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00:00Beneath the densely woven forests of northern Poland, a jagged scar etches its way across the landscape.
00:0850 kilometers of weathered concrete carves a path through the waters of Lake Mamrie to the open plains of the Baltic Sea,
00:15a forgotten canal branded by a fallen empire.
00:19This imposing structure bears the ominous signature of Nazi Germany, a testament to the imprint they had on this region.
00:26Proceeded by decades of failed attempts, a fragmented foundation lay dormant until Hitler seized the chance to revive this waterway into a monument of totalitarian might.
00:37The Masurian Canal, once finished, would be a symphony of steel and concrete, bending the waters to the will of the Reich.
00:44There are thousands of tons of concrete in this. It is difficult terrain to build in.
00:50This was a complete system designed to dominate the waterways of East Prussia.
00:54This will become one of the largest engineering projects that the Nazis will undertake in East Prussia.
01:00Capable of carrying ships of up to 240 tons, this ambitious waterway would link the secluded Masurian lakes to the open sea,
01:08forging a vital artery of commerce through German-controlled territory.
01:12Though built under the facade of economic progress, this relic of Nazi engineering may harbor a far darker secret.
01:19Why did Hitler want to resurrect this engineering project?
01:23What potential advantage or benefit did he see in an abandoned waterway?
01:27To this day, there's still speculation as to the true purpose of this waterway.
01:32Why was its construction kept a secret? And in the end, why was it all just forgotten?
01:37Why was it all just forgotten?
01:38Why was it all just forgotten?
01:39Why was it all just forgotten?
01:44Why was it all just forgotten?
01:45Why was it all just forgotten?
01:46Why was it all just forgotten?
02:00Why was it all just forgotten?
02:021933, East Prussia. A lonely German enclave isolated by foreign borders.
02:07borders.
02:08After World War I, Prussia was divided and parts of its territory were given to Poland.
02:13East Prussia became a territory of Germany that was non-contiguous.
02:18The only ways to access it from the rest of Germany were by land through the Polish Corridor
02:22or via the Baltic Sea.
02:24Comprised largely of agricultural lands and lush mixed forests, its northern region also
02:29boasts a rich inland reserve of freshwater lakes.
02:34The Masurian Lakes District of northern East Prussia has about 2,000 lakes.
02:39It covers an area of roughly 52,000 square kilometers, similar in size to a country like
02:44Costa Rica.
02:46It extends eastward from the Lower Vistula River to the modern-day border between Poland
02:50and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
02:53However, this region finds itself in a precarious position, located in an outpost of Germany
02:58that's deeply vulnerable to external interest.
03:01As the Nazi Party ascends to power, the Masurian Lakes and the Greater East Prussian stronghold
03:06take on a new significance.
03:10It is not just a border that Germany needs to protect.
03:15It is also a buffer zone between Germany and Russia.
03:20It is a territory which can be used for infrastructural developments such as factories, armament factories
03:26that would help Germany in its war effort.
03:29And then finally, it is geostrategically extremely important for Germany for the logistical movement
03:34of its troops.
03:35For any kind of operation launching into the Soviet Union, it's a good staging point.
03:41It's also a good staging point if they go to war with Poland.
03:45After Hitler comes to power, the Nazis begin to transform East Prussia from an agricultural
03:50heartland into more of an industrial area.
03:53Yet, to unlock the vast potential of this wooded region, an extensive overhaul of infrastructure
04:00would be required.
04:02A web of railways, roads, and robust waterways.
04:06As Nazi planners survey the East Prussian landscape, their attention is drawn to a winding
04:11trail of abandoned concrete beds snaking through the terrain.
04:15The remnants of the Missourian Canal.
04:19These sprawling foundations were the beginnings of the Missourian Canal, a transportation project
04:24that had broken ground decades earlier.
04:27The plans for this waterway was to connect the Missourian Lakes with the Baltic Sea.
04:34By the dawn of Hitler's reign, the art of canal engineering was well established across Europe.
04:39The Reich's ambitions, however, would breathe new life into this age-old technology, etching
04:44a symbol of their empire into the earth.
04:49Canals are a really important part of our transportation infrastructure.
