Film of cultural interest as per Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities,
Directorate General for Cinema. Funded by support as per law no.28 of 2004
Funded by tax credit as per law no. 244 of December 24, 2007 under text credit law
The snowy peaks and cliffs of the Eastern Alps.
It's the part of Italian land
where the human footprint is least visible.
Wilderness still takes center stage.
The remaining woodlands are organized in protected parks
that offer an ideal habitat
to the copious animal species that choose to call it home.
These mountains are a natural barrier to the chilly Northern winds.
They preserve our country's climate.
A hundred years ago, these mountains, back then heaven on Earth,
were transformed into a living hell.
It's World War I.
The Italian front stretches for over 600 km.
Four-fifths of the front is in the Alps, even on peaks above 3,000 m.
Nature's balance and harmony are irreversibly destroyed.
The ground is shaken by explosions,
invasive excavations, and polluting chemicals.
The Great War lasted for four years.
Four hellish years, from 1914 to 1918.
The countries involved left millions of bodies behind.
Italy's count alone goes up to 650,000 deaths
and 1.5 million injured.
It's the first technological war, and the last from the 19th century.
Why did this appalling conflict,
whose outcome nobody could foresee, spark at all?
Each country had their good reasons.
The newborn German nationalism aimed at expanding its economic outreach.
They strived for African colonies like those of France and England,
and were building a mighty fleet.
England wasn't too keen on Germany's expansion plans,
fearing for its sea border,
and was eager to put a halt to Germany's colonial ambitions.
France wanted revenge for the defeat of 1870
and to reclaim the territories ceded to Germany,
especially Alsace, rich in minerals.
For Russia, it was of utter importance to have a Mediterranean outlet.
And for this reason, they supported Serbia's nationalist policies.
Italy was torn between picking sides, between Germany and Austria's side,
or France and England's.
But eventually, lined up against Austria and Germany
in the hope of reclaiming the territories of Trieste, and Gorizia,
and those of Trento.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire felt menaced on all sides,
and had to cope within its boundaries against freedom and irredentist movements,
which were running rampant in the various countries of its empire.
They couldn't tolerate the nationalistic claims of Serbia,
who wanted to create a big Slavic kingdom,
stealing Croatia and Slovenia from Austria.
The winds of war pushed these countries to a swift arms race.
Germany was long well-prepared.
And of all the other armies, it was undoubtedly the most advanced.
During this time, new warfare technologies made their appearance in history.
Nevertheless, this remains a traditional conflict.
Among the many strategic tools inherited by the 19th century,
the use of animals is worth mentioning.
Horses played a major role
and many still admire the old heroic and rhetoric nostalgia
of majestic cavalry charges.
For a war like this, which went down in history as a World War,
the contribution of animals was huge.
We're talking about millions of horses alone.
All countries start raking in horses from farms and ranches.
The owners are forced to give up their animals
because of military conscription.
These horses, which were often untamed, are subjected to a rough training.
They must be ready to face the enemy,
and there's no time for good manners and kindness.
The best results must be delivered in a few weeks' time.
But many others cared fastidiously after their four-legged companion.
Mostly not officers,
but rather soldiers coming mostly from the countryside
who give the animals back home, their main work tool,
the old care and attention.
Horses will be used as transportation
and power train for carts.
They will be trusted companions in the cavalry regiments.
And they will also be, if necessary, meat for the starving soldiers in the trenches.
Cavalry is the most obvious symbol of the ethos of the Great War.
An idea which couldn't keep up with reality much longer.
Many cavalry regiments are left horseless, and thus, lose their dynamism.
They're forced to hole up in trenches.
Big cavalry maneuvers are abandoned in favor of a war utilizing position.
Some horsemen preferred to give up their horse,
that is, they chose to transform it into a much more effective weapon.
Airplanes. Always more and more sophisticated.
This is what horseman Francesco Baracca did.
He succumbed to the charm of airplanes, horses of the sky.
His plane becomes the terror of the Austrian Air Force.
On its airplane's fuselage, a prancing horse was painted
in honor of his history as a horseman.
He took down 34 enemy aircrafts, always in chivalrous fashion,
and worrying about his enemies' fate.
"I aim at the plane, not at the man."
Francesco Baracca died at 30...
