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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:03,160 (Dramatic percussions) 2 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:04,920 Narrator: The remote pacific site 3 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:07,080 where a strange collection of structures 4 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:09,840 caught American forces unaware. 5 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:13,520 The Japanese military fortified everything they could, 6 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:15,400 cave systems, tunnel systems 7 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:18,200 so that when the allied forces finally landed 8 00:00:18,240 --> 00:00:21,040 they would be entering in to a meat grinder. 9 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:24,520 The derelict Irish prison 10 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:27,960 where the inmates struggled to break in, as well as out. 11 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:31,960 A lot of very high risk inmates arrive 12 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:34,920 and this place simply isn't designed to hold them. 13 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:40,920 A massive complex in France with an explosive past. 14 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:43,400 Woman: No-one knows what happened for sure, 15 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:47,280 everything disappeared in one huge bang. 16 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:50,440 Was it deliberate? Was it accidental? 17 00:00:50,480 --> 00:00:51,680 Was it sabotage? 18 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:55,080 And the Spanish ghost town 19 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:59,480 where us freedom fighters fought to the death for a better world. 20 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:02,080 We see a lot of graffiti 21 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:04,800 which itself has some real significance 22 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:06,400 in solving this mystery. 23 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:12,960 Decaying relics. 24 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:15,080 Ruins of lost worlds. 25 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:19,840 Forged through years of toil, now haunted by the past. 26 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:24,040 Their secrets waiting to be revealed. 27 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:42,880 In the western pacific 28 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:47,080 foreboding ruins scattered across the Japanese island of ie jima 29 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:49,240 make for a confounding site. 30 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:57,200 This island is so unusual looking, it's almost entirely flat 31 00:01:57,240 --> 00:01:59,480 but then you have this bulging mountain 32 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:02,000 standing right in the middle of it. 33 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:04,760 Looking down on it, it looks almost like an aircraft carrier. 34 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:08,520 And someone has built three runways here. 35 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:11,760 You'll see some old airfields 36 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:15,400 with weeds growing up, you know, through cracks in the pavement. 37 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:19,040 It's not immediately clear who was flying in 38 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:20,560 or out of this place. 39 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:25,680 The modern day town hides the first clue. 40 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:29,520 There's a building that looks completely out of place 41 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:32,080 in a 21st century context, 42 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:35,360 it looks battle scarred, it's got gaping holes in it. 43 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:40,440 Structures hidden below ground are no less intriguing. 44 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:46,120 And it has a lot of naturally occurring caves, 45 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:51,560 some of which could be engineered in to excellent defensive positions. 46 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:55,560 They're pretty well sheltered, from the outside you have no idea 47 00:02:55,600 --> 00:03:00,640 of what a large complex exists behind those entrances. 48 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:05,560 What links the disused runway to the blown out building 49 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:08,840 and the fortified caves that lie below this island? 50 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:19,040 A torn out concrete shell hiding in the modern day town of ie 51 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:22,960 is the only building on the island that survived the second world war. 52 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:29,360 Local guide tamae takamichi knows exactly what this place once was. 53 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:33,816 Translation: "This building is the remains 54 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:35,600 "of the municipal pawn shop. 55 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:38,800 "It was built before the war and made out of concrete." 56 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:45,960 The one old concrete building left on this island 57 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:50,000 from the old days is the pawn shop. 58 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:52,840 The pawn shop is pretty much the local bank 59 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:58,080 and that means that it's got to be a strong safe place. 60 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:04,080 It has been torn to pieces, it has clearly been in a fight. 61 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:07,920 Translation: "The big holes are damaged from artillery. 62 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:12,120 "And the small ones these are from rifle fire. 63 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:17,280 1,000 miles from Tokyo, 64 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:20,480 iejima is part of the Japanese archipelago. 65 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:23,080 Since we're here in the pacific ocean, 66 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:26,800 a very contested space near the home islands of Japan, 67 00:04:26,840 --> 00:04:30,080 this place obviously had military significance. 68 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:37,360 Iejima has got some nice long runways 69 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:41,360 that go straight out over the pacific ocean, 70 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:46,480 that means it's easy to take off, it's easy to land, 71 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:50,320 it's a big safe airport. 72 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:53,880 During the second world war 73 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:57,320 these overgrown airfields were among the largest in Asia, 74 00:04:58,840 --> 00:05:02,240 the Japanese had built them to aid their expansion in the pacific. 75 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:08,480 But by 1944 they'd been forced to change their tactics. 76 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:12,480 The Japanese had learned they didn't have the resources 77 00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:14,160 to stop the Americans any more. 78 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:18,840 So, instead of going out to meet in battle out over the ocean 79 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:22,280 they dug in, they went to ground. 80 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:25,480 Meanwhile from across the pacific, 81 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:28,360 the Americans envied iejima's airfields. 