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:08,320 took the rocks to the smelter for processing. 66 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:11,240 The way they processed the ores, they would bring it in at the top 67 00:05:11,280 --> 00:05:14,480 and there were a series of processes and getting the ore 68 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:17,080 to be refined in a purer and purer state 69 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:20,280 as they worked their way down to the bottom. 70 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:25,160 The reason it has these large arches without any windows is, 71 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:29,360 that's where they loaded the rocks and the ore in and out. 72 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:31,200 And the same goes for the ceiling. 73 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:32,760 It was all about efficiency. 74 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:38,600 The smelter is a chemical process that involves huge amount of heat 75 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:40,400 and also a massive amount of power 76 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:46,120 to split the component parts of the raw ore into pieces. 77 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:48,960 And it's done through a process of reactions, 78 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:53,720 with trying to separate and oxidise out the metals that you want. 79 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:59,280 Yet, none of the valuable gold remained here. 80 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:02,360 When this compound was constructed in the 1930s, 81 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:05,080 Taiwan wasn't part of China. 82 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:09,160 At that time, mr Cheng's father was working in brutal conditions 83 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:12,600 under the gaze of a different overlord. 84 00:06:14,840 --> 00:06:18,640 The ornate details and kanji writing around the site 85 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:23,400 reveal their identity - the empire of Japan. 86 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:26,840 Wherever the Japanese went, they expected to stay. 87 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:29,640 They thought they were building a grand empire 88 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:31,560 that would last forever. 89 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:34,760 And so, they built not just factories and smelters, 90 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:36,000 but shrines. 91 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:39,560 Here in Taiwan, they built the shinto shrine to the mountain god. 92 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:44,880 Originally built to bring peace and stability, 93 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:49,040 the health of local workers became secondary to gold, 94 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:51,920 as mr Cheng's father discovered. 95 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:56,960 He worked in the mines as a mine worker. 96 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:01,040 He was digging in the fields. 97 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:05,560 I was four years old when he passed away. 98 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:08,840 I was raised by my mother and brother. 99 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:12,400 Japan was an empire on the rise. 100 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:14,840 Having emerged out of an era of isolation, 101 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:18,800 the country had entered a period of rapid transformation 102 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:24,160 and Taiwan was incorporated in to the empire of Japan in 1895. 103 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:27,440 It was the start of a chain reaction that would have devastating 104 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:32,080 consequences for the region and for many young Americans. 105 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:37,720 Taking over Taiwan was one of the first steps 106 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:40,440 in Japan's expansionism, where they would ultimately 107 00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:45,720 take over much of Asia and finally attack the us at Pearl harbor. 108 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:48,200 After Taiwan came Korea. 109 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:51,080 Then, they turned their gaze back to northern China 110 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:54,200 with the invasion of manchuria in 1931. 111 00:07:54,240 --> 00:08:00,200 Japan really conducted itself like Great Britain at its prime. 112 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:02,280 They had a powerful Navy, 113 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:05,360 they set up colonies, they took over territory. 114 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:08,480 And wherever they went, they wanted to extract resources, 115 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:11,480 they wanted to accumulate wealth. 116 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:14,040 The Taiwanese people here in of jinguashih 117 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:16,760 would enjoy little of this wealth. 118 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:22,640 They exploited most of the gold when it was under Japanese rule. 119 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:26,720 They sent all of it to Japan for their national celebrations. 120 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:32,960 The exploitation extended into all aspects of life. 121 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:36,680 Since we were ruled by the Japanese, 122 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:40,120 we became second-class citizens. 123 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:41,960 It became much tougher. 124 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:47,920 Even with schools, there were different schools 125 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:49,880 for the Japanese and the locals. 126 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:53,160 We were segregated. 127 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:59,880 By the time mr Cheng arrived here as a young man in 1943, 128 00:08:59,920 --> 00:09:02,800 the pacific war was raging. 129 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:06,040 Japan's desire to dominate the pacific 130 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:08,320 had bought them into direct conflict with america. 131 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:13,680 And that meant a new labour force was arriving on the island. 132 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:19,120 Prisoners of war caught by the Japanese were sent to this mine. 133 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:22,640 Now, the biggest copper mine in the Japanese empire. 134 00:09:22,680 --> 00:09:25,960 And they were predominantly British and American soldiers. 135 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:32,280 In total, 1,100 allied prisoners of war served time here. 136 00:09:32,320 --> 00:09:37,480 Many bought in on hell ships from Singapore and the Philippines. 