- 15 hours ago
Abandoned Engineering - Season 15 Episode 12 -
Churchill's Shadow War
Churchill's Shadow War
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00:00In London, England, a secret subterranean network
00:03said to have influenced a world-famous author.
00:07It's rumored that his visits here
00:10inspired Cube Branch's secret lair in his novels.
00:15An epic structure in New Jersey, USA,
00:18where an extraordinary craft met a tragic end.
00:21The sight of this was unimaginably horrifying.
00:25Where's the center of life?
00:26Oh, the humanity.
00:28In Grimsby, a once glorious symbol of prosperity
00:32drawn into a devastating North Sea battle.
00:37Ultimately, countries like the US stepped in,
00:40as the conflict threatened to undermine international security
00:43at the height of the Cold War.
00:46And an Italian country retreat designed with a dark objective.
00:52This is a place to brainwash young people.
00:56After a stay here, they're all going to be fascists.
01:12In the heart of London is a covert facility built to guard against a tyrannical regime
01:18during a global war.
01:25There are shops and restaurants and commuters going back and forth.
01:30It's a perfectly typical city scene at first glance.
01:34But in one nondescript service area is the entrance to something pretty amazing.
01:41It feels like a forgotten railway tunnel, but you notice that it doesn't really add up to that.
01:49There are huge generators, rows of electronics, and even office spaces.
01:54You have to imagine that hundreds of people were down here.
01:58But why?
02:00For more than 80 years, this network of tunnels has been a key part of the protection of the
02:06citizens of the United Kingdom.
02:08At a time when Britain was facing its darkest hour, these tunnels were home to an elite organization.
02:18Its role was to wage a secret war against Hitler's forces in occupied Europe.
02:26If they failed, the country could fall into the hands of the Nazis.
02:30They are also said to have inspired a really important franchise.
02:34This is truly part of the life that Ian Fleming led that became the character that we know to be James Bond today.
02:48Angus Murray heads the organization that purchased these tunnels from a telecommunications company in 2024.
02:56They plan to raise more than 150 million pounds from investors to open them up to the public.
03:03It's a vast network, almost a citadel, right in the middle of central London.
03:09But really, nobody has seen the depth and size of what is within this complex.
03:16This site was first created in response to Hitler's ruthless bombing campaign that began in September 1940.
03:24It became known as the Blitz.
03:26This was not just an attack on military targets.
03:32It was a terror attack on British civilians in the heart of their major city.
03:39The constant wail of air raid sirens became like this grim soundtrack for life in wartime London.
03:48So the British government ordered the construction of purpose-built structures like this one.
03:53This was a deep level air raid shelter for London civilians, built underneath the London underground system.
04:03Construction began in November 1940, when hundreds of workers began carving out two parallel tunnels by hand.
04:11They were more than 16 feet across, 1200 feet long, and had space for almost 10,000 people, with access shafts leading to street level at each end.
04:23The tunnels would contain two decks each, and they would supply bunk beds, medical supplies, and kitchens for up to 9,600 terrified Londoners.
04:39They were completed in March 1942, but by the time they were finished, Nazi Germany had changed its strategy.
04:46The bombing campaign against London had lessened.
04:48So there was no longer a need for civilian shelter.
04:55For the next two years, the tunnels were used as troop accommodations.
04:59But soon, this underground labyrinth was given a new mission.
05:06In January 1944, towards the end of the war, a secretive organization moved in.
05:13It was called the Special Operations Executive, or SOE for short.
05:22The SOE was a top secret group set up by Winston Churchill to instigate all kinds of clandestine operations on the continent against the Nazis.
05:33So it was an organization of very brave men and women, nearly 13,000, of which about 3,200 people were women.
05:43These agents were trained to do operations in enemy-occupied territory, often parachuting in and performing acts of sabotage and espionage, or even to aid local resistance groups.
05:56But in order to do all of this, they needed specialized equipment.
