- 4 weeks ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Great Britain to innovate new defensive tactics against their enemies.
00:05From Poland's clever repurposing of explosives
00:08to a covert system of massive machinery.
00:12Polish defenders had a secret weapon, the Laskowski Battery.
00:16From France's building of an ambitiously elaborate and impressive defence fortress.
00:21This place is absolutely mind-blowing.
00:25The effort that the engineers have gone to to create it is insane.
00:28To Britain's sky strategies.
00:31These things are absolute anti-aircraft killing machines.
00:35And its gritty yet critical civilian fighting force.
00:38No way. That's amazing, isn't it?
00:41So this would have been the bunker for a civilian wireless operator.
00:48Through incredible structures, ingenious weapons and brilliant strategies,
00:54these European powers protected their borders
00:57and help to end Hitler's Nazi regime.
01:12Poland is a land of wide open plains.
01:18Rich, arable land that in good times has brought wealth to the nation.
01:22It sits at the very heart of Europe, positioned at a crossroads between east and west.
01:31Poland's flat landscape with few natural obstacles like mountains or rivers
01:36has proved difficult to defend.
01:39It spends a greater proportion of its national purse on defence than any other member of NATO,
01:47the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
01:50Not surprising, as this state has had to defend itself against invasion
01:54more often than almost any other on the continent.
01:58In 1939, it was tested once again when Adolf Hitler sent German troops to seize Polish territory.
02:09At dawn, on Friday the 1st of September, on the North Polish Baltic Sea coast,
02:22the commander of the German battleship, Slezwyk Holstein,
02:26gave the order to open fire on the Polish garrison at Westerplatte.
02:30The first shots of World War II had been fired.
02:41Nazi Germany was invading Poland.
02:46Hitler was intent on taking back territory lost to Poland at the end of World War I.
02:54Including a strip of land, the Poles only unrestricted access to the Baltic Sea.
03:00A key strategic feature of this terrain was a narrow headland,
03:06sticking 34 kilometres out into the Baltic.
03:12The Hell Peninsula.
03:16It was here that one of the most impressive defensive actions of World War II took place.
03:25Former soldier and bomb disposal officer Andy Torbett
03:28has come to Hell to answer the key question about what happened here in autumn 1939.
03:37How did this thin strip of land that sticks out into the sea
03:40manage to hold out against the full might of Hitler's land, sea and air forces
03:46for an incredible 32 days?
03:49The Poles had constructed a major naval base at the tip of the Hell Peninsula
03:54to protect the sea lanes to and from their vital Baltic port of Godinia.
04:00And in the first days of the war, this would become a prime target for the Germans.
04:05The Polish side comprised of only a few thousand men, a few ships,
04:12and they were facing off against the German might,
04:14which was tens of thousands of ground troops ready to invade.
04:18Over a dozen ships sat offshore and hundreds of aircraft ready to fly overhead
04:23and rain fire down upon the Polish defenders.
04:25The vastly outnumbered 2,000 Poles on Hell were facing an onslaught
04:36by all three branches of the Germans' highly mechanised military.
04:44Still, they had one thing in their favour.
04:47Polish defenders had a secret weapon, the Laskowski Battery.
04:51Hidden at the end of the headland,
04:55the Poles had constructed in complete secrecy
04:58the largest gun system in the country.
05:03Made up of four huge 152.4mm Bofors guns,
05:09each built on its own raised firing platform,
05:12all connected to a central artillery command centre.
05:16This is a good example of one of the gun batteries,
05:21and they would have been camouflised from the German battleships.
05:24And up top, within the Bofors guns,
05:26the most powerful guns in Poland of the time.
05:31Each gun was operated by a team of 22 men,
05:35half of them based underground.
05:39This is where the shells were stored,
05:40each weighing almost 50 kilograms,
05:45with a hardened steel casing and packed with TNT explosives,
05:51designed to inflict maximum damage to armoured targets.
05:55Now we're up top, and arriving on our little lift system
05:58is our high-explosive projectile.
06:01That's the important bit.
06:01That's the bit where it hits that German warship.
06:03That's where it's going to do all the damage.
06:05The propellant, as its name suggests,
06:08is there to propel that high-explosive projectile
06:11from here, directly towards the target.
06:15The main guns had a range of over 26 kilometres.
06:19Finally, the propellant would have been loaded into the breach
06:21and the gun would be ready to fire.
06:23This gun is from a later period,
06:24but it gives you an idea of the size, scaling power
06:27of a weapon like this.
06:31Power was nothing without precision.
06:33Spotters on watchtowers calculated the distance
06:37and bearing of enemy targets
06:39and relayed the information
06:40to an underground command centre called the Brain.
06:44Once the information from the towers above
06:47had been sent down to the bunker,
06:49the men here would start calculating
06:51any corrections that needed to be made.
