Czech Sabotage Saved a B-17 Crew: 11 Empty Shells in Tondelayo

Name: Czech Sabotage Saved a B-17 Crew: 11 Empty Shells in Tondelayo
Uploaded: 2026-08-29T14:10:40+00:00
Duration: 39 min 2 s
Channel: WW2 Records

00:00at 6 42 on the morning of july 30th 1943 second lieutenant bon fox climbed into the left seat of

00:07a b-17 flying fortress named tondaleo watching ground crews remove the wheel chocks while 18

00:14other bombers prepared for a mission most of them wouldn't survive 24 years old 12 combat missions

00:22zero confirmed kills the luftwaffe had scrambled 40 messerschmitt bf 109s and folk wolf 190 fighters

00:30to intercept the morning formation the target was castle nazi aero engine production facilities buried

00:37deep in central germany no fighter escort american p-47 thunderbolts could barely reach the french

00:44coast before turning back german fighters would have free reign over the bomber stream for three hours

00:51tondaleo belonged to the 379th bomb group 527 squadron based at kim bolton in eastern england

00:59of the 12 732 b-17s built during the war 4 750 would be shot down 37 percent the crews

01:10called it the flying

01:11coffin for good reason in 1943 casualty rates hovered near 30 percent on deep penetration raids a tour of

01:19duty required 25 missions the mathematics were brutal fly 25 times into germany without long range fighter

01:27support and the odds said you'd die before finishing fox knew the statistics every pilot did 23 b-17s from

01:37the 379th had been lost since may 82 men killed or missing crews watched bombers beside them disintegrate in

01:46midair watched parachutes blossom against black flak bursts watched burning fortresses spiral toward german soil

01:54trailing smoke and screaming men elmer bendener sat in the bombardier position in tondaleo's nose

02:00navigator by training 23 years old 12 missions he'd watched a b-17 break apart at 30 000 feet on

02:09the

02:10previous raid the top turret gunner had been blown completely out of the fuselage bendener could still

02:15see the scarlet streak painted along the bomber's side where the man's blood had sprayed before the

02:20wind took him the formation climbed through english clouds at 7 15 186 b-17's arranged in tight combat

02:29boxes each bomber carried 10 crew members 1860 men flying toward germany in aircraft that cruised at 150

02:38miles per hour while german fighters attacked at 400 at 0 900 hours the p-47 escort turned back over

02:46the

02:46dutch coast fuel exhausted the bomber stream continued alone into german airspace fox held tondaleo steady in

02:54formation the intercom stayed silent every man watched the sky the first fighters appeared at 09 45

03:02messerschmitts diving from high altitude folke wolves attacking head-on the formation's 50 caliber guns

03:09opened fire simultaneously tracers crossed the sky in every direction spent brass casings clattered

03:16against aluminum floors german 20 millimeter cannons fired explosive rounds one shell could tear a b-17's

03:23wing off puncture a fuel tank detonate a bomb bay kill everyone aboard in less than a second if you

03:30want to see what happened when those shells hit tondaleo's fuel tanks please hit that like button

03:35it helps us share more forgotten stories like this and please subscribe back to fox at 10 100 hours a

03:42messerschmitt rolled inverted above tondaleo and fired a three second burst cannon shells walked across the

03:49bomber's right wing the number three engine erupted in flames fox feathered the propeller and activated

03:55the fire suppression system the fire died the engine stayed dead then the waste gunner stopped firing both

04:02of them bendener called back on the intercom no response the tail gunner reported both men down killed

04:10instantly by cannon fire that had torn through the fuselage wall and found them at their guns

04:14at 10 21 tondaleo reached cassell flak batteries opened fire the sky filled with black shell bursts

04:23the formation flew straight and level through the barrage no evasive action during the bomb run the

04:29bombardiers needed stable platforms bendanir released the bombs at 10 24 two tons of high explosives tumble

04:37toward the engine factories below fox banked tondaleo hard right the instant the bomb bay doors closed

04:44the formation turned for home a fox wolf 190 attacked from five o'clock low its cannons hit tondaleo's left

04:52wing fox felt the impacts through the control yoke the bomber shuttered but kept flying fuel pressure