06:01One branch of the SOE said to have been based here was the Inter-Services Research Bureau.
06:09They designed pistols with silencers for discrete attacks, suitcase radios.
06:16They even had something they called the exploding rat that was packed with explosives.
06:21Around six months after the SOE took up residence, they would be involved in the largest amphibious assault in history, D-Day.
06:34We believe they stayed for the entire period of 1944, so we assume that they were heavily involved in that particular operation.
06:44Churchill said he wanted the SOE to set Europe ablaze.
06:50By that, he meant that when it finally came time for the Allies to retake France, the ground would already be softened by these resistance groups that had disrupted rail networks, destroyed ammunition, anything they could do to degrade the Germans' ability to respond.
07:09While the exact role of the SOE agents working here is still a mystery, it's claimed that they inspired an iconic author and a blockbuster movie series.
07:24So Ian Fleming was the naval liaison officer to the special operations executive.
07:29Ian Fleming would have been coming down to these tunnels as we were leading up to what was obviously a naval operation.
07:36There's no question that this location inspired him, along with what the special operations executive was doing, to become Q Branch in James Bond.
07:49In the James Bond world, we have things like exploding suitcases, a cigarette lighter that becomes a flamethrower, coins that can track your location.
07:59The kinds of things that we can imagine being worked on or dreamed about in this underground workshop.
08:06In 1946, a year after the war ended, the SOE was disbanded.
08:15For the next six years, the tunnels were used to store official documents, until they were given a crucial new purpose during the Cold War.
08:25The whole tunnel complex was significantly expanded between the period of 1950 to 1952, when the British government determined it needed a deep-level telecommunications exchange.
08:39In a pre-digital age, a telephone exchange provided a place to manually connect incoming and outgoing calls.
08:48In the event of nuclear war, a secure location was needed to keep the country's communication lines open.
08:56This expansion was designed to do just that.
08:59This massive facility opened in 1954 and had 5,000 cables that were handling up to 2 million calls per week.
09:18Two years later, the deep-level tunnel network became the London terminal for the world's first transatlantic telephone cable, the TAT-1.
09:30This was the first time that you could carry the human voice clearly across the Atlantic in a split second.
09:37It was not until after the world had stood on the brink of destruction that the true value of the transatlantic cable became clear.
09:47In the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union had installed a battery of nuclear-tipped missiles in Cuba, basically right off the U.S. coast.
09:59For the U.S., the Soviet Union had crossed a line.
10:02It was a crisis for President John F. Kennedy, who had to find a way to force the Soviets to remove those missiles without provoking a nuclear war.
10:17This required delicate negotiations with the Kremlin.
10:22But with no dedicated connection between Washington and Moscow,
10:26it could take as long as 12 hours for leaders to communicate through secure diplomatic channels.
10:34In the end, Kennedy and his team negotiated a very deft and top-secret agreement with the Soviets
10:42that convinced them to remove their weapons.
10:46To avoid a repeat of this near-catastrophe, a quicker solution needed to be found.
10:52So, after that, a direct line of communication was established between the United States and Moscow
10:58using the TAT-1 cable that ran right through here.
11:02The receivers at either end were not what you might expect.
11:07When you think of a Cold War hotline, you might envision a big red telephone sitting in the Oval Office.
11:14But it was actually a teletype machine.
11:16It was believed that a written message would be less likely to be misinterpreted than a phone call.
11:23For the next 30 years, the tunnels continue to handle millions of government and civilian communications.
11:31But after that, this set of tunnels is basically abandoned.
11:35The advances in telecommunications equipment and technology made it pretty much obsolete.
11:41Today, the tunnels are being transformed into an immersive tourist experience.
11:54The principal objective we have is to tell that story of the men and women that sacrificed so much to give us our democratic rights.
12:03In New Jersey, USA, on the edge of the Pinelands National Reserve, is a site of extraordinary innovation and an infamous tragedy.
