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00:00Italy, the ancient abbey of Monte Cassino, is one of the most important and spectacular
00:13monuments in Europe.
00:16But this dramatic landscape conceals hidden scars from the bloodiest and most ferocious
00:24land battle in Western Europe.
00:30World War II was fought on vast landscapes across the planet.
00:35Where we're going, we don't need roads.
00:40But the evidence of that war is disappearing fast.
00:46That is one of the coolest things I've ever seen in the water.
00:50That's it.
00:51Congratulations.
00:52Now, technology expert Pete Kelsey and military historian Marty Morgan are using 21st century
01:06technology to strip away the present and reveal the buried secrets of World War II.
01:16This time, will a mountain ridge reveal the secrets of a bloody siege?
01:20How could anybody survive this?
01:25Can cutting edge technology uncover the truth about one of America's worst military disasters?
01:31You are walking into a hornet's nest.
01:34And the destruction of an iconic abbey is revealed as never before.
01:44Oh, God.
01:45This is total war.
01:49The Apennine Mountains in central Italy.
02:02The Apennine Mountains in central Italy.
02:06The Pale Alec's zone walls were deep, the deep, rugged, and wild.
02:11The Allied Campaign in the winter of 1943 to capture this ground from the Germans should
02:17have taken just a few weeks.
02:22Instead it became one of the most protracted and bloody conflicts of the Second World War,
02:31fought in some of the harshest terrain on Earth.
02:44In early September 1943, 170,000 Allied troops had stormed beaches in southern Italy and
02:52began to fight their way north.
02:55The Allies made rapid progress, advancing 250 miles in just 12 weeks.
03:06More than 75 years later, technology expert Pete Kelsey and war historian Marty Morgan
03:13are retracing the Allies' route through central Italy.
03:17This is Route 6.
03:18This is the road to Rome.
03:20And in September 1943, this thoroughfare was critical to Allied strategy in Italy.
03:26What was the Allies' objective?
03:28The objective is to get to Rome.
03:31And they hoped that by liberating Rome, they would score an important psychological victory.
03:36The fascist dictator Mussolini was under arrest.
03:42Italy had joined the Allies.
03:44The Germans were suddenly overstretched.
03:49Rome and victory looked certain.
03:56But a few months later, there were some 55,000 Allied casualties.
04:02And much of the country lay in ruins.
04:06What went wrong?
04:09How did the Allied advance against a broken enemy turn into such a brutal bloodbath?
04:20Pete and Marty are heading to the place where the Allied advance came to a deadly halt.
04:29The medieval hillside town of San Pietro in Fine.
04:37With a population of 1,500 people, San Pietro sat on the slopes of Monte Sambucaro, overlooking
04:44Route 6.
04:47On December 7, 1943, 2,400 men of the U.S. Army's 36th Infantry Division advanced on San Pietro.
04:59Like any other town on their route through Italy.
05:02But this time, it was different.
05:06In 10 days of fighting, there were over 1,200 American casualties.
05:11GIs called the flat ground outside the town Death Valley.
05:20What happened here that stopped the Allies in their tracks?
05:27Much of the town is overgrown with foliage.
05:31To look for clues hidden in the landscape, Pete launches a drone.
05:42It's equipped with state-of-the-art remote sensing technology called LiDAR.
05:47How are we good?
05:50Yeah, you're clear up.
05:53Using its onboard laser capability, Pete will produce the first-ever three-dimensional digital
05:59model of San Pietro in Fine.
06:01What we really want to do is make the invisible visible by removing all these trees.
06:08LiDAR can penetrate foliage to reveal man-made structures beneath.
06:13We're probably going to see things that haven't been seen in 75, 80 years.
06:29While the LiDAR team continues their survey, Pete and Marty head up into the town to look
06:34for other clues to explain why the Allies got bogged down in heavy fighting here.
06:41Ammunition box.
06:42German?
06:43No.
06:44British.
06:45British.
06:46But World War II.