137 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:40,760 Most were forced to work here for almost three years 138 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:44,800 and face conditions as bad - if not worse - 139 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:47,320 than on the railway of death in Burma 140 00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:50,600 made famous by movies like 'bridge on the river kwai'. 141 00:09:51,680 --> 00:09:58,200 Many died of disease and a prisoner of war memorial erected here in 1997 142 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:00,040 pays homage to their memory. 143 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:06,560 The Japanese surrendered and left in 1945. 144 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:09,720 So, who was behind the mammoth pipelines 145 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:13,360 that extend out of the facility? 146 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:15,520 After the country's restoration, 147 00:10:15,560 --> 00:10:19,720 the Taiwan gold and copper mining bureau was established. 148 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:23,000 But it soon faced new challenges. 149 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:25,040 With gold deposits depleted, 150 00:10:25,080 --> 00:10:30,640 the focus was on copper refining and then purification. 151 00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:36,000 They started purification in 1965. 152 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:42,480 There was a 65m-high chimney, 153 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:45,640 but it was really close to the factory. 154 00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:47,960 The sulphate levels were high 155 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:55,000 and the residents and workers couldn't take it. 156 00:10:56,600 --> 00:10:59,920 Safely disposing of these toxic emissions 157 00:10:59,960 --> 00:11:02,760 required a marvel of engineering. 158 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:07,000 What they ended up doing was building a massive chimney 159 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:11,320 or flue system to take the gases up and away out of the valley 160 00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:13,960 and over the Ridge of the mountain. 161 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:18,440 It's actually, they say it's the longest concrete pipeline 162 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:20,120 ventilation system in the world. 163 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:24,840 Despite this, with dwindling profits 164 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:27,880 and compensation claims hanging over their heads, 165 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:31,120 the company soon shut down operations. 166 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:41,600 The Japanese shrine still looks over this dramatic scene, 167 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:45,840 a remnant of an empire that emerged at an extraordinary pace 168 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:49,000 and crumbled away even faster. 169 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:54,240 Yet today, in 2020, some in Taiwan are still fighting for independence. 170 00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:56,200 This time, from China. 171 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:03,720 Out in rural champagne county, Illinois, 172 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:07,320 lie a group of massive abandoned warehouses. 173 00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:08,920 But they're not alone. 174 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:18,920 It's a huge area with buildings that look in fairly good condition. 175 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:22,800 It looks sort of like its own self-contained town. 176 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:26,840 Fire station, warehouses, 177 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:30,600 housing stores, it's all shut down. 178 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:32,600 Everything's overgrown. 179 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:36,720 The focal point is these three huge, hanger-like structures. 180 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:40,560 Quite clearly, the hangars tells you what this site was. 181 00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:42,800 But yet, when you look at the other elements, 182 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:44,560 there's something else going on here. 183 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:50,320 Clues inside suggest these hangars weren't just for storage, 184 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:52,720 but for something rather different. 185 00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:54,480 The large hangars 186 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:59,440 give you the impression that when this place was operating, 187 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:02,880 it must have been filled with machines, 188 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:05,320 aircraft equipment and people. 189 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:12,920 Something that really makes it feel rather ghostly 190 00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:15,400 is its vastness and its emptiness 191 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:21,920 and a sense of something having just gone away almost inexplicably. 192 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:25,560 You have a sense that the answer to this place 193 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:26,736 lies at the bottom of the stairs. 194 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:29,520 Here is where you're finally going to understand what this is for. 195 00:13:29,560 --> 00:13:32,840 But, in fact, what you're confronted with is a lake of water. 196 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:35,480 It's entirely unpassable. You can go no further. 197 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:40,040 In its day, this place was at the forefront 198 00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:41,960 of technological change. 199 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:43,240 But it was also at the heart 200 00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:47,160 of a ground-breaking social transformation. 201 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:50,360 The war department authorised the formation 202 00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:52,440 of the 99th pursuit squadron, 203 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:54,920 which was the first all-black squadron. 204 00:13:54,960 --> 00:13:58,080 This vast site would become the birthplace of an 205 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:02,640 African-American air squadron who went on to become world-renowned. 206 00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:09,440 The clue to the origins of this site in rural Illinois 207 00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:12,560 are found outside - the airstrip. 