06:54Then, using a state-of-the-art analogue ballistics computer,
06:58the enemy's position would be communicated out to the four guns.
07:01And then, when the message came back,
07:04the guns were ready to fire,
07:05it was from here that all four gun placements,
07:08the entire battery, would be fired.
07:17The firepower of the Laskowski battery
07:20supported the outgunned Polish navy
07:22and helped prevent German battleships
07:25getting close enough to target the Hell naval base.
07:29Even so, it could do little
07:31to repel the threat from the air,
07:34as the Luftwaffe launched wave after wave of attacks
07:37on both land-based and naval targets.
07:44The poles countered with anti-aircraft fire
07:47from a system of guns
07:48strategically positioned around the peninsula.
07:53And, in the course of the battle,
07:55shot down a remarkable 46 German planes.
08:01However, the sheer might of the German bombers
08:03proved too great,
08:05and they eventually sank or crippled
08:07the majority of the Polish naval fleet.
08:09But this disaster on the water
08:14provided the defenders on land
08:17with a salvage opportunity.
08:20The poles were massively outgunned,
08:22so every weapon, every resource mattered.
08:25And when one of their ships was sunk in the harbour,
08:27the men leapt on board
08:28and, using winches and cranes,
08:30managed to get one of the heavy pieces of artillery
08:32off the ship onto land
08:34so they could continue the fight.
08:38The Germans now concentrated their attack on land.
08:43With much of the Polish mainland already in their hands,
08:47they advanced up the Baltic coast,
08:49capturing the towns at the base of the peninsula
08:52and trapping the Polish defenders on the hill.
08:55The fighting had been brutal,
08:59and the Polish forces were left exhausted.
09:01Morale was low, ammunition was low, food was low.
09:04And the German military were looming down upon them.
09:09The dogged Poles had one final trick up their sleeves.
09:13They had a plan to use the incredible geography
09:16of the Hell Peninsula to their advantage one last time.
09:20The defenders of Hell were not beaten yet.
09:22After almost a month's resistance,
09:30Hell's defenders hear the news they've been dreading.
09:34As Radio Warsaw makes its final broadcast.
09:38Hello, hello.
09:39Do you hear us?
09:41This is our last communication.
09:43Today, the German units have been sent to Warsaw.
09:46The special greetings of the Polish soldiers who are fighting on the field
09:50and all the people who are fighting on the field are still there.
09:53The Germans have taken the Polish capital.
10:02Yet some of Poland was still holding out,
10:05and Hell was the last military installation standing.
10:10With the pride of Poland at stake,
10:15the defenders were not going to give up without a fight,
10:18and were going to use everything they have at their disposal.
10:22Look at this massive munition.
10:28This is a torpedo.
10:31And it was designed to be fired from submarines travel through the ocean
10:34and then take out its target, normally a battleship,
10:37and at the time, some of the biggest battleships in the world.
10:42But the defenders of Hell had something very different in mind for these weapons.
10:47What they were interested in was the front part,
10:50because this contains the high explosives.
10:55For their plan to work,
10:57the Poles needed as much explosive power as they could move.
11:02Polish troops had to manhandle these heavy munitions into the forest,
11:07into the narrowest part of the peninsula.
11:10Once that was done,
11:11they grabbed their shovels
11:12and started digging.
11:14Already exhausted from weeks of fighting,
11:20the last men standing now put all their efforts
11:23into one final back-breaking task.
11:28Back in 1939,
11:30this would have been full of explosives.
11:32It probably weighed about 300 kilograms,
11:35so it would take a lot more people than just me
11:36to move this around the forest.
11:41Over 80 warheads...
11:42..about 20 tonnes of explosives
11:47were buried in a line across the peninsula.
11:53So, with the torpedoes buried,
11:55they'd all been linked together by command wire,
11:58turning them basically into a massive chain of giant landmines.
12:02Because, believe it or not,
12:03in the face of the oncoming German attacks,
12:07the plan...
12:08..was to create an island
12:11by blowing up Hell Peninsula.
12:16As German forces advanced
12:18and reached the narrowest part of the peninsula,
12:21the Poles detonated the warheads.
12:24The resulting explosion nearly severed Hell from the mainland
12:32and halted the German forces in their tracks
12:36for several crucial days.
12:40This allowed time for vital intelligence to be destroyed,
12:44for weapons to be buried,
12:46and for some of the defenders
12:48to make a dramatic escape attempt across the Baltic.
12:57Unfortunately, it did not prevent what was now inevitable.
13:02Eventually, the Germans found a way across
13:05and took control of Hell.
13:08It had been 32 heroic days of fighting,
13:11one of the longest battles in the invasion of Poland.
