In may 218,BC,Hannibal left spain with an army of about 90,000 men and 37 elephant which he believed were needed to get them over the mountains In the next few mouths under his inspiring leadership they marched through spain to the pyrenees and then to the south of france they moved about 16 kilometres a day and were frequently attacked by local tribesmen they reached the river rhone and accomplished the unbelievable task of building huge rafts to ferry the elephants across some fell off but managed to swim using their trunks as snorkels It was now autumn and snow stared the Alps the army helped by the elephant struggled on slipping and sliding over ice and snow over the main pass finally there were in sight of Italy Their five-month journey at an end Hannibal's army of 90,000 was reduced to 36,000-over half his men had perished or deserted on the way winter storms now killed all but one of his elephants