208 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:17,160 The first one built here was completed in the early 1900s. 209 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:21,520 Aviation in the early 20th century was an incredibly exciting 210 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:25,960 new adventure. This was all about boundaries and how to break them. 211 00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:31,120 John Pratt worked at this site for 22 years. 212 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:33,560 I probably would have retired here. 213 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:35,120 I was that close to it. 214 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:38,680 But to walk around now is very painful. 215 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:42,000 It's hard to see this. It was a beautiful installation. 216 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:45,360 This place was vital to the protection 217 00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:47,440 of the United States. 218 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:50,320 At the time of the site's inception, 219 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:53,040 the us military was facing a problem. 220 00:14:53,080 --> 00:14:57,920 Even though aviation was really sort of born in the United States, 221 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:03,000 the United States was sort of slow to take advantage of that ability. 222 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:07,400 The Wright brothers may have started it all, but by 1917, 223 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:10,880 the Americans had fallen behind in terms of aviation technology. 224 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:14,560 So, this place was specifically created to remedy that. 225 00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:19,600 There was a vast amount of money. 226 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:25,600 Over $600 million appropriated by the congress in 1917, 227 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:30,080 solely for building up the us aviation infrastructure. 228 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:35,040 A suitable site had to be chosen for the us to develop their air power. 229 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:38,400 It was an isolated situation. 230 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:43,160 There's flatlands out here and it was a good flying place. 231 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:45,400 It was centrally located in the United States. 232 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:50,960 Testing aircraft was only the start, 233 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:56,000 as the site soon became a vital cog in the us war machine. 234 00:15:57,320 --> 00:15:59,360 When you think of aeroplanes, you think of pilots. 235 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:01,376 But actually, that's only a small part of the story. 236 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:03,560 What it takes to keep aeroplanes in the air 237 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:08,160 is a vast number of different skills - ground crew, engineers. 238 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:12,880 It's absolutely critical that people are trained in various 239 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:17,200 aspects of maintaining the planes and so, it's really about 240 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:21,120 building and training a crew in all aspects of maintenance. 241 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:28,200 This is the chanute air force base. 242 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:32,320 Chanute field, as it was first known, was used for technical training 243 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:36,840 and to instruct cadets in the rigours of flying warplanes. 244 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:40,960 The first real challenge for this place 245 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:44,680 came with the outbreak of the second world war. 246 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:47,760 Everything changed for the United States with Pearl harbor. 247 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:49,520 After that attack, 248 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:51,856 america was on a war footing and knew it was about to engage. 249 00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:56,200 And so, this place became absolutely key to the air effort. 250 00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:04,800 Us army air core expands from perhaps 20,000 in 1939 251 00:17:04,840 --> 00:17:08,680 to several million by 1943/44. 252 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:13,720 Now, this expansion requires a training infrastructure 253 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:16,040 that is enormous. 254 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:20,720 Oh, this place is huge. 255 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:22,760 It's bigger even when it's empty. 256 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:24,920 It was all kinds of training that went on in here 257 00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:29,480 and all kinds of activity from wall to wall. 258 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:32,480 There would be planes and activity and classes 259 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:34,280 going on, all the way through here. 260 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:37,360 Let's take a b-17 bomber. 261 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:40,520 A b-17 bomber carried a flight engineer 262 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:43,920 who would have been trained here at chanute field. 263 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:48,160 The b-17 also carried the radiomen. 264 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:51,680 They had radio courses and radio repair courses, 265 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:55,280 radio specialist courses here at chanute field. 266 00:17:56,840 --> 00:18:00,080 There were four places similar to this 267 00:18:00,120 --> 00:18:03,360 and they were filled with activity every day. 268 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:06,120 There were students coming and going all the time. 269 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:11,200 But it wasn't just the kind of training taking place 270 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:13,080 here that was groundbreaking. 271 00:18:13,120 --> 00:18:16,640 It was also who was being trained. 272 00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:18,960 At the beginning of world war ii, 273 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:23,120 the society in the United States is thoroughly segregated. 274 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:27,120 In 1940, the us census recorded 275 00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:30,800 only 140 African American pilots across the nation. 276 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:33,920 But this would soon change. 277 00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:35,760 There were black airmen that came here 278 00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:37,600 and they were trained as mechanics. 