13:14And it had taken a heavy toll on German resources.
13:18And it had demonstrated the extraordinary resolve
13:20of the Polish defenders.
13:24This resolve would go on to inspire resistance
13:27against German occupation for the rest of the war.
13:30Leading five years later
13:33to the eventual recapture of Warsaw
13:35by Polish fighters.
13:53Most of France's 4,000-kilometre-long perimeter
13:57is protected by vast mountain ranges.
14:01Deep forest and ocean.
14:05But it's the pockets of flatlands
14:07along the northern and north-eastern borders
14:09that are where the country is most vulnerable,
14:14opening the door to potential invasion.
14:18These weak points were exploited
14:20in the outbreak of World War II.
14:24Today, France is a high-tech military superpower.
14:28But in the 20th century,
14:32its defences were unprepared
14:34for a second wave of German aggression.
14:3715 years after France and her allies' bloody victory
14:41in the First World War,
14:42the Nazi Party came to power in Germany.
14:47Hitler was desperate for revenge
14:49and in just a few years
14:51and in just a few years massively expanded
14:52Germany's military capability
14:54with his eye on France.
14:57Hitler's priority was Alsace and Lorraine,
15:01which Germany had been forced to return
15:03after the First World War.
15:04Arthur Williams, a military historian and former soldier,
15:12has come to Alsace to uncover the truth
15:14behind France's costly and controversial response
15:17to the Nazi threat.
15:22The French government came up with a solution
15:24which, to this day, remains one of the most impressive,
15:27elaborate and comprehensive defensive fortifications
15:30that the world has ever seen.
15:32It's called the Maginot Line.
15:37France put its faith in military structures
15:39on a massive scale.
15:40It constructed a line of defences on France's eastern border,
15:49from Italy in the south to Belgium in the north.
15:53At its most easterly and vulnerable point
15:56was a key installation,
15:57which would become the most heavily bombarded structure
16:00in all of France.
16:06Fort Schoenenberg.
16:10This was the height of mid-20th century military engineering.
16:20Concealed behind its gun turrets
16:21lay a vast underground world,
16:26connected by kilometres of tunnels.
16:32This place is absolutely mind-blowing.
16:36But until you actually see it for yourself,
16:38do you realise just how epic it is?
16:41The effort that the engineers have gone to
16:43to create it is insane.
16:46The two entrances were guarded
16:48with high-tech gun emplacements.
16:51In here, you really get to see
16:54the inner workings of this complex.
16:57So let's start small.
16:59This device here, it doesn't look like much,
17:01but it's designed for any Germans
17:03that have managed, somehow,
17:04to get close up to the fortress's walls.
17:07They'd be down there somewhere,
17:09and this, you can put a simple issue hand grenade into there,
17:13close it up,
17:14and then drop the grenades onto the Germans that are below.
17:18Before any attacker could get that close,
17:21they would face a line of heavily armoured guns.
17:24Come over here,
17:26and you get to an even more formidable form of defence.
17:29This is a twin machine gun position.
17:31With this crank handle here,
17:32you can change the pitch angle of your guns.
17:36You've got a telescopic sight here
17:38for very good accuracy.
17:40But what I love the most about this room
17:42is this feature.
17:44It's a 47mm anti-tank gun,
17:48and it's ready to go in an instant.
17:50A well-trained crew
17:52can take the machine guns out
17:54and put this in in a matter of seconds.
17:57And it can puncture armour
17:58that's six centimetres thick
18:00at a kilometre's range.
18:02The Germans don't have any tanks
18:04at that stage of the war
18:05that are that heavily armoured.
18:07For anybody outside the front of this fort,
18:09you don't stand a chance.
18:15From here,
18:16a network of tunnels
18:17led to a series of turrets
18:18armed with machine guns
18:20or heavy artillery,
18:22each engineered to withstand
18:26massive 420mm shells.
18:31Such extensive fortifications
18:33demanded incredibly efficient supply lines
18:36to keep them in action.
18:38When this fort is operating
18:40at the height of its potential,
18:43so the heat of battle,
18:44when all of the guns are firing,
18:46it can consume 1.5 tonnes of ammunition
18:51every minute.
18:53That, coupled with the fact
18:54that this tunnel alone
18:55is over a kilometre in length,
18:58it gives you an idea
18:59of the logistical nightmare
19:01that the French faced
19:02in just feeding this beast.
19:04But, of course,
19:05they came up with a solution
19:06for that problem,
19:08and that was to install
19:10one of these.
19:11It's a state-of-the-art
19:12narrow-gauge electric railway.
19:16The railway moved munitions
19:19to all points of the complex,
19:21and men back and forth
19:22from their posts
19:23to their living quarters.