HERE DIED MAJOR FRANCESCO BARACCA ACE OF THE ACES - 19TH JUNE 1918
...in the sky over Montello.
He wasn't shot down by an enemy plane, but by an Austrian sniper.
That prancing horse from the Great War was then adopted
by an up-and-coming car manufacturer, Enzo Ferrari.
Baracca's horse never really stopped.
It is known all over the world.
It's the most notorious monument among those dedicated
to the animals fighting in the Great War.
When in 1914, the Great War breaks out,
all armies were propelled by animals.
HISTORIAN
Over time, the idea of employing dogs as well caught on.
Dogs were trained in various ways and times in the fighting countries.
The most prepared were undoubtedly the Germans,
who had been training dogs for a long time, especially for policing.
At that time, many handbooks were published on how to train dogs.
Many of those systems are not totally unlike to those used today.
And they were pretty tender, like positive reinforcement.
Dogs are rewarded when they do what they're tasked.
In Italy as well, dogs were enlisted in the army.
They underwent a medical inspection. Owners were invited, so to speak,
to surrender their pets to the veterinarians of the military,
who visit them and select the eligible specimens.
They're then assigned to training.
Dogs and men become, thus, a duo caught between life and death.
Soldiers showing love to their dogs
are a common sight during the downtimes of warfare.
But they are allowed to do so with only their animal.
Owning a pet is a powerful outlet of emotions.
Officers, provided they had a permit,
were allowed to bring their pet to the front.
Other soldiers as well found a way.
Dogs left behind by their owners fleeing from the war were often adopted.
There are many images
of groups of soldiers flanked by literal underdogs.
Our beloved mutts.
Dogs which are not purebred and that no one would choose
to serve in the army or in transportation. They're just there for companionship.
They were portrayed and captured in many pictures,
looking happy near field kitchens and near their new friends.
Sadly, in the diaries,
soldiers also wrote how they were forced to abandon them
every time they moved.
Dogs were trained in huge areas outside cities,
where they're gradually accustomed
to have no fear of gunshots or loud noises.
Dogs were initially trained to bark when someone injured was found.
They bark to alert the medical command,
so that they can recover or treat injured soldiers.
Once the military cap is fetched, dogs must return to the friendly lines
and reach the trenches, where they're awaited by their owners.
The affectionate bond between man and dog is reinforced here too.
During the war, there were thousands of soldiers saved by these canine heroes
in the ranks of all fighting armies.
ITALIAN RED CROSS
In the pictures of World War I, you can see famous dogs,
unknown dogs, dogs known only by their name or their appearance.
Some of them were canine celebrities, mentioned in their owners' diaries.
One of them was the dog of Oberleutnant Felix Hecht von Eleda,
who was injured on the Russian front in 1914. Once healed,
he was sent to the Italian front.
There, he was gifted a German Shepherd.
He christened him Stivo in honor of a mountain
that was dear to his heart. Stivo followed him in his everyday life
on this peak at almost 3,000 m living alongside soldiers in trenches.
He was very often cared after by the batman of the Oberleutnant.
At first, Stivo was very scared by gunshots,
so he was the one needing support.
But he soon started to be the one giving support
to the whole garrison with his presence. Having a dog around meant
feeling a bit more at home. It reminded them of their past lives.
"A captain gave me a wonderful German Shepherd called Stivo, which I'm fond of."
"Early in the morning, I took the chairlift down with him.
"He was very scared of his first time traveling in the air.
"Thanks to Stivo, I don't feel alone anymore.
"He pricks his ears when he hears grenades.
"He's always eager to carry objects in his mouth, especially my haversack.
My dog is extremely well-behaved."
Stivo's fate is unknown. He disappeared with Lieutenant Hecht
in the glaciers of Corno di Cavento in a very rough fight,
which was won by Italy.
Lieutenant Hecht's remains went missing, together with his dog.
Dogs were also trusted with other delicate tasks.
They became draft animals.
Dogs were employed in this way for the first time
by the Austro-Hungarians. They even made carts to fit dogs.
They were used to carry ammunition, weapons, food, water,
and sometimes even the injured.
Transportation on frozen trails was possible only with sleds.
Big wooden sleds which, especially around Mount Adamello,
were used by the Italian Army.
Excavations in the ice made the transportation of supplies possible.