279 00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:41,480 But some of them had prior flying experience 280 00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:44,280 and they were doing exceptionally well in the classes 281 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:47,360 and so some of the people on the base decided 282 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:50,400 that they would make them into actual pilots. 283 00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:57,160 Fighting a war against a fascist and racist regime in Europe, 284 00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:01,840 suddenly, the United States' own policies were under scrutiny. 285 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:06,080 So, it's a moment that United States realises that having this squadron, 286 00:19:06,120 --> 00:19:08,600 this 99 squadron, training these black pilots, 287 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:12,000 is a way to indicate an opening, 288 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:16,240 a commitment to democracy, a commitment against racism. 289 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:18,840 Unlike some other peers in the army, for example, 290 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:20,320 they're being trained equally. 291 00:19:20,360 --> 00:19:22,680 And so, this is a breakdown of segregation 292 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:23,920 in the United States military. 293 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:28,840 That unit would evolve into the tuskegee airmen, 294 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:31,840 who would become world-famous. 295 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:35,640 And so, the 99 pursuit squadron became the tuskegee airmen, 296 00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:37,760 and they moved them to tuskegee, Alabama, 297 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:40,160 from here and became pilots. 298 00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:42,600 So they were trained, initially, at chanute. 299 00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:44,200 The forming of the tuskegee airmen 300 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:46,360 was a very important part of chanute's history. 301 00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:52,040 These first black military aviators had a really critical role to play. 302 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:56,240 They flew over 15,000 individual sorties 303 00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:58,960 over north Africa and Europe. 304 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:03,880 So, they really had a wide-ranging impact and sphere of influence. 305 00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:08,200 And for their skill and bravery and commitment, 306 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:12,400 they received 150 distinguished flying crosses, 307 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:14,240 which is a very significant record. 308 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:21,360 Whilst the work being done here during world war ii 309 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:26,880 was vital to the us war effort, much of what remains lies empty. 310 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:32,360 Yet, the interior of one hangar suggests the site still had 311 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:37,000 a crucial role to play later in the nuclear age. 312 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:43,640 We're talking about a very powerful aggressive totalitarian 313 00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:48,120 Soviet union on one side with a vast number of nuclear weapons. 314 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:52,520 There was a new type of aerial warfare during the cold war, 315 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:56,840 during this nuclear age, and chanute was at the forefront of offering 316 00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:01,400 this training in a situation where mistakes could cost American lives. 317 00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:07,200 These new weapons were titan intercontinental ballistic missiles. 318 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:09,440 Some of the largest ever deployed. 319 00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:13,560 With that spirit and legacy of innovation and training 320 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:18,520 and reliability, when the time came for the titan missile programme, 321 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:20,880 chanute was the obvious place to host it. 322 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:25,320 Well, the 1950s, it was decided that 323 00:21:25,360 --> 00:21:30,360 all seven different missile programmes would move here 324 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:33,280 to chanute and the training was conducted here. 325 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:36,000 This was the primary training facility 326 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:40,320 for especially missile launch and missile maintenance. 327 00:21:40,360 --> 00:21:44,800 The titan missile housed a nine mega-tonne nuclear warhead, 328 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:48,680 making it america's single most powerful nuclear weapon. 329 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:53,640 And at chanute, the titan missile silo was housed inside a vast hangar, 330 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:57,920 so missilers could train in the latest deployment techniques. 331 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:00,680 They were fully prepared to go out into the field 332 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:04,760 and take the order, if necessary, to fire a missile. 333 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:09,080 The crews trained at chanute through the years 334 00:22:09,120 --> 00:22:12,720 had to be vigilant and alert for whatever threats were coming. 335 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:17,760 So, chanute is one of the pillars 336 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:23,360 of the success of western power in the cold war and we're free today 337 00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:27,000 because chanute did a very good job in training its people. 338 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:33,120 Chanute provided training for thousands of us air force airmen. 339 00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:36,840 Until the government downsized the armed forces 340 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:40,000 and it was closed in 1993. 341 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:46,720 The slightly melancholy aspect to places like this, 342 00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:50,720 the sad reality is that whilst war is live, 343 00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:53,480 places like this are of a supreme importance. 344 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:56,720 But when the war is over, there's no real need for it, 345 00:22:56,760 --> 00:23:00,600 and their legacy is one that is so powerful, but so quickly forgotten. 346 00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:02,320 This was like a family. 