82 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:33,120 If you don't have iejima 83 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:38,640 then you don't have that clear path that takes you 84 00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:42,640 from the American mainland to Hawaii 85 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:47,280 and step by step across the pacific to take Japan. 86 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:53,160 Iejima is the ideal place to land heavy military equipment. 87 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:57,880 The island itself has got some nice neatly shelving beaches 88 00:05:57,920 --> 00:05:59,480 around it's perimeter. 89 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:02,960 Then around the island you can see 90 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,320 a whole bunch of entrances to little caves. 91 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:10,880 These coastal caves lie below 92 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:14,400 the flat stone plateau that covers this place. 93 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:16,960 Punctuated only once. 94 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:21,560 By mount gusuku, the spectacular peak at it's heart. 95 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:29,360 The island itself is pretty natural as a defensive position 96 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:33,080 because the pinnacle in the middle of the island 97 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:36,280 enable an all around defence. 98 00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:40,240 (Dramatic music) 99 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:43,160 On home turf the Japanese knew 100 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:46,000 just how to defend this peculiar place. 101 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:49,000 What the Japanese wanted to do ideally 102 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:53,720 was to make it difficult for the Americans to land 103 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:56,040 by using artillery 104 00:06:56,080 --> 00:07:00,600 and defend the island in depth using infantry 105 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:04,920 who were comparatively poorly prepared. 106 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:09,240 The Japanese smashed the airfields, 107 00:07:09,280 --> 00:07:12,720 built pillbox positions and laid mines 108 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:17,080 but most importantly they made full use of mount gusuku. 109 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:22,600 Below ground this limestone peak is riddled with tunnels and caves 110 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:26,000 which the Japanese plan to use to move around undetected. 111 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:29,680 They secured the tunnel entrances, 112 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:33,480 built machine gun positions and fortified caves. 113 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:37,680 Some three-stories high with look outs across the island. 114 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:45,760 They fortified everything they could from cave systems, tunnel systems 115 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:48,600 so that when the allied forces finally landed 116 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:51,640 they would be entering into a meat grinder. 117 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:56,680 Iejima's civilian population took refuge 118 00:07:56,720 --> 00:07:59,200 in the caves round the coast. 119 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:03,960 Local residents like tamae takamichi still revered this place. 120 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:11,040 Translation: "It's a sacred place on iejima, 121 00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:14,000 "during the war many people sought refuge here. 122 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:19,080 "This place received many mortar shell attacks from the sea 123 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:21,720 "so people came here because it was safe." 124 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:27,960 With no idea what was going on underground, 125 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:30,360 when the American forces finally arrived 126 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:33,560 they weren't prepared for an unseen and deadly foe. 127 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:39,200 16 April 1945 128 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:41,960 the us army invades iejima. 129 00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:47,160 The Americans had spent the whole second world war 130 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:50,480 learning how to conduct amphibious operations. 131 00:08:51,680 --> 00:08:55,480 But the thousands of Japanese soldiers installed in mount gusuku 132 00:08:55,520 --> 00:08:57,320 could see their every move. 133 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:02,520 The Americans advance to the town of ie 134 00:09:02,560 --> 00:09:04,560 was under constant ambush. 135 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:10,360 And they couldn't tell civilians and Japanese soldiers apart. 136 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:16,720 Translation: "During the battle of iejima, 137 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:18,960 "civilians also took up arms. 138 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:23,400 "Some civilians were told by the Japanese army 139 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:27,040 "to fight with guns but they mainly used grenades." 140 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:36,200 Slow progress and the unexpected loss of hundreds of men 141 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:40,160 meant the Americans had to take the high ground of mount gusuku 142 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:42,560 which lay beyond the town of ie. 143 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:45,880 The gruelling conflict was witnessed 144 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:48,720 by the famous us war reporter Ernie pyle. 145 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:53,880 Ernie pyle was an American newspaper columnist 146 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:58,400 who was beloved for his devotion to the troops. 147 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:01,200 He was one of these war correspondents with a, 148 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:04,560 with a human touch, he really knew the gis. 149 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:08,880 Pyle was travelling with the troops near the town of ie 150 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:13,760 when they came under fire, a sniper hit him in the head. 151 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:16,360 Pyle was killed instantly. 152 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:20,320 True to his nature 153 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:23,040 he was pressing right up close to be near the action 154 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:24,880 when he was killed on iejima. 155 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:28,640 With pyle gone, 156 00:10:28,680 --> 00:10:31,640 the Americans were determined to get the job done. 157 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:34,560 Beyond pyle's memorial 158 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:38,680 today there's one other remnant of the bitter battle that played out. 159 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:41,160 The shell of the concrete pawn shop. 160 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:45,640 This building did not necessarily serve 161 00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:47,720 any strategic purpose for the United States 162 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:49,480 but it was caught in the crossfire. 163 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:53,240 They pulverised this pawn shop 164 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:55,880 on the way to pulverising the Japanese headquarters. 