Original subtitles

♪ ♪

Downloaded from YTS.LT

NARRATOR: In Pompeii

a specialist team is searching the ancient soil.

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.LT

FRANCO: We found two very strong signals,

really very strong signals.

NARRATOR: They are not on the hunt for

archaeological treasure here...

FRANCO: There is a high likelihood

that it could be a bomb...

NARRATOR: But for a deadly relic of the more recent past.

PAOLO: From the instruments it seems that

there is a magnetic response in that area.

LUIGI: Probably there is an unexploded bomb.

(theme music plays).

NARRATOR: Pompeii, the victim of one of

the ancient world's greatest catastrophes.

In 79 CE, the nearby volcano Mount Vesuvius

catastrophically erupted and sent a cloud of hot ash

and gas some 20 miles into the air.

ALESSANDRA: You can imagine how terrified

were the citizens of Pompeii

when they looked at this enormous eruption.

FRANCO: This was a cataclysmic event that

brought the town to a complete stop.

A lot of people died.

NARRATOR: The entire Roman city was buried beneath

millions of tons of rock and ash.

FRANCO: This is why it is so well preserved.

NARRATOR: Pompeii was re-discovered in 1599.

It is the world's most astonishing

archaeological time capsule.

ALESSANDRA: When the eruptive column collapsed

all the material emitted completely covered

the city of Pompeii

under more than seven meters in thickness.

NARRATOR: Pompeii is a window to life in the Roman world,

a magnet for archaeologists intrigued by

the mysteries of this ancient civilization.

Physicist Franco Porcelli is a pioneering investigator.

His work fuses geophysics with archaeology

to explore ancient mysteries.

Today, he and his team are in Pompeii gearing up

for a unique mission, using hi-tech equipment

to search for some extraordinary remains.

FRANCO: Well of course, we are in Pompeii,

you look under the ground

you discover something of archaeological interest.

NARRATOR: Franco's team has long standing experience

applying geophysics to archaeological exploration.

In 2018, they investigated Egypt's Valley of the Kings to

uncover a 3,300 year old secret.

FRANCO: We were testing whether Tutankhamun's tomb

could be part of a larger tomb.

possibly belonging to Nefertiti.

NARRATOR: A controversial theory had proposed that

the boy king was buried in a tomb originally built for

his step mother, Queen Nefertiti

and that her chamber might still be

hidden behind these walls.

The Egyptian Antiquities Ministry

commissioned scientific tests to get to the truth.

FRANCO: The Egyptian government selected our project

from the Polytechnic University of Turin

to scan Tutankhamun's tomb.

NARRATOR: His team used ground penetrating radar technology to

scan for hidden voids behind the walls of the boy king's tomb.

Their analysis conclusively proved there

are no secret chambers in the tomb.

Now, authorities at Pompeii have called in Franco to search for

something that could pose a real risk to

this world heritage site.

Franco works with Gianluca Vitagliano,

an architect and expert on the cultural heritage of Pompeii.

Together, they are on a dangerous mission to find

evidence of a different cataclysm that struck Pompeii

almost 2000 years after the catastrophic eruption.

The investigation starts at the House of the Fawn,

once one of Pompeii's most luxurious villas.

GIANLUCA: There is the reconstruction work

and this is a sign of how much

the ancient masonry has been preserved.

All of this has been reconstructed.

FRANCO: Of course.

NARRATOR: This modern reconstruction reveals

more recent damage to this ancient villa.

Gianluca finds evidence of the cause of this damage.

GIANLUCA: And this is the remains of a bomb

that exploded here.

FRANCO: This is what we are looking for.

NARRATOR: The rusted remains of a huge bomb reveal

a shocking episode in Pompeii's secret history.

FRANCO: This is a 500 pound bomb. It was American.

NARRATOR: This bomb was dropped on Pompeii by

an American aircraft during the Second World War.

GIANLUCA: These are the bomb marks.

NARRATOR: Restoration teams have worked hard to

repair the damage here.

The Villa may look like ruins now...

But after the American bombing it was in tatters.