19:27630 men
19:28were able to live down here,
19:30and what do you need
19:30to sustain the lives
19:31of 630 men
19:33for nearly up to a year?
19:34Well, you need everything.
19:35Come through this way,
19:36and you've got an infirmary.
19:39They had a canteen.
19:42They had bunk beds
19:43and accommodation.
19:44They've got a chapel,
19:46they've got a morgue.
19:47They had an engineering department.
19:49If you look through here,
19:50you've got an operating theatre
19:51where they can do minor surgery.
19:53And if the Germans
19:54were to throw any gas attacks,
19:56this place was kept
19:58at an overpressure,
19:59so the gas wouldn't be able
20:00to get in.
20:01They thought about everything.
20:04The extraordinary engineering
20:06of the Maginot Line
20:07came at a crippling cost
20:09to France.
20:11But would it keep
20:12the Germans out?
20:14The French would soon discover
20:16if it was money well spent.
20:22A few months after
20:24the outbreak
20:24of the Second World War
20:25in May 1940,
20:27the Germans began
20:28shelling Schoenenberg
20:29and moving troops
20:31to the border.
20:31The bombardment
20:45caused just one casualty
20:46and very little damage.
20:49This gave the French
20:51confidence
20:51that their defensive line
20:53was going to hold.
20:55France pinned so many hopes
20:57on this design marvel.
20:59and in many ways
21:01the Maginot Line worked.
21:02It repelled several attacks
21:03successfully.
21:04However,
21:05the Germans had
21:06a very, very different plan.
21:09Many of the troops
21:10that they had
21:10scattered throughout
21:11the forest
21:12were really just a decoy.
21:15They started amassing
21:16the majority of their forces
21:17in the north
21:18and were just about
21:19to exploit
21:20the Maginot Line's
21:21Achilles heel.
21:25Not all of the Maginot Line
21:27was fortified
21:28like Schoenenberg.
21:30Due to the political
21:31sensitivities
21:32of her northern neighbour,
21:34the defence of France's
21:35border with Belgium
21:36had to be more reliant
21:38on mobile troops.
21:40And the section
21:42bordering the dense
21:43Ardennes forest
21:44was not well defended.
21:48The French assumed
21:49that the Germans
21:50wouldn't be able
21:51to launch
21:52an effective
21:52mechanised assault
21:54through densely
21:55forested areas.
21:57And that was
21:57a mistake.
21:58That was an assumption
21:59that would cost them
22:00dearly.
22:03May 1940,
22:05while the French
22:06were focused
22:06on Schoenenberg
22:07and the Maginot Line
22:09in the east,
22:10300 kilometres
22:11to the northwest,
22:13German panzer divisions
22:14came crashing
22:15through the Ardenn forest.
22:17Bypassing
22:18the heavily fortified
22:19part of the Maginot Line
22:20to the south,
22:21which remained
22:22under French control
22:23and isolating
22:25the Allied armies
22:26to the north.
22:29The next phase
22:30in the defence
22:31of France
22:31would be a straight fight
22:32between mobile armours,
22:35especially tanks.
22:43French battle tactics
22:45were based around
22:46the intimidating
22:47Renault Char B1,
22:49a huge mobile force.
22:50fortress.
23:01In 1940,
23:02this heavyweight beast
23:04was the ultimate
23:05in French tank technology.
23:07When you come round
23:08to the front here,
23:10you notice
23:10its dual armament.
23:12A 47mm cannon
23:13mounted in a
23:14fully rotating turret
23:15in the top,
23:16and then come down
23:17and then come down
23:17to here
23:18and it's got
23:18a whopping
23:1975mm howitzer.
23:21This is designed
23:22for knocking out
23:23entrenched positions,
23:24fortification,
23:25thick concrete.
23:27Then when we have
23:27a look at the armour,
23:28it's sloping,
23:30which we're familiar with
23:31because it helps
23:31shots deflect off,
23:33of course,
23:33and it's 60mm thick.
23:35So anybody inside here
23:36is protected.
23:37Let's have a look
23:39at what the Germans
23:40were fielding.
23:41So this is
23:42the Panzerkampfwagon 2
23:43or Panzer 2.
23:45And when compared
23:45to the French tank,
23:47it's pathetic.
23:48It's got
23:49a meagre
23:4913mm
23:51of armour,
23:52so anything
23:53more than
23:53a machine gun,
23:54and it doesn't
23:55really stand
23:56a chance.
23:56It weighs
23:579 tonnes.
23:58Don't forget
23:59the French tanks
23:59were 30 tonnes.
24:00And its main armament
24:02is a 20mm cannon.
24:03So we have
24:04this notion
24:05that the Germans
24:06had far superior kit
24:07and their engineering
24:08was so much better
24:09than the French,
24:10but it's just
24:11not true.