347 00:23:02,360 --> 00:23:05,840 I mean, there were a lot of people here just really enjoyed working 348 00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:09,600 with each other and they enjoyed their jobs and they really enjoyed 349 00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:13,840 what they were doing, it gave your life a meaning to work here. 350 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:17,000 And at least for me, that was a very important thing. 351 00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:25,680 In a remote region of western Ukraine 352 00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:29,240 stands an imposing building with an unusual charm. 353 00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:41,680 You're out in this rural area and here's a hulking massive castle. 354 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:44,160 It looks almost like an English manor house 355 00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:46,080 out of a Tim Burton movie. 356 00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:51,520 On examining this palace, you know, you're struck by its grandeur, 357 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:55,440 its magnificence and yet, something really bad has happened to it. 358 00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:57,840 It's brooding. 359 00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:01,920 Every one of those windows looks like it ought to have 360 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:04,640 a ghost hiding in the draperies. 361 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:10,200 You could see how people could find this kind of spooky and unsettling. 362 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:15,720 All across this grand building are confusing design aspects. 363 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:19,760 This has kind of a split personality. 364 00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:24,760 On the one hand, it looks like a sprawling English country estate 365 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:26,960 with grand windows and ballrooms. 366 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:29,920 On the other hand, it has a military quality. 367 00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:33,560 It's got a moat and emplacements for canons. 368 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:39,200 Throughout its life, this building went through so much turmoil. 369 00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:42,000 But what finally struck this place down 370 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:46,000 was a bizarre and unexpected twist to its story. 371 00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:54,720 The foundations of this castle are buried in the 17th century, 372 00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:58,920 when this area was a part of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. 373 00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:03,520 A territory that stretched over 400,000 square miles 374 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:04,920 in Eastern Europe. 375 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:10,040 The palace was built by a guy named stanisław poniatowski, 376 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:14,480 who was a grand hetman - meaning a senior advisor to the king - 377 00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:18,040 and a guy that, you know, exercised a lot of power 378 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:23,040 and wanted to build a palace that reflected his personal role 379 00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:25,320 in this Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. 380 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:31,080 Historian Ivan dudych has explored every room in this building. 381 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:38,600 Hidden behind the fortress walls, there is a real royal luxury inside. 382 00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:41,000 There are bright, grand rooms that display wealth. 383 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:43,760 There were balls and thematic evenings here, 384 00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:45,720 both theatrical and poetic. 385 00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:47,880 There were also musical performances. 386 00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:50,360 Life raged within these walls. 387 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:55,480 But this building doesn't only feel like a luxurious palace. 388 00:25:55,520 --> 00:26:00,240 The parties came later, something else was going on here before. 389 00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:06,760 It's not exactly a palace for a aristocrat to enjoy 390 00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:09,880 all the pleasures of life, because it has some real military features. 391 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:12,000 It's up on this hill. It has a moat around it. 392 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:16,600 It has a couple of fortified bastions on it to repel attackers. 393 00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:19,400 When you look at this place from the air, 394 00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:25,480 you see the long, pointy corners of what's called the trace italienne, 395 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:27,800 the Italian shape of fortresses. 396 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:31,680 And this is designed to repel Cannon fire. 397 00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:36,600 To the extent that poniatowski built a military structure - 398 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:38,360 one that could be defended - 399 00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:43,240 that turned out to be smart because, in fact, this palace 400 00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:48,040 was the focal point of a number of battles and attacks over the years. 401 00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:52,600 Reflecting the violent times it was built in, 402 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:55,520 the result was a unique hybrid design, 403 00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:58,520 an opulent grandiosity on the inside, 404 00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:02,960 but a brutally efficient military structure on the outside. 405 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:06,200 This is pidhirtsi castle. 406 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:15,480 What were the defensive advantages of this type of castle? 407 00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:19,080 At close range, it was easy to fire effectively from the castle, 408 00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:20,960 and the fact that it had a bastion 409 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:24,520 and Pentagon towers made it hard to breach. 410 00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:28,640 Here is a strategically important valley. 411 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:31,480 If you come charging up this valley 412 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,040 and if you can get up there with impunity, 413 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:40,480 then you can make inroads against the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. 