Pompeii was hit by many bombs that were dropped

during World War II.

150 yards away, the House of Epidius Rufus

was reduced to rubble.

Today, tell-tale traces of bomb damage can be

found throughout Pompeii.

GIANLUCA: Franco, here we are in the House of Triptolemus

which was completely destroyed by the bombings.

All this has all been lost while on the bottom

you can see this column.

NARRATOR: Some of the worst bomb damage was here

in the ancient House of Triptolemus.

Pompeii's greatest archaeological treasures

bear witness to the bombing.

Gianluca and Franco continue their investigation

at the beautiful House of the Library.

GIANLUCA: We can see that at least two bombs

have hit these rooms.

NARRATOR: Gianluca searches for signs of damage

left by the first bomb.

GIANLUCA: All this has all been lost while on the bottom

you can see this column.

We are inside the crater from the explosion.

The bomb arrived from that side

and probably penetrated up to here.

It must have exploded here in this area.

Here a piece of the wall is missing.

Above all, that wall has been moved by

the force of the explosion.

NARRATOR: The bomb exploded with huge force and

caused significant damage.

The room still bears the scars almost 80 years

after World War II.

GIANLUCA: And here is the other explosion.

The tomb must have exploded further down.

NARRATOR: The facts are clear;

Pompeii was struck by multiple bombs.

On August 24th, 1943, 1900 years after it was

devastated by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius,

Pompeii was hit by another firestorm.

Bombs started raining down on the ancient city.

(explosions)

They exploded in the streets wreaking havoc with

the priceless Roman architecture.

In five weeks, Allied aircraft dropped over

160 bombs on Pompeii.

(shattering)

Gianluca wants to understand

why this historical treasure was bombed

while Franco's mission is to check Pompeii for

any unexploded bombs.

Up to one in ten of all bombs dropped during

the Second World War failed to detonate.

And it's estimated that at least

ten unexploded bombs remain here.

FRANCO: Because the trigger that detonate these bombs

becomes more and more fragile with time

and so actually the danger of spontaneous

detonation increase with time

so it is an obligation to find these bombs.

NARRATOR: The potential bombs are too far from visitors to

pose a risk but they should be detected,

excavated and defused as soon as possible.

FRANCO: It has become like a mission now,

it really motivates my work here in Pompeii.

NARRATOR: The bombs that dropped on Pompeii in 1943

carried between 500 and 4000 pounds of high explosive.

They either had a fuse triggered by impact or

a mechanism that delayed the detonation.

In these bombs a small wind turbine spun

while the bomb fell

turning a screw designed to break a glass vial and

release a stream of acetone onto a membrane.

This set off the fuse so that

the bombs would explode after a defined time.

Why might they have failed to explode here in Pompeii?

Alessandra Pensa is a geologist and an expert on

the stratigraphy of areas hit by volcanic eruptions like Pompeii.

She's on a mission to find out if

it is to blame for unexploded bombs here.

Alessandra has special access to investigate

the House of the Chaste Lovers.

She examines the layers of rock exposed here for clues.

ALESSANDRA: Here we can see a beautiful representation

of one of the most rare outcrops

representing both of the phases

characterizing the eruption of the volcano.

NARRATOR: Pompeii's unique stratigraphy is caused by

the eruption of Vesuvius.

It lasted for 18 hours.

The volcano first spewed out a cloud of gasses and minerals.

It rose to form an almost 20 mile high column of ash

and then collapsed.

ALESSANDRA: During the fallout phase we had the deposition

of about 12 to 15 feet of pumice deposit.

These pumice deposits are at the base white in color

while at the top they are becoming more grey.

NARRATOR: The collapsed column formed a violent surge of

volcanic debris, ash and gas known as a pyroclastic flow.

ALESSANDRA: On top of this phase

we have this beautiful wave shape.

We have ash deposits that reflect exactly the moment

where the eruption column started to collapse.

NARRATOR: The material from the pyroclastic flow covered

the soft pumice and formed a layer up

to six-feet thick over Pompeii.

ALESSANDRA: This hard layer is now called thunder, or tuono.

