Original subtitles

Narrator: a huge Abandoned facility

In the sprawling desert.

Man: this was a hardcore Military base

Fully prepared To survive all-out war.

*

Narrator: massive steel towers In an industrial wasteland.

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

It's that weird.

*

Narrator: and an unusual Concrete corridor

That leads to nowhere.

That leads to nowhere.

They're hardly noticed By the general public,

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

*

Narrator: once, they were Some of the most advanced

Structures and facilities On the planet,

At the cutting edge Of design and construction.

Today, they stand abandoned, Contaminated,

And sometimes deadly.

But who built them and how?

And why were they abandoned?

*

*

*

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

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

*

Narrator: In the gobi desert

Around the mongolian city Of choir,

An empty landscape Stretches unbroken

Across the horizon For hundreds of miles.

[ whirring ]

[ whirring ]

*

But 19 miles northwest Of the city,

A cluster of isolated,

Strange, grassy mounds springs Out of the barren steppe.

[ wind whistling ]

Corum: They're largely empty areas.

These were miserable places In the middle of nowhere.

Narrator: standing 30 feet high And 80 feet across,

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

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

By a strip of concrete Overgrown with weeds.

*

Nearby, another 2-mile-long roadway

Leads off towards Some low hills.

Most bizarre of all Is row after row

Of crumbling apartment blocks Buttressing the background.

*

Why would anyone build A community

Why would anyone build A community

In this vast Remote wilderness?

And why was it abandoned?

[ crowd cheering ]

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

As firm allies.

But by the 1960s,

A difference in ideological Interpretations of communism,

A difference in attitude Towards the u.S.,

And an ongoing border dispute

Bring the two mighty Communist powers

Bring the two mighty Communist powers

To the brink of war.

*

The reality is that The communists in russia

And the communists In red china,

They couldn't agree on Where to have lunch.

Much bigger than communism Was the in-built rivalry.

*

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

Military forces steadily Build up along their borders.

Military forces steadily Build up along their borders.

Wedged in between These two adversaries

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

The mongolian people's republic.

As tensions rise, this soviet Satellite state finds itself

At the center of the Potentially explosive situation.

Corum: mongolia is something Of a contested area,

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

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

It got to the point where There were some serious,

Not just skirmishes, But actual battles.

[ gunfire ]

Nusbacher: The soviets created

The mongolian people's republic

As a puppet state to buffer Them against chinese attack.

The soviets are really concerned That, as china modernizes,

As china grows stronger,

That russia and china Will fight a war.

*

*

Narrator: in response,

The soviet union Prepares to deploy

Hundreds of thousands Of soviet troops

Near the mongolian border With china,

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

*

This facility Is a key component --

The bayantal air base.

*

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

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

This huge new base Is designed to provide

A first line of defense Against any chinese attack

On the soviet union's Satellite state, mongolia.

*

Megs: this base is massive.

The runway's 2 miles, With hardened bunkers

Where they can hide Their aircraft

From even the most Serious aerial attack.

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

And the associated families that Were in charge of the airplanes

And the associated families that Were in charge of the airplanes

As well as the maintenance And running of the facility.

Megs: this was A hardcore military base

Fully prepared To survive all-out war.

*

Narrator: in 1970, russia's Red army engineers

Begin rapidly laying out Foundations

In the vast expanse Of the mongolian steppe.

*

*

In keeping with the secrecy Surrounding its construction,

The cost of this massive Installation is unknown.

*

But work at bayantal Faces difficulties

Unknown to soviet Air bases in europe.

*

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

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

*

*

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

Massive infrastructure In the middle of nowhere.

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

You know, 10 miles Outside of moscow.

Imagine doing it In the middle of nowhere,

Thousands of miles away from Your normal sources of supply.

What you see on this base is

How much effort And resources and money

The soviets poured Into their defense system.

The soviets poured Into their defense system.

Narrator: in 1972, bayantal Becomes operational.

*

Surrounded by anti-aircraft Missile batteries

And a network Of defense bunkers,

The base is a tough nut To crack.

*

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

Of several dozen mig-21 And 23 fighter jets.

*

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

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

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

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

That would come From the chinese.

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

[ plane roaring ]

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

Where it was A formidable opponent.

It was fun to fly, Fairly easy to maintain,

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

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

*

Narrator: but can the bayantal Air base defend mongolia

And the soviet union From the chinese?

And why was it abandoned?

*

*

Narrator: in the gobi desert Of mongolia

Is what remains Of a vast 1970s air base

Built to defend the soviet union Against chinese aggression.

But conditions are brutal.