06:47Right here, we have some vestiges of the German occupation of San Pietro.
06:52These would have been used to form a roadblock by putting the two big blocks in the middle
06:56of the roadway, and you've got an effective obstruction.
06:58All it would take would be one automatic weapon somewhere down the road there, and nobody can
07:02get anywhere near them.
07:03Here, follow me.
07:04Watch your head.
07:07Germans would occupy a space like this and set up a mortar battery.
07:10Wow.
07:11The mortar battery is here completely concealed from view.
07:14Right.
07:15Capable of throwing the rounds out through where the roof used to be, and you have suddenly
07:19a source of punishing firepower that you're going to have a heck of a time finding.
07:24Pete and Marty have made some intriguing discoveries, but they've found nothing unexpected.
07:31We've got a village completely in ruin.
07:34We have maybe a mortar position and two anti-tank barriers.
07:40And that's it.
07:41There's not really anything explaining why the Battle of San Pietro lasted as long as
07:45it did or cost as many lives as it did.
07:50To continue their quest, they head toward what was once San Pietro's grandest building, the
07:56Brunetti Palace.
07:58This is incredible.
07:59Wow.
08:00Eyewitness accounts tell us that German soldiers turned this building into their military headquarters.
08:11Can you punch into the village?
08:13Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:16The first ever 3D survey of San Pietro Infine is a revelation.
08:22Oh my gosh, look at that.
08:25When you remove the trees, the devastation just sort of jumps out of that model.
08:31The results show that 98% of the town was wiped out.
08:36That's almost complete target coverage.
08:38Unbelievable.
08:40But who destroyed San Pietro so comprehensively, and why?
08:45Pete and Marty think the answer may not lie in the town itself, but in the landscape around
08:52it.
08:53So they change tack and head up into Monte Sambucaro.
09:00A 4,000 foot high mountain directly behind San Pietro.
09:06This mountain top must have been strategically important.
09:11But can they find evidence the Germans were up here?
09:15Marty has met up with military historian Damiano Paravano to scour the slopes for signs of military
09:28activity.
09:30Marty, there's a clear German emplacement here.
09:35Oh really?
09:36Really.
09:37Very well preserved.
09:38Oh my God, yeah, look at that.
09:41Incredible.
09:42Oh, and we walked right up on it and didn't even know it.
09:45This is what they call a Sanger.
09:48An environment where you can't dig in.
09:50You simply just pull up stones and create an improvised fighting position.
09:53Yeah.
09:55What an extraordinary find.
09:57But the Sanger appears to be the only sign of the fighting up here.
10:07The might of the German army is proving elusive.
10:10So...
10:12Starting engines.
10:13Pete takes to the sky.
10:14I'm doing a drone based 3D photogrammetry survey of this ridgeline because you can see the entire
10:27Leary Valley.
10:29Convinced the Germans must have occupied the high ground above San Pietro, Pete hopes high resolution
10:37and photogrammetry can capture further signs of military activity here on the ridge.
10:48Back in the Brunetti Palace, Pete and Marty examine the results.
10:55Oh yeah.
10:56Oh yeah.
10:57You gotta love photogrammetry.
10:59Pete's survey reveals features it was impossible to see from the ground.
11:03Oh, see, that is that stone protective position.
11:08They call it a Sanger.
11:10But the Sanger isn't the only military feature on the mountainside.
11:15Oh yeah.
11:16See this rectangular position right there?
11:18That is the artillery position on the reverse slope.
11:22They've discovered a German artillery emplacement still on the mountain.
11:26With a forward observer in the Sanger, in direct contact with the gunners hidden behind the ridge.
11:35Let's zoom out.
11:38See?
11:39See?
11:40I knew it.
11:42There are artillery positions and these Sangers along this whole ridgeline.
11:48But the Germans weren't just on Monte Sambucaro.
11:51Records show they also held Monte Lungo.
11:56From both these mountains, German observers could direct devastating artillery fire down onto allied troops in the valley below.
12:07God, what a nightmare.