NARRATOR: The hard, "Thunder," layer could be part

of the reason some bombs did not explode when they fell here.

But only because it's covered with a soft layer too.

(rumbling)

The famous 79 CE eruption is not the only one to hit

Pompeii and leave layers.

Between 79 CE and World War II

Vesuvius has erupted over 30 times.

This footage, from 1944,

captured the last eruption of Vesuvius.

Some of these eruptions have left deposits of soft pumice

on top of the hard layer.

The alternating soft and hard layers of Earth here

played havoc with the dropped bombs' detonation devices.

Bombs dropped by Allied aircraft

were designed either to explode on impact

or to pierce the soil

and explode underground.

But Pompeii's alternating layers

of hard and soft soil could

force bombs on an upward trajectory.

This would tip the vial of acetone

into an upright position and

prevent the bomb from exploding.

Franco and his team begin their work in an area just over

100 yards from the nearest excavated sections of Pompeii.

It's surprising, but only two-thirds of Pompeii's vast

163 acres has been excavated.

FRANCO: In the excavated region, most likely the bombs exploded

because they hit the structure of the houses.

We looked at areas which are not excavated

and it appears that we have some signals

which could have been caused by bombs.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: Gianluca became intrigued by

the Allies' bombing of Pompeii because

it was his job to repair some of the damage.

GIANLUCA: In the last 20 years there have been

collapses in some areas of Pompeii.

I found a rather strange thing,

that the collapses that happened in the 90s, 2000s

coincided with the areas that were bombed.

NARRATOR: In 2010, the Schola Armaturarum,

the headquarters of Pompeii's gladiators,

collapsed 67 years after it was hit by Allied bombs.

Gianluca is now on a mission to find out

why the ancient ruins were hit.

GIANLUCA: I started for a moment to ask myself,

what actually happened?

The available documents often were not very clear.

so I thought it was

useful to reconstruct

what had happened during the months of bombing.

NARRATOR: In 1943,

Germany occupied much of Europe.

Italy was in league with them.

But in July that year the Allies

captured the island of Sicily.

They used it as a springboard,

to launch an assault on

the Italian mainland.

They first landed in the south.

Then a second larger force

headed straight for

the port town of Salerno

just 21 miles from Pompeii.

A radio report detailed the fighting around Pompeii.

HALTON (over radio): This is Matthew Halton of

the CBC speaking from Italy.

NARRATOR: It's the words of a reporter

from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

HALTON (over radio): I watched the battle from

the walls of the Roman amphitheater outside Pompeii.

NARRATOR: He described the reason why Pompeii was hit.

HALTON (over radio): There were German positions on the edge of

the ruins which had to be bombed,

and one bomb made a direct hit on the Marine Gate,

the main entrance, so that now you have to scramble into

the ancient city through Roman rubble.

NARRATOR: Remarkable newsreel footage reveals that

the ancient Roman amphitheater

was also struck in the bombing raids.

GIANLUCA: It is said that the damage to the amphitheater

and a large crater on the arena

was caused by the presence of enemy troops.

NARRATOR: The Allies claimed the Germans had guns in Pompeii.

Its ancient buildings could provide cover and

the Germans may have thought the Allies would

never bomb this historic site.

(explosion)

The advance of the Allies put the ancient city in jeopardy.

It might have made sense for the Germans to wheel in their guns.

But Gianluca's investigations led to a different conclusion.

GIANLUCA: The research showed,

through the comparison of aerial photographs,

that there was nothing inside the arena.

There were no anti-air battery

or troops positioned at that point.

NARRATOR: Gianluca's research concluded that

the Germans were not in the amphitheater.

Radio reports claiming that the Germans were hiding guns

in Pompeii were fake news.

So why would the Allies unload thousands of tons of bombs onto

a target of no strategic importance?

(explosion)

Gianluca wants to find out if there could be another reason

why the Allies bombed Pompeii.

Franco is also drawing on historical research in

his hunt for unexploded bombs.

He's focused his search on Pompeii's unexcavated areas.

Now, he's analyzed Allied aerial photographs

taken during the raids.