414 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:45,040 Across the first 150 years of its existence, 415 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:48,880 the castle saw battle after battle. 416 00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:51,320 But the warring wouldn't last forever. 417 00:27:51,360 --> 00:27:55,160 It suddenly arrives in an era of peace from the 1770s onward, 418 00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:57,120 because of the partitions of Poland. 419 00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:00,280 So, now, this is a golden age for the castle 420 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:03,480 because now, it's in a region that's characterised by peace. 421 00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:06,080 They can develop all of its economic assets. 422 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:12,400 As the austro-Hungarian empire starts to exert control over 423 00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:17,080 galicia, this part of the world, it becomes a lot more peaceful. 424 00:28:17,120 --> 00:28:22,720 And as austro-Hungarian empire policies 425 00:28:22,760 --> 00:28:26,000 start to make this place wealthy 426 00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:31,960 this fortress becomes a Jewel of a country house. 427 00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:35,760 Designed with opulence in mind, 428 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:40,800 pidhirtsi castle now reverted to its original purpose. 429 00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:44,440 The second floor was occupied by the royal rooms. 430 00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:46,160 There were several halls. 431 00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,760 Crimson hall, yellow hall, and the European throne room. 432 00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:52,280 They all helped influence the decorative style 433 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:55,160 of other palaces and castles in the region. 434 00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:58,880 There were highly artistic parquet floors, marble windowsills 435 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:02,320 and all the walls were covered with precious tapestries. 436 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:07,680 This castle becomes a place of ostentation. 437 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:11,040 It becomes a place to show off wealth. 438 00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:15,360 But for all its glamour, there was something troubling 439 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:18,240 lingering in the background. 440 00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:20,600 A gruesome tale that still haunts 441 00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:24,600 the castle's empty rooms and dark corridors. 442 00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:29,280 We're currently standing in the dungeons of the castle. 443 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:32,680 This place gives you the shivers. It's cold and damp. 444 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:35,880 The 18th century was a strange, bizarre epoch 445 00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:39,840 and there was no better place than the basement to hide your secrets. 446 00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:46,120 The second owner of the castle was waclaw rzewuski, 447 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:48,760 and dark legends surround him. 448 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:54,120 His fiancee Maria rzewuski, 449 00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:58,240 a beautiful 16-year-old girl who constantly cheated on him. 450 00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:01,240 Rumour has it that driven by suspicion and jealousy, 451 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:02,360 he murdered her. 452 00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:04,160 Her body has never been discovered. 453 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:06,480 It's believed that her spirit never found peace 454 00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:10,200 and she is buried somewhere within these walls. 455 00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:14,480 Maria's spirit, however, wouldn't be the only one 456 00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:17,520 to haunt the castle's corridors. 457 00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:20,280 For, in time, a different use for this place 458 00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:24,920 would soon see other lost souls join her. 459 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:28,960 By the mid-20th century, war had returned. 460 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:34,600 First, the Nazis, and then the Soviets invaded this land. 461 00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:39,240 Not wanting to take any chances as the rampaging forces approached, 462 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:43,680 the castle's owner removed the last of the treasures and fled to Brazil. 463 00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:47,640 The castle stripped bare is what we see here today. 464 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:51,880 When the Russians took control of this territory late in world war ii, 465 00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:55,160 they didn't care about the opulent past of the castle. 466 00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:59,240 They turned it into a hospital for tuberculosis patients. 467 00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:03,680 They divided all the halls into narrow corridors and tiny hospital 468 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:07,920 wards, which significantly changed the layout of the interior space. 469 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:11,920 As the second world war ended, finally, 470 00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:15,280 there was hope for peace and calm again at pidhirtsi. 471 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:19,520 But in 1956, a final blow was struck. 472 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:25,240 And just when the palace had emerged from centuries of war 473 00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:28,240 and looked like it was going to reclaim its old lustre, 474 00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:31,160 somebody was working up in the roof with a blowtorch, 475 00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:33,680 doing some repairs, started a fire. 476 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:36,720 So, a lot of the damage to the palace that we can see 477 00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:40,320 with a naked eye today, you know, stems from that big fire. 478 00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:43,960 This place that was so strong for so long, 479 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:48,600 this fortress that existed for hundreds of years, 480 00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:56,360 built to last, was so absurdly destroyed by a simple house fire. 481 00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:05,280 And plans are now afoot for the next stage of its life. 482 00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:10,280 The actual goal is to rebuild this place 483 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:12,720 and open a museum about pidhirtsi castle. 