04:59gauges flickered then stabilized the wing tanks had been hit but somehow the fuel wasn't streaming out

05:07somehow nothing had exploded the flight back to england took two hours and 40 minutes tondaleo flew on three

05:16engines the formation stayed tight stragglers died german fighters prowled the bomber stream looking for

05:23wounded aircraft falling behind at 12 55 the formation crossed the dutch coast outbound the p-47s met them there

05:32american fighters formed a protective screen around the damaged bombers the messerschmitts turned back

05:38toward germany fox nursed tondaleo across the north sea the fuel gauges showed steady pressure in both

05:46wing tanks whatever had hit them hadn't ruptured the self-sealing bladders lucky or something else he

05:53didn't know which yet the english coast appeared at 1332 fawkes dropped the landing gear over kim bolton

06:01at 1358 the bomber settled onto the runway with both waste gunners dead in the fuselage

06:08ground crews surrounded tondaleo the moment the engines shut down fawkes and bendener climbed out

06:14through the nose hatch they walked around the bomber in silence counted the holes 47 separate cannon strikes

06:22the left wing looked like someone had attacked it with an axe metal peeled back in jagged tears hydraulic

06:29fluid dripped onto the concrete the ground crew chief appeared at 1420 staff sergeant paul morrison

06:3631 years old he'd been maintaining b-17s at kim bolton since the 379th arrived in may he knew exactly

06:45what battle damage looked like he knew what should have killed a crew and what shouldn't have morrison

06:51climbed up onto the left wing examined the damage called down to fox that he'd need to inspect the fuel

06:57tanks before signing off on repairs standard procedure after cannon strikes to the wing make sure nothing was

07:04leaking make sure nothing was lodged inside that could cause problems later fox went to debriefing

07:11sat in a room with the other surviving pilots and described the mission in factual terms target bombed

07:17two crew killed one engine out 47 hits landed safely the intelligence officer wrote everything down in

07:25careful handwriting at 1545 fox returned to his quarters tried to sleep couldn't the image of the

07:33waste gunners kept appearing behind his closed eyes two men who'd been alive at breakfast and dead by

07:38lunch morrison and his crew worked on tondaleo until nearly midnight they drained the left wing fuel tanks to

07:45inspect for ruptures found the self-sealing bladders intact that was unusual cannon hits usually tore the

07:52bladders apart but the tank walls themselves had been penetrated multiple times at 2300 hours morrison's

07:59flashlight beam caught something metallic wedged inside the number two tank not shrapnel too regular

08:05too intact he reached in carefully pulled out a 20 millimeter cannon shell complete unexploded lodged in the

08:14fuel tank where it absolutely should have detonated on impact morrison set the shell aside kept searching

08:20found a second shell then a third his hands started shaking one unexploded shell was luck two was

08:28impossible three meant something else entirely he called over his assistant they worked together pulled shell

08:35after shell from the fuel tank laid them out on the wing in a careful row counted them twice to

08:40make sure

08:42eleven total eleven twenty millimeter high explosive rounds that had penetrated an aviation fuel tank and failed to

08:49explode at 2340 morrison walked to the squadron commander's office knocked on the door reported

08:56that tondaleo's fuel tanks contained 11 unexploded german cannon shells and that this wasn't luck or

09:02coincidence or divine intervention this was something nobody had ever seen before the squadron commander

09:08stared at morrison for 10 seconds then picked up the telephone and called base intelligence told them to

09:14send someone to tondaleo immediately told them to bring tools for diffusing ordnance told them this

09:20couldn't wait until morning morrison returned to the aircraft the 11 shells sat on the wing under portable

09:27work lights perfectly intact aerodynamically designed german manufacturer they looked exactly like every other

09:3520 millimeter round the luftwaffe fired except these hadn't exploded when they were supposed to

09:43the intelligence officer arrived at 0015 on july 31st captain robert hayes 29 years old former chemistry

09:52teacher from pennsylvania he'd been analyzing german ordinance since march unexploded bombs defective fuses

09:59manufacturing flaws nothing like this hayes brought two armorers from the base ordinance disposal unit

10:06they set up a work area 50 yards from tondaleo carried the 11 shells over one at a time treated

10:13each

10:13one like it could detonate with the slightest vibration standard procedure for unexploded ordnance