24:13But breaking
24:14through the Ardennes forest,
24:16these small
24:16manoeuvrable
24:17panzers
24:18were ideal.
24:20The Germans
24:21had another advantage.
24:23Whereas the French
24:24tanks tended
24:25to operate
24:25individually,
24:27as they had done
24:27in the First World War,
24:29the Germans
24:30moved in divisions
24:31just made up
24:32of tanks.
24:37Pierre Petit
24:38is a former
24:39tank platoon
24:40commander
24:40in the French army
24:41and a historian
24:42of Second World War
24:44battle tactics.
24:46Pierre,
24:47the Germans
24:47used their tanks
24:48en masse then?
24:49Yes,
24:50it was a true
24:51swarm.
24:52German tanks
24:53were very mobile
24:53and can reach
24:55very high speed.
24:56For example,
24:56the Panzer II
24:57can reach
24:5740 km per hour.
25:00The German tanks
25:01could easily
25:02outrun a French
25:03B-1.
25:04But to be successful,
25:06their swarming tactics
25:07demanded a very
25:08high level
25:08of coordination.
25:11Communications
25:12on the battlefield
25:13are obviously
25:13really important.
25:14How did the French
25:15and Germans
25:16use communication
25:17differently?
25:18Not all French
25:19tanks use radio.
25:21The small French
25:22tanks
25:22in the infantry
25:24divisions
25:25used flags,
25:27red flags,
25:28blue flags,
25:28yellow or green flags
25:30to indicate
25:31the enemy position
25:32or to give order.
25:34But every German
25:35tanks
25:36use radio
25:37to share
25:38the information
25:39on the battlefield
25:40in the same time.
25:43The Germans'
25:44use of radio
25:45enabled a large
25:46number of tanks
25:46to move together,
25:49aided coordination
25:50with the infantry
25:51and helped relay
25:53targets to high command
25:54for strikes
25:55by the Luftwaffe.
25:58It was a disaster
26:00for France.
26:02The Germans
26:02rapidly pushed
26:03into Paris
26:04and beyond.
26:06On the 25th
26:08of June 1940,
26:09France formally
26:10surrendered,
26:12though Schoenenberg
26:13held out.
26:14the Germans
26:15threw everything
26:16they had at it,
26:17Stuka dive bombers,
26:19heavy artillery,
26:20relentlessly
26:21bombarding the place.
26:24Wave after wave
26:25of dive bomber
26:26attacks
26:26were followed
26:27by a relentless
26:28bombardment
26:29from massive
26:29420mm mortars.
26:34Yet Schoenenberg's
26:36guns
26:36kept firing.
26:38That was because
26:39of an innovative
26:41design
26:42that the French
26:43pioneered
26:43on this location.
26:45Now, you see
26:45this steel dome here?
26:47Underneath
26:48is an artillery piece,
26:49but what's fascinating
26:50about it
26:51is that it has
26:52the ability
26:52to be wound up
26:53when it wants
26:54to fire out
26:55and then wound
26:56back down again
26:57when the Germans
26:58start firing back.
26:59finally,
27:12on the 1st of July
27:131940,
27:14the French government
27:15ordered Schoenenberg
27:16and the rest
27:17of the Maginot line
27:18to surrender.
27:22Schoenenberg's
27:23last stand
27:24may have seemed
27:24futile at the time,
27:26but it's now
27:27widely considered
27:28that this stubborn
27:29resistance in defeat
27:30was exactly
27:31what a broken
27:32France needed
27:33to see.
27:35The act of defiance
27:37that the troops
27:38manning these forts
27:39showed actually
27:40sowed the first
27:41seeds of French
27:42resistance in
27:43people's minds.
27:44They galvanized
27:45French civilians
27:47to not settle
27:49for German occupation
27:50and that helped
27:52four years later
27:53when the Allies
27:54landed on the
27:55Normandy beaches
27:56and the French
27:57resistance was
27:57a huge part
27:58of the Allied
27:59landing's success
28:00because they were
28:00a real hindrance
28:01to the Nazis.
28:04The resistance
28:05was emboldened
28:06by outside support.
28:09They delivered
28:10intelligence to Allies
28:11along with deception
28:12and sabotage campaigns
28:14to German forces.
28:17Still,
28:18battles raged
28:19for another year
28:20before the French
28:22were fully liberated
28:24from German occupation.
28:36The island of Great Britain
28:38is the largest in Europe
28:40with 12,000 kilometers
28:42of coastline.
28:45Isolation
28:45and surrounding
28:46open waters
28:47make it particularly
28:48susceptible to invasion.
28:50The same year
28:51France surrendered
28:52to Germany,
28:54Britain prepared
28:55for attack.