They help him to pinpoint

craters formed when

the bombs landed and exploded.

Such as the crater filmed in the amphitheater.

FRANCO: The photos indicated areas that were bombed.

We saw the craters of the

exploded bombs but there were missing craters.

NARRATOR: Bombs from Allied aircraft were dropped in pairs

so should have landed and exploded together.

LUIGI: As the plane dropped the bombs in couples

(explosions)

if you see that one of the couples is missing

that is probably that there is an unexploded bomb.

NARRATOR: Franco and his

colleague Luigi have analyzed

World War II aerial photos and

found some single craters

missing their pair.

These missing craters

could indicate unexploded bombs

still in the ground.

FRANCO: We have a very neat historical photo

that clearly indicated an area with missing craters.

We selected areas that were suspicious.

NARRATOR: They created 3D images

of the suspicious areas and

confirmed anomalies in the soil.

These anomalies will be the focus for their search.

But Vesuvius could make their difficult task even harder.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: A simple way to detect unexploded bombs beneath

the soil is to use a metal detector.

But Alessandra is exploring the impacts of

the special properties of the soil at Pompeii.

She investigates at the foot of Mount Vesuvius.

ALESSANDRA: Whenever volcanoes erupt, the magma that

is contained within the magma chamber

comes out as ash, crystals, pumice lapilli.

This material just flows down from the volcano

and can cover completely all the area around.

NARRATOR: Nearly a cubic mile of ash and rock rained down from

Vesuvius during its eruption.

ALESSANDRA: This volcanic material contains

minerals that are iron rich.

NARRATOR: Iron is magnetic and can interfere

with metal detectors that read magnetic fields.

Alessandra is exploring how the iron in the soil at Pompeii

will affect Franco's search.

She uses a compass.

ALESSANDRA: We know the Earth's magnetic field is

pointing north, as is indicated by the arrow.

NARRATOR: The arrow of Alessandra's compass is

made of magnetized metal.

It points north because it's attracted by

the Earth's magnetic field which

is aligned on a north/south axis.

But in Pompeii Alessandra's arrow struggles to

find true magnetic north because of the iron rich soil.

It's a warning that Franco's Polytechnic team needs to use

its most sophisticated geo-physical detection equipment

to find any unexploded bombs.

CHIARA: This instrument is a magnetometer

that is measuring the total magnetic field

and it's really highly sensitive.

NARRATOR: In addition to the magnetometer,

they also use an electro-magnetometer

and electrical resistivity tomography.

They hammer 72 electrodes into the soil.

This network will detect changes in

the soil's electrical conductivity

caused by unusual objects buried in the ground.

ALBERTO: The final objective is trying to relate

the anomalies of electrical distribution

of electrical conductivity with some archaeological target.

So we should be able to distinguish between

archaeological remains and the subsoil.

NARRATOR: The team also uses ground penetrating radar.

ALBERTO: GPR has better resolution

and is able to detect with high

accuracy the archaeological remains.

It means that bombs that have different properties

from the subsoil could be detected.

NARRATOR: The instruments are used together

to see through Pompeii's volcanic soil and

find the hidden unexploded bombs.

A geo-resistivity meter sends

electric pulses into the soil

to detect objects that

conduct electricity.

The magnetometer penetrates over 30 feet into the ground,

to collect more data than a simple metal detector.

While the ground penetrating radar

scans the soil.

By combining these technologies

the team hopes to overcome

the challenges of the volcanic soil of Pompeii

to reveal any buried bombs.

The kit has been calibrated, tested and is now ready to go.

The team can start their search.

Gianluca and Franco are investigating

why Pompeii was bombed.

The Allies' claims of German artillery

on the site were false.

So they examine the Allies' aerial reconnaissance photos

to find the real reason.

GIANLUCA: The number of explosions and destruction

increases as it gets close to the target

so probably the target is at the west side of

the archaeological site of Pompeii.

NARRATOR: The crater pattern suggests the Allies aimed

not at Pompeii but at a different target to

the west of the ancient site.