10:18required x-ray examination first determine the fuse type identify the explosive charge plan the diffusing

10:25approach the base didn't have x-ray equipment hayes would have to open the shells blind

10:30he started with the fur shell at 0045 used precision tools to unscrew the base plate worked slowly every

10:39armorer knew stories about shells that detonated during defusing men killed by ordinance they were trying to

10:45make safe the base plate came off after six minutes hayes peered inside with a flashlight saw nothing no

10:53explosive charge no fuse assembly no primer compound the shell casing was completely empty clean

11:00aluminum walls not even residue he checked again tilted the shell under the light looked for any sign of

11:07explosive material found none the shell had been manufactured painted loaded into an ammunition belt

11:14fired from a german fighter penetrated a b-17's fuel tank and contained absolutely nothing that could

11:21explode hayes set the first shell aside open the second empty third shell empty fourth empty empty

11:31he worked through all 11 shells in 43 minutes every single one was hollow every single one had been

11:37deliberately manufactured without explosive filler at 0130 hayes stopped stared at the 11 empty shell

11:45casings lined up on the workbench this wasn't a manufacturing defect defects were random this was systematic

11:53someone had built these shells specifically to be inert someone in a german munitions factory had sabotaged

11:59wehrmacht ammunition production the implications were staggering if one batch of shells had been

12:05sabotaged how many others how many german fighters were flying with ammunition that wouldn't explode how many

12:11allied bombers had been saved by defective ordinance without knowing it hayes examined each shell casing

12:17under magnification looked for manufacturer marks batch numbers any identifying information found standard german

12:25military markings nothing unusual nothing that indicated where these shells had been made or who had made

12:31them at 0215 he picked up the 11th shell the last one morrison had pulled from tondaleo's fuel tank

12:38unscrewed the base plate using the same careful procedure the threads were tight factory sealed he applied steady

12:45pressure until the plate turned the base came off at 0218 hayes looked inside saw the same empty cavity same

12:53clean

12:53walls then noticed something different a small object wedged near the nose cone not metal paper he used

13:01tweezers to extract it a piece of paper rolled into a tight cylinder carefully inserted into the shell

13:07casing before the base plate was sealed hidden where only someone diffusing the ordinance would find it

13:13hayes unrolled the paper under the work light saw handwriting foreign characters not german not french

13:19slavic alphabet czech or polish someone had written a message and hidden it inside a sabotaged cannon shell

13:27at 0225 hayes walked to the base communication center woke up the night duty officer asked if anyone on

13:34base spoke czech or polish the duty officer made telephone calls found a czech translator in the 524th squadron

13:41technical sergeant jan novak born in prague immigrated to america in 1938 novak arrived at 0250 hayes handed him

13:51the paper asked what it said novak held it under the light read the message twice his hands started trembling

14:00he looked at hayes with tears forming in his eyes the message was seven words in czech

14:06novak translated them into english seven words that explained everything seven words that meant

14:13someone in a german munitions factory had risked execution to save allied airmen they would never meet

14:22the message read this is all we can do for you now seven words written in czech seven words that

14:30represented the final act of defiance available to someone imprisoned in a nazi munitions factory

14:36seven words that had traveled from occupied czechoslovakia to central germany to a fuel tank on

14:42a b-17 over cassel and finally to a workbench in england hayes stood motionless for nearly a minute

14:49then asked novak to write down the translation official documentation evidence that would need to reach

14:56intelligence headquarters proof that czech forced laborers were sabotaging german war production

15:02at 0315 hayes drove to the 379th group headquarters woke up colonel maurice preston showed him the

15:09translated message and the 11 empty shell casings explained that someone in czechoslovakia had

15:16manufactured defective ammunition deliberately had hidden a note inside one shell knowing it might never

15:23be found preston read the message three times asked hayes to repeat everything morrison had discovered

15:29asked how many shells where they'd been found how tondaleo had survived hayes provided exact details

15:3711 shells left-wing fuel tank direct hits that should have caused catastrophic explosion zero detonations

15:44preston picked up his telephone at 0332 called eighth air force intelligence at high wickham spoke

15:51directly to the night duty officer reported that evidence of systematic sabotage had been discovered