04:52They allow marine traffic to traverse a shorter distance between different bodies of water,
04:59different elevations of water.
05:00It's a very difficult construction to do, but it can be very meaningful in allowing communities
05:05to evolve and flourish, and it is a critical piece of infrastructure to drive that growth.
05:11The first proposals for the Missourian Canal can be traced back to at least the 18th century,
05:16the golden age of waterway construction.
05:20During this era, administrators under King Frederick the Great of Prussia seek to establish new
05:24channels of trade and transport across their kingdom and note the potential of this expansive
05:30lake district.
05:31Between the 17th and the 19th centuries, Europe experienced a canal age, a period of increase
05:38in the building of these waterways because they'd become the fastest means for long-distance
05:42travel and transport.
05:44By the 19th century, Europe has an intricate network of canals that connects the English
05:50Channel with the Atlantic Ocean, with the Mediterranean Sea.
05:55Canals really become the veins through which the lifeblood of European progress flows.
06:00This idea, however, would lie dormant until the mid-19th century, when the notion resurfaces
06:07as the Allenberger Canal project, a 50-kilometer-long route capable of carrying cargo ships into the
06:13heart of the region.
06:15This proposed channel would allow freighters to navigate an elevation change of over a hundred
06:20meters from the coast to the interior, a vertical feat that would require the incorporation
06:25of a crucial mechanism.
06:28The elevation difference between the Bolsing Sea and the Miserian Lakes is 111 meters.
06:35That's about the height of Big Ben.
06:38By the end of the 19th century, canal construction is facing competition from the advancements
06:44in steam locomotives.
06:45The canal proposal and the land it would traverse undergo a number of changes in the following
06:51years.
06:52As the region is absorbed into the German Empire, revisions reflect new priorities, one of which
06:58sees the initially promising inclined plane design replaced by a more conventional, yet reliable
07:04lock mechanism.
07:05an inclined plane is simply a mechanical method for moving boats between different elevations.
07:14Using a system of cables and powerful engines and brakes, that boat is either raised up or
07:20lowered down the incline.
07:22Lock gates have been used to raise and lower boats along waterways for thousands of years and the theory
07:28behind them is actually very simple.
07:29If a ship is moving downstream to enter the lock, it goes through the entrance gates where the
07:37lock gates close behind it and it is now in a watertight chamber.
07:41A valve is then opened which drains that water inside the chamber and lowers the ship.
07:48Once lowered, the exit gates open, the ship can sail out through it now at a lower elevation.
07:53And if it needs to go the other way, i.e. back up, you just reverse the process.
07:59By the spring of 1911, after decades of deliberation, the project finally navigates the maze of bureaucracy
08:06and emerges with official authorization and a budget of 15 million marks.
08:12The sound of machinery breaks the silence of the East Prussian woodlands
08:16and the vision of this enormous hydro course begins to take physical form.
08:21But as workers toil to reshape the terrain, a distant rumble grows on the horizon,
08:26one that would soon reverberate across the continent and bring construction to an abrupt halt.
08:311914. A young Adolf Hitler leaves the streets of Vienna for the German city of Munich,
08:40a place pulsating with nationalistic fervor.
08:44Swept up in the patriotic tide, Hitler disregards his foreign status and enlists with the Bavarian army.
08:51The great war has begun and he eagerly heeds the call to arms.
08:55Hitler's involvement in the First World War is a seminal moment in his life.
09:01Before he enlists in the Bavarian army, he is a failed artist, he is a man without purpose.
09:07His involvement in the First World War gives him purpose for the first time in his life.
09:12This is the most positive formative experience that Hitler had in imbibing German nationalism,
09:19patriotism, fighting alongside other German soldiers and developing that sense of military honor.
09:26It's a very transformative experience for Hitler.
09:31As Hitler joins the front line in Belgium, the German Empire faces a grave threat from the east.
09:37The Russians have set their sights on Berlin.
09:39But before they can march on the capital, they must first contend with their enemy's nearest frontier, East Prussia.
09:47In this outlying province, the Messurian Canal sits unfinished and exposed,
09:52a testament of German engineering now vulnerable to the tides of war.