12:09No wonder they called it Death Valley.
12:10Yeah.
12:11U.S. artillery fought back, bombarding German positions on the mountain ridges and in San Pietro with more than 200,000 shells, leaving the town in ruins.
12:28But the destruction of an entire town begs a chilling question.
12:37What happened to the people of San Pietro?
12:41How could anybody survive this?
12:43Pete Kelsey's LIDAR survey has shown that the hillside town of San Pietro Infine was devastated in a bloody 10-day battle.
13:0198% of the town was destroyed.
13:05So what happened to the inhabitants?
13:07Yeah, San Pietro was just devastated.
13:13But the LIDAR results also reveal some intriguing features.
13:18You go up this ravine, what are those?
13:22A series of strange hollows in the cliffs behind the town.
13:27Are those caves?
13:29We should have a closer look at that.
13:30Yeah, what's that all about?
13:31To find out, Pete and Marty have met up with local historian Maurizio Zambardi.
13:48When the Germans arrived in the town, they wanted all the civilians evacuated.
13:54So many escaped and took refuge in the caves.
14:01These caves aren't natural. They're man-made.
14:20See these marks?
14:22Each one of these is the mark of a pickaxe.
14:26The civilians from the town excavated the caves using pickaxes
14:29and then threw the earth out into the valley.
14:34Entire families sheltered here in freezing conditions for weeks at a time.
14:39They had very little food and there was no clean water.
14:44These are the people of San Pietro.
14:48This woman is crying in desperation after losing everything.
14:53Her home, her family, her loved ones.
14:56This is my grandmother.
14:58That's your grandmother?
15:00Yes.
15:02Her name is Mariana Perolo.
15:04And this photograph was taken right here in these caves.
15:07That's so crazy.
15:09That is incredible, isn't it?
15:11How many people were in these caves?
15:13About 500 people.
15:15One third of the town's population.
15:18Was that 500?
15:20500 people.
15:21No one has ever surveyed these caves digitally before.
15:26So for the first time, Pete is recording them using a hand-held lidar scanner.
15:33So thousands of times per second, this device is sending out a laser beam and taking really, really accurate measurements of everything it sees.
15:47And ultimately what we'll have is a really accurate 3D model of this whole system of caves.
15:54Pete hopes the results will help to illuminate what life was like for the people forced to live here.
16:14Inside the Brunetti Palace, Pete and Marty examine the results.
16:18Check this out.
16:20Oh, it did well, didn't it?
16:21It really did.
16:23The model clearly shows a system of more than a dozen caves.
16:28160 feet end to end, they extend up to 25 feet back into the cliff face.
16:35But the model also provides a chilling glimpse of the conditions inside.
16:39Get your head around this.
16:42The numbers work out to about 18 inches square per person.
16:48Oh my God, they're crammed in like sardines.
16:50Yeah.
16:52According to contemporary accounts, the town's inhabitants excavated separate caves to begin with.
16:57But that changed after they witnessed a terrible tragedy.
17:03Artillery shells exploded in front of the caves.
17:06People were buried inside.
17:09So they decided to link the caves together with an internal passageway.
17:13So people could escape if it happened again.
17:23Finally, on December 17th, 1943, the Allies drove the Germans off the mountaintops and out of the town.
17:31By the time the 10 day battle for San Pietro was over, 300 civilians had been killed.
17:45American soldiers were astonished to see surviving townspeople emerge from the caves.
17:52Sick and malnourished, they looked like ghosts.
17:56I'd like to say that I could understand the experience that these people endured in these caves.
18:03But I can't.
18:05There's never been a moment in my life where I was forced to retreat into a cave simply to survive.
18:10But then you also see this one quality of the human spirit, that they could come out of that experience, confront the destruction of their village, and still find reasons to smile.
18:22That's human spirit, and this experience didn't conquer it.
18:32But if the GIs of the 36th Infantry Division thought that taking San Pietro Infine was tough, it was nothing compared to what they were about to face.