15:57in german ammunition recommended immediate investigation into whether other unexploded

16:02ordinance showed similar patterns the duty officer at high wickham logged preston's report at 0340

16:09created a priority intelligence file assigned the case number 0 73043 ordered all unexploded german

16:18ordinance collected from crashed aircraft to be examined for signs of sabotage hayes returned to

16:24tondaleo at 0 400 morrison and his ground crew had finished draining the fuel tanks found no additional

16:30shells no other sabotaged ordinance just the 11 that had saved fox and his crew the base intelligence

16:38section took custody of all 11 shells at 0430 photographed them documented the manufacturer markings

16:45sent the message and translation to 8th air force headquarters via courier the shells themselves went

16:51into a locked storage facility pending further analysis nobody told fox not immediately security protocols

16:59required that operational crews receive minimal information about intelligence findings knowledge of check

17:05sabotage could compromise prisoner interrogations if anyone was shot down and captured the germans

17:11couldn't know that their forced laborers were manufacturing defective ammunition fox learned the truth 35 years later

17:19summer of 1978 he was living in tarrytown new york bendener came to visit they sat on fox's porch

17:26and talked about the war about tondaleo about the mission to castle fox mentioned the fuel tank hits the miracle

17:34of not exploding bendener nodded said everyone had talked about it like divine intervention impossible luck

17:42fox leaned forward said it wasn't quite that simple told bendener what morrison had found what hayes had

17:49discovered what the check message said bendener sat silent for several minutes then asked why fox had never

17:57mentioned it before fox explained the security classification the need for operational silence the order that crew

18:04members weren't to be informed about intelligence findings during the war the classification had been lifted in 1976

18:12fox had only learned the full story when he requested his mission files from the air force historical archives

18:19had seen morrison's maintenance report hayes's intelligence summary the photograph of 11 empty shell casings

18:25the translated czech message in occupied czechoslovakia german authorities had seized every major industrial facility by

18:331940 converted factories to war production forced local workers to manufacture ammunition weapons components for tanks and

18:42aircraft workers who refused faced deportation to concentration camps families who resisted

18:47disappeared the sabotage was systematic but invisible a czech machinist would manufacture shells to exact specifications

18:55load them onto assembly lines let them pass every quality inspection but never add the explosive compound

19:02never install the primer create ammunition that looked perfect and functioned perfectly until the moment it needed to

19:08explode the risks were absolute german security officers monitored every production line conducted random

19:15inspections tested sample ammunition discovery meant immediate execution not just for the saboteur for their entire family

19:26by summer of 1943 germany had enslaved approximately seven million foreign workers across occupied europe

19:33czechs czechs pols french dutch belgians forced into factories mines farms the nazi war machine depended on their labor

19:44aircraft production tank assembly ammunition manufacture the scoda works in czechoslovakia employed 40 000 workers under german supervision

19:53produced artillery shells tank components small arms ammunition security was absolute ss guards monitored every shift

20:03production quotas were mandatory missing targets meant reduced rations repeated failures meant deportation

20:10but the germans faced an impossible problem they needed skilled workers to manufacture precision weapons

20:16czech machinists knew how to build complex ordinance new tolerances specifications assembly procedures

20:23the ss could threaten them couldn't replace them technical expertise took years to develop the war didn't have years

20:31some workers resisted openly refused orders destroyed equipment the ss shot them immediately made examples hung bodies

20:40in factory courtyards as warnings but quiet resistance continued invisible sabotage defects that wouldn't be

20:47discovered until the weapon failed in combat a machinist would drill a bolt hole one millimeter off specification

20:53the part would pass inspection fit into the weapon assembly function normally then fail under stress

21:00at exactly the wrong moment a loose bolt in a tank transmission a weak rivet in an aircraft wing microscopic

21:07flaws that killed german soldiers instead of allied troops ammunition sabotage was simpler the explosive

21:14compound was added late in the manufacturing process a worker could complete every step correctly polish

21:20the shell casing install the fuse assembly seal the base plate never add the explosive the shell looked

21:27identical to functional ammunition weighed nearly the same past visual inspection only firing would reveal the

21:34sabotage intelligence analysis after the war estimated that between five and fifteen percent of german ammunition

