In 1917, Austria was an ally of Germany during W.W.I. This documentary, an Austrian production, shows us an Austrian air base located in the Tyrol Mountains near the Italian front. For months on end, the soldiers had to face the extreme climatic conditions of the region, succumbing to both the cold and avalanches. In 1919, the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye was to split up the Austrian province of Tyrol between Austria and Italy.

The interest of this film resides notably in the depiction of the war, which renders the conflict attractive for the audience. Indeed, the latter hasn't access to the very images of the combats. Thus edited, the shots of the military base and raid tell the story of the scouting, and give the audience the sensation of being at the very heart of the strategy.

Sascha Film, which produced this documentary, was founded in 1910 by Count Alexander Joseph von Kolowrat-Krakowsky (1886-1927), better known under the name of Sascha Kolowrat. Established in Vienna since 1912, Sascha Film is one of Austria's leading studios. It produces documentaries, works of fiction, exploration films like Beim Johannesfall in den Radstädter Tauern (1917), as well as propaganda films during the war. The Count was to be, moreover, decorated for his cinematic contribution to the war effort. Among the notable productions of this company we might cite Sodom and Gomorrah (1922), directed by Michael Curtis (1886-1962) and Café elektric (1927), directed by Gustav Ucicky (1898-1961) and starring Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992). In 1938, when Austria became annexed to Germany, the company was renamed Wien-Film GmbH, and belonged to the Nazi government.

This film was restored in 2003 from an original nitrate print preserved by the Swiss Cinematheque in Lausanne.

The original music for this film was composed by Fabien Cali in 2011 in the context of the call for proposals launched in partnership with the Sacem (Société des auteurs compositeurs et éditeurs de musique – Society of authors, composers and music editors).