484 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:15,960 We are hopeful that this castle will attract visitors 485 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:18,800 and will have another chance to shine. 486 00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:24,840 In spite of everything that was thrown at this place for centuries, 487 00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:27,760 the walls are still there, 488 00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:30,640 the new roof is up, 489 00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:34,360 and maybe this place has got the staying power 490 00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:39,440 to continue to dominate this valley for a long time to come. 491 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:48,840 In the mountains of Slovenia, 492 00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:53,880 a set of crumbling ruins perch above a precipitous gorge. 493 00:32:57,960 --> 00:33:02,480 You might think of this, at a distance, as an old monastery. 494 00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:06,840 The thing that strikes you is, it's a very calm, tranquil place. 495 00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:09,320 But scars on the mountainside 496 00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:13,080 hint that the Serenity is not what it seems. 497 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:16,120 There's a whole series of stone walls tunnelling through 498 00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:18,680 the earth and something about it doesn't feel quite right. 499 00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:23,880 Structures scattered around this whole area 500 00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:26,800 point to a history of conflict. 501 00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:30,400 Somebody went to enormous effort 502 00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:37,120 to actually cut through rock and excavate trench systems. 503 00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:39,800 This building hasn't just decayed. 504 00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:43,040 Massive damage was inflicted upon it. 505 00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:45,480 Whole walls have been bought down. 506 00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:52,120 And on the plains below this place, half a million men were slaughtered. 507 00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:58,280 This site saw one of the most futile and deadly battles 508 00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:01,200 in one of history's most catastrophic conflicts. 509 00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:09,360 At the turn of the 20th century this region lay under Austrian rule 510 00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:12,200 at the edge of the austro-Hungarian empire, 511 00:34:12,240 --> 00:34:15,280 on the border with a newly unified Italy. 512 00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:20,720 Italy wanted the austro-Hungarian land just across its border 513 00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:23,680 in the Julian alps in what was, at the time, 514 00:34:23,720 --> 00:34:25,160 austro-Hungarian territory. 515 00:34:26,160 --> 00:34:28,600 With the threat of war looming, 516 00:34:28,640 --> 00:34:33,880 in 1900 the Austrians finished building this - fort hermann. 517 00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:37,800 The purpose of fort hermann is to mount heavy guns 518 00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:42,000 that will control the valley and the pass below. 519 00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:45,880 At every key pass and valley, 520 00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:51,760 there are military fortifications that are very, very tough to take. 521 00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:56,320 Local historian and tour guide Vladimir lipovec 522 00:34:56,360 --> 00:35:00,680 is an expert in the Austrian border defence system. 523 00:35:00,720 --> 00:35:03,320 They made 92 fortresses 524 00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:08,800 all along the border between Austria-Hungary and Italy. 525 00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:12,400 This position was chosen because from here, 526 00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:16,520 you can see the Italians coming from the west. 527 00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:20,000 From this window, you can see the enemy 528 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:22,200 and you can shoot the enemy. 529 00:35:22,240 --> 00:35:26,320 Fort hermann really commanded this valley region 530 00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:28,400 with particularly good viewpoints. 531 00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:31,440 And you can imagine this fort perched on this mountainside 532 00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:35,000 and glaring down at troops marching towards it. 533 00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:41,040 But no amount of mountain defences would prevent the carnage 534 00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:44,240 that was about to play out in the valley below. 535 00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:46,680 Across the border, the Italians believed 536 00:35:46,720 --> 00:35:49,720 this land to be rightfully theirs. 537 00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:55,200 When world war I started, Italy should have sided with Germany 538 00:35:55,240 --> 00:35:58,400 and Austria-Hungary. But, in fact, Italy decided to be neutral. 539 00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:00,880 That meant that it was courted by both sides 540 00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:04,200 and, ultimately, it was the allies who were able to offer Italy 541 00:36:04,240 --> 00:36:06,600 the greatest prospect of success. 542 00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:12,040 The allies promised Italy the prize of these disputed lands. 543 00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:15,200 And in 1915, the Italians joined the war 544 00:36:15,240 --> 00:36:18,680 led by the notorious general Luigi cadorna. 545 00:36:18,720 --> 00:36:22,560 One commentator described him as an old Roman 546 00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:25,280 cast in the big, simple mould of antiquity. 547 00:36:25,560 --> 00:36:28,440 Cadorna, as the Italian chief of staff, 548 00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:34,960 is the picture of the officer who has a headquarters 17 miles 549 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:40,040 far behind the front, almost out of hearing of any artillery fire. 550 00:36:41,240 --> 00:36:43,800 He was an authoritarian. He was old-fashioned. 551 00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:46,040 He was a strict disciplinarian. 552 00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:47,840 He ran the army like a dictator. 553 00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:54,320 One of the first prizes in cadorna's sights was fort hermann. 