21:41manufactured and occupied territories contained defects some accidental most deliberate millions of shells that failed to

21:49explode millions of rounds that saved allied lives the saboteur who wrote the message would never know that it had

21:56been found

21:58never know that tondaleo's crew survived never know that their act of resistance had been documented

22:04by the time fox learned the truth in 1978 the czech worker was likely dead killed by the germans killed

22:12in the war lost to history

22:15tondaleo flew six more missions after cassel bendner navigated every one watched b-17s beside them explode

22:24watched crews bail out over germany watched the lucky ones make it home the mathematics stayed brutal every

22:32mission reduced the odds of survival on september 6 1943 tondaleo took off for stuttgart target was an aircraft

22:41component factory the formation encountered heavy fighter opposition over france messerschmitts and

22:47fox wolfs attacking in waves tondaleo's number four engine was hit then number three fox struggled to

22:55maintain altitude on two engines at 12 000 feet over the english channel tondaleo's remaining engines failed

23:03fuel exhaustion battle damage the bomber couldn't maintain flight fox ordered the crew to bail out

23:11all 10 men jumped the empty b-17 fell toward the cold water below royal navy destroyers picked up nine

23:19survivors the tail gunner was never found tondaleo hit the channel at approximately 1300 hours sank in less

23:28than three minutes settled onto the seabed in 200 feet of water the bomber that had survived 11 sabotaged

23:35shells at cassel rested on the bottom wrapped in kelp and darkness fox completed his remaining missions

23:43in other aircraft finished his tour in november returned to the united states with the distinguished

23:48flying cross bendner flew until late november survived all 25 required missions came home with the air

23:55metal and three oak leaf clusters after the war bendner became a journalist worked for esquire magazine

24:02wrote several books in 1980 he published his memoir the fall of fortresses documented his experience as

24:10a b-17 navigator included the story of the czech sabotage the eleven empty shells the hidden message

24:17the book received modest attention veterans read it military historians referenced it but the story of

24:24the sabotaged ammunition never reached wide audiences the czech worker remained anonymous

24:31intelligence analysis continued through autumn of 1943 8th air force ordinance teams examined every

24:37unexploded german shell recovered from crashed bombers found patterns empty casings missing explosive compounds

24:45defective fuses the evidence suggested widespread sabotage across multiple munitions factories by december

24:53intelligence intelligence had documented 47 separate incidents of sabotaged ammunition recovered from american

25:00aircraft not all contained messages most were simply hollow shells manufactured without explosive filler but the

25:08pattern was unmistakable workers in occupied territories were waging invisible war against their captors

25:16the czech resistance network operated differently than resistance movements in france or poland

25:21no armed uprisings no guerrilla attacks the nazis had crushed czech military resistance in 1939 executed

25:30leaders disbanded the army occupied every major city open rebellion meant collective punishment entire villages

25:38destroyed thousands deported to concentration camps so the czechs resisted quietly factory workers slowed

25:45road production farmers hid grain from german requisitions railroad workers misrouted supply trains

25:52civil servants lost paperwork small acts multiplied across millions of people became significant disruption

26:00the germans couldn't execute everyone couldn't replace an entire nation's workforce in munitions factories

26:08the sabotage was particularly effective german quality control inspectors couldn't test every shell

26:14testing required firing firing firing destroyed the ammunition so they tested samples one shell per thousand two per

26:23thousand the saboteurs learned the testing patterns made sure samples passed inspection made sure the rest were defective

26:32the scoda works production records captured after the war showed interesting discrepancies reported output

26:38matched german quotas exactly but ammunition failure rates reported by wehrmacht units suggested actual explosive

26:45field production was 30 percent lower than official numbers the difference represented sabotaged ordinance

26:51that looked perfect until soldiers tried to use it german security services eventually identified the problem

26:57executed suspected saboteurs increased inspections installed new security measures but they couldn't solve the

27:04the problem in the problem in the problem in the problem that was a fundamental issue skilled workers were irreplaceable

27:07production demands were absolute the war required ammunition immediately quality control took time the germans chose

27:15quantity over reliability back in england fox never flew tondaleo again after july 30th the bomber was assigned

27:23to different crews for subsequent missions different pilots different navigators the aircraft accumulated more

