Coe pass, Trentino, Italy. Cold war. Ex NATO base Tuono ( Thunder) . The entrance to the base.
Image details
Contributor:
Ferdinando Piezzi / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
C950EHFile size:
28.7 MB (2.3 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
3872 x 2592 px | 32.8 x 21.9 cm | 12.9 x 8.6 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
12 October 2010Location:
Altopiano di Folgaria (Folgaria Plateau), Province of Trento, Italy,More information:
This image could have imperfections as it’s either historical or reportage.
They show themselves unexpectedly, camoufraged among the high fir-trees at Passo Coe (Coe Pass) : three ground-to-air missiles “Nike-Hercules” stand there to remind us how Europe and the rest of the World were on the verge of disaster in the years of the cold war. Altopiano di Folgaria (Folgaria Plateau), Province of Trento, Italy, year 1966 : the U.S.A. - U.S.S.R. Tension level was high -DEFCON 3 - the European continent was divided into two blocks, the nuclear armaments race was dangerously going on. N.A.T.O. ordered the activation of a missile base at Passo Coe, equipped with 27 Nike-Hercules, each of them could destroy a whole bomber squadron. Twelve bases with the same characteristics were scattered on the Italian territory, all of them in the North-Eastern part of the Country, where an hypothetical attack of the Warsaw-treaty troops could have taken place. Three bases were placed on the mountains, more or less 2, 000 metres high. Passo Coe's base was called “Base Tuono” (Thunder Base) and like its 'sisters', it had three launch-units (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie), each section had its own hangar, missiles, launching pads, and fallout shelter. When the cold war was over, those bases lost their strategic function and were dismantled one by one. Base Tuono's section Alpha, with its three disarmed Nikes still on their launching pads, was kept, a unique example in Europe, as 'Memory Park'. On October 3th, 2010, it was opened to the public, to never forget the past experiences of the cold war.