09:56As the summer of 1914 harrowingly unfolds, Russian forces surge across the border and the tranquil lake district is transformed into a deadly battleground.
10:10The province of East Prussia, on the periphery of Germany, is actually the only part of the German Empire itself that saw direct combat during World War I.
10:19By this time, the Messurian Canal is already three years into construction, but only a tiny proportion of earthworks have been completed.
10:28And whilst by today's standards, that speed of progress might seem incredibly slow,
10:33you need to understand the challenges that were presented by the rugged and remote terrain it was attempting to cross.
10:39Though the Germans hold their ground in East Prussia, their leaders will ultimately surrender after years of combat against a powerful coalition of enemies.
10:50In the war's aftermath, the defeated Weimar Republic is left to count its losses.
10:58As the nation struggles to rebuild from the ashes of defeat, work on the Messurian Canal resumes.
11:04However, in just a few years, the Republic's withering economy once again brings the project, along with many others, to a standstill.
11:13Eventually, this stalled megastructure will fall into the hands of a burgeoning radical intent on transforming the nation.
11:221934. Under Hitler's Germany, laborers are sent in droves to the forests of East Prussia to resurrect the failed Messurian Canal.
11:35And soon an Arbeitslager, or labor camp, is erected to accommodate the growing pool of local and conscripted workers.
11:42A sense of urgency lingers in the air. Nazi administrators wish to see the canal completed by the turn of the decade.
11:51There seems to be a really aggressive push to resurrect this canal project.
11:57Why is it that there is such focus placed on this undertaking?
12:01So there's many different objectives that could have been at the back of Hitler's mind.
12:07The one that they probably started off with before even the beginning of World War II was to kickstart economic growth and development.
12:16A decade earlier, the toll of Germany's surrender had severely deteriorated the economy.
12:21Runaway inflation had plummeted the mark to absurd lows, with citizens requiring wheelbarrows of money to buy a single loaf of bread.
12:31Following their reluctant signing of the Treaty of Versailles, effectively ending the war, the Weimar Republic was broke and defenseless.
12:41The Treaty of Versailles is the peace treaty that Germany is forced to sign when it loses the First World War.
12:47It sets out a number of terms and conditions, and these include the loss of territory, the loss of their army, which has to be limited to a very restricted number of troops and cannot be developed significantly.
13:02Germany is required to pay significant reparations that end up crippling its economy.
13:09So the stab in the back myth is this idea that Germany didn't actually lose the war on the battlefields,
13:13that it was stabbed in the back by a group of Jews, socialists and pacifists.
13:19And it is a myth that is perpetrated by the German high command to save face, the idea that Germany didn't lose the war.
13:26It is a total myth because Germany did lose the war. There's absolutely no doubt about that.
13:30Germany signed the armistice because it couldn't keep fighting.
13:32Hitler seizes the simmering resentment like a weapon, ascending the public stage as a leading member of the nationalist Nazi movement.
13:42His fiery call for a new German order herds thousands to his support.
13:46Although the Nazi party forms in the early 1920s, it isn't until the late 1920s and in particular when the Great Depression really sets in in Germany after 1929 that we see a significant rise in the popularity of this political party.
14:05The party's radical platform finds growing appeal among the populace that's disillusioned by the failures of the Weimar Republic.
14:12Soon the Nazis become the largest party in the Reichstag and Adolf Hitler cements his seat as the absolute dictator of Germany.
14:22His initial ambition is to rebuild Germany economically and for him the way to do that was to create jobs.
14:29How do you create jobs?
14:30You launch a whole lot of infrastructure projects all over Germany and you try to start building up the army, go on the defensive, protect the German economy in order to rebuild.
14:41Rebuild the country.
14:42Under Hitler's iron-fisted rule, every corner of the Reich sees dramatic transformation as a series of aggressive policies and infrastructure projects are hastily set in motion.
14:55In the enclave of East Prussia, change is already well underway.
14:58At the orders of the provincial Nazi leader, Erich Koch, agricultural land once tilled by independent farmers is collectivized and the region moves towards mass industrialization.
15:11Erich Koch is the regional leader of East Prussia when Hitler takes power.