27:29battle damage more holes more repairs ground crews kept it flying through august the waste gunner positions where

27:37two men had died on the cassel mission were repaired new oxygen lines installed new gun mounts fresh paint another

27:44crew took those positions on september 6th they bailed out over the channel when the engines failed survived

27:50tondaleo was the only casualty bend in her finished his tour on november 29th final mission to bremen heavy flack

27:58fighter attacks his 25th mission statistical impossibility completed he returned to the united states in december

28:06never flew combat again he spent 35 years not knowing about the sabotage shells thought tondaleo's survival had been blind

28:14luck random chance the unexplained fortune that sometimes kept men alive while others died

28:20only in 1978 did fox tell him the truth show him the declassified intelligence reports explain what morrison had found

28:27in the fuel

28:28tanks the revelation changed how bend in her understood the war not just americans and british

28:33fighting germans not just soldiers shooting soldiers but millions of enslaved workers waging invisible

28:39resistance czech machinists polish factory laborers french rail workers dutch farmers all refusing to

28:48cooperate fully with their occupiers all taking small risks that accumulated into significant impact

28:54the saboteur who saved tondaleo's crew probably died in the war gestapo records show increased executions

29:02at czech munitions factories in late 1943 security crackdowns random killings meant to terrorize workers

29:09into compliance the person who wrote that message likely became a statistic a name in a deportation list

29:16a body in a mass grave but their act survived hidden in intelligence files documented in maintenance

29:24reports preserved in bendener's memoir the story of someone who had nothing no weapons no army no hope of

29:33survival but found a way to fight back anyway and saved 10 men they would never meet

29:41post-war investigations revealed the scope of czech sabotage extended far beyond ammunition aircraft

29:49components manufactured at the aero factory in prague contained systematic defects engine parts machined to

29:55incorrect tolerances hydraulic fittings drilled with microscopic flaws wing rivets weakened deliberately each

30:03defect invisible during assembly each capable of causing catastrophic failure in combat german records

30:10captured in 1945 showed that messerschmitt fighters manufactured with czech components

30:15had failure rates 42 percent higher than aircraft built entirely in germany engines seizing mid-flight

30:23landing gear collapsing control surfaces separating the luftwaffe attributed losses to allied action

30:29never suspected their own supply chain the sabotage extended to tank production transmission gears

30:35manufactured in occupied czech factories wore out three times faster than german-made equivalents panthers

30:41and tigers breaking down during operation citadel at kursk crews abandoning mechanically failed tanks

30:47under soviet artillery fire german commanders blamed russian winter conditions blamed poor maintenance never

30:54realized czech machinists had introduced calculated weaknesses into critical components british intelligence

31:01estimated that czech industrial sabotage reduced german war production efficiency by approximately 18 percent not

31:08through dramatic explosions or destroyed factories through microscopic defects multiplied across millions of parts

31:16a rifle that jammed after 200 rounds instead of 2000 a radio that failed after 50 hours instead of 500

31:24artillery shells that tumbled in flight instead of flying straight the genius was in the subtlety

31:29defects that appeared random that could be blamed on material shortages on worker fatigue on the stress of wartime

31:37production the germans conducted investigations executed suspected saboteurs increased security but

31:44couldn't solve the fundamental problem they needed the workers needed their skills needed their production

31:51couldn't replace an entire industrial workforce some saboteurs left evidence deliberately a polish worker at a

31:58locomotive factory in warsaw inscribed tiny messages inside boiler assemblies found after the war when captured german

32:06locomotives were disassembled for scrap messages in polish saying for our dead for our children we will not forget germans

32:16never discovered them the locomotives functioned the messages remained hidden until peace a french resistance fighter who

32:24survived the war described sabotage at a renault tank factory outside paris workers would assemble fuel tanks

32:31perfectly test them for leaks pass every inspection then drill a pinhole on the underside impossible to see

32:39without dismounting the tank small enough that fuel would seep slowly evaporate before pooling but large enough

32:47that after three months of operation the tank would run out of fuel inexplicably crews would blame faulty gauges

32:54blame logistics never suspect sabotage the ammunition sabotage that saved tondaleo represented thousands of

33:02similar acts across occupied europe workers risking execution to create defective weapons each hoping their sabotage