In the summer, temperatures Rise to 100 degrees fahrenheit,

While, in winter,

The icy winds blasting across The desert steppe

The icy winds blasting across The desert steppe

Bring everything to A stop at minus 40.

*

The problems that they faced On base were both,

From a maintenance perspective,

Keeping the machines operational In the desert environment

As well as morale.

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

Was quite a challenge.

Narrator: but despite this, The soviets keep bayantal

On a high state of readiness

Throughout the 1970s And early '80s.

Throughout the 1970s And early '80s.

*

Nusbacher: at this point, China's interests

Are clearly opposed To soviet interests,

And as long as chinese and Russians interests are opposed,

There is always going To be tension

Between moscow and beijing,

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

*

Narrator: bayantal air base Prevents china

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

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

And an all-out war Is narrowly avoided.

[ camera shutter clicks ]

When mikhail gorbachev Comes to power in 1985,

He makes a determined effort To decrease the tension.

*

But when the soviet union Unexpectedly collapses in 1989,

Bayantal no longer has The funds to be maintained.

*

*

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

It's part of the reason The soviet union

Ultimately collapsed --

Was the need to spend so many Precious resources building

And maintaining this Far-flung network

Of expensive Military facilities.

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

Narrator: by december 1989,

The bayantal air base Is abandoned.

*

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

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

Dickrell: the base is largely Abandoned now.

None of the structures are used For their original purpose.

Native people to mongolia Can be found on the base

But not in the buildings Themselves.

They live in and amongst The buildings,

Using them for shelter For the environments,

But largely, the buildings are Completely empty and abandoned.

*

Narrator: Bayantal air base shows That nuclear armageddon

Narrator: Bayantal air base shows That nuclear armageddon

Could have started not Just in cold war europe

Or the united states,

But even in the vast desert Wastelands of mongolia.

Megs: like most military Installations,

This one was never used in war.

But that's not necessarily How you measure the success

Of an investment In military infrastructure.

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

*

*

Narrator: on the other side Of the planet,

In pittsburgh, pennsylvania,

Is a perplexing wreck Of rusting metalwork.

*

[ whirring ]

*

A steel-and-concrete mass Rises above the trees

That grow along the banks Of the monongahela river.

*

*

Gough: It's really peculiar-looking.

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

It's that weird.

Dickrell: you see these large Cylindrical metal structures

Coming up out Of the ground.

They're completely alien To the environment

That you encounter them in.

*

Narrator: the scale of this Unusual construction dwarves

Nearby buildings.

*

*

A mighty chimney soars 280 feet tall,

And a row of rocket-shaped silos

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

*

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

*

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

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

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

And intricate plumbing On a massive superhuman scale.

It's kind of mind-blowing.

*

Narrator: What exactly took place

In this jumble of pipework, Concrete and steel,

And why was this gargantuan Facility abandoned?

*

Narrator: just outside Pittsburgh, pennsylvania,

Stands a hulking set Of structures

That helped build america.

At the turn Of the 20th century,

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

Creates a huge industrial Need for steel.

Megs: iron and steel were The backbone of the development

Megs: iron and steel were The backbone of the development

Of north American infrastructure.

Every building, every highway, Bridge, every car,

Every train, Every ship and tank,

They all contained steel That came from pittsburgh.

Gough: this was the birth Of america really,

The industrial revolution,

The empire state building, The brooklyn bridge.

Every city had Its proud structures

That came from this dangerous,

Complicated process Of producing steel.

Complicated process Of producing steel.

[ dripping ]

Narrator: but not enough Iron ore can be smelted

To keep up with the Ever-expanding steel production.

*

They made iron that not just Changed western pennsylvania,

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

*

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

These are carrie furnaces 6 and 7.

These are carrie furnaces 6 and 7.

These extraordinary towers are Designed to produce more iron

For the production of steel.

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

It is a man-made volcano

That is reducing Three basic ingredients,

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

And is a carbon, And limestone,

And you're subjecting it To immense amount of heat

And reducing it down to iron,

Which is then transported From this site across the river

Which is then transported From this site across the river

And be converted into steel.

*

Narrator: and there's a reason Why these furnaces

Are built near pittsburgh.

That's because of the extensive Natural deposits of coal

That exist in the nearby Appalachian basin.

In that part of america,

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

Which have brought coal, Have brought limestone,

And have brought iron ore Close to the surface,

And have brought iron ore Close to the surface,

And you need those Three things to make iron.

*

Narrator: Building begins in 1906.

It's no easy task to create

These 90-feet-high Combustion chambers.

Made of 2.5-inch-thick Steel plate,

They're lined with thousands Of bricks

Capable of withstanding Temperatures

Of 3,500 degrees fahrenheit.