165 00:10:56,760 --> 00:11:00,640 The Americans eventually took mount gusuku 166 00:11:00,680 --> 00:11:03,040 but traces still lie below this place 167 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:07,040 that suggest for the people of ie the full horror of the war 168 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:08,280 was not yet over. 169 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:12,600 The Japanese military convinced the population 170 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:16,280 that the American forces would be like wild animals 171 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:19,880 and no-one would survive their onslaught. 172 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:24,520 On ie island they actually issued people hand grenades. 173 00:11:24,560 --> 00:11:26,680 If all else fails they were to kill themselves 174 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:28,920 rather than suffer the disgrace of surrender. 175 00:11:29,680 --> 00:11:31,560 In iejima's coastal caves 176 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:34,480 hundreds of civilians took their own lives, 177 00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:39,080 those in the near tear cave didn't believe the propaganda 178 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:40,800 and chose not to. 179 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:46,440 Translation: "Many died inside these caves. 180 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:53,840 "However at this particular cave that tragedy didn't happen." 181 00:11:57,040 --> 00:12:01,240 After a gruelling six-day battle, the Americans took iejima, 182 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:08,120 in total almost 5,000 Japanese and more than 1,000 American soldiers 183 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:11,280 lost their lives in the fight for iejima. 184 00:12:13,560 --> 00:12:17,560 And some claim that Japan's resolute defence of this tiny island 185 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:19,840 led the us to drop the atomic bombs 186 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:22,720 that finally ended the war in this region. 187 00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:29,200 But iejima still had one more role to play. 188 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:33,656 Translation: "At the end of the war 189 00:12:33,680 --> 00:12:36,400 "the Japanese went to the Philippines via here." 190 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:41,120 After taking off from iejima 191 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:44,080 the delegation agreed peace terms in Manilla 192 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:46,880 before submitting to a public display. 193 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:53,760 We've all heard about the Japanese surrendering to general mcarthur 194 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:56,880 on the USS Missouri in Tokyo bay 195 00:12:56,920 --> 00:13:01,000 but in fact the initial surrender happened here 196 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:03,280 at one of these air strips. 197 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:08,000 This is an almost forgotten part of the history of the war. 198 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:16,640 Today little remains of the bloody battle for iejima. 199 00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:20,640 But the memory of the thousands of soldiers and civilians 200 00:13:20,680 --> 00:13:22,760 who died here lives on. 201 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:28,960 Translation: "This place is one of the few places left from the war, 202 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:32,400 "not only for iejima but also for okinawa. 203 00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:34,600 "So we are preserving it carefully." 204 00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:45,320 Marooned in the chilly waters of the Celtic sea, 205 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:49,200 a cluster of structures guards Ireland's biggest harbour. 206 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:56,640 This island unambiguously has pride of place. 207 00:13:56,680 --> 00:14:01,920 It's exposed, it's windy, it's isolated. 208 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:06,280 There are ditches, fences and walls, 209 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:09,640 this says security and strength. 210 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:14,480 It's really quite clear that this place was a fort, 211 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,800 so there's also a sense that there was something else happening here. 212 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:21,360 (Dramatic music) 213 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:31,640 This part is dark, it's quiet, there are bars on the windows, 214 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:34,040 there's a sort of oppressive feeling. 215 00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:38,200 And the darkness just swallows you up 216 00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:40,040 the further you go inside. 217 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:43,680 It feels like something of a time machine, 218 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:47,200 there are parts that are quite obviously several centuries old 219 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:49,880 and there are other bits that only seem like 20 years old. 220 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:54,000 At the centre of the complex is a long building 221 00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:56,280 that appears to offer up some clues. 222 00:14:56,960 --> 00:14:59,040 There's clearly evidence of fire 223 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:01,120 having swept through this place at some point. 224 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:04,440 It feels like something actually quite violent happened here. 225 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:09,200 It's those burnt out ruins that really draw you in 226 00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:11,760 and make you wonder what happened here. 227 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:19,040 This is spike island. 228 00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:22,920 Today it sits in Irish waters 229 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:25,560 yet these defensive structures were built by the British 230 00:15:25,600 --> 00:15:27,320 more than 200 years ago. 231 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:32,320 Local historian Tom O'Neill once worked here. 232 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:36,040 The fort here was built by the British 233 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:38,000 'cause they were always afraid 234 00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:41,840 that an enemy of theirs would invade Ireland 235 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:43,600 and use Ireland then as a base 236 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:46,960 through which to attack the mainland UK. 237 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:50,680 Building the strategically vital fort 238 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:53,880 cost almost 100 million pounds in todays money. 239 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:58,480 This was a really significant project. 240 00:15:58,520 --> 00:15:59,920 They started in 1806 241 00:15:59,960 --> 00:16:04,240 and it took 60 years to build across to cross a 24 acre site 242 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:06,200 and it's cutting edge military technology. 243 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:10,560 From here we can actually get a perfect idea 244 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:13,880 of how clever the design was 245 00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:16,760 to make this fort as strong as possible. 246 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:20,200 Deep trenches surround the fort 247 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:23,160 which is built in a distinctive star shape 248 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:25,360 to protect it from every direction. 249 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:32,560 The design worked, no enemy ever attacked the fort. 250 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:36,960 But that doesn't mean it's going to escape violence all together. 