Tunnels are created for the dog sleds and the men riding them.
Alarm! Alarm!
A hundred years later,
the human-dog relationship in the Italian Army is still the same.
In the Army Veterinary Center in Grosseto, dogs are trained to detect mines.
This is just training, but dogs like these
were deployed in Lebanon and Afghanistan to demine areas with lots of mines.
Another task of army dogs is in counter-terrorism ops.
Dog and trainer become a new six-legged creature.
Only a nod is required to make the dog spring into action,
which uses its nose to detect the dangerous perp.
Its task is immobilizing the target
and letting the team storm in safely.
Dogs are trained to not let go until the trainer gives the order.
The dog's aggressiveness is contained to the raid only.
These animals are actually very affectionate with humans.
They share everything with their companions.
They even sleep in the same tent as if they were long-time comrades.
These displays of affection are the same as those found
in the trenches of the Great War.
While in Germany, thousands of dogs are trained and deployed,
around 50,000, and 30,000 more in Austria,
Italy deployed less dogs. Even if we don't have statistics
that are precise enough.
They were mostly employed for transportation
and not for searching for injured soldiers.
This is also due to the kind of battleground
the conflict took place on.
Dogs were mostly employed in the mountains,
where they're extremely valuable for rescue after an avalanche.
A deep, intimate relationship. Twenty-four hours a day.
Dog trainers are also responsible for very dangerous and specific tasks.
Together with dogs,
the other animal which became a symbol of World War I is the mule.
Over 500,000 mules were deployed by Italy during the conflict.
They were crammed into ships and trains,
to be taken to assembly points at the back of the battlefront.
Mules were trusted
with one of the toughest tasks of the Great War.
Fighting in the mountains, on snow and ice.
They carry anything, but more often than not,
it's single pieces of cannons. The 105/14 howitzer
was the real protagonist of skirmishes on the mountains.
Mules were made to carry all kinds of weights,
from cooking crates and medical division crates,
to hay and water bins. They even transported field kitchens.
First-choice mules, the toughest ones,
are trusted with weapons and ammunition, especially artillery pieces.
The second and third-choice mules, smaller and weaker,
are usually employed by the alpine infantry
for the transportation of tents and supplies.
In a world where life and death are separated by pure chance,
relationships deepen.
Men and animals depend on each other,
a deep relationship that must be preserved at all costs.
During the walks that I went on when I was a child,
in the Rome of the '30s, I was very often taken to this monument.
It was my favorite destination, because it was a visual confirmation
of the stories told by my father, who had fought in World War I
in the Alpine Artillery.
He used to have a donkey, which carried a cannon.
This donkey was, in his and my memories,
the protagonist of those years of warfare. He didn't tell me about the deaths,
massacres, and terror.
He used to tell me about the deep friendship
and the big help that his donkey was to him
and many others in the same group
of soldiers deployed in the mountains. He also told me
about the calmness that the donkey used to transmit to alpine soldiers
during the retreat of Caporetto. These donkeys and mules
were devoted to their owner and companion in the storm of the war.
To me, this is a wonderful memory depicted by this monument.
It makes me think both of my father and his stories.
It also gives me a better picture
of a lesser-known side to those frightening years of war.
This calm, placid, strong animal was deeply loved
by the soldier that fought with it.
I got sad when I thought about my father's mule.
I got sad when I heard that there were fewer and fewer.
That is, until the announcement
that alpine troops were to get rid of these trustworthy animals.
There was a wonderful moment when former soldiers,
knowing that these animals were destined
for a slaughterhouse or to be sold to who knows who or where,
they joined forces to buy
the old, remaining mules that fought in the war alongside them.
Mules also doubled up as safe guides for the alpine soldiers.
A master who knows his way around the mountains.
It's not a coincidence that those tracks are still called mule tracks today.
It's heavy! Drop it.
They are brothers in arms, valuable and indispensable allies.
They brought back the comrades who had fallen in the conflict.
They brought warmth during stormy nights.
They were useful even after dying,
as their bodies were used to feed the starving soldiers.
It was a long time before mechanical transportation
succeeded in replacing them.
Technological advancements revolutionized fighting techniques.
Machine guns, tanks, and aerial bombing were all innovations adopted by armies
during the fourth year of the conflict. Radio and telephone were still a novelty,
revolutionizing the communication between trenches and command centers.
