During World War I , elite Italian soldier who were trained to struggle in freezing climates climbed luxuriously up into the Alps to battle enemies from Austria and Germany . The three - year warfare they wage , at elevations topping6500 feet , is often referred to as the White War . Now , 100 years later , that snow and shabu is easy fade — and what lie down beneath is like something straight out of a horror motion picture : The one C - old stiff of both Austrian and Italian soldiers , utterly bear on .
The great thaw seems to have started in 2004 , when three Austrian Hapsburg soldiers revealed themselves . Nearly every summertime since , the thawing ice has given way to a fistful of corpses — more than 80so far . There are for certain plenty more to find : Roughly 150,000 men died on the Alpine front , and not all in struggle . In fact , the elements were more cruel to the soldier than the combat was , with more thantwo - thirdsdying due to avalanches , frostbite , and unwellness .
Bodies are n’t the only things obscure under the deoxyephedrine . fantastically complex tunnels and garrisons were built mightily into the glacier and snow ; as it all melts , other wartime relics have lento look . archaeologist have expose photos of soldier ’ kinsperson , missive and diary , decks of card , evenfoodthat has been conserve in the cold for all of these years . But , in addition to battling the natural process of radioactive decay , archeologist have another challenge : getting to the remains and artifacts before freebooter unearth and sell them , either forscrap metalin the case of artillery , oronlinewhen the particular seem collectable .
Despite the incredible conservation , it ’s about unsufferable to identify the soldiers . Even so , the fallen men get respectful military funerals once they ’ve been dig up and sometimes studied by archaeologists . In 2013 , more than500 peopleturned out to honour two soldiers who had died during the Battle of Presena in May 1918 .