28:56The threat
28:57would start
28:58in the skies
28:58and the British people
29:00would have to mobilize
29:01in a form
29:02of total defense
29:03never before seen
29:04on their shores.
29:11August 8th, 1940,
29:13and the battle
29:14for Britain
29:14is on.
29:15Britain's response
29:16to Hitler
29:17is probably
29:21the most famous story
29:23of defense
29:24in its history.
29:26During the Battle
29:27of Britain,
29:28the Royal Air Force
29:29outnumbered
29:30Germany's Luftwaffe
29:31in planes,
29:32pilots,
29:33and ground support.
29:36After months
29:37of combat,
29:38Britain's combination
29:39of strategy
29:40and air defense
29:41proved superior.
29:42Although the RAF
29:48had successfully
29:48prevented the Luftwaffe
29:50from controlling
29:50the skies over Britain,
29:53the threat
29:54from Nazi Germany
29:55did not go away.
29:57The nature
29:57of the threat
29:58just changed.
30:02Without air superiority,
30:04the Germans
30:04could not mount
30:05a full-scale invasion
30:07of Britain,
30:08but they could attempt
30:09to put the island
30:10under siege.
30:13To counter this,
30:15Britain would require
30:15new ideas
30:16and new technologies.
30:23Pilot and former Marine
30:24Arthur Williams
30:25is heading out
30:26to a remote location
30:27off Britain's
30:28southeast coast
30:29to investigate
30:31a unique piece
30:32of defensive technology,
30:34one designed
30:34to counter
30:35multiple threats.
30:39This crucial channel
30:50from the sea
30:50into the heart
30:51of southern England
30:52had two vulnerabilities.
30:55First,
30:56it provided
30:57an easy route
30:57for enemy pilots
30:58to follow
30:59on bombing raids
31:00up to London.
31:02Second,
31:03it was an unavoidable route
31:05for essential
31:05British shipping.
31:0970% of Britain's
31:11wartime food supplies
31:12were imported
31:13and the majority
31:14arrived by sea.
31:18If the Nazis
31:19could prevent
31:20these supply ships
31:21getting through,
31:22Britain could,
31:23in theory,
31:23be starved
31:24into submission.
31:27So as the war
31:28progressed,
31:29the Germans
31:30adopted a range
31:31of weapons,
31:32including magnetic mines
31:33dropped from
31:34low-flying bombers.
31:35They were laying
31:37mines,
31:38flying in low,
31:39as low as I am here.
31:41And Britain
31:41had to do
31:41something about it.
31:45Magnetic mines
31:46were a very
31:47successful weapon,
31:49sitting on the
31:49seabed
31:50and detonating
31:51when a metal
31:51hull passed over.
31:57They would go on
31:58to sink
31:59hundreds of
32:00British ships.
32:01Britain needed
32:08to counter
32:09these threats
32:10in the Thames.
32:11Yet at the
32:11mouth of the
32:12estuary,
32:13coastal
32:13anti-aircraft
32:14batteries could
32:15not cover
32:16the full width
32:16of the river.
32:18So permanent
32:19defensive structures
32:20in the estuary
32:21itself were seen
32:23as the solution.
32:23But how
32:26could this
32:26be achieved?
32:28I hope my
32:29engine doesn't
32:29do anything
32:30nasty now.
32:34The answer
32:35lies several
32:36kilometres off
32:37the North
32:38Kent coast.
32:44Guys,
32:45now imagine
32:45if I'm a German
32:46pilot here,
32:47saying my
32:47cockpit,
32:48pretty low
32:49level over
32:49the Thames,
32:50going about
32:51my daily
32:51business,
32:52thaying mines,
32:52targeting
32:53pretty
32:55defenceless
32:55shipping,
32:56and then
32:57all of a
32:57sudden I'm
32:57confronted
32:58with these
32:58alien-like
32:59structures
33:00looming out
33:00of the
33:00estuary.
33:07This is
33:08Red Sands
33:09Seafort,
33:10a combined
33:12anti-aircraft
33:13gun battery
33:14and advanced
33:15radar station.
33:18These things
33:19are absolute
33:20anti-aircraft
33:20killing machines.
33:22Red Sands radar
33:27could pinpoint
33:28low-flying enemy
33:29aircraft many
33:30kilometres away
33:31and it was
33:32armed to the
33:33teeth with
33:33Vickers
33:34anti-aircraft
33:35guns,
33:35which had a
33:36range of
33:36over 17
33:37kilometres.
33:42On its own,
33:44Red Sands
33:44was a
33:45formidable
33:45defence.
33:46It also
33:47operated as
33:48part of a
33:48wider system
33:49of fort
33:50complexes.