Radio was used to guide gunfire towards the enemy
in the blurriest seconds of battling.
But communications are also easy to intercept.
To prevent this, an ancient means of communication is employed.
In 1914, all armies of the major powers owned divisions of homing pigeons.
They are trusted with messages like these,
nowadays preserved as valuable testimonies.
ORIGINAL MESSAGES FROM THE ITALO-AUSTRIAN WAR
They are trained by specialized personnel.
No one can outmatch a pigeon when it comes to the speed
and distance covered in a short span of time.
Pigeons get attached to their birdhouse.
When travelling back home, it's unlikely that they'll lose their way.
But if they do, they don't stop flying.
They just fly in big circles until they find their way back.
A strong network of advanced birdhouses
provides a valuable means of communication to the Italian Army
between troops on the front lines and command centers.
Mobile birdhouses could carry up to 100 pigeons,
while trailed birdhouses could carry up to 120.
Once written, the message is inserted in a cylindrical leather pouch.
The cylinder is then tied to the bird's leg.
Training was fast,
and consisted of making the pigeon fly increasing distances,
starting with two kilometers, reaching up to ten times as far.
Experiments were done using pigeons to take pictures from the sky...
but it didn't work out.
Homing pigeons took the risk of being shot down or captured
by those who wanted to steal their messages.
In the Great War,
birds and dogs also served as alarms against a specific chemical enemy.
Their sensory system is much sharper than the humans'
in detecting a silent but lethal weapon.
Gas.
It was an English invention which was deployed by the French for the first time.
Gasses were used mercilessly by Germany and Austria.
They can paralyze, suffocate, and burn,
and very few defenses were actually effective.
At the beginning of the war,
armies relied on winds to spread the lethal gas.
Pretty soon, cannon bullets and hand grenades were used
to target the effect of gas more effectively.
In order to protect men and animals alike, the fighting armies invented
various types of gas masks.
Many varieties are made with the illusion
of being able to counteract its effects.
Alarm! Alarm!
Dogs, horses, and mules mutated into bizarre beings.
Their eyes weren't really affected,
and only their respiratory tract needed protection.
After the animals give their alarm,
there's only a few moments' time to put on a mask,
which is still not very effective.
On July 6th, 1917,
Germans use mustard gas for the first time,
an aggressive chemical too strong for gas masks.
It can easily penetrate leather and cloth garments
to inflict painful burns.
Pietro Storari is a soldier in the 121st Infantry Regiment.
"Most of the bodies had a greenish hue"
"because of the mighty gas which took us by surprise.
"Those who were left unconscious, among them a Major,
were brutally massacred with iron clubs.
"It took two days for military trucks
"to transport the bodies to the nearest cemetery.
Attacks went on both sides, but with no advancements at all."
It is estimated that 2,000 Italian soldiers died on that day,
and another 1,000 died in the following days,
or were left disabled.
Gas played a key role on October 24th, 1917 too,
when the Austro-German offensive on the Italian front kicked off.
In Plezzo, today belonging to Slovenia,
Italians soldiers barricaded in trenches had no idea what was going to happen.
At dawn, bombardments start.
More than 2,000 bombs with phosgene were dropped.
It's the start of the defeat of Caporetto, a village near Plezzo.
Francesco Isola belonged to the 155th Infantry Brigade Alessandria
stationed in Plezzo.
"The air was unbreathable."
"It was impregnated with gas and the sulfuric smoke of explosions.
"A hand grenade with poison gas made us readily put up the mask.
"I was barely outside the shelter, when in the blink of an eye,
"I saw before me the figures of enemy soldiers,
"who surrounded me with bayonets aimed at my chest.
"And thus, after becoming prisoner of war,
"everything I had done and sacrificed up until then,
vanished in a second, for a coincidence which wasn't my fault."
The generals in command were the ones to blame,
especially Marshal Cadorna, who, in spite of the copious warnings,
couldn't anticipate the enemy's next moves.
A deep breach is opened in the Italian lines.
Soldiers flee and civilians follow suit.
After a few days, there are 250,000 prisoners,
400,000 displaced civilians, and 40,000 deaths.
Around the bodies, life thrives.
Rats are the most widespread animals on battlegrounds.