251 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:38,240 Much later in it's life 252 00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:40,040 it's going to be attacked from within. 253 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:45,000 The defensive role wasn't the only thing 254 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:46,760 this place was used for. 255 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:49,840 There's more than one story to tell about this place. 256 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:56,080 Bars on windows, security spikes and reinforced gates 257 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:59,360 show how the British retooled their prized bastion 258 00:17:00,440 --> 00:17:02,560 to control the Irish instead. 259 00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:07,640 Being on an island with fortified high walls 260 00:17:07,680 --> 00:17:10,760 and excellent observation and look-out positions 261 00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:14,160 that also made this site ideal to be a prison. 262 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:19,440 In 1845 the great famine hit Ireland 263 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:23,520 and this imperious star shaped fort became a paupers prison. 264 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:25,640 People became more desperate 265 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:28,080 and some were even willing to be arrested and imprisoned 266 00:17:28,120 --> 00:17:29,880 just to get some food. 267 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:32,840 The situation was so dire 268 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:37,560 that these fortified walls soon held thousands of prisoners. 269 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:40,840 Additionally with the British government using spike island 270 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:44,320 as a stop over for convicts en route to criminal colonies 271 00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:46,400 the population swelled. 272 00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:50,280 And the numbers kept on rising 273 00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:53,560 because of the numbers that were being arrested and imprisoned 274 00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:56,480 until eventually we had 2,500 here 275 00:17:56,520 --> 00:17:59,880 and that 2,500 made it one of the largest prisons 276 00:17:59,920 --> 00:18:01,480 in the world at the time. 277 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:07,720 Eventually the famine passed and the prison closed in 1883. 278 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:09,520 But this would not last for long. 279 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:14,480 In 1916 when the Irish Republicans rebelled 280 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:17,680 against britain's oppressive military rule 281 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:20,160 the fort again proved invaluable. 282 00:18:21,120 --> 00:18:22,760 During the Irish war of independence 283 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:25,720 this site was bought back in to use again as a prison. 284 00:18:26,360 --> 00:18:29,560 And some of the rooms have changed very little since then. 285 00:18:33,360 --> 00:18:37,040 This was where the convicted Republicans were held, 286 00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:39,320 this would have been their living quarters, 287 00:18:39,360 --> 00:18:41,880 their sleeping quarters, their dining quarters, 288 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:43,520 their recreation quarters. 289 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:48,680 With British soldiers guarding republican internees 290 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:51,160 hostility between them was inevitable. 291 00:18:52,360 --> 00:18:54,480 There were some pretty serious tension 292 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:57,200 between these prisoners who had fought on one side 293 00:18:57,240 --> 00:18:59,560 and the guards who were their enemies. 294 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:02,600 Obviously there was friction, 295 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:03,656 these were the individuals 296 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:06,440 that had been attempting to kill crown forces anyway. 297 00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:11,400 The famous revolutionaries who came through this place 298 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:13,320 ran rings round the British. 299 00:19:14,360 --> 00:19:18,200 There was one particularly important individual here with the prisoners 300 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:22,760 and his real name was Tom Malone, he made a name for himself 301 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:25,480 attacking and destroying rac barracks, 302 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:30,080 he was fairly near the top of the crown forces most wanted list 303 00:19:30,120 --> 00:19:33,960 and he was arrested in cork city on Christmas morning 1920. 304 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:37,960 Malone was a commander in the republican army. 305 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:41,440 He was once described as Ireland's Houdini 306 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:43,560 when he escaped this fortress jail 307 00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:46,240 helped by the prison's catholic chaplain. 308 00:19:50,120 --> 00:19:55,280 His comrades had to remain inside until Irish independence in 1921. 309 00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:01,160 But modern cell doors, locks and partitions 310 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:05,000 suggest spike island's role as a prison wasn't yet over. 311 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:09,720 In 1985 the fort was again used as a prison 312 00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:12,040 but a civilian prison this time. 313 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:14,520 There had been a spate of increased crime 314 00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:17,320 and so spike island was opened up again 315 00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:20,000 to absorb some of these extra inmates. 316 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:26,240 This time it was the Irish themselves who put the prison fort to use. 317 00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:33,680 This area was converted in to modern cells in 1985, 318 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:36,760 there were 25 four-man-cells in total 319 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:43,000 and that then gave the civil prison a capacity of 102. 320 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:45,920 Other blocks were less well secured. 321 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:50,480 The plan was to send fairly low risk inmates to spike island 322 00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:52,600 and if that had been followed through 323 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:54,160 there wouldn't have been a problem. 324 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:56,720 But when prison governors got the opportunity 325 00:20:56,760 --> 00:20:58,080 to get rid of some prisoners 326 00:20:58,120 --> 00:21:00,720 well naturally enough they got rid of their troublemakers 327 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:02,280 if they possibly could. 328 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:06,120 A lot of very high risk inmates arrive 329 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:09,240 and this place simply isn't designed to hold them. 330 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:12,840 Damage found at one part of the makeshift jail 331 00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:14,520 points to the consequences. 332 00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:17,640 As you look closer and you see the damage, 333 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:20,720 you see the fire damage, the charred windows, 334 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:25,200 you realise that there was some final dramatic event 335 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:27,880 that was the last chapter of this site. 336 00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:36,760 Spike island, a fort turned prison in the republic of Ireland. 