15:16Erich Koch uses these emergency relief funds to really establish industry in East Prussia.
15:21Koch is quick to tout his success, asserting that his policies have eradicated unemployment in East Prussia, a feat that garners widespread acclaim throughout the Reich.
15:30Koch proclaimed that he had eradicated unemployment in East Prussia and this became a powerful tool of Nazi propaganda. Hitler would tout that.
15:40And by claiming to have eradicated unemployment in East Prussia, Koch became famous. He was the recipient of widespread acclaim throughout Nazi Germany.
15:48Soon, the unfinished Missurian Canal, previously left abandoned to the forest floor, resurfaces yet again, the perfect foundation for a network of maritime traffic.
16:02In 1934, Hitler's first year as Führer, his party approves the continuation of this crucial bridge to the Baltic with a commitment of 19.5 million Reichmarks.
16:13Connecting the Missurian lakes to the Baltic Sea opens up a new artery of trade and transport for the Germans.
16:22But maybe there were other reasons beyond economic reasons that Hitler wanted to complete this canal.
16:27From what we know about Hitler today, it's very likely there was an ulterior, perhaps darker motive behind this project.
16:35In the bug-infested backwards of the Missurian lakes, laborers rushed to advance the Missurian Canal's long-awaited 50-kilometer span from Lake Mamrie to the Lina River, where vessels could then navigate onwards to the Baltic Sea.
16:50The timeline from 1934 to 1941 that Hitler imposed on the project to be completed by is incredibly ambitious.
16:59It would take years of planning and design to make this work. It's a giant project.
17:04Though having sat dormant for a decade, its unfinished contours had slowly been reclaimed by the elements.
17:12Years of neglect had taken their toll, and before Nazi shovels can carve new ground, the existing foundation must be reassessed.
17:19The first step of any construction project is actually to build infrastructure just to get to the site, let alone making sure that you have materials available on site to build the things that you want to do.
17:31We're talking about excavators, potential blasting if they hit rock. That is just an incredible undertaking.
17:39To address a project of this scale, planners pull hands from the consortium that would become known as Organization Taught.
17:46Organization Taught is an extensive civilian and military labour force. This organization is responsible for building roads, railways, factories and fortifications across the Reich.
17:59Organization Taught will be the largest workforce in Germany. Eventually they'll have over a million, I don't want to say employees, because that gate includes slave labour, conscripted labour, foreign labour and prisoners of war.
18:12But they will have over a million people slaving for them indeed.
18:17The task ahead is monumental, and the specifications daunting. A two and a half metre deep gash in the earth that weaves over 50 kilometres through a dynamic landscape.
18:27At its lowest point, the canal bed would span 13 metres wide. And once eventually filled with water, the breadth from bank to bank would stretch 23 metres across.
18:40The canal itself would then be accompanied by hundreds of subordinate structures such as siphons, tunnels, bridges, outbuildings, reservoirs and even small passages for local wildlife.
18:53And the challenges extend beyond sheer size. The Masurian landscape is a mosaic of rolling hills and marshy lowlands. Cutting through this unpredictable terrain demands constant adjustments. To smooth its course, the Nazis create massive embankments along the spine of the canal.
19:11Certain sections of a canal construction will need the use of embankments, which are essentially lengths of compounded, raised earth that are used to avoid any significant height fluctuation for the waterway.
19:29And some of the embankments on the Missourian waterway measured up to 15 metres high. That's a lot of earth to build up.
19:38From the sprawling earthwork arises a chain of ten reinforced concrete locks, massive mechanisms used to drop and elevate ships along their route to and from the sea.
19:48There are ten locks across this canal and they categorize those locks based on the elevation change from eight metres of elevation change all the way upwards to 30 metres. That's a really big distance.
20:00The manual capabilities of these locks is crucial in case there is some kind of malfunction or any kind of power outage.
20:08One end of the canal touches the edge of Lake Mamre in the heart of the Missourian lake lands. Here, vessels will pass through the grandest feature of the entire system.
20:19The scale of the Lesnevaux upper lock is a true sight to behold. It is the king of this canal. The length of its chamber is a whopping 46 metres.