18:45In their next engagement with the enemy, two entire regiments would be virtually wiped out.
18:51That is absolutely chilling.
18:55You are walking into a hornet's nest.
19:03In December 1943, the U.S. Army's 36th Infantry Division has taken the hillside town of San Pietro Infine.
19:12The division is back on the road, and heading north along Route 6 toward Rome.
19:23After Allied forces capture San Pietro, the curtain drops on one drama, but it's about to lift on yet another drama, because then they have to move on to the next objective, and the next objective is the Leary Valley.
19:35Seven miles west of San Pietro lies the Leary Valley, strategically important because the road to Rome runs right through it.
19:47Blocking the Allies' path is a river called the Rapido.
19:53Dug in on the opposite side is a heavily armed German division.
19:57On January 20th, 1944, 6,000 U.S. infantrymen mount an amphibious river assault.
20:10The two-day battle here ends with nearly 2,000 casualties, and one of the worst defeats for the U.S. Army in the Second World War.
20:19So serious that a congressional inquiry is convened to look into what happened.
20:28Why did the assault across the Rapido end in a massacre?
20:34To find the answer, Pete is helping remote sensing expert Dr. Richard Doudswell to launch a robotic boat.
20:42It's equipped with underwater mapping technology called multi-beam sonar.
20:47And what kind of range? How far can you be from the base station?
20:51Two kilometers line of sight.
20:53Pete wants to conduct the first-ever survey of the section of river where American soldiers attempted their assault 75 years ago.
21:02OK, thanks.
21:04He's hoping the results might help to explain why it failed.
21:09Richard, what is this robot going to do?
21:11The bottom of the boat, there's a sonar sensor. So this is going to send out a sound pulse into the water.
21:18That's going to bounce off the banks of the river, the bottom of the river.
21:22So a three-dimensional, very accurate model of the riverbed.
21:25Yeah. Amazing. Why don't I give you a hand?
21:27No one has conducted a systematic search of the battlefield like this before.
21:32While Pete starts to survey a 300-foot section of the river, another team sets to work in the adjacent field.
21:47A group of metal detectorists are searching the battlefield on the American side to see if they can find any evidence of the fighting.
21:54Oh, that's a shrapnel, yes. And it's definitely from an artillery shell. This area around the river was continuously bombed, shelled.
22:07Contemporary accounts tell us that as U.S. troops attempted their assault, they came under heavy artillery bombardment.
22:16But how many German artillery positions were there? And where were they dug in?
22:25Armed with a battlefield map from 1944, Marty is searching the riverbank on the opposite side.
22:33This is it. Oh, my God, look at this.
22:37He's beginning to understand how tough a military objective the Rapido was.
22:42Yeah, I'm exactly where I think I am. Right here at the bend in the river, two machine gun positions.
22:49One just here, one up a little bit to its left flank. One machine gun aiming this way, the other machine gun aiming that way.
22:59And look, the machine gun here, straight out over that flat plain that the men of the 36th Division had to cross before they could even make it to the river.
23:08But the two German machine gun positions at the river's edge were just the tip of a massive defensive complex made up of multiple lines of machine gun, artillery and mortar entrenchments.
23:21So the two weapons that were right here were only just the beginning of the withering fire that these men were going to be exposed to.
23:32It's a miracle that anybody survived this.
23:34From across the river, German weapons teams had created killing zones for U.S. servicemen trying to cross the river.
23:47But heavily defended enemy emplacements were nothing new.
23:52Allied troops had overcome German positions like this many times before.
23:57Peep thinks there must be another explanation for the Rapido massacre.
24:07The vessel beams the sonar data back to base control.
24:11It's processed to start building a 3D model that could explain why the assault failed.
24:25Back on the American side, one of Damiano's team has made another discovery.
24:31But they must exercise extreme caution.
24:37So when we do this kind of activities, we have to be really careful.
24:42In the past, they've uncovered live ammunition and hand grenades.
24:49This area is full of an exploded ordinance.