337 00:21:37,360 --> 00:21:40,400 Tasked with housing a number of high risk offenders 338 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:42,480 in an ill-equipped cell block, 339 00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:44,080 violence soon erupted. 340 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:47,560 Tom O'Neill was a guard here at the time, 341 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:49,960 he witnessed the chaos that ensued. 342 00:21:51,120 --> 00:21:56,040 This was one of the dormitories where prisoners were held in 1985. 343 00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:59,560 On the night of 31 August, just before midnight, 344 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:02,080 the riot started. 345 00:22:02,120 --> 00:22:04,840 The prisoners simply broke up the wooden floor 346 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:06,440 and set fire to it. 347 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:10,040 And when the fire was on 348 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:14,200 they simply kicked down the wooden doors and escaped. 349 00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:19,360 They even managed to get as far as the pier 350 00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:20,656 but they couldn't get any further 351 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:23,280 and that's why you build a prison on an island. 352 00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:24,880 They can't get off 353 00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:26,920 so they decide to do the next best thing. 354 00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:29,640 They decide to break back into the prison 355 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:32,160 and destroy all the records there. 356 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:37,360 But the fully bastioned British built fort 357 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:39,400 wasn't that easy to break into. 358 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:44,480 The prisoners had to use an excavator to break down the doors. 359 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:49,880 The riot was just a simple want of destruction, 360 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:53,760 photocopiers turned upside down and smacked off the ground, 361 00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:57,080 tins of paint opened and scattered all over the place, 362 00:22:57,120 --> 00:22:59,920 just the want of destruction of it really. 363 00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:03,160 The riot was eventually contained, 364 00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:06,880 spike island was used as a prison for another 20 years. 365 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:10,880 The prison was remodelled and made much more secure, 366 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:12,720 they'd learnt their lesson. 367 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:15,960 Eventually it closed fully in 2004 368 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:19,760 primarily because of the cost of keeping prisoners here. 369 00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:27,960 Having spent nearly 200 years off limits to civilians, 370 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,520 spike island is now open to the public. 371 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:36,360 It's colourful history preserved for generations to come. 372 00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:43,560 But what we really have here is a place that provides snap shots 373 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:46,240 of Ireland's history at crucial moments 374 00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:48,600 and a conflict that could characterise that history 375 00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:50,680 and the violence that was there as well. 376 00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:01,800 In Spain, the remains of a hilltop ghost town 377 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:05,360 reveal that this site is steeped in religion. 378 00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:12,760 This place has been inhabited for centuries 379 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:15,840 at least since the knight's templar in the middle ages. 380 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:19,720 These little towns in the Spanish hills 381 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:23,200 were always on the very edge of survival. 382 00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:27,400 The most prominent building is the church. 383 00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:31,760 It was clearly the centre of this community. 384 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:35,480 But as you get a little closer you can see it's in ruins. 385 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:39,240 This is a place that has been torn to pieces 386 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:41,680 and here we've got buildings 387 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:47,280 that look like they've been scorched and crumbled. 388 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:50,560 A lot of these structures have been levelled by artillery, 389 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:54,080 we see the stone work pot marked with shell fragments, 390 00:24:54,120 --> 00:24:56,080 bullet holes that sort of thing. 391 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:02,040 But there are traces to who was at war here. 392 00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:05,480 We see a lot of graffiti 393 00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:07,720 which itself has some real significance 394 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:09,600 in solving this mystery. 395 00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:11,360 Then if we poke around a little more 396 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:15,880 we come across this plaque to Robert hale merriman. 397 00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:19,520 That does not sound Spanish 398 00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:25,040 and when I read further and I see the name Abraham Lincoln, 399 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:30,680 I know that Americans have done something significant here. 400 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:38,040 A band of freedom fighters once came to this desolate site 401 00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:41,520 and left their idealism smashed in these ruins. 402 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:47,120 (Dramatic music) 403 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:51,200 This is called corbera d'ebre. 404 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:54,800 Today there's little left of the thriving community 405 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:58,360 where Joan Montana father was born in the 1920s. 406 00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:08,200 Translation: "We are in one of the main streets of the old town. 407 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:12,000 "You have to imagine it was all houses here. 408 00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:16,160 "You can even see the remains of the original cobbled street. 409 00:26:17,120 --> 00:26:19,000 "And these are the foundations of the house 410 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:20,800 "where my father was born." 411 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:28,720 Back then the residents of corbera lived as they had done for centuries, 412 00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:32,680 the church and the land owners held all the power. 413 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:37,656 Translation: "The main church was built here 414 00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:39,520 "back in the 13th century. 415 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:43,400 "And the nerve centre of this rural community 416 00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:44,880 "was the church square." 