GIANLUCA: We expect to find a greater number of bombs

dropped in that area.

NARRATOR: On September 9th, 1943,

the Allies landed at Salerno,

to establish a second foothold

in the country.

But they encountered fierce

resistance and were pushed back.

To protect their forces on land

the Allies pummeled the coast

with their naval guns

and launched wave after wave

of bombing raids.

Pompeii lay dangerously close

to the aerial attack.

Gianluca and Franco want to know if the Allied bombers

were focused on a particular target near Pompeii.

GIANLUCA: Look, here we can see the path of the bombs,

in this area and in this one.

And they seem to be converging in this zone.

NARRATOR: The photo suggests

the bombers had targeted sites

a mile west of Pompeii.

GIANLUCA: That is, the main targets of the air raids

were right next to Pompeii towards Torre Annunziata.

NARRATOR: The town of Torre Annunziata was

an important hub for German military re-supply.

The allies identified a critical road junction,

railway line, and a factory producing steel.

These were all legitimate military targets and

they were all within striking distance of Pompeii.

GIANLUCA: Combining these inspections and

all the documents I've recovered

a significant fact comes to light.

This [the bombing] served to cut the supplies

from the German troops.

NARRATOR: Gianluca's research confirms

the Allies' strategy was clear.

And it worked.

Torre Annunziata's supply lines were severed by the bombing and

the German counteroffensive was stopped.

But Pompeii was struck by around 160 bombs,

how could the Allies have missed their targets so badly?

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: The first site Franco and his team search is

on the west edge of the archaeological park,

close to the Marine Gate,

the main entrance to the ancient city.

FRANCO: This is the area with the highest

density of missing craters

and so that is why it's very interesting.

NARRATOR: The area is well away from Pompeii's excavated areas

and any visiting tourists.

As the team scans, one of the magnetometers

picks up a tell-tale signal.

FRANCO: There seem to be something.

Something made of iron.

NARRATOR: Franco's team's survey engineer Paolo Dabove

quickly checks the data.

It's a promising discovery.

PAOLO: Analyzing the real time information

that we can get from the instruments

it seems that something happens

and there is a magnetic response in that area.

FRANCO: Very strong... really very strong signals.

NARRATOR: Nigel Pollard is an historian and archaeologist,

and an expert in war-damaged sites.

He works with the team to investigate

why Pompeii was bombed.

He examines evidence at the American Air Museum in Duxford,

in the United Kingdom.

NIGEL: These are quite typical of the American bombs

that were dropped on the archaeological site.

You've got two 500 pound bombs

and one 1,000 pound bomb.

NARRATOR: Around 1400 tons of Allied bombs

were dropped near Pompeii.

NIGEL: Just about every kind of bomb in the Allied armory,

was used against the targets close to Pompeii.

NARRATOR: The Allies bombed the ancient site nine times between

August 24th and September 26th.

They were targeting nearby infrastructure.

But missed by at least 330 yards.

How could the bombers miss so badly with so many bombs?

Nigel has special access to explore the type of bomber

used in the air raids.

NIGEL: This is a superbly preserved

example of the B-17 Flying Fortress bomber.

About 12,000 of these were made.

NARRATOR: Up to 88 B-17's flew raids in

the skies around Pompeii.

NIGEL: The B-17 was designed for high-altitude,

long-range bombing.

B-17 had a range of nearly 4,000 miles and

could carry a bomb load over

that distance of about 4,000 pounds.

NARRATOR: It was critical that the B-17 dropped

its entire pay load.

Landing an aircraft with unexploded bombs

on board was dangerous.

Any bumps or sudden jolts could trigger

a catastrophic explosion.

NIGEL: Typically these bombers would try to

either drop their bombs on target ideally

or if absolutely necessary,

jettison those bombs into the sea

or somewhere near the target area.

NARRATOR: The bombers that flew in from the west to bomb

Torre Annunziata dropped most of their bombs.

But they could have jettisoned the rest on Pompeii,

before flying back to base.

(bombs wailing)

Was this the only reason Pompeii was bombed?