20:32Working in tandem with its sister lock, the Lesnevaux lower lock, it can lift or lower ships 33 metres. That's about the height of a ten-storey building.
20:43Inside the lock's chamber, the Nazis also built a labyrinth of rooms to house the mechanism for operating the lock.
20:52Now known as the Lesnevaux upper lock, Schleussen Fürstenau is the crown jewel of this ambitious project, a showpiece of the Nazi regime.
21:02Its towering concrete facade emblazoned with the imperial eagle, the Reichssadler and the swastika of the Third Reich's coat of arms.
21:10The financial investment of this canal is staggering. Building a single kilometer of the canal costs 800,000 Reichsmarks, which is the equivalent of $7 million today.
21:22In fact, it is second only to the development of the Autobahn in East Prussia. This canal has sort of had a stop-go history.
21:30So it seems now, with the Nazis in power, that for the first time the canal will actually be finished.
21:35For some time, it seems the Nazi promise of new infrastructure and economic rebirth in East Prussia is coming to fruition.
21:44Between 1933 and 1936, employment in the construction industry across the Reich nearly triples.
21:50The Messurian Canal is poised to be a testament of progress, but a dark undercurrent runs beneath the surface.
22:01As the decade lingers on, Hitler's true ambitions and perhaps the ultimate purpose of this inland waterway will soon be revealed.
22:08This canal doesn't feed any big city. So what is it about this region that lures the intrigue and the interest of the Nazi leadership?
22:19For all its power and scale, the construction of the Messurian Canal is shrouded in secrecy.
22:24Only high-ranking loyalists are privy to the true extent of the plans, leaving many to wonder about the real purpose behind this massive undertaking.
22:35In the late 1930s, the canal does not appear on any maps.
22:40You don't want it advertised or certainly identified where exactly it is.
22:45The closer we get to the war, the more it seems this canal is being hidden.
22:50But the completion of the canal may be far more than an economic endeavour.
22:55Perhaps this waterway is a key piece of Hitler's grand political puzzle.
23:00Could this canal be used to serve areas that are being used for clandestine military operations?
23:07Is it possible that this remote, isolated outpost is in fact a launch pad for Hitler's vision for Lebensraum?
23:15The Lebensraum is a very old concept in German history, living space.
23:23It entails this idea that the German people should take over essentially Eastern Europe all the way to the Ural Mountains,
23:34which divide Russian Asia from European Russia.
23:37Beneath the shadows, Hitler is rolling out plans that brazenly defy the punitive Treaty of Versailles.
23:47Under the guise of performing routine maintenance on his existing fleet,
23:52he secretly approves the expansion of the navy, projecting the construction of battleships, destroyers and submarines,
23:58all in direct violation of the treaty's terms.
24:03His aim is clear, to transform his allowable small defensive force into a formidable military capable of offensive action.
24:12This marks the first step towards building the fearsome Wehrmacht.
24:16Hitler was always looking for ways to re-militarize in defiance of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles,
24:27and take steps to create a powerful German military, the Wehrmacht,
24:32Germany's unified military made up of the Herr, or the army, the Kriegsmarine, the navy, and the Luftwaffe, the air force.
24:38Hitler is essentially mobilizing the entire population of Germany to be on war condition.
24:46September 1st, 1939.
24:49The fragile peace in Europe abruptly implodes as German forces unleash Fall Weiss,
24:55a devastating blitzkrieg across the Polish border.
24:58As Luftwaffe planes darken the skies over Warsaw, and panzer units thunder into the country,
25:04Poland finds itself surrounded by Hitler's relentless war machine.
25:09Within days, their defenses crumble under the onslaught,
25:13and the world watches in horror as the once sovereign nation is torn apart.
25:17This signals the beginning of the deadliest conflict in human history.
25:22The Second World War has begun.
25:26Hitler had been preparing the country for greatness, essentially.
25:30Ever since he'd taken over power, he was trying to rebuild Germany and help Germany regain its foothold in Europe.
25:38As Hitler plunges Europe into the Second World War,
25:41every single strategic resource that Germany has becomes essential for its war machine.
25:46And this could potentially extend to the Missourian Canal.