417 00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:51,600 Once upon a time this little Spanish village 418 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:54,040 might have been filled with poor people 419 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:56,000 but they were poor people 420 00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:59,240 who were strong in their Christian faith 421 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:04,560 and they understood themselves as subjects of a catholic monarchy. 422 00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:10,800 Yet the damage rot on this church suggests something changed. 423 00:27:13,120 --> 00:27:17,640 In 1931 a new left wing government sought to rest control 424 00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:20,480 from the catholic land owners who ruled Spain... 425 00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:24,440 ..But it faced strong opposition. 426 00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:31,320 There was an extreme right wing military click 427 00:27:31,360 --> 00:27:36,880 who felt that they had a chance to save Spain. 428 00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:41,120 You have senior army officers, 429 00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:45,120 you've got some very wealthy people 430 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:51,560 and you've got a catholic church and that is the nationalist party. 431 00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:59,640 In 1936 led by the fascist general Francisco Franco, 432 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:04,120 the nationalists staged a coup and a bitter civil war broke out. 433 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:08,280 The rubble of corbera 434 00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:11,720 reveals how the conflict soon reached the town. 435 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:16,336 Translation: "Here we can make out the traces 436 00:28:16,360 --> 00:28:18,760 "of a series of historical marks. 437 00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:26,960 "This graffiti from the time reads, "seized ciente"." 438 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:31,840 The ciente it's the Spanish acronym 439 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:34,960 for the national labour confederation. 440 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:38,560 What that meant in that place and that time 441 00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:41,680 was that these guys were anarchists. 442 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:46,320 The anarchists had taken advantage of the conflict. 443 00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:50,040 One armed faction swept in to corbera. 444 00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:53,200 When the ciente anarchists occupied this village 445 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:59,360 they saw the village priest as part of the nationalists, 446 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:02,000 the fascists, the enemy. 447 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:05,280 And so they did them in. 448 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:12,000 The anarchists killed corbera's priest and his assistants. 449 00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:16,920 But when they left the town itself was still standing. 450 00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:21,640 Meanwhile the rest of Spain was swept up in the uneven fight 451 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:25,920 between the fascists nationalists and the left wing Republicans. 452 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:32,000 The Republicans, the government side of the Spanish civil war 453 00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:34,536 have to fight throughout with one hand tied behind their back, 454 00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:37,480 they have no American aid, no British aid, 455 00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:40,080 against this big organised nationalist army 456 00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:44,320 completely funded and supplied by fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. 457 00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:51,760 In the 1930s there were plenty of young idealists 458 00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:54,160 who were willing to fight for democracy. 459 00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:59,120 2,800 Americans volunteered to fight 460 00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:02,000 on the republican side in the Spanish civil war 461 00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:05,240 and they came to be known as the Lincoln brigade. 462 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:09,240 Some of the most important writers and thinkers of the day 463 00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:11,480 wanted to go sign up to fight. 464 00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:14,360 Ernest Hemingway covered the war as a newspaper correspondent 465 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:17,800 and George orwell spent time fighting with the Republicans. 466 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:22,600 The cause attracted lesser known freedom fighters too. 467 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:26,920 Robert haile merriman, the commander of the Lincoln brigade 468 00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:30,840 and he gives up his studies to go over and lead this brigade 469 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:32,360 in the Spanish civil war. 470 00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:37,880 By the start of 1938 471 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:40,560 corbera had so far escaped the carnage 472 00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:43,200 of Spain's vicious civil war 473 00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:47,440 but pot-marked houses and swathes of derelict ground 474 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:50,320 suggest that this would soon change. 475 00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:54,880 Corbera's proximity to the ebro river 476 00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:57,640 meant the conflict was fast approaching. 477 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:00,760 If the nationalists can take the ebro river 478 00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:02,280 and push to the sea, 479 00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:06,080 they're going to drive a wedge between the republican stronghold 480 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:08,560 so it's vital for the nationalists to win there 481 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:11,200 and it's vital for the Republicans to hold there. 482 00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:19,240 On the outskirts of corbera, merriman and the exhausted Lincoln brigade 483 00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:21,320 dug in with Republicans. 484 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:27,840 Translation: "By march 1938 485 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:31,520 "we know soldiers were camped here, very close to corbera. 486 00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:38,920 "These soldiers were members of the international brigade 487 00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:40,960 "and they were suffering a lot. 488 00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:43,720 "They were being defeated 489 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:47,360 "and they had come to the vicinity of corbera to regroup." 490 00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:55,480 Merriment believed if he could just reach the republican held town 491 00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:58,080 he and his men would be safe. 492 00:31:58,120 --> 00:31:59,680 But unbeknown to him, 493 00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:03,440 the fascist nationalist had seized corbera. 494 00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:07,360 Merriman was now trapped behind enemy lines. 