12:19We're in central New Jersey, about an hour south of New York.
12:24It's pretty obvious this is some kind of military base.
12:27As you enter the grounds, you see this structure which looms over everything.
12:32It's got to be longer than an entire city block and hundreds of feet tall.
12:38When you step inside, it opens up to this vast open space from floor to ceiling.
12:45There's nothing in here except storage space, but surely you wouldn't build something this big just for storage.
12:51Yet, that's exactly what this aircraft hangar was built for.
12:55What could the military be flying that could warrant a space this big?
13:01What passed through these doors was a revolutionary development.
13:05Anything airship-related really has its genesis here.
13:09It was a marvel at the time, and everyone wanted to see it.
13:12But with innovation came great risk.
13:15This structure dates back to a time when the United States was completely reimagining its air power.
13:34At this time, the Navy was searching for a better way to detect submarines off the coast and scout ahead of naval fleets.
13:45Germany utilized the innovative technology of rigid airships.
13:49This was a blimp, but with a metal interior framework.
13:53They were called Zeppelin, and the German military used them for aerial reconnaissance and bombing.
14:01Their success caught the attention of the United States, and they initiated the lighter-than-air program.
14:09In 1921, the Navy established Lakehurst Naval Air Station.
14:13It served as its headquarters, and its first major facility was Hangar 1.
14:20James Warwick joined the Air Force 37 years ago.
14:24He now serves as the historian for this joint base.
14:29The hangar was opened in June of 1921.
14:33Hangar 1 is 961 feet from door to door.
14:36It's 350 feet wide and about 200 feet tall.
14:42The Titanic could fit in here.
14:44Inside this building, naval engineers assembled the first American-built rigid airship, the USS Shenandoah.
14:54It made its maiden flight from Lakehurst on September 4, 1923.
15:00The Shenandoah became the first Navy ship to fly completely across the continental United States.
15:08The journey took the crew of around 40 people 19 days.
15:13But it was more than a publicity stunt.
15:16It proved that airships could be a valuable military tool.
15:20Having the ability to loiter for a long period of time was beneficial, especially when it comes to reconnaissance.
15:27You know, you can stay over an area for days if you are equipped properly.
15:32Despite their promise, these ships were still new and risky vessels.
15:37In 1925, the Shenandoah ran into a severe storm that broke the ship apart and killed 14 of the crew.
15:45But the Navy still supported the venture, in part due to the success of the German Zeppelins.
15:53And it wasn't just the military that were interested in these new airships.
15:57As one of the few airship ports in the world, Lakehurst was a destination for a new form of transcontinental travel.
16:05In October 1928, the German airship, the Graf Zeppelin, made the first transatlantic commercial flight.
16:13It flew from Friedrichshafen to Lakehurst with 40 crew and 20 passengers.
16:20The journey took four and a half days, which was considered blazingly fast by the standards of the time.
16:28In 1936, the Graf Zeppelin was eclipsed by an even bigger airship.
16:34One that made its inaugural flight as part of the newly established Nazi Germany, three years before World War II began.
16:43At a massive 804 feet long, it became the flagship for the fleet of transatlantic passenger airships.
16:54This was the Hindenburg.
16:56So, for the Hindenburg to come here during 1936, it was a major achievement for Germany.
17:03You've got to figure, for Adolf Hitler, it was a good propaganda tool, had the swastika on it.
17:09For the next 12 months, the Hindenburg operated a luxurious passenger service between Germany and Lakehurst.
17:16On the 3rd of May, 1937, the Hindenburg took off on its 63rd flight.
17:24It departed from Frankfurt to Lakehurst, carrying 36 passengers and 61 crew.
17:30What followed would be seared into the minds of hundreds of thousands.
17:39Well, because of the weather, the Hindenburg was about 12 hours behind.
17:43And the captain of Naval Air Station Lakehurst said, no, this weather's not conducive.