25:49Yet as the conflict spreads across the continent, priorities shift dramatically.
25:54All attention pivots to the immediate exigencies of warfare.
25:59In the remote reaches of Missouria, work on the canal is consequently paused as resources and labor are redirected to a more pressing need in the eastern corridor.
26:08It makes sense that the workers who were building the Missourian Canal at the time were redirected to start building the Wolf's Lair because that was a military headquarters that was extremely essential for Hitler because that's where the entire war plan was created.
26:29And it needed to be in a place that was well protected, in a place that was well hidden and a place that was well supplied.
26:34Around 20 kilometers southwest of Lake Mamre, nestled in the wilds of Girlos, a grand undertaking is set to outpace the canal.
26:45Utilizing the natural barrier of the Missourian lakes, builders hurriedly work at constructing a six and a half square kilometer compound to house the eastern headquarters of the Führer himself.
26:56Aptly named Wolfschanze, or the Wolf's Lair, this will become the heavily fortified nerve center from which Hitler will orchestrate all military operations in the eastern arena.
27:09All these resources that are being deployed to the canal, suddenly those resources are now cut back to build the Wolf's Lair.
27:20This complex of bunkers that is enormous, that is as big of an engineering enterprise as, you know, a few miles of canal.
27:28Additional subordinate headquarters associated with the Wolf's Lair are dispersed throughout the region.
27:33The largest of these satellite compounds sits on the western bank of Lake Mamre.
27:40Designed as a base for the Wehrmacht's Supreme Army Command, the Oberkommando des Heeres.
27:46Construction of the sprawling settlement known as OKH Mauerwald is entrusted to the organization-taught workforce that has previously carved the bulk of the Missourian Canal.
27:56Within a single year, they're tasked with erecting one of the most impressive military bases for chief staff that East Prussia has ever seen.
28:07Mauerwald translates to wall forest, and it's essentially what it sounds like.
28:11It is a wall of concrete in the middle of the forest.
28:14This is a place that has its own power grid, drainage system, communications network, and even a hospital.
28:20And at its busiest time during the war, there are over 1,500 officers living and working here.
28:27Thousands of laborers are employed over the next four years to build this massive complex.
28:33A common practice employed by the Nazis in their massive construction projects was to shuffle workers out.
28:38And this was in the interest of security.
28:40There wasn't anyone who had worked on a project from beginning to end and knew its full scope and all of its dimensions.
28:45Both Mauerwald and the Wolfschanze were also camouflaged as chemical plants.
28:53Nobody realized that there was kind of a military significance to the Mauerwald.
28:58The operations at Mauerwald are shrouded in protection.
29:02The site itself is a fortress of secrets.
29:05Access to the compound is strictly controlled, connected to Wolfschanze only via a single rail line.
29:11Interestingly, Mauerwald is located along the southern edge of the Missourian Canal.
29:17Situating this major military base so close to the canal does suggest that the purpose of the canal from day one was not just economic.
29:26And obviously, in war, control of the waterways is paramount.
29:29The Germans build a number of these fortified command posts in East Prussia because they are planning an invasion of Eastern Europe.
29:39In August 1939, Hitler and Stalin sign a non-aggression pact.
29:43This gives Hitler the green light to start World War II.
29:47It's also very interesting because what it means is between the invasion of Poland and Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union are essentially allies.
29:55It means that after Hitler's conquered Poland, he knows he has a friendly power on his eastern border so he can turn his full attention to the west.
30:04Hitler sets his sights on knocking Britain out of the war, and he tries to do this through the Battle of Britain.
30:10He fails. Britain wins the Battle of Britain.
30:13So then Hitler turns his attention to his ultimate goal, which is the defeat of the Soviet Union.
30:17As the war brutally treads on, steel is forged and machines take shape across the Reich.
30:26Envisioning an ocean fleet capable of maritime dominance, Hitler calls for the widespread production of the nation's most ferocious naval weapon, the U-boat.
30:36Arguably, the U-boat is the Germans' most powerful naval weapon of the 20th century.
30:42Initially used in the First World War, these vessels could dive to a depth of around 50 metres and had a range of 40,000 kilometres.