24:52Pete Kelsey and Marty Morgan are in Italy investigating why, in January 1944, the river Rapido was the site of a military disaster.
25:14Oh, James, any data?
25:19Yeah, just looking at the first results now.
25:22Oh, yeah.
25:24Pete's convinced there must be something in the anatomy of this river that can explain why the U.S. Army failed to take it.
25:32Oh, it's great. And in 3D.
25:35This is why I love sonar.
25:37Yeah. Instant gratification.
25:38Back on the American side, Damiano has made another remarkable discovery.
25:46That's the fuse of an M-K2 American hand grenade.
25:53That's incredible.
25:55It means that they used the hand grenades here, just close the river.
25:59And this is what survived it after so many years.
26:02After searching the fields for just one hour, his team has found seven military artifacts, showing that the battlefield is still littered with evidence of the fighting.
26:20Eyewitness accounts speak of multiple crossing attempts over two nights.
26:25But the U.S. 36th Infantry Division failed to establish a lasting bridgehead, and in the process, took more than 2,000 casualties.
26:42Combining the results of his river and land surveys, Pete now thinks he knows why.
26:48For me, the answer is here in the data.
26:50Using the first ever 3D model of the battlefield, he can piece together what happened.
26:57The approach to this river, it's wide open, there's no cover.
27:02The fields on the American side of the Rapido were exposed.
27:06They were muddy and heavily mined.
27:09You get up to this river, it's in effect a ditch that's 60 feet across, about 10 feet straight down.
27:15But it's the sonar results that reveal the key to the mystery.
27:18The Rapido had almost vertical banks, often as high as 6 feet, with a steep incline down into water that was just above freezing, and had a uniform depth of between 8 to 12 feet.
27:32So any poor guy who goes in the water doesn't have a chance, it's over his head, and it's bloody cold, and it is moving really fast.
27:43If you even get across at night, you gotta go 10 feet up the other side and then back into no cover.
27:50Look what was waiting for him.
27:55On the other side, US assault troops ran right into the German main line of defense.
28:01Barbed wire, minefields, and a barrage of enemy fire.
28:06That is absolutely chilling.
28:09You are walking into a hornet's nest.
28:11Well, to me, it all boils down to one simple point.
28:14This proves that the German military that fought the Second World War was excruciatingly effective.
28:23To understand the full horror of the failed river assault, Pete and Marty are retracing the steps of the 36th Infantry Division 75 years ago.
28:32The M2 wooden boats that they were using weighed over 400 pounds each.
28:38In addition to that, they had to cover almost two miles of open ground just to get down to the water's edge, carrying the boats all the way.
28:48Many of the assault troops were raw recruits with no previous combat experience.
28:54So many of these men don't have experience launching small boats into raging rivers, but that's exactly what they're about to have to do.
29:01And they're also still taking casualties from enemy fire.
29:07They get out into the water, the boats flip over.
29:10And when men went into this water, they sank like a rock straight to the bottom.
29:16Those that made it this far found the current was fast and unpredictable.
29:21My God, we're flying.
29:32We are picking up speed.
29:34Heads up! Heads up!
29:37You just don't stand a chance against this current.
29:40There was one junior officer in the 36th Division who started off the attack with a company of 184 men and 48 hours later, he was one of 17 survivors.
30:00He later went on to say to the congressional inquiry that if this wasn't mass murder, I don't know what is.
30:11After the war, the inquiry concluded.
30:14While the casualties are to be greatly regretted, the commanding officer had exercised sound judgment in planning it and ordering it.
30:24After three more days of heavy fighting, the U.S. 34th Division finally crossed the Rapido.
30:30Two miles to the north, where the river was fordable and less heavily defended.
30:39The assault on the Rapido was designed to be a diversion from a much larger allied operation.
30:46The amphibious landings at Anzio, 25 miles south of Rome.
30:51But as allied forces were driven back to the sea, the Anzio landings also ground to a halt.
31:03And during February 1944, fighting on the road to Rome escalated into a bitter war of attrition.