Of 3,500 degrees fahrenheit.

A system Of counterbalanced cars

Is designed to carry Tons of ore,

Coke, and limestone Up an inclined ramp

To be emptied into the furnaces.

*

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

With a big bunsen burner Underneath.

We're adding in the chemicals To make the reactions

To get from a solid rock With iron in it

To liberating Free iron as a metal.

To liberating Free iron as a metal.

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

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

Baraff: all of this Is happening in midair,

Suspended in midair,

This big push of air up, Material coming down,

The coal burden coming down, Being heated,

And the iron rains out.

*

Narrator: in 1907,

The new carrie furnaces Go into operation,

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

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

From the furnaces To waiting rail cars

Is no job for the fainthearted.

*

This is the tap hole Here behind me.

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

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

The iron starts flowing.

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

And hopefully stationed directly Below that hole in the floor

Is a bottle car, or ladle car.

Is a bottle car, or ladle car.

Fatalities were high.

Injuries were extremely high.

Fatigue was always a problem.

You know, working In these plants,

Especially early part Of the 20th century,

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

It would eat you up And spit you out.

*

Narrator: Can the carrie furnaces

Keep up with the demand To build america?

And will the dangerous process

Of smelting iron Lead to disaster?

Of smelting iron Lead to disaster?

*

Narrator: just outside Pittsburgh, pennsylvania,

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

*

During the american 20th century,

Furnaces 6 and 7 prove To be a phenomenal success.

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

And up to 350,000 tons a year.

And up to 350,000 tons a year.

*

Thanks to the hot metal bridge That takes the molten iron

Straight to the heart Of the nearby

Homestead steel works,

This iron helps keep up With the nation's demand

For steel even Through world war ii.

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

Second world war on, These furnaces alone,

Just this complex of furnaces

Were outproducing Great britain.

You know, the pittsburgh region Was outproducing

You know, the pittsburgh region Was outproducing

All of the axis powers Together.

This region gained the moniker Of the arsenal of democracy.

This was the heart of America's industrial might.

*

Narrator: But as the years go by,

The way the furnaces operate Becomes increasingly outdated.

*

It's incredibly dangerous, Absolutely incredibly dangerous,

The force of the pressure With inside this furnace,

The amount of gases That are in there.

The amount of gases That are in there.

It is a constant balancing act.

You have too much pressure Build up in these vessels,

They can explode. It requires teamwork.

It requires everyone being on That same page and understanding

That they're trying To tame a volcano.

Narrator: by the 1970s,

Demand for iron from The carrie furnaces drops,

But even more seriously,

This early 20th century Technology

Raises serious concerns About safety.

Raises serious concerns About safety.

*

Dickrell: conditions Were quite brutal.

The heat, the molten iron,

The possibility of being Severely injured or killed

Was actually quite high.

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

You had these high Temperatures, toxic fumes,

Dangerous work that Required a lot of skill.

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

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

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

And their fires Are extinguished for good,

Leaving the site abandoned.

*

The rest of the carrie works Around the region

Are also deemed too dangerous And contaminated,

So they are demolished.

*

But today, Furnaces 6 and 7 still survive.

Designated a national Historic landmark in 2006,

Designated a national Historic landmark in 2006,

They are now a local Tourist attraction.

*

Baraff: where we're standing, In 1907,

This was the high tech Of its day,

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

It happened in places like this.

*

*

*

Narrator: over 3,500 miles To the east,

Just outside london, england,

An unassuming, corrugated Iron-and-concrete building

Stands over The scattered offices

And workshops Of an industrial estate.

Would you expect to find Mysterious equipment

And enormous wooden devices?

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

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

Two huge circular apertures With gigantic propellers

Lead to a 230-foot-long,

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

*

Its incredibly smooth walls Are pierced by gigantic veins

And hidden channels.

Yet it leads nowhere, Simply looping back on itself

In a series of right angles.

Nusbacher: the idea that There is so much space,

Nusbacher: the idea that There is so much space,

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

Ordinary houses, Is really astonishing,

A little bit shocking.

*

Narrator: what complex process Was carried out

In this mammoth tunnel

That made such technical Features necessary?

*

And after so much effort, Why was it abandoned?

*

*

*

In germany, april 1932, Adolf hitler orders

The creation Of the reich aviation ministry.

This act is the first step In the rebirth

Of germany's air force,

The luftwaffe.

[ whirring ]

Soon, the full weight of german Aviation technology

Soon, the full weight of german Aviation technology

Will pose a devastating threat To the nations of europe.