495 00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:11,840 And in April 1938 just outside corbera, 496 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:15,800 he unwittingly walked into a nationalist camp. 497 00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:17,600 And merriman and his second in command 498 00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:19,600 are captured by their enemies 499 00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:20,920 and so far as we can tell 500 00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:22,536 they were probably put up against a wall 501 00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:25,160 and shot right there on the spot. 502 00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:31,440 The Republicans fought on, eventually they recaptured corbera. 503 00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:34,480 But this bare hill, once covered in houses, 504 00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:37,600 took the brunt of the fascist revenge. 505 00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:42,840 Translation: "The very day the Republicans reconquered corbera 506 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:44,640 "the bombing started. 507 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:46,960 "And continued almost daily." 508 00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:51,360 Mussolini sends troops to aide the nationalists 509 00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:53,120 led by general franko, 510 00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:56,720 the Germans send the condor legion this advanced air force. 511 00:32:56,760 --> 00:32:59,000 Franko says I'm going to destroy the Republicans 512 00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:00,760 in a battle of attrition 513 00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:05,040 and that battle is focused on this village of corbera. 514 00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:12,600 In August 1938 corbera was occupied by republican forces 515 00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:17,040 putting it firmly in the crosshairs of general franko's fascist army. 516 00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:23,360 Translation: "This place was protected from artillery fire 517 00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:26,600 "so some soldiers made makeshift shelters here. 518 00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:29,480 "They dug in and took advantage of the house wall. 519 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:36,960 "And after the bombing stopped the strafing started, 520 00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:39,680 "we can still see the impact on this wall." 521 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:44,800 When the battle of the river ebro finally ended, 522 00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:48,000 most of corbera had been destroyed. 523 00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:53,280 Translation: "They call corbera the eternal flame. 524 00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:57,040 "Nails and other metallic things are melted and fossilised here. 525 00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:00,880 "We can even see the key 526 00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:03,200 "that was used to open a tin of sardines." 527 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:09,040 Just a glance at the village of corbera 528 00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:10,640 and the destruction there, 529 00:34:11,720 --> 00:34:14,760 it points again to the savagery of the Spanish civil war. 530 00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:20,160 General franko's nationalist party took control of Spain in 1939 531 00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:24,040 and ran the country as a dictatorship for almost 40 years. 532 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:28,600 When Spain was again peaceful but a dictatorship 533 00:34:29,720 --> 00:34:31,160 the villagers came back 534 00:34:31,200 --> 00:34:33,760 and the place had been pounded to smithereens. 535 00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:36,800 They rebuilt their village down by the road. 536 00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:47,360 Today corbera remembers those who fought to the death 537 00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:49,120 for a better world. 538 00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:56,000 They came to stop the kind of fascism 539 00:34:56,040 --> 00:35:01,120 that was going to be the ruin of Europe in the years to come. 540 00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:04,480 These are people who were killing Nazis 541 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:09,640 at a time when governments weren't ready for that yet. 542 00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:11,760 The first people to do that 543 00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:15,600 are these idealistic volunteers in Spain. 544 00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:23,600 Near the border between Germany and France, 545 00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:26,240 in the long disputed region of al sass 546 00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:30,680 lies a mysterious complex with an explosive past. 547 00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:37,000 There's a big central building 548 00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:42,280 where all the glass has been shattered, blown out, 549 00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:44,520 something violent happened here. 550 00:35:45,240 --> 00:35:48,000 When you look up you've got these crazy structures 551 00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:52,160 just perched high up there above looking down on everything. 552 00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:55,320 Whatever was being made 553 00:35:55,360 --> 00:35:58,800 someone went to great efforts to try and sport it out of here. 554 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:03,440 It has a train line running through that's completely overgrown, 555 00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:06,400 it's clearly not been used in decades. 556 00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:10,800 And there on the tracks is a train that's just been left. 557 00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:14,560 This incongruous collection of derelict buildings 558 00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:16,920 seems to make little sense. 559 00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:22,240 There's something here that people are willing to kill over, 560 00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:24,800 it's that precious and that essential. 561 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:31,520 The first clue to what's going on here 562 00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:33,880 lies half a mile underground. 563 00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:39,360 They were digging for some valuable commodity here 564 00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:42,240 but it wasn't gold, it wasn't diamonds, wasn't silver. 565 00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:43,280 (Dramatic music) 566 00:36:44,240 --> 00:36:47,680 This sprawling plant is carreau rodolphe. 567 00:36:47,720 --> 00:36:50,000 It was built to extract a precious mineral 568 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:51,840 from deep underground. 569 00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:54,440 Jean misiano once worked here. 570 00:36:56,040 --> 00:36:58,560 Translation: "I spent 30 years working for this enterprise 571 00:36:58,600 --> 00:37:01,240 "where working conditions were incredibly tough. 572 00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:06,720 "This is the elevator that carried the miners both up and down. 573 00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:09,240 "We're at the top of the rodolphe one shaft, 574 00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:11,640 "which went down 750 metres." 575 00:37:13,040 --> 00:37:15,680 It was nasty work down in the mines. 576 00:37:15,720 --> 00:37:18,200 It was hot and cramped 577 00:37:18,240 --> 00:37:23,400 and if you hit a pocket of gas it could trigger a deadly explosion. 578 00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:25,816 Translation: "It's very dangerous here 579 00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:28,520 "and expensive trying to get this mineral out." 580 00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:33,320 More than 600 people lost their lives here 581 00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:35,720 during a century of operation. 