Question

World War I (1914-1918) is often associated with trenches, flamethrowers, and war planes. But some soldiers faced an even greater threat: ice and snow.

In 1915, Italy and Austria-Hungary began fighting each other along the Italian-Austrian border. The border comprised two glacier-covered mountain ranges, the Alps and the Dolomites. There, atop the world, a frozen battle called the White War took place.

Fighting in the mountains posed a huge challenge. Both Italy and Austria built bridges over ravines. They dug tunnels and excavated caves. Soldiers fastened rope ladders into rock face. To help defend their positions, they winched heavy artillery cannons and machine guns up cliff faces.

Both sides did what they could to make the challenging mountain conditions easier to tolerate. On the highest peak in the Dolomites, the Austrians dug an "ice city" into a glacier, complete with bedrooms. The Italians pursued a different engineering feat. They built a supply line called the Road of 52 Tunnels, which wound along the mountains. The road was constructed by 600 workers over 10 months in 1917.

But the military couldn't change the climate. Brief summers were followed by nine frigid months of winter, with pounding winds and temperatures as low as −22 Fahrenheit (−30 Celsius). Both sides did their best to combat the elements, equipping soldiers with skis, goggles, and snowsuits. Still, only a third of the 150,000 soldiers who died on the mountains were killed in battle. Most were lost to avalanches, frostbite, or illness brought on by the weather.

The conditions made positioning troops and weapons extremely difficult, and fighting seemed to take place in slow motion. Historians note that defending soldiers usually took the high ground. But heavy artillery was hard to aim on the uneven terrain. This made the troops very vulnerable.

A good example of this kind of fighting took place in the Dolomites at a spot known as the Castelletto, or Little Castle, a rock outcropping held by Austria. To win the location for Italy, Italian soldiers first tried to climb straight up the mountain. When that didn't work, they attempted a sneak attack in thick fog. That failed, too. Next, they tried, unsuccessfully, to send hundreds of men from three directions. Finally, the Italians decided to dig. Using chisels, hammers, and pneumatic drills, men worked in continuous shifts to slowly excavate a 1,500 foot (457 meter) tunnel under the Austrians. They moved at a rate of up to 30 feet (9 meters) a day. When the tunnel was finally finished, soldiers hauled in crates of explosives. Then, nearly five months after the tunneling began, an explosion left a huge crater in the side of the mountain. It blew free enough rocks to fill a thousand dump trucks. The next day, the Italians hauled machine guns up to what was left of the Little Castle and used them to hold the position.

Even though the White War took place over a hundred years ago, its legacy remains. Because of the isolated location, artifacts from the war are still discovered today. Hikers along the Road of 52 Tunnels often stumble upon shrapnel, bullets, and even pieces of bone. At an Austrian camp 12,000 feet (3.66 kilometers) up, preserved sauerkraut, letters, newspapers, and snowshoes were recently uncovered.

The impacts of climate change have also revealed remnants of the fighting. After the war, the ice reclaimed the battlefields. But as temperatures rise in the 21st century, glaciers have melted, unlocking artifacts like diaries and letters in near mint condition. And in 2012, the preserved bodies of two Austrian soldiers were pulled from a once frozen area. Later that year, 500 people attended a funeral for the soldiers.

Question 7


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The Article states:
The conditions made positioning troops and weapons extremely difficult, and fighting seemed to take place in slow motion…. But heavy artillery was hard to aim on the uneven terrain. This made the troops very vulnerable.


Which is the closest synonym for the word vulnerable?


ferocious
jubilant
defenseless
restless

Answer 1

defenseless