17:48So, the Hindenburg flew up and down the east coast a little bit.
17:50It flew over New York City.
17:51Since this was the airship's first flight of the season, Herb Morrison, a reporter from WLS Radio, and a film crew were recording its arrival.
18:03Behind me and to my right, over where that tree line is, that's where, you know, Herb Morrison and those other film crews were, you know, standing doing video.
18:13It's starting to rain again. The rain had flacked up a little bit.
18:16And so, as the Hindenburg made its approach, you know, it flew roughly from our left to our right over our heads,
18:23made a series of left turns before it came back into its final configuration of land, basically right above where we're standing now.
18:32The awestruck crowd watched on as more than 100 ground crew readied themselves to catch the Hindenburg's guide ropes.
18:41The back motors of the ship are just holding it just enough to keep it from...
18:46The hydrogen gas that filled the various compartments quickly caught fire.
19:01And in moments, the entire vessel was aflame.
19:05Within 34 seconds, the Hindenburg crashed in the open field just west of Hangar 1.
19:12This is terrible. This is one of the worst catastrophes in the world.
19:16Oh, it's like 20. All the humanity.
19:2313 passengers, 22 crew, and one member of the ground staff died.
19:27But miraculously, 62 people survived the crash.
19:32An official investigation followed.
19:35The leading theory was that as the Hindenburg came into land, a structural wire broke free, slashing open the hydrogen cells inside the ship.
19:46Then, a static charge caused by the stormy weather created a spark, igniting the volatile gas.
19:53The disaster of the Hindenburg really shattered the public confidence in airship travel, and that was the end of it.
20:03It remains one of the most notorious disasters in aviation history.
20:09In a tragic twist of fate, it's possible the Hindenburg's fiery end could have been avoided if it had been filled with the more stable helium instead of hydrogen.
20:22But the United States controlled almost all of the world's helium supply at the time.
20:26The U.S. government had recognised that it had potential military applications, such as airships, and banned its export to Germany in 1927.
20:38That meant that the Germans were forced to use the much more combustible and unstable hydrogen.
20:45At Lakehurst, airships continued to fly, but strictly for military purposes through World War II.
20:59After the war, their importance declined, and in 1961, the Secretary of the Navy terminated the lighter-than-air programme.
21:08Hangar 1 is now a registered historical landmark, and is open for tours to educate the public on its unique place.
21:15In aviation history.
21:23On England's east coast, it's the remnant of a proud enterprise, cut short in its prime.
21:35Towering over these misty docks is this industrial-looking beast.
21:40This complex is vast.
21:42Inside is kind of a wonderland of old technology, giant pipes and pumps and big machines.
21:52So clearly, this is a facility that was meant for moving and processing some kind of product.
21:58But what that product was isn't clear.
22:01The sheer size of the building suggests that whatever was made here was being done on an epic scale.
22:09This factory didn't just serve the needs of the surrounding area.
22:13It was involved in an industry that spread across the entire North Atlantic.
22:18And at that time, Grimsby was the largest and busiest fishing port in the world.
22:25So this enabled that.
22:27The commodity being caught was Cod.
22:32In the late 1950s, the dominance of Grimsby's industry, of which this building was a key part, would be drawn into a maritime conflict over a thousand miles away.
22:43At first, it was low-level sabotage, but tensions boiled over, and boats literally began to ram into each other.
22:52The situation became so tense, British Royal Navy warships were called into action.
22:59It ultimately led to a sweeping change in international law.
23:02John Lowe is a heritage consultant, and part of the team tasked with preserving the structure that helped put this town on the map.
23:18It's a Grade II star-listed building, which means it's in the top 4% of important historic buildings in the country.
23:25What it enabled was amazing.
23:27When we think about the kinds of resources upon which empires are built, we don't usually think of fish.
23:36But cod from the North Atlantic was an incredibly vital resource going back many centuries.