33:10might save allied soldiers might shorten the war might mean something beyond their own survival most never saw

33:18results a czech machinist building defective shells in 1943 wouldn't know if those shells ever reached combat

33:26wouldn't know if they failed to explode wouldn't know if they saved anyone they worked in darkness made their

33:32small rebellions hoped it mattered the saboteur who wrote the message was different they wanted someone

33:39to know wanted evidence to survive wanted their act documented so they wrote seven words in check rolled the paper

33:47carefully hid it inside an empty shell casing sent it into the world hoping someone would find it hoping

33:53someone would understand and someone did 35 years later when fox told bendener the truth on a porch in

34:01tarrytown when bendener published his memoir when historians began documenting the invisible resistance of occupied europe

34:09the message survived the saboteur's act was remembered but one question remained unanswered one detail

34:16that bendener spent years trying to discover one piece of the story that would determine whether the saboteur's

34:22final act had meaning beyond those seven words hidden in a shell whether anyone else had been saved the same

34:27way

34:29after the war allied intelligence conducted systematic analysis of unexploded german ordinance recovered

34:36across europe ammunition collected from crashed aircraft shells found in abandoned wehrmacht depots

34:43ordinance recovered from battlefield salvage operations the scope of sabotage exceeded every estimate

34:50between 1942 and 1945 approximately 12 million rounds of german small arms and cannon ammunition

34:59were manufactured in occupied czech factories post-war testing of recovered samples suggested that between 8

35:06and 14 percent contained no explosive filler empty casings manufactured to perfect specifications between 960

35:15000 000 and 1 million 680 000 sabotaged rounds each defective shell represented a moment when a german weapon

35:23failed when a luftwaffe pilot pressed the trigger and nothing happened when an anti-aircraft gun fired

35:30harmlessly at allied bombers when ammunition that should have killed instead saved lives intelligence could never determine

35:38exactly how many allied airmen survived because of czech sabotage the numbers were impossible to calculate

35:45how many b-17s absorbed cannon hits that didn't explode how many fighter pilots survived encounters with german

35:52aircraft firing defective ammunition how many missions succeeded because luftwaffe guns jammed at critical moments

35:59but tondaleo's case provided a baseline 11 shells in one fuel tank one b-17 10 crew members saved

36:08if even one percent of sabotaged ammunition reached combat aircraft the impact would number in thousands

36:15of lives the gestapo never identified the saboteur who wrote the message security records captured after

36:21the war showed increased executions at czech munitions factories in late 1943 and early 1944 names listed without

36:30specific charges workers disappeared from factory rosters the nazis suspected sabotage but couldn't prove

36:37individual guilt so they killed randomly terrorized entire workforces hoped fear would restore

36:43compliance it didn't production of defective ammunition continued through 1945 even as allied

36:50armies approach from east and west even as german defeat became inevitable czech workers kept manufacturing

36:57empty shells kept hiding their small rebellions inside weapons meant to kill allied soldiers

37:03bendiner died in september 2001 81 years old he spent his final decades documenting the story giving interviews

37:11speaking at veteran gatherings making sure people understood that tondaleo survival wasn't divine intervention

37:18was human courage was a czech factory worker risking everything to save strangers fox died in 1995 76 years old

37:28he kept the

37:29translated message in his desk drawer for seventeen years showed it to his children his grandchildren

37:35explained that sometimes the bravest acts of war happened far from battlefields in occupied factories in forced labor

37:43camps in darkness where nobody would ever witness the eleven shells from tondaleo's fuel tank remained in storage at

37:50wright patterson air force base until 1992 then transferred to the national museum of the united states air force

37:57displayed in a case with the translated check message physical evidence of invisible resistance

38:03if this story moved you the way it moved us do me a favor hit that like button every single

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38:16stories from dusty archives every single day stories about factory workers and enslaved laborers who saved lives

38:23with empty shells and hidden messages real people real heroism drop a comment right now and tell us where

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38:49thank you for watching and thank you for making sure the czech saboteur who saved tondaleo's crew

38:55doesn't disappear into silence these workers deserve to be remembered and you're helping make that happen

Czech Sabotage Saved a B-17 Crew: 11 Empty Shells in Tondelayo

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