(explosion)

Chiara and Alberto investigate the two very strong signals.

They check the magnetometer's data,

and cross-reference it against the GPR readings.

Something they didn't expect comes to light.

FRANCO: We don't know what it is but it's a

straight feature, 70 meters long.

70 meters is what we scanned, it could be longer than that.

NARRATOR: The purple lines indicate

the areas they have scanned.

The yellow dots identify the magnetic anomalies

deep within the soil.

Whatever the team has found here

is too long to be

an unexploded bomb.

But its length gives them a clue to what the structure might be.

They suspect it could be a long-lost buried Roman road.

FRANCO: Well of course, we are in Pompeii,

you look under the ground

you discover something archaeological interest.

NARRATOR: Scanning Pompeii will always be surprising;

this land is full of treasures.

The chance discovery is a promising sign

their equipment and methodology works well and

that it can help archaeologists in future excavations here.

The team moves to another suspicious area.

This site lies in the north east

of the archaeological park just

160 yards from Pompeii's fully excavated remains

and tourist areas.

The evidence from the aerial photography suggests

another missing crater could be located here.

GIANLUCA: The needle of the instrument is

oscillating slightly to the positives.

(beeping)

NARRATOR: One of its magnetometers

detects something...

FRANCO: Our instruments don't tell us that it

is definitely a bomb, okay?

But if it is in the area that was heavily bombed

then there is a high likelihood that it could be a bomb.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: In Duxford, Nigel has special permission to

board the B-17.

He believes the interior could provide clues

to why so many bombs fell on Pompeii.

He explores the mechanisms used to store and drop the bombs.

NIGEL: Here we are in the B-17's bomb bay.

You can see the bombs down here beneath us.

A short relatively, uh,

deep bomb bay.

And looking forward, we can see the main cockpit compartment.

And then right at the very front of the aircraft,

we can see the bombardier's position.

NARRATOR: The bomb droppers, known as bombardiers,

sat below the pilot inside a huge plexiglass compartment

designed to help them sight their target.

NIGEL: Here we're looking at the business end of our B-17 bomber.

Through the plexiglas, you can see the Norden Bombsight.

This is the position from which the bombardier,

the bomb aimer, would have aimed his bombs at

the target using that sight.

NARRATOR: The bombardier used the Norden Bombsight to

drop their bombs on the target with greater precision.

It was cutting edge technology for its time.

The Norden Bombsight was the Allies' secret weapon.

It cost over $1 billion to develop and

featured a revolutionary analogue computer that

constantly recalculated the impact point of the bomb.

The machine could even take control of the plane's autopilot

and make corrections to keep it steady in the wind.

As long as the bombardier kept the target

locked in their crosshairs

the Norden promised to deliver

a bomb dropped from 20,000 feet

to within 75 feet of the target.

NIGEL: This is a very sophisticated

piece of equipment.

The Americans went into the Second World War thinking that

they could bomb very, very precisely in daylight

using the Norden sight.

NARRATOR: So what went wrong?

In Pompeii,

Franco and his team analyze

the suspicious signal

at their second site.

(beeping)

FRANCO: Our instruments tell us there is a large

mass made of iron. It could be anything.

It could be a bomb.

NARRATOR: The data gathered by the radar and magnetometers

indicates the metallic object they've found

is just three feet below the surface.

The magnetic signal could indicate a large,

unexploded bomb.

The bombs dropped on Pompeii could carry up

to 4,000 pounds of high explosives,

enough to level a city block.

And if it's a bomb with a time-delayed fuse

the vial of acetone designed to trigger it...

May still be intact.

If they're not careful and break the vial the bomb could

finally explode with devastating consequences.

(shattering)

FRANCO: In order to ascertain what it really is

a specialized unit for bomb clearance

will find out whether the strong signals

are really an unexploded ordnance or not.

NARRATOR: The specialist team arrives on site and

cordons off the area.

(beeping)

They detect the exact point.

Now they bring in an excavator to start the dig.

Until they make visual contact with the object

they won't know what it is.

Everyone watches carefully.

The operation is very delicate...

