Global warming is defrosting ... World War I corpses

First the defrosted guns, then the diary, the letters, and then . the human body!

In an event considered the most horrifying outcome of global warming up to this point, one revealed the corpses of soldiers killed in World War I. After nearly a century, perfectly preserved frozen bodies lay dormant in the ice sheets that came back to tell about the most majestic war in history - "White War".

In May 1915, when the First World War took place for 10 months, the newly united Italy decided to join the Allies. Italy, wishing to expand its borders, decided to launch a war with Austria to annex the regions of Trentino and southern Tirol. This conflict led to the result that we are known as the "White War ": a deadlock in the long, cold four years between the Italian Alpini warfare army and the Austrian side. Their army was Kaiserschutzen. The war took place in high mountains, with special weapons and facilities such as ice trenches and cable transports. Normally, the two sides will use firepower to try to cause avalanches on the other party's barracks to create "white death" that takes thousands of lives.

Today, spending decades of global warming, the Presena glacier in the old war is melting, revealing the ruins of the White War. Notably, these artifacts are carefully preserved following the melting glacier from the early 90s: a love letter from 1918 never came to a girl named Maria; some verses for an old friend, scribbled in a diary; a picture of a sleeping woman signed in Czech, "Your abandoned wife".

After almost a century, the bodies remained the same. Because of the cold, the bodies that appeared from under the ice were almost intact, still in their previous attire. Last September, two Austrian men emerged from the ice, 17 and 18 years old, had blue eyes and blond hair, with bullet holes in their skulls.

Franco Nicolis from the local archaeological heritage office told the Telegraph: "The first thing I think about is their mothers; soldiers emerge from the ice just like when they were sunk, mothers have I will never know about the fate of my children. "

Local authorities have worked hard for years to uncover the ruins of this forgotten war. In 2004, Maurizio Vicenzi, a local guide and head of the Peio War Museum, discovered the upside-down body of three soldiers at an ice wall at 3,657 meters - victim of one of the most fierce fronts in history. Following that are a series of other findings. In a rare discovery, the group discovered an obscured ice tunnel. After using large-sized ventilating fans to melt the ice, the inside gradually showed a giant wooden structure used as a transport station for ammunition and supplies.

Most of the corpses discovered were transferred to the office of Daniel Gaudio, an anthropologist who was assigned to search for the identities of war victims. Although most cases he can extract DNA, the ability to find the identities of the bodies is very rare because of the lack of contextual information - which is necessary to determine the origin of the place. family of war victims.

So far, more than 80 bodies have been found from glaciers, and there will certainly be more. According to historian Mark Thompson, author of the White War, only Italy has more than 750,000 soldiers killed in the war. Next summer, archaeological groups will continue to search for what remains in the ice and the corpses will surely be found when climate change will certainly continue and help accelerate. thawing.

And now, winter is still present. Not far from the location of the bodies of the first soldiers discovered is Peio - a ski resort, where Italian, Austrian, German and Russian citizens once again enjoy the alpine atmosphere, of course in peace!