30:53Because the U-boat can travel long distances without being detected, it allows the Germans to be able to circumvent Allied blockades.
31:01Lurking beneath the waves of the Atlantic, this silent predator gains notoriety for its ability to strike from the depths without warning, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.
31:13In the First World War alone, German and Austrian U-boats sank around 8,000 Allied merchant and warships many times their size, claiming the lives of tens of thousands of sailors in the process.
31:25Submersible vessels experience an incredible amount of pressure as they dive deeper into the water.
31:32The U-boat design employed a new alloy that was stronger than previous steels and allowed them to go deeper and to resist that pressure and to be safe.
31:40During the Second World War, the Nazis continuously developed the design of the U-boat and at one point incorporating the G7E electric torpedo.
31:51Whilst it sacrificed some speed and range compared to its steam-powered counterpart, it no longer had the telltale stream of bubbles behind it, which made it much more difficult to detect.
32:03At the start of the Second World War, the Kriegsmarine had just 46 operational U-boats, but by 1941 that number increases to 365.
32:16Producing U-boats is very challenging. Not only are they a large machine that takes a lot of work to actually build them, the U-boat construction is being targeted by the Allies.
32:27And the reason for that is because they are one of the biggest threats that the Allies face. The Battle of the Atlantic is a life or death struggle for the continued ability of Britain to resist against the Nazis.
32:39If you're looking to build up the capacity of your navy away from any external prying eyes, there's probably no better place to do it than away from the coast in this remote forest land.
32:51And through the canal, with the potential to have access to the open water, it's almost the perfect place to set up a secret shipyard.
33:00Some say the canal may be intended to service a secretive U-boat shipyard that allows easy access from German territory to the Baltic Sea, where vessels could then navigate onwards to cause devastation in the Atlantic.
33:13The canals widen at certain areas, and that's a critical design aspect. These widened areas allow for a larger turn radius of up to 40 meters. That is the turn radius of a smaller U-boat.
33:26There is a big issue with that idea. The canal is only 2.3 meters deep, while the draft of a U-boat is over 4 meters. Putting it simply, a U-boat could not sail through that canal.
33:36However, as the Kriegsmarine scales back manufacturing from massive shipyards to smaller factories that produce prefabricated parts, the feasibility of work along the canal remains.
33:48The Allied bombing campaign really undermines Germany's war economy, as it forces them to make radical changes to how they're producing war machines.
33:56They suddenly now have to build them in heavily fortified factories, and then bring them all together for assembly.
34:04Prefabricated parts can be barged out. You know, hide the prefabricated factory outside of occupied Prussia. If one gets bombed out, they can turn to another factory for the parts.
34:15Could Mauerwald have served a dual purpose, not only as a command center, but also a cog in the machine of the Nazi war effort?
34:22The function of most of the buildings at Mauerwald are known to us today, but some still retain an air of mystery.
34:31Buildings 11 and 12 are a little bit suspicious. They're really big. They're 13 meters by 21 meters, and they were purported to be a boiler room and a power plant.
34:40These buildings are way bigger than what would be needed for those utilities. It might have been built for something else in mind.
34:45Was there a secret shipyard for building U-boats or for making components for U-boats in the Missourian Canal? We don't know.
34:53But if a secret U-boat shipyard or a factory did exist, where along this canal could it have been?
34:59As the war rages on, work on the Missourian waterway is slowed to a near halt by 1941.
35:06But this vast structure will soon find a new purpose not as a transport route, but as a strategic barricade in yet another deadly offensive.
35:15June 22, 1941, more than 3 million Nazi soldiers are quietly amassed along the 2,900 kilometer border between the Reich and the Soviet Union.
35:30At the utterance of a simple command, they blazed forward in a brutally deceitful attack, Operation Barbarossa.
35:37When Hitler then defies the non-aggression pact and opens up the Eastern Front with Operation Barbarossa, I think his calculation was that this would stun the Russians and would give Hitler the edge going into the war against the Russians.
35:55Backed by thousands of tanks and aircraft, the Germans steamroll east, swallowing vast swathes of land, crushing the ill-prepared resistance,
36:03and unleashing a conflict that would ultimately decide the Second World War.