Aircraft technology Is transitioning

From oldie-timey biplanes

To what we think of As a modern airplane,

And the british government says,

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

*

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

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

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

Each side needs the very best Aviation research facilities.

And for britain, The result is this,

The gigantic farnborough Wind tunnel.

*

This aerodynamic testing Facility is designed

To let british engineers

Study the effects of air Moving past solid objects,

And this research Could be the key

And this research Could be the key

To victory over the powerful German luftwaffe.

*

Corum: a wind tunnel is An absolutely essential part

Of designing and building And testing aircraft.

Megs: every element Of the aircraft

That's on the outside Affects aerodynamics,

Even things like the struts That hold the wheels

Or the way The flaps are designed,

Or the way The flaps are designed,

So everything had to be Subjected to these tests,

And tiny, tiny, Little variations

Can have massive impact On how an aircraft performs.

Narrator: but can The farnborough wind tunnel

Help the u.K.'s royal air force

Beat germany's extremely Powerful luftwaffe?

And why was it abandoned?

*

Narrator: in april 1932,

Work begins On a huge new wind tunnel

Just outside london At farnborough.

Britain's royal air force Needs this mighty structure

To keep up with advanced German aircraft design.

The challenges of creating The wind tunnel are immense.

It's not simply A question of size.

It's not simply A question of size.

Every component from the giant Propeller to the concrete walls

Has to be carefully Selected and engineered

To ensure optimum performance.

*

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

Asking the people To work at tolerances

Which I find Quite frightening.

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

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

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

You couldn't have little bolts Sticking out.

The louvers had To be exactly right

To straighten out the airflow

And not add new layers Of turbulence.

*

Narrator: in 1935,

The 24-foot wind tunnel Goes into operation.

Instead of using scale models, Full-sized aircraft

Are suspended between The arms of the tunnel

So that Their aerodynamic performance

Can be measured and faults Could be corrected.

Can be measured and faults Could be corrected.

*

The main question is whether This vital research can make

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

*

Nusbacher: over the course of The second world war,

The germans make their Aircraft better and better,

And what's really Important for the british

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

Ever so slightly Ever minute of every day

Ever so slightly Ever minute of every day

In order to defeat the nazis.

Narrator: at the center of The wind tunnel,

A giant 30-foot propeller blasts

A 115-mile-an-hour jet of air

Across the gap Between its two arms.

*

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

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

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

This turbulent air is then Progressively smoothed

As it flows through a series Of straighteners and deflectors

Around the rectangle's Corridors.

At the end, it exits The tunnel's jet

Towards the test plane

As a smooth current of air.

*

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

Cubic feet of air,

And of the 24-foot diameter,

And of the 24-foot diameter,

We claim 18-foot diameter Was perfect wind.

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

Narrator: in 1939, Great britain

And other allies declare war On germany.

And in 1940, the legendary German luftwaffe invade britain.

*

With the battle of britain Raging over the skies,

Farnborough becomes crucial In improving the performance

Of british fighter aircraft, Like the iconic spitfire.

Of british fighter aircraft, Like the iconic spitfire.

*

Corum: You'll start world war ii --

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

End of the war, they have An adjustable-pitch

Four-blade propeller.

An adjustable-pitch propeller Is one of the things

That increases aircraft climb And performance enormously,

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

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

Narrator: thanks to work At farnborough,

The royal air force keeps pace With the luftwaffe

And, incredibly,

Are able to defend the country

Against the nazis During the battle of britain.

*

But engineers quickly identify

And introduce New aviation features

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

*

*

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

Getting better and better

While the nazis are still trying

To create the Miraculous superweapon

That is going to win The war for them,

And as a result,

The germans are tripping Over their own

Attempts to improve Their technology.

*

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

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

Plays a significant role In defeating the luftwaffe.

But after the war, Advances in aircraft design

Start to render The wind tunnel obsolete.

Dickrell: having a large tunnel Being propeller-driven

Wasn't as necessary

Because you could create High-velocity airstreams

Using jet engines,

And that made an older style Like farnborough obsolete

And basically doomed it To the history bin.

Narrator: by 1992, Its wind tunnel falls silent.

*

Today, the farnborough Wind tunnel is designated

A historic building.

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

Who won the battle of britain Has been acknowledged.

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

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

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

They needed to help win the war.

*

Corum: The farnborough tunnels

And the farnborough Establishment itself

Was an absolutely essential part

Of the british military And war effort.

They're hardly noticed By the general public,

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

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

[ engine starts ]

*

[ plane roaring ]

*

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

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

Amongst the rugged mountains.

[ whirring ]

*

And standing on the very brink

And standing on the very brink

Of a sheer 656-feet Vertical drop

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

And two man-high Wooden-spoked wheels.