23:43In Grimsby, a fishing port can be traced back almost a thousand years.
23:49By the mid-1800s, the Industrial Revolution triggered a population boom.
23:54And the fishing industry here rapidly expanded to feed the masses.
24:00Demand was exploding, and any fish caught out at sea had to be kept cold and preserved.
24:06And in an era before refrigeration, the only way to do that was on ice.
24:12But where are you going to get the ice?
24:15Well, the answer is shockingly simple.
24:17By the late 1800s, Grimsby's fleet of trawlers had grown so large, it was impossible to keep them supplied using the ice harvesting method.
24:38If the fishing industry was to continue to prosper, an answer needed to be found.
24:45This is the Grimsby Ice Factory, which opened in 1901.
24:50This was an ice plant on a scale never before imagined.
24:56For a time, it was the largest ice factory in the world.
25:00So we're in the compressor house, which is the beating heart of the factory.
25:05This is where ammonia gas was compressed, converting it from a gas to a very high pressure, high temperature vapor.
25:13And then when that pressure is released, it's cold.
25:18They use that cold to chill down vats of brine.
25:22When you add a lot of salt to water, it gets a much lower freezing temperature.
25:28Into these vats of super chilled brine, they would lower canisters of fresh water.
25:35This is lowered into the brine, and over 24 hours, those big tanks of water get frozen into essentially very large ice cubes.
25:42These were then hoisted into a thawing tank, so the blocks could be removed and then put into a crusher.
25:50From the big crusher drums, the ice went up through elevators to conveyors, which took it out to the trawlers.
25:58The trawlers contained insulated holds to stop the ice from melting while the vessels were out at sea.
26:05That means the trawlers can go further afield.
26:08They can stay at sea for longer.
26:09The catch stays fresher.
26:12The catch can travel longer distances to market.
26:15Here was a fishing port that ran like a modern factory.
26:19You had massive trawlers going longer distances, and yet bringing back their catches perfectly preserved in ice.
26:29It enabled Grimsby to become the biggest fishing port in the world.
26:34Demand for ice continued to grow, and by 1931, the factory was producing a staggering 1,100 tons a day.
26:44That was enough to fill three and a half Olympic-sized swimming pools every week.
26:49But the fishing trawlers themselves were headed for dangerous waters.
26:56As these boats could go out farther and catch more fish, they were beginning to impinge on the interests of other fishing nations, in particular Iceland.
27:06Fishing was absolutely crucial to Iceland's economy, and they felt increasingly threatened by larger foreign fleets overfishing in their waters.
27:17Throughout the 1950s, 60s, and early 70s, Iceland worked to ban foreign vessels from fishing off their coast.
27:26First, by expanding its three-mile limit to four miles, then 12, and then 50.
27:32In 1975, it went one step further.
27:37Tensions peaked as Iceland unilaterally extended their fishing limits to 200 nautical miles.
27:46The UK was not going to take that sitting down.
27:50They told their fishing fleets to go ahead and fish where they wanted, and the UK would back them up.
27:56But it became almost a dare for the English trawlers to break and breach into the forbidden waters, as it were.
28:04And things got quite nasty.
28:07The Icelandic Coast Guard chased British trawlers and ripped up their nets.
28:12You are interfering with lawful fitting on the high sea.
28:17Over.
28:18In some cases, ships were ramming each other, which could be fatal out in the open ocean.
28:24The violent conflict became known as the Cod Wars.
28:30The target of the gunboat was the Grimsby trawler, Carlisle.
28:34She could only stand helplessly by as Baldur and Diomedes continued the skirmish, which ended in yet another Cod War collision.
28:42In total, Britain deployed 37 warships to escort the country's fishing fleet, protecting a UK industry worth around a billion pounds per year in today's money.
29:03Iceland's coast guard and fishing trawlers were no match for the strength of the Royal Navy.
29:09But Iceland had an ace up its sleeve.