Rats live alongside humans, or rather, they live on them.
They feed on the blood and meat of the millions of dead.
They're the true enemy of all armies and there's no way to defeat them.
Rats of all sizes,
from small mice able to sneak in every nook and cranny,
to huge rats ruling over dead and alive.
This is the description of Luigi Gasperotto,
volunteering officer in the Karst region.
"Big rats with unending tails were running on benches,"
"stepping on people's faces to lick their lips.
"The only way to coexist with them,
was wrapping up in blankets and let them do their thing."
Dogs make their comeback, especially small-sized ones,
but with no relevant training and often thought of as useless.
And yet, they gave a valuable contribution to soldiers in the trenches.
These small dogs were the perfect hunters for rodents.
Rats become preys to be showcased with morbid satisfaction.
The retreat in Caporetto stops on the shores of the River Piave.
This is the scene of the first Italian attempt
of stopping the advance of the Austrian and German armies.
An uncertain attempt. The higher ranks of the Italian Army
had expected to retreat behind the River Mincio, near Mantua.
Austria had occupied a big portion of Italian territory,
but, contrary to the expectations, they didn't continue their advance.
They stop at the River Piave, starting another war of position.
Trenches are again center stage.
The horror comes back in those deep furrows.
Beyond the trenches, in no man's land, decomposing bodies are piled up.
Not being able to wash for weeks,
the unsanitary conditions in the trenches
facilitate the proliferation of parasites.
Foot soldiers prefer sleeping under the cold rain
to keep fleas and lice at bay.
Parasites crawl under the bandages on the calves,
and provoke sores and inflammation.
Fleas are the most detested and feared animal.
This calamity is often mentioned in the letters sent from the trenches.
"I examined the white tie and I immediately spotted a flea."
"There's no hope."
"Before going to bed, for those who get to do that, there will be thousands."
Resting and disinfestation stations are of little use
for the divisions coming from the front.
The only effective solution is boiling the uniforms.
On opposite banks of the River Piave,
Austrians and Italians alike, start boiling big pots of water.
Armies channel their hostility towards a common enemy.
Maybe the most fearsome of the Great War.
Boiling water imposed rough justice on the fleas,
but it takes a few hours in the trenches
for the fleas' assault to relentlessly recover.
On the front line, the other big nuisance is starvation.
Getting food to the front line is not an easy task,
despite the war kickstarting the biggest mass-catering effort in history.
Every day, millions of men and animals have to be fed.
For many soldiers coming from humble rural areas,
the dietary change is dramatic.
With the higher protein intake, they put on weight.
This especially happened behind the front line,
because food was scarce. There wasn't even enough drinkable water.
To facilitate supplies, slaughterhouses are set up near the front.
Poultry, pigs, cattle, and horses,
are brought alive to the slaughterhouses. Some animals, like oxen and horses,
are used to transport other animals and are nicknamed "standing meat".
These obedient animals were orderly slaughtered one by one.
It was easy for those there to make a comparison
between the animals' and the soldiers' fate.
The human slaughterhouse run by the generals
seemed to be following a mathematical rule,
as if victory were determined by the number of fatalities.
The Americans helped massively with the food supply.
In the USA, the food preservation industry is cutting edge.
Rivers of canned meat flood the European fronts.
Food was pivotal for the war's outcome,
and was the death of Austria and Germany.
German strategists are caught between the use of animals for fighting
and food needs.
The 22,000 workhorses of the Austro-Hungarian Army
are down to less than 2,000 units in March 1918.
The number of donkeys and mules was halved.
Basically, all cattle were confiscated and used for food.
These are the words found in the diary of a Hungarian soldier
belonging to the 14th Division posted on the River Piave.
"At 12:45 p.m. the news came that the 57th Regiment,"
"after numerous deaths and the complete scarcity of food,
isn't fit for fighting."
IN THE NAME OF GOD AND THE PEOPLE WE ARE ONE
The food crisis and the overall exhaustion of the German
and Austrian armies trigger an unexpected failure.
From the River Piave, Austrians start a catastrophic retreat.
Italian troops follow in pursuit.
Back in 1918, when the Armistice was signed,
the Austro-Hungarians quickly abandoned their positions.
Italians were ordered to pursue them and take as many prisoners as possible,
at the same time as occupying all the territory they can.