If there is an unexploded bomb underground,

any sudden movements could trigger it to explode.

So they dig just inches at a time.

A sensitive task for a heavy machine like this.

The team checks every layer.

(beeping)

After a few more inches the excavator reaches

something under the ground.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: The investigation into why Pompeii was bombed is

nearing a conclusion.

Nigel thinks the Nordern bomb aiming mechanism

might be the culprit.

NIGEL: As leading-edge technology this

Nordern bomb site was really expensive.

They made claims in their publicity to the US Air Force

and the US Navy that this thing could

drop a bomb into a pickle barrel.

NARRATOR: But this cutting edge wartime technology

was developed and tested in Southern California,

where the skies are clear blue for most of the year.

When the sophisticated bombsight was used in real operations,

in Europe's cloudy skies, the visibility wasn't so good.

When the bombers flew their missions near Pompeii

the bombardier lined up the intended target

using the Norden's viewfinder.

The Norden then calculated velocity,

altitude and range to release the bombs.

But the bombardier's initial view of the target could have

been compromised by cloud cover,

so some bombs were dropped too early and

instead of hitting the highway and railway junctions,

they hit Pompeii.

(explosions)

NIGEL: Even the cutting edge of technology

wasn't enough to save Pompeii.

They caused some really severe damage.

NARRATOR: The accidental bombing of Pompeii was

an embarrassment to the Allies.

They may have blamed German gun positions to

cover up their mistake.

(explosions)

At Pompeii, the excavator carefully pulls

the mysterious object from the ground.

FRANCO: It's a piece of reinforced concrete

so we are going to remove it.

and then if there is still a signal we will see what to do.

NARRATOR: After further investigation,

the team discovers that the signal came from

metal bars in the concrete.

In an ancient site like Pompeii,

digging anywhere can yield surprises.

The team's original data suggests there is

more to be found here.

FRANCO: There is still a strong signal,

so we're going to continue diggin.

NARRATOR: The data suggests a metal object lies

vertically beneath the surface.

The signal is just what the team expect for an unexploded bomb

buried within Pompeii's peculiar subterranean strata.

The specialist team takes extra care and digs by hand.

But Franco takes no chances.

FRANCO: We found something, but for safety reasons we have to

call a specialized army unit, just in case.

NARRATOR: The Italian Army's bomb disposal unit arrives.

Major Gian Luca Marino is keen to check the data with

geophysicist Chiara Colombero.

CHIARA: Good morning.

MAJOR MARINO: Good morning.

CHIARA: So what we expect are quite

localized bipolar anomalies.

I see it, it takes a well trained eye, but I see it.

MAJOR MARINO: The hole is here it looks very similar.

NARRATOR: The object seems to be deeper down.

MAJOR MARINO: Look at this shadow, it's not a crater.

CHIARA: Okay.

MAJOR MARINO: You see it?

CHIARA: Yes.

MAJOR MARINO: It is something deeper in the groun.

CHIARA: Okay.

NARRATOR: Excavating the mysterious object is

a dangerous task.

Everyone not directly involved is ordered to

stand at a safe distance.

The team extracts a long thin metal pole.

FRANCO: They found a pipe.

The top of it was 60 centimeters below ground

and then it was stuck for an additional

12 feet vertically into the ground.

Clearly the strong signal was due to this metallic pipe.

NARRATOR: It's a bittersweet result for Franco;

disappointment that he has not found an unexploded bomb,

but relief that the team's work has not been in vain.

FRANCO: Whether it is reinforced concrete or a pipe.

at least we know that this part of the park is now safe.

Safe for archaeologists, safe for visitors

and this is what really motivates our work.

NARRATOR: Unexploded bombs might still lie below Pompeii.

But, as archaeologists move in to investigate unexcavated areas

of the vast site, they can rely on

Franco's pioneering geo-physical technology and methodology to

ensure they don't accidentally trigger a deadly explosion.

Pompeii, struck almost 2,000 years ago by

one of nature's most cataclysmic forces and

struck again by Allies in

World War II is safe for the future.

Captioned by Cotter Media Group.