33:54Designed by
33:55engineer Guy
33:56Mounsell to
33:57be able to
33:57withstand the
33:58effects of
33:58wind, waves
33:59and tide,
34:00the Red Sands
34:01forts have
34:02hollow legs
34:03attached to a
34:04concrete base
34:05on the
34:05sea floor.
34:06On top is a
34:07huge armoured
34:08steel construction
34:09containing living
34:10quarters and the
34:12latest in radar
34:13and communications
34:14technology.
34:17They would have
34:18known well in
34:19advance that a
34:20formation of enemy
34:21aircraft were on
34:22their way.
34:23And even if the
34:24Red Sands
34:24forts' batteries
34:25missed their
34:26targets, they'd be
34:26able to give
34:27advanced warning
34:28to airbases like
34:30Biggin Hill that
34:30would have been
34:31able to scramble
34:32their squadrons to
34:33intercepting
34:34coming raids.
34:35They really were
34:36on the front
34:37vine.
34:39The Red Sands
34:41forts targeted both
34:42low-flying,
34:43mine-laying aircraft
34:44and London-bound
34:45bombers with
34:46success, shooting
34:47down 22 planes.
34:50And later in the
34:51war, it would
34:52prove similarly
34:53successful against
34:54Germany's new
34:55superweapon, the
34:56V1, or
34:58Doodle Bug.
35:04And the forts,
35:06believe it or not,
35:07shot down 30 of
35:09these weapons.
35:11Not an easy thing
35:12to shoot down,
35:12either extremely
35:13fast-moving and
35:15quite small.
35:17So it gives you
35:17an idea of actually
35:19just how accurate
35:20the gunfire from
35:21these forts was.
35:25The ingenuity of
35:27defences like Red
35:28Sands was vital in
35:30the battle against
35:31the Germans.
35:32Amazing.
35:33Technical innovation
35:41alone would not save
35:42Britain.
35:43The country's final
35:45defence would likely
35:46depend on her people.
35:49And since the
35:50beginning of the Nazi
35:51menace, secret plans
35:52had been in place to
35:54mobilise British
35:55citizens to defend
35:56against the ultimate
35:57threat, enemy
35:59occupation.
36:00Hitler's original plan
36:05for the invasion of
36:06Britain, Operation
36:07Sea Lion, involved all
36:09branches of the German
36:10military.
36:11A massive amphibious
36:13landing with 170,000 men,
36:16thousands of purpose-built
36:17barges, and hundreds of
36:20waterproof tanks backed up
36:21by mass paratroop drops.
36:23Once the Germans were on
36:29the island, the battle
36:30for Britain would take
36:31on a very different
36:33fall.
36:34In preparation, the
36:36country actioned extreme
36:37measures that would call
36:38on all the grit and
36:40determination of the
36:41British people.
36:49Arthur has come to a
36:50forest in Wales to
36:52investigate just how
36:53Britain planned to
36:54defend itself behind
36:55enemy lines.
37:00It would be wrong to
37:01think that Britain was
37:02weak or ill-prepared for
37:04Nazi invasion.
37:05In fact, huge numbers of
37:07people volunteered for the
37:08Home Guard to help
37:09protect Britain.
37:12But Churchill still
37:14sanctions a top-secret plan
37:16should all of the
37:17defences fail, and it's
37:18one that we really still
37:19don't know very much about
37:20even to this day.
37:24In the event of a
37:25successful invasion,
37:26Britain's army would need
37:27the critical support of
37:29trained civilians to defend
37:30large parts of the island.
37:33And to avoid capture, they
37:35would need to remain hidden.
37:38Andy Chatterton is part of a
37:40team of volunteers who've
37:41been investigating where.
37:42They're going to be
37:44going to be able to
37:45take a look at it.
37:46Hi, Andy.
37:46Hello, how are you?
37:47Good to see you.
37:47Andy.
37:48This is incredible.
37:49It's amazing, isn't it?
37:50It really is, yeah.
37:50Absolutely amazing.
37:51How far down does it go?
37:53It's six foot down and then
37:54into the main chamber.
37:56So this would have
37:57obviously had a disguised
37:58hatch on.
38:00Beneath this wooded hill
38:06near Newport on the
38:07Welsh coast, Andy and
38:08his team have discovered
38:10secret bunkers, some of
38:12which haven't seen the
38:12light of day for almost
38:1480 years.
38:16Seeing a collapsed
38:17version gives you a bit
38:18more of an insight into
38:19what it would have looked
38:20like.
38:21So this would have been
38:22an escape tunnel coming
38:24out of here and heading
38:25down the hill.
38:27Over the top of you here
38:29you've got big elephant
38:31iron, so like really
38:32reinforced corrugated iron
38:33over the top of you.
38:34This is the main chamber
38:35here.
38:36This is where your bunks
38:38would have been.