29:13They threatened to close the strategically vital NATO base at Keflavik.
29:19Keflavik was positioned on Iceland's southwest coast, and it played an important role in monitoring Russian nuclear submarines in the North Atlantic.
29:28This caused serious alarm amongst Western allies, especially the United States.
29:35At the time of the Cold War, it was a very, very tense environment, and every piece of information was critical.
29:42The British government, under pressure from the United States and other NATO allies, was forced to negotiate.
29:49The UK chose to back down in 1976 and accepted the 200-mile limit.
29:55British fishing fleets were granted limited access to the waters, but with severe restrictions on catches.
30:04The agreement had a devastating impact on the UK's long-distance fishing industry and the port of Brimsby.
30:12Essentially, the fishing industry was decimated almost overnight by the cessation of fishing as far afield as Iceland.
30:19Soon, most countries around the world adopted the 200-mile limit.
30:25By the late 80s, the value of fish caught by Grimsby's trawlers had dropped from around £14 million per year in 1974 to just £500,000.
30:37In 1990, the ice factory was forced to close.
30:41It was a status symbol.
30:44It represented so much to the community, and it still does today.
30:48I think a new chapter in its life is needed.
30:50Today, the port of Grimsby is finding new life in a new resource push, which is offshore wind power.
31:04This is another instalment in the life of one of the great port cities of the UK.
31:10The old ice factory is set to be part of Grimsby's regeneration.
31:16Josephine Waugh is a member of the team working to revive the building.
31:20There is an existing legacy here of cutting-edge technology.
31:25And so the intention through the redevelopment of this space is to have this be a centre and a hub for research and development into renewable energy.
31:39In northern Italy, 20 miles from the city of Genoa, a secluded forest conceals a story of vengeful retribution.
31:50There's a clearing, and we can see a massive structure.
31:56It's got wings, it's got a clock tower, and it's not the kind of thing you expect to see in the Italian countryside.
32:04The location is stunning, so you might guess it was some kind of sanatorium or a hotel, even.
32:12A closer look reveals that the rest of the building is entirely bare, with many of the hints of its past life stripped away.
32:20Some rooms have the remains of showers, toilets, but the facilities feel far more functional than you'd expect in luxury accommodation.
32:30The biggest clue, though, as to its origin, is the style of the architecture.
32:34The design is typical of the 1930s, and that means only one thing.
32:41It was built during the reign of the fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini.
32:47This was a site intended to indoctrinate and secure the loyalty of the next generation of Italian children.
32:54But during the Second World War, it was taken over and used against the regime it was designed to protect.
33:03In the woods around this place, rumour has it that there are hundreds of soldiers in unmarked graves buried here in the name of freedom and revenge.
33:17Giuseppe Izzola is the mayor of Revegno.
33:27When he was young, this was a scenic getaway that had moved on from its unsettling beginnings.
33:33But the building's original function was not to treat a condition that affected children's bones, it was to shape their minds.
33:59In March of 1919, Benito Mussolini creates the fascist party.
34:28And he's going to recruit unemployed war veterans, and he's going to put them all in black shirts.
34:36For the next two years, Mussolini used his own personal army to terrorise political opponents,
34:44until eventually he was invited to join a coalition government.
34:48By 1925, he'd taken complete control.
34:52Mussolini relied heavily on propaganda to spread his fascist gospel to the people.
34:58An often used slogan was Mussolini is always right.
35:03Mussolini wants everyone to know that he is the most masculine guy in all of Italy.
35:11So he's ensuring that he gets himself photographed threshing grain.
35:19He plays with lion cubs.
35:22He is fearless.
35:24One other way he promoted his fascist ideals was to set up holiday camps all over Italy for young people, particularly from deprived neighbourhoods.
35:36Construction on this one began in 1934 and took just five months to complete.
35:42It was called the colonia di Rivegno.
35:45The idea was to show these young people a different way of life to what they were used to.