31:13It culminated in one of the most infamous acts of destruction of the entire war.
31:17The annihilation of one of the most spectacular monuments in Europe.
31:22Monte Cassino and its magnificent abbey tower 1,600 feet above the Liri Valley.
31:33This was the Allies' final strategic obstacle on the road to Rome.
31:38But the building that stands here today is a facsimile, constructed after the war ended.
31:41Because in 1944, allied commanders took one of the most controversial decisions of the war.
31:42They ordered the historic abbey to be destroyed.
31:45This is a historic abbey.
31:46But in 1944, the historic abbey, the historic abbey in the Huffison Abbey towered 1,600 feet above the Liri Valley.
31:50This was the Allies' final strategic obstacle on the road to Rome.
31:54But the building that stands here today is a facsimile, constructed after the war ended.
31:59war ended. Because in 1944, Allied commanders took one of the most
32:06controversial decisions of the war. They ordered the historic Abbey to be
32:11destroyed.
32:18On February 15th, more than 200 bombers took off from Foggia airfield.
32:29In wave after wave, they dropped more than a thousand tons of high-explosive and incendiary
32:41bombs.
32:44In just four hours, the Abbey was reduced to rubble.
32:55The bombing triggered outrage.
33:07One Italian newspaper said that the Allies bombed the Abbey without any military necessity
33:13and with hatred for European civilization. The New York Times said that it was the worst
33:19aerial and artillery onslaught ever directed against a single building.
33:25The Germans had claimed they had no troops or weapons inside the building and that a 300-meter
33:32protection zone had been drawn around the Abbey complex. So if the Germans weren't occupying
33:40the Abbey, why did the Allies destroy it? To look for answers, Pete begins a LIDAR scan
33:50of Monte Cassino. He's certain there must be clues hidden in the landscape.
33:59One thing is not in dispute. In January 1944, the Allied imperative was to capture the mountaintop.
34:09If the combined strength of 240,000 Allied Commonwealth and American forces failed, the Leary Valley
34:16and Rome would be beyond reach. 135,000 German soldiers were determined to stop them.
34:30For four months, Monte Cassino became the epicenter of the most ferocious European land battle in the
34:37Second World War that saw 55,000 Allied casualties. It was three days before they could be brought down for burial.
34:50The wounded were treated at a field hospital known as the doctor's house. It's still here
34:59and it's the ideal place to examine Pete's results.
35:02Let's bring in the drone-based LIDAR.
35:11Isn't that cool? That is amazing. Look at that.
35:17By stripping the trees away, you're really providing an insight into the nightmare of this battle,
35:22because they have nowhere to hide. As Allied soldiers attacked German positions,
35:27the lack of cover meant their slightest movement was visible and instantly attracted enemy fire.
35:34But this wasn't the only obstacle they faced.
35:38The steep slopes on either flank meant there was only one route to attack,
35:43along a narrow approach called Snake's Head Ridge.
35:46God help those guys who try to make an assault along that ridge line.
35:54Channeled into a column by the terrain, Allied soldiers on the ridge were an easy target.
36:01They're skylined when they try to approach on Snake's Head Ridge. The enemy just dumps fire on top of them.
36:07The LIDAR shows why Monte Cassino was yet another killing zone.
36:12German troops also held the neighboring hills.
36:16These areas are also dumping fire onto the approaches to the abbey.
36:27With no place to hide. None.
36:34Even with artillery and air support, Allied attacks along the mountaintop failed time and again.
36:41For four months, they could not take Monte Cassino.
36:45As casualties escalated, Allied commanders became convinced that German observers were using the
36:54abbey to direct fire onto targets across the battlefield.
36:59And this is what causes them to confront one cold reality, and that is if they're ever going to get out of the Leary Valley,
37:06they are going to have to destroy this incredible historical, religious and cultural icon.
37:12But what Allied commanders didn't foresee was that bombing the abbey would have unintended consequences.
37:21They are going to have to destroy this.
37:24Oh, God.