38:40These bunkers were built
38:42for a new civilian
38:43fighting force, a British
38:45resistance and sabotage
38:47outfit called the
38:49auxiliary units.
38:53These were able-bodied
38:54men in reserved
38:55occupations.
38:57Farmers, gamekeepers
38:58who knew how to use a gun
39:00or knife.
39:02Miners and quarrymen
39:03who were handy with
39:04explosives.
39:06Their job?
39:07To sabotage and disrupt
39:09invasion forces.
39:12So ammo and fuel, food,
39:14vehicles, blowing up
39:16planes and airfields,
39:18blowing up manor houses
39:19taken as local HQ,
39:20anything to slow down
39:21that German advance and
39:22to give the regulars and
39:24the home guard a chance to
39:25kind of regroup and
39:26counterattack.
39:28The orcs units were
39:29taught how to, you know,
39:31mutilate a body to scare the
39:32living hell out of, you know,
39:34the German army as well.
39:36What would be the life
39:37expectancy of volunteers in
39:39these bunkers?
39:39Yeah, really, really short.
39:42They had enough rations for two
39:43weeks and that was their life
39:45expectancy, just two weeks.
39:49To ensure secrecy, the bunkers
39:51were built in a single day.
39:54Despite being basic, they had key
39:56defensive features.
39:58The hidden entrance shafts led to a
40:00brick blast wall designed to protect
40:02the men in here from grenades.
40:06Pretty claustrophobic.
40:07How many guys in here?
40:08There'd be six to eight men in
40:09each patrol.
40:09It's a lot, isn't it?
40:10It's a lot of men in a fairly
40:11confined space.
40:14This guerrilla resistance force of
40:166,500 men was trained in secret and
40:20then deployed in small groups to
40:22specific locations across the country
40:24to form a full defensive network.
40:27About 600 hidden bunkers were
40:31constructed around the coast of
40:33Britain.
40:34The sites of more than 200 are yet
40:36to be located.
40:44So this is another bunker associated
40:46with a group called the Special
40:48Duties Branch, which is related to
40:49the auxiliary units but had a very
40:51different role.
40:51Yeah.
40:53So if you're a German kind of
40:54walking past trying to find the
40:56bunker, you're just going to walk
40:57straight past it.
40:58I can't see anything here.
40:59It's incredible.
41:07My Lord.
41:12No way.
41:13That's amazing, isn't it?
41:15So this would have been the bunker
41:17for a civilian wireless operator.
41:19So the Special Duties Branch were
41:21different to the auxiliary units because
41:23they're not blowing up stuff.
41:24they are collecting information on the
41:26invading army.
41:28His wireless set's in there and
41:31he's got an aerial up this tree here.
41:37And the conditions in the bunker are
41:39just as they would have been during the
41:41Second World War.
41:42You can just imagine just being down here for long
41:51periods of time, absolutely ghastly.
41:53It's wet.
41:53It's cold.
41:56You couldn't make this up.
41:57Like, there's a secret hatch in the middle of the
42:00wood that nobody's seen for 80 years.
42:02And you come down here and it's almost like, well,
42:04it is intact.
42:04It just makes you, like, realise how much fear they would live in at the sound of that hatch going.
42:21It would have been awful.
42:28I found it really powerful seeing these bunkers for myself and also hearing about the courage of the civilians who were prepared to sacrifice their lives to defend their country.
42:37They knew that if they capitulated or were defeated, that would be it.
42:43They were literally the last line of defence and that would spell an end of democratic freedom throughout Europe.
42:50And they weren't prepared to stand for that.
42:52The United Kingdom was the only country during the Second World War to create a multi-layered civilian guerrilla force in anticipation of invasion.
43:04In the event, it was never called into action.
43:11The RAF's heroic defence in the Battle of Britain meant that Hitler's Luftwaffe never gained control of the skies.
43:19And without that, no invasion was possible.
43:22World War II was the last time Britain was directly challenged by a determined invasion force.
43:32This land has been forced to become a fortress.
43:37An island defending itself successfully from the land, sea and air,
43:44with a ferocious refusal to submit to invaders from across the water.
43:52Thehorciousness is a Manifest is the idea of which the
43:55completely before the country gets pulled into the walls,
44:0065-Q-09.
44:01The fact that you've made the totalled supplyrás of Manifest – and Jericho the target intermediaries
44:02is still in the world's role, because it's called a golden Teachers of Russia.
44:05My account has gathered into infrastructure for theoweenvs running world,
44:07a magazine has called Sega und же família.
44:10And it's been involved.
44:12The third wave of Apollo Laurie's호�は 1993-18en.
44:14You are all being involved in the back there was before turning and outside.
44:15One and two years ago, it's been a great view that��면 it was inflicted into place in the arms of death because of peopleane uhm不知道.
Be the first to comment