*

The idea people could move Something so massive

On top of a mountain So high

Really is a testament To what humans can do.

*

Narrator: there is no doubt About the purpose

Narrator: there is no doubt About the purpose

Of this 6-ton cannon.

*

But why does it stand On this barren mountaintop?

Dickrell: if I came across An old cannon like that

In the middle Of the italian alps,

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

Narrator: And why was it abandoned?

In 1915, Italy enters world war I

On the side of the allies

On the side of the allies

Against the Austro-hungarian empire.

[ explosions, gunfire ]

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

And, above all, heavy artillery

Along the northern border In the italian alps.

The austrians had, For centuries,

Dominated italy Along with the french,

And what the italians See in the first world war

Is those austrians coming Across the passes yet again

Is those austrians coming Across the passes yet again

To try to dominate the country

That the italians Had only just built,

And the italians had to stop it.

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

Will break through Italian mountain defenses

And straight through What's then the border

Between italy and austria,

Just by the cresta croce ridge.

*

Nusbacher: you would never Beat the austrians

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

Corum: one or two guns Will dominate

A large amount of territory In a mountain terrain.

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

And the only solution At hand is this,

An outdated gun from 1888,

An outdated gun from 1888,

The 5.9-inch g-model cannon.

*

Nicknamed the hippopotamus, The g-model gun is designed

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

It's easily outranged by more Modern guns,

But it is all that italy Has available

To defend its borders in 1916.

*

Nusbacher: when you needed Fire support,

You wanted not Small mountain guns

That you could transport On the back of a donkey.

Everybody had those.

You needed heavy artillery.

*

Narrator: so how will The italians

Get the hippopotamus To the top of the mountain?

And why was it abandoned?

*

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

In a life-and-death struggle

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

*

On february 9th, 1916,

The hippopotamus cannon Arrives in the valley below.

It faces a daunting journey Up the mountains

Near the town Of passo del tonale.

Near the town Of passo del tonale.

But there are no roads,

And the mountains Are covered in deep snow.

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

10,000 feet Up the mountain at 20 below.

*

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

The idea of taking a cannon And hauling it up

Is almost impossible to imagine

Is almost impossible to imagine

Because of the weather And the snow conditions

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

To get that cannon up On that mountain.

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

You know, hundreds of them,

To get this up here In lots of snow,

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

*

Narrator: freezing temperatures Aren't the only obstacle

Narrator: freezing temperatures Aren't the only obstacle

To the gun's progress.

During the grueling March upward,

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

Mountain troopers And artillerymen dig it out

And continue the long haul.

Dickrell: no, the friction Capacity of snow

Is very much a function Of the weather conditions,

So cold, dry snow Is almost like sand,

So imagine dragging a heavy Weight through a sand dune

Where wet, sticky snow Is almost like mud,

Where wet, sticky snow Is almost like mud,

And so there's really No great way

To drag a heavy weight Through snow.

*

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

The cannon arrives At its first firing position,

But the location Proves problematic.

The austrians were positioned On that ridge over there,

And from its original position,

And from its original position,

The austrians were just A bit too far away,

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

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

Narrator: but the troops face Yet another problem.

*

There's basically no recall Mechanism on this gun.

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

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

And stop the roll back.

And stop the roll back.

Each wheel had a wooden Wedge behind it,

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

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

That was the only way They had of stopping it

Basically recoiling straight off The back of the mountain.

Narrator: the cannon's murderous Barrages hammer home.

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

Are pulverized by the Hippopotamus' enormous shells.

*

*

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

Anywhere In the first world war.

The austrians had nothing To compete with it,

So although it was obsolete,

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

It still was bigger Than anything else

Up at this altitude.

What this gun is doing really Is saturation fire.

Narrator: for two long years,

The battle above the clouds Ebbs to and fro.

Corum: the two sides simply Battered each other,

Corum: the two sides simply Battered each other,

And, of course, The mountain positions

Gave you a very Important advantage.

*

Narrator: in 1918, Italian troops storm forward

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

And drive the austrians Back for good.

*

And when world war I Comes to an end,

The obsolete hippopotamus Is simply abandoned.

The obsolete hippopotamus Is simply abandoned.

*

Today, the surviving heavy guns Of the first world war

Are gathering dust in museums All over the world.

However, the extraordinary Hippopotamus

Still stands where it fired Its last epic shots.

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

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

And it was well worth Bringing up here.

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

With more modern guns In use in france,

It still did its job And did it very well.

*

Narrator: the story Of the cresta croce cannon

Is a reminder that A decisive weapon

Doesn't have to be Technologically advanced.

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