36:09Operation Barbarossa is arguably the biggest strategic blunder that Hitler makes during the Second World War.
36:14He hasn't actually finished his war in the West because Britain still exists, and so what he does is he condemns Germany to fight a war on two fronts.
36:24OKH's German High Command becomes one of the most important units during the planning of this operation.
36:29The location of the Wolf's Lair and Marowald allows Hitler and his generals to closely monitor what's happening in their fight against the Soviet Union.
36:40Operation Barbarossa ushers in a new chapter of the war as Nazi forces relentlessly push into the Russian countryside, their sights set on Moscow.
36:49Yet despite their meticulous preparations, the invasion is a gamble.
36:54And in December of 1941, after months of successful German advances, the Red Army unexpectedly turns the tide, forcing the Wehrmacht into a steady retreat.
37:06Though construction had already stopped, the Missourian Canal was around 90% complete and virtually filled with water.
37:14As the Germans retreat and the Soviets advance into Germany proper, the Germans are forced to turn everything and anything into a defensive line.
37:23And so the Missourian Canal becomes part of that defense.
37:26So what you see is the canal is being used by the Germans to try and halt the unstoppable Soviet onslaught.
37:32And as part of that, they're actually destroying parts of the canal, including bridges, to try and do anything to slow down the Red Army's advance.
37:40But this hastily cobbled defensive line, an act of desperation in the face of defeat, is not nearly enough to stave off the oncoming attack.
37:52A tide of Soviet steel and determination pours westward, fueled by the blood of millions and the support of Allied resources.
38:00City after city falls, each bringing the roar of the Russian tanks closer to the heart of the Third Reich.
38:06By May 1945, the Soviets seized Berlin and the war in Europe is finally brought to an end.
38:15At the end of the war, Joseph Stalin meets with American President Harry Truman and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to decide the fate of Germany.
38:25They signed the Potsdam Treaty, which divides Germany between the superpowers.
38:31East Prussia is divided into two parts. The majority is annexed by Poland and the remainder goes to the Soviet Union.
38:38Poland and the Soviet Union find themselves in possession of a regime's scattered remains across East Prussia.
38:44The two powers divide the course of the unfinished Masurian Canal between them. Roughly 20 kilometers fall under Polish control, while the remaining 30 kilometers become Soviet territory, with five locks in each section.
38:59However, this partition does little to breathe new life into the long-neglected project.
39:06Neither Poland nor the USSR possess the resources or the will to complete the canal's construction.
39:13The grand vision of a navigable waterway connecting the Masurian lakes to the Baltic Sea and the secrets it once contained fades into obscurity, overtaken by the pressing demands of the post-war era.
39:26The fact that the canal does not get much use during the war means that perhaps it did not meet its full strategic potential.
39:37Today, the canal is in a state of disrepair and decay. A lot of the elements were either destroyed, deteriorated, filled in. It is not a functional structure.
39:47Much of the equipment from the lock gates has been looted, rendering them completely inoperable.
39:53There's still one lock that has a kind of a shadow of the old eagle Nazi symbol, leaving this kind of imprint of its Nazi history to this day.
40:04Seeing this intimidating Nazi symbol on this imposing feat of engineering would really drive home to anyone passing through.
40:11This regime has built something impressive. They are leaving their mark on the landscape. They are a force to be reckoned with.
40:20What's interesting here is as they were taking off the actual emblem, it fell into the water.
40:26So it poses this interesting question. Is it actually still in the canal?
40:31Though seemingly forgotten, the Masurian Canal and its neighboring base have since been reclaimed by nature.
40:38Their once formidable concrete shells softened under a veil of moss and leaves.
40:44These hollow skeletal remains, once bustling with the frantic activity of warfare, now stand as nothing more than a haunting monument in a landscape transformed by the dark tides of history.
40:57We have to wonder what the true intent was for this canal. Why was its construction kept secret for so long?
41:06And more importantly, how would the course of history have changed had the canal actually been completed and that access to the Baltic Sea had been opened up?
41:15For more information, visit www.fema.gov.au.
41:45www.fema.gov.au
42:02www.fema.gov.au
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