35:52To build character and to show them the fascist future of which they would be part.
35:58From the regime's point of view, this was vital, as these were the very people who would be the next generation of foot soldiers.
36:06But perhaps more worryingly, they were indoctrinated to believe in the regime and to see Mussolini as a father figure who would always provide for them.
36:30But only six years after the site opened, it suddenly had a very different function.
36:51On June 10, 1940, Mussolini declared war on France and Great Britain, forming part of Hitler's Axis powers during the Second World War.
36:59The colonia di Rivegno was drawn into the fighting.
37:02The colonia di Rivegno was drawn into the fighting.
37:03Genoa was Italy's busiest and largest port.
37:06And for that reason, it was bombed heavily by the allies.
37:09The city was being devastated and the residents needed somewhere to evacuate their children.
37:16The colonia di Rivegno's remote location, only 30 miles from Genoa, made it one of the safest places to send them.
37:24In October 1942, the dormitories were turned into classrooms where kids would both sleep and study.
37:33In winter, it was brutally cold, but it was a much better option than being in the city.
37:39But soon the allies would gain the upper hand. Mussolini's days as leader were numbered.
37:44In 1943, it all goes wrong for the Italian fascists. The allies are about to invade.
37:53In September, the new anti-fascist government signed an armistice with the allies, but the fighting was far from over.
38:00Hitler is not going to allow the allies to take all of Italy and to beat just the other side of the Alps from Germany and Austria.
38:11And so begins the Third Reich's bloodthirsty reign of terror in Italy.
38:17Any Italian who is suspected of siding with the allies is ruthlessly tortured and executed.
38:27The Germans don't love the Italians. They never really did. But now it shows.
38:34The population was brutalized and the time had come to fight back.
38:39From the winter of 1944, an intense partisan movement gathered pace in northern Italy.
38:47These resistance fighters vowed to violently oppose the German occupation and fascist loyalists.
38:54It was the perfect base to hide out from Nazi soldiers and organize guerrilla attacks.
39:19It was also used to detain Italian fascist loyalists and German prisoners of war.
39:26Hundreds of these prisoners were routinely executed by partisans and buried in the woods around the camp.
39:35After years of abuse of the Italian population, the partisans had had enough.
39:43They do not want to see those Germans going back to Germany and picking up their lives.
39:51They don't want to see the fascists going back to their communities and pretending nothing ever happened.
39:58But you can't ignore the role partisans played in the conflict.
40:20They fought doggedly to win back their homeland.
40:24The Italian partisans forced the Germans to get into a close-fought counterinsurgency campaign in northern Italy.
40:36And that is a massive suck on German combat power.
40:41On the 26th of April 1945, the Italian resistance movement freed the city of Genoa from German occupation.
40:50It was the first time during World War II that an army corps had surrendered to civilian partisan forces.
40:58When a German commander has got to surrender to partisans, Nazi Germany is humiliated.
41:07Four days later, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his Berlin bunker, and the war in Europe was effectively over.
41:17After the war, the Colonia di Ravegno went back to being a camp for children.
41:24This time to help those suffering from rickets, a vitamin D deficiency that weakens the bones.
41:31Exposure to sunlight was one way to treat it.
41:36It became a happy place for the children of Genoa to enjoy the countryside, to learn new skills, and most importantly, to get access to sunshine.
41:46But by the 1970s, the funding had started to dry up, and it was also no longer needed.
42:02It became abandoned.
42:09All over Italy are a number of these deserted colonies, which occupy beautiful locations.
42:15These are places potentially worth millions for the authorities' struggle to muster the political will to either bring them back to life or knock them down.
42:26So, until a new owner is found, this site remains a prescient symbol of what can happen when a ruthless individual rules by fear and hate.
42:37So, you'll see a great day.
42:39We'll see you next time.
42:41Goodbye.
42:42A new owner is for another city in London.
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