At that time, in the Adamello area,
in the village of Temù, a chase was started by a group of soldiers
that looked after dogs,
abandoned the same dogs they used for transportation
by chaining them inside of a shack.
Many of these dogs died there, but many of the strongest
managed to break free and formed packs of stray dogs.
Dogs from the Adamello area were all Maremmano-Abruzzese sheepdogs.
Their candid fur, their strength and stamina,
their determined nature, and their generosity,
make them the ideal dogs to deploy on the mountain fronts.
But in the inebriation of victory while chasing after the enemy,
they were abandoned to their fate.
After the victory, soldiers just want to go back home.
These dogs didn't have this chance,
and will forever sleep in the ice of Mount Adamello.
War is coming to an end, when a new creature
sneaks into the ranks of the fighting armies.
It's invisible,
but it's the most dangerous and deadliest enemy
for soldiers and civilians alike.
MEN MOWED DOWN LIKE GRASS
It's a microscopic virus known as the Spanish Influenza.
It's one of nature's weapons, that claimed more victims
than all the gas and the bombs of the whole conflict.
Over a billion people were infected.
Twenty-two million people died.
The epidemic had origins in China, and was soon to spread to America...
SPAIN - FRANCE - GERMANY AUSTRIA-HUNGARY - RUSSIA - TURKEY
...before coming to Europe through the Spanish coasts,
travelling with the troops sent by the U.S.
The war fought by men
was joined by a bioweapon which couldn't be fought,
and over which no one could prevail.
It was thanks to the economic strength of the United States though,
that the final victory was reached, putting an end to the war.
For the Americans, it puts an end to isolation.
For Europe, it's the end of an era where it was the center of the world.
When the USA entered the conflict,
they were deeply indebted with European banks.
At the end of the war, the debit became a credit
of several billions at the time.
Thanks to the Americans,
some animals made history as superstars and heroes.
Cher Ami was a female homing pigeon
which was intercepted by German snipers while carrying an important message.
It was shot, but in spite of a bloody foot wound,
it kept on flying.
The message it was carrying saved many lives.
Cher Ami was treated as a national heroine.
PDSA FOR GALLANTRY WE ALSO SERVE
It is embalmed in the National Museum of American History.
Stubby, a stray pit bull terrier, saved many lives.
He was able to smell gas...
and recognize the high-pitched note of grenades,
just in time to avoid them.
He's the hero of the Marne,
and once the war was over, he became a star.
There was another dog with a lucky fate. A wolf dog found by an American soldier
in a kennel in Lorraine. Its name was Rin-Tin-Tin.
Once he arrived in the USA, Rin-Tin-Tin found,
thanks to his special skill,
a job in the film industry, becoming a world star.
A privileged survivor,
a living testament to the self-sacrifice of dogs during the Great War.
For Italy, the war ends with the last foolish cavalry charge
wanted by the heroic fanatism of the general in command.
This is how the event was described by the writer Luigi Gasparotto.
"Horses died under machine gun fire...
dragging the last Italians to the enemy at the final hour of the war."
Now the trumpets can be blown. The enemy retreats, waving the white flag.
It's the Armistice.
Almost 11 million horses, mules, and donkeys, 200,000 pigeons,
and 100,000 dogs were enlisted
by the Allied armies and the Central Powers.
How many of them fell with their soldiers?
No one can know,
but it was estimated that over 50% fell in combat.
What is left of those animals, innocent by definition,
that took part in the massacre at the beginning of the century?
Many bodies were abandoned, left to rot on the battleground.
It's on those battlefields, sometime after the war,
that an English company, which still exists today, flourishes.
It produces fertilizer.
The industry collects animal carcasses
and probably some of the soldiers buried in the ground too.
It reduces those bones to dust and transforms them into manure.
From the River Marne to the Piave, the harvest is bountiful.
That fertilizer is then applied to fields around Europe,
scattering the ashes of humans and animals alike on the dark ground.
Flowers bloom on those same fields, unaware of what fed them.
Maybe awareness is best left to poets.
OF THE MANY WHO WERE SO CLOSE TO ME NOTHING REMAINS, NOT EVEN THAT
THIS RAVAGED VILLAGE IS MY HEART
Sottotitoli: Nicolas Gasco