582 00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:41,080 What precious mineral was worth this level of risk? 583 00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:47,560 Translation: "Carreau rodolphe at the beginning of the 20th century 584 00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:50,040 "was a strategic place for the production of a mineral 585 00:37:50,080 --> 00:37:51,960 "called potash." 586 00:37:53,720 --> 00:37:56,920 Potash is one of the best fertilisers going 587 00:37:56,960 --> 00:38:01,520 and carreau rodolphe was sitting on top of the motherload. 588 00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:02,960 (Dramatic classical music) 589 00:38:03,520 --> 00:38:06,440 The first mine opened here in 1913 590 00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:09,720 to extract the mineral the whole world wanted. 591 00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:12,800 At the beginning of the 20th century 592 00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:15,640 you have a big explosion in population, 593 00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:19,760 we need to very quickly grow more crops and better crops 594 00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:21,680 and for that you need fertiliser. 595 00:38:22,560 --> 00:38:25,240 And a major part of fertiliser is potassium 596 00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:31,680 and here potash, buried underground, contains that magic ingredient. 597 00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:34,760 This site lies in El sass, 598 00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:38,680 a region that France and Germany had long fought over. 599 00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:43,760 The opening of this place made it even more desirable. 600 00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:48,080 Carreau rodolphe was one of the only potash mines in the world 601 00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:49,880 outside of Germany 602 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:52,440 but that put a huge target on it's back. 603 00:38:53,560 --> 00:38:56,720 When world war one breaks out in August 1914, 604 00:38:56,760 --> 00:39:00,000 in that initial German rush in to France. 605 00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:02,240 They over run the carreau rodolphe 606 00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:04,960 and they take this motherload of potash. 607 00:39:06,240 --> 00:39:12,160 Even more worrying is that potash is the key ingredient in gunpowder. 608 00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:18,160 This overgrown railroad once headed toward the battle trenches 609 00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:19,840 of world war one. 610 00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:23,360 And it wasn't only carrying the ingredients for gunpowder. 611 00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:26,960 Intelligence reports suggested that ammunition was seen leaving 612 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:28,000 this industrial complex. 613 00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:33,440 Translation: "From 1914 to 1915 the Germans installed 614 00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:36,880 "a narrow Gauge railway starting here at carreau rodolphe. 615 00:39:37,720 --> 00:39:40,360 "The munitions were transported to the front by train." 616 00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:45,640 Now that it was key to the German war effort, 617 00:39:45,680 --> 00:39:48,240 both the British and many French locals 618 00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:50,720 wanted to destroy this place. 619 00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:52,320 So who got there first? 620 00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:56,160 New years Eve the last day of 1915, 621 00:39:56,680 --> 00:40:01,360 this whole potash facility is just ripped apart 622 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:03,240 by a tremendous explosion. 623 00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:07,720 The entire complex was reduced to rubble. 624 00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:12,120 The munitions secretly stored at the factory 625 00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:14,240 only added to the blast. 626 00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:21,360 It shook houses and rattled windows 20 miles away from the site. 627 00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:25,200 But the mystery persists. Who did it? 628 00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:29,600 It would make sense if it was an allied aerial bombing attack 629 00:40:29,640 --> 00:40:30,760 on the mine, 630 00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:35,080 but if you asked the locals they didn't believe it. 631 00:40:37,120 --> 00:40:40,040 Translation: "Attacking on the 31 December is symbolic 632 00:40:40,080 --> 00:40:43,160 "since it's new years Eve and everybody celebrates then 633 00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:45,760 "so they might have celebrated this victory too." 634 00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:49,560 It's an interesting date to have an industrial accident, 635 00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:53,760 you'd normally expect that to happen when everything was in full flow. 636 00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:55,200 We'll never know. 637 00:40:57,120 --> 00:40:58,360 Whatever caused it, 638 00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:00,520 the blast meant the mine was out of action 639 00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:03,520 until long after the first world war ended 640 00:41:05,360 --> 00:41:09,800 by which time carreau rodolphe was back under French control. 641 00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:14,440 It didn't actually open again till 1929 642 00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:16,800 but then it was into full flow 643 00:41:16,840 --> 00:41:19,720 because the world still needed potash. 644 00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:24,200 The crazed collection of structures that littered the site 645 00:41:24,240 --> 00:41:27,360 were all built to supply this pressing need. 646 00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:30,720 The thing that fascinates me most about this site 647 00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:32,200 is of course the head stocks, 648 00:41:32,240 --> 00:41:35,680 these huge sheds that you see up in the sky. 649 00:41:36,920 --> 00:41:40,080 The mine relied on lifting hundreds of tonnes of rubble 650 00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:41,600 out of the ground, 651 00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:44,920 it was bought to the surface on a cable system 652 00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:49,320 which ran through enormous pulley wheels attached to the structures. 653 00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:52,200 Over the coming decades, 654 00:41:52,240 --> 00:41:56,040 500 million tonnes of potash were mined here... 655 00:41:57,520 --> 00:42:01,440 ..But as they dug even deeper, the cost of extraction grew. 656 00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:06,160 Eventually in 2003 the last mine shaft closed. 657 00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:11,880 (Upbeat music) 658 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:17,000 Today the dormant mine stands empty. 659 00:42:18,280 --> 00:42:21,320 It may have seen out two world wars 660 00:42:21,360 --> 00:42:25,040 but the hulk of the machinery and what's left behind 661 00:42:25,080 --> 00:42:28,320 tells the story of the actual people that worked here. 662 00:42:38,480 --> 00:42:42,960 Abandoned, disintegrating, reclaimed by nature. 663 00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:47,040 Structures once at the cutting edge 664 00:42:47,080 --> 00:42:51,240 bearing witness to the forces, pioneers and villains 665 00:42:51,280 --> 00:42:53,840 that defined the world today. 666 00:42:54,680 --> 00:42:59,120 Emblems of a shared past standing in our present. 667 00:42:59,160 --> 00:43:02,160 Captioned by ai-media ai-media. TV 55978

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