37:25This is total war.
37:26In February 1944, Allied commanders in Italy took one of the most controversial decisions of the Second World War.
37:46to destroy the iconic abbey of Monte Cassino.
37:51But bombing the abbey had disastrous consequences.
37:58Over 200 civilians sheltering inside, and 40 Allied troops on the mountainside were killed by mistake.
38:15The devastation was a coup for Nazi Germany's propaganda machine.
38:19The abbey's destruction was supposed to open the way for the Allies to seize the mountain.
38:28But as a result, the fighting escalated.
38:34And continued for three more months.
38:40What went wrong?
38:41To investigate, the team have sourced hundreds of wartime photographs.
38:56And stitched the images together.
38:59To create the first ever 3D model of the abbey, as it was immediately after the bombing.
39:08Oh, my gosh.
39:09It shows the destruction was near absolute.
39:14This is total war.
39:15And total war doesn't care how historically and religiously significant a building is.
39:22The model reveals why the fighting escalated after the abbey's destruction.
39:27By bombing it, the Allies had turned a box-shaped building into a multitude of defensible positions.
39:35That German soldiers could occupy with impunity.
39:38They were soon reinforced by the elite 1st Parachute Division and ordered by Hitler to hold their ground at all costs.
39:53It was now a fight to the death.
40:06But the Allies prevailed.
40:09On May 18th, 1944, they overcame the final obstacle on the road to Rome.
40:15And captured Monte Casino.
40:23But how did the Allies make the decisive breakthrough to win the battle?
40:32Looking for clues in the landscape, Pete and Marty examine the 3D model again.
40:37Can you show me that spot up there by Cairo?
40:41Because you see that track?
40:42I do.
40:43Is that a modern road?
40:45Or is that something that was there in 1944?
40:49To find out, they locate the path.
40:55And with military historian Damiano Paravano, they follow it as it ascends uphill from the valley floor behind Monte Casino.
41:04Hey, guys.
41:08Look at this.
41:09A Bickele-like cap of a British gun grenade.
41:11Grenade?
41:12Yeah.
41:13Oh, yeah.
41:13This is for the number 69 demolitions grenade.
41:16And this is a cap from the fuse housing.
41:18When you were ready to use the weapon, you unscrewed it and discarded it.
41:21Wow.
41:22It's an intriguing find.
41:24But why were the Allies doing demolition on the mountainside?
41:28A few feet further uphill, Pete finds another clue.
41:33Hey, hey, hey.
41:34You see this?
41:36Clearly a linear feature.
41:37This is a retaining wall.
41:39Classic road construction.
41:41And where would this material have come from?
41:43You could either haul it all up this road or you take it from here.
41:48So this really vertical slope right here, this is man-made and clearly probably shot with TNT with explosives.
41:56So all this material removed here, you can use in the roadbed and you can use on this retaining wall.
42:04And everything about this says it was engineered to carry a lot of weight.
42:10Pete's found evidence of one of the most extraordinary feats of engineering of the Second World War.
42:17In February 1944, Allied sappers used demolition explosives to blast this road out of the mountainside.
42:26It was designed to take a lot of weight.
42:28Constructed over 10 days and named Cavendish Road, it allowed Allied tanks to outflank the Germans.
42:39A maneuver that led to final victory.
42:41On June 5th, 1944, just two weeks after taking Monte Cassino, the Allies finally liberated Rome.
42:59A giant leap towards ending the war in Europe.
43:02But as Pete and Marty have discovered, victory on the road to Rome was achieved at enormous cost.
43:18Here you have 1,051 reasons to study the Battle of Monte Cassino.
43:231,051 lives that were cut short by it.
43:28And this is just one of the dozens of World War II military cemeteries on Italian soil today.
43:35You can tell that the spirits of these men reach through the decades to inspire people still
43:41living today because there are flowers and memorial candles.
43:45And these men are here to teach us a lesson.
43:49All we have to do is stop and listen.
44:03Bye.
44:15Bye.
44:23Bye.