554 00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:57,840 In anticipation of this, the Austrian's reinforced 555 00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:03,440 their defences on the plains below, an area known as the bovec basin. 556 00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:06,600 There's a whole series of stone walls 557 00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:08,240 snaking across the mountainside. 558 00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:10,561 And as you look, it becomes apparent these are trenches. 559 00:37:11,360 --> 00:37:13,920 This is battery chello, 560 00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:19,520 a nearly 200m-long trench connecting two artillery positions. 561 00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:24,480 They prepared some positions to stop the Italian attack. 562 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:31,760 The Cannon was fixed here and you can move it for maybe 60 degrees. 563 00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:36,560 The Austrian defences continued below ground, 564 00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:39,960 where shored-up caves would act as bunkers. 565 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:44,560 To hide against heavy artillery fire, 566 00:37:44,600 --> 00:37:46,600 they made a lot of caverns. 567 00:37:46,640 --> 00:37:53,040 And this small division near bovec, there's approximately 500 caverns. 568 00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:58,960 On 29 may, just six days after the Italians joined the war, 569 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:03,680 Luigi cadorna gave the order for his troops to attack. 570 00:38:03,720 --> 00:38:08,680 This splinter is a part of Italian grenade, which were launched 571 00:38:08,720 --> 00:38:13,680 across this mountain over there, which is 2,200m high. 572 00:38:13,720 --> 00:38:17,240 All these grenades were launched across the mountain. 573 00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:21,440 Approximately 200 grenades were falling around there. 574 00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:25,600 All these grenades were producing strong noise, 575 00:38:25,640 --> 00:38:29,040 which causes shellshock. 576 00:38:30,080 --> 00:38:35,120 Fort hermann held its own, but Luigi cadorna was far from done. 577 00:38:35,160 --> 00:38:41,160 He throws away large numbers of troops in pointless attacks 578 00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:45,400 and then criticises his commanders who have had their units decimated 579 00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:49,640 by Austrian artillery and machine guns. 580 00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:55,640 And for minimal gains, keeps doing the same thing over and over again. 581 00:38:55,680 --> 00:38:59,800 The Italian attack on fort hermann heralded the start 582 00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:05,120 of cadorna's ill-fated campaign along the infamous isonzo front, 583 00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:07,720 which ran south from fort hermann. 584 00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:10,480 Here, some of the bloodiest battles 585 00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:13,560 of the first world war were to be waged. 586 00:39:13,600 --> 00:39:18,600 This is a front of only 60 miles. 587 00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:23,880 On a 60-mile front, we have 300,000 dead Italians 588 00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:27,080 in the course of the war, 200,000 dead Austrians. 589 00:39:27,120 --> 00:39:33,240 This is one of the bloodiest battlefields anywhere. 590 00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:38,200 This is the place where everything ended with just one battle, 591 00:39:38,240 --> 00:39:41,840 but not before half a million men had lost their lives. 592 00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:49,480 Eventually, in 1917, cadorna's men were nearing the bovec basin 593 00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:53,320 and the mountain town of caporetto. 594 00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:56,880 The frontline went through this, bovec basin, 595 00:39:56,920 --> 00:40:01,080 across those two mountains or hills. 596 00:40:01,120 --> 00:40:05,200 The Italian positions were on the other side, a little further, 597 00:40:05,240 --> 00:40:06,720 and the Austrians were here. 598 00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:11,280 And this was the beginning of the battle of caporetto, 599 00:40:11,320 --> 00:40:13,920 but began here in the bovec region. 600 00:40:14,840 --> 00:40:18,400 Instead of defending, the Austrians called in help 601 00:40:18,440 --> 00:40:21,120 from a specialist German military unit. 602 00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:24,600 They came armed with a controversial weapon. 603 00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:27,720 They bought a special weapon - 604 00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:32,000 gas - and this was very poisonous gas 605 00:40:32,040 --> 00:40:37,760 and it was launched down there, from this direction, 606 00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:41,440 to Italian positions approximately a mile away. 607 00:40:41,480 --> 00:40:46,640 In a few seconds, approximately 500 Italian soldiers were dead. 608 00:40:48,200 --> 00:40:55,600 The Italians, taken by surprise, break very rapidly 609 00:40:55,640 --> 00:41:01,680 and the entire front collapses in a two-week period. 610 00:41:01,720 --> 00:41:05,520 The Italian loss at the battle of caporetto 611 00:41:05,560 --> 00:41:09,760 is one of the most comprehensive defeats in Italian military history. 612 00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:13,280 General Luigi cadorna was finally sacked. 613 00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:15,600 Despite their victory at caporetto, 614 00:41:15,640 --> 00:41:18,280 the Austrian-German alliance lost the war 615 00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:22,000 and the vast austro-Hungarian empire collapsed. 616 00:41:22,040 --> 00:41:28,040 And at the end of the war Italy gets this piece of land 617 00:41:28,080 --> 00:41:32,080 that they had wanted, but it's certainly not worth the price 618 00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:36,000 of several 100,000 dead and the virtual rumination 619 00:41:36,040 --> 00:41:37,560 of the Italian economy. 620 00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:46,160 Today, the crumbling structures that litter the bovec basin 621 00:41:46,200 --> 00:41:49,960 are all that's left of a bitter conflict. 622 00:41:51,520 --> 00:41:56,680 Now, the region is known for the beauty of the landscape and hiking. 623 00:41:56,720 --> 00:42:00,080 There's even a path of peace created 624 00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:03,320 that connects the forts and the old trench system. 625 00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:18,360 Now, they are abandoned, crumbling ruins. 626 00:42:18,400 --> 00:42:21,880 Many remind us of dark times, 627 00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:25,920 but some were once beacons of hope and progress, 628 00:42:25,960 --> 00:42:32,520 lasting testimonies to human imagination, enterprise and spirit. 629 00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:39,960 Captions edited by ai-media ai-media. TV 55247

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