All language subtitles for Abandoned.Engineering.S07E12.Global.Icons.1080p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-squalor_track3_[eng]

Tom ward (narrates):
Forgotten, yet famous.

Empty, but iconic.

Five abandoned sites
deep-routed in our popular culture.

An overgrown ruin in India

immortalised by
world-renowned musicians...

What do the lads

from liverpool have
to do with all this?

..A shattered
compound in Columbia

linked to a criminal
mastermind...

When you're the seventh
richest man in the world,

you got to watch
your back at all times.

..The launch pad

for a sporting
superstar in Germany...

You can actually
see the long jump pit

where one of the
greatest American athletes

of all time trained.

..Disintegrating
remains in Poland

where real-life heroes
inspired Hollywood...

Looking around, it's
very redolent of that movie

and this is actually the
site that it was based on.

..And mythical
strongholds in Romania,

home to a legendary villain.

All sorts of tall tales swirl
around about these sites.

He was far more
bloodthirsty and brutal

than his fictional counterpart.

..These five derelict locations
set the stage for moments

that captured the
world's imagination.

(Dramatic music)

Decaying relics...

Ruins of lost worlds...

Sites haunted by the past.

Their secrets waiting
to be revealed.

(Dramatic music)

At the foot of the
himalayas in northern India,

a far-out site once attracted

some of the world's
most famous faces.

It could have been a resort,

but you can kind of tell
that even when it was new,

it was pretty rough
around the edges.

The deeper you go, the
stranger things become.

Wherever you walk
through the trees,

another unique structure
pops up in front of you.

It's like some kind
of magical land.

You're not quite sure
what to expect next.

Sprouting from the forest floor

is a collection of
small roundhouses.

There are these
dome-like structures.

It's quite a jumble

and some of them
even look like caves.

There are a lot of
these small spaces

and there's not much there

to give you clues as to
what these were used for.

Inside, there's hindi
writing on the walls.

One clue is all this,
kind of, spiritual graffiti.

This is not the normal world.

It's like you're entering into
a whole different dimension.

There's a very relaxing
feeling to the whole site.

It's a calm place to be.

But what was it for?

So, how did this decaying
site in an Indian forest

come to play a vital
role in western culture?

(Eerie beat)

Below this clifftop ruin

is one of the world's most
sacred rivers, the Ganges.

(Traditional music)

Raju gosai knows
this compound well.

This is a very spiritual place

with nice, beautiful
setting and all.

This is a place where
pilgrims from far and near come

and they take holy
bath in the Ganges.

(Traditional music)

These structures sit
high above the throng

of the legendary
Indian city of rishikesh.

Rishikesh is a place

of considerable
religious significance.

Pilgrims have been
coming here for centuries.

This site is different.

People come here, were coming
here for a very particular purpose.

If you want to understand

what this place
was really all about,

it's those small domed
cave-like structures

that are the real clues.

More than 100 domes
hide in this forest.

Each one built from
thousands of stones.

All the material for building
this domes and other structure

are collected from river ganga.

All those stones
used was from the...

Collected from the riverbank.

These crumbling structures

were once the height
of spiritual luxury.

This place was created

by a famous
Indian spiritual guru,

maharishi mahesh yogi in 1961.

The maharishi was known for
developing his particular brand

of transcendental meditation.

And in 1955, he introduced
that transcendental meditation

to India and the
rest of the world.

The maharishi created this place

with western habits in mind.

This is the chaurasi
kutia ashram.

An ashram is a centre
of religious study.

The maharishi's ashram was a
place that people came to study

and to meditate, to
hear lecturers from him,

to get away from the pressures
of daily life and the world.

It's quiet. It's calming.

It's private.

This is a place to
meditate, to find peace,

to make inner explorations.

He created all the
modern facilities

that was required for
his student to learn,

his disciple to learn
transcendental meditation.

This is a cluster of
domes, you can say.

It only lacked a proper shower

and maharishi used
to motivate people

to go and take
bath in the Ganges.

When these meditation
domes were built in 1970,

they were unrivalled in India.

But thanks to one of
the biggest pop bands

in history, this
now-forgotten ashram

become the most
sought-after place on earth.

You round the
corner and, suddenly,

there's a massive
image of the Beatles.

What do the lads from
liverpool have to do with all this?

(Upbeat music)

In 1968, the Beatles came here

and it was a
worldwide media hype.

Also along for the
ride was Mike love

from the beach boys,
the singer Donovan,

the actress Mia farrow
and her sister prudence,

and all sorts of other people.

This big entourage
all showed up here.

George Harrison was really
dedicated to transcendental meditation

and threw himself into it
and he said, at one point,

"we have all the money
you could dream of.

"We have all the fame
you could wish for.

"But it isn't peace, is it?"

When the Beatles came here,

there were hardly
any infrastructure here.

The owner, maharishi
mahesh yogi,

made sure his esteemed
guests got what they needed.

You know, the
maharishi was no dummy

and he recognised that
when the Beatles showed up,

this was the best thing
that ever happened

to his movement.

We are at the Beatles bungalow.

These are some of the rooms
where the Beatles used to stay.

The bungalows allotted to
the Beatles were more spacious

and better equipped
than those assigned

to the other students.

(Traditional music)

So, this place was
known as rishikesh Hilton

because it had wall-to-wall
carpet, it had curtains,

it had bunk beds
with mattresses.

They had an attached
toilet here with bathtubs.

And this is the room

where John Lennon and
Cynthia Lennon used to stay.

John Lennon and Cynthia
Lennon came here together

and they used to
stay here, in one room.

But after a few days,
John and Cynthia separated

and they used to
live in another...

Different rooms.

The compound also
had a post office.

John was often
leaving his wife Cynthia

who was there with him to
go down to the post office

and see if there'd
been any new telegrams

from Yoko Ono, who he was
beginning to become involved with.

Although there had
been tensions in the band,

this site fuelled
their creativity.

We are on the roof of
the Beatles bungalow,

where the Beatles used to
come and play music here.

The white album, many of the
songs which they composed here.

Between hanging out with
the maharishi and meditating,

they wrote roughly 40
songs in just seven weeks.

"Back in the ussr"

and "I'm so tired"
were composed here.

The latter, apparently, by
Lennon after he was suffering

from weeks of poor
sleep at the ashram.

This is the room where
prudence farrow used to stay

and which inspired the Beatles

to compose here one of
the most memorable song,

"dear prudence".

Mia farrow's sister,
prudence, spent so much time

in her room meditating

that people started
to worry about her.

So, this period in the ashram

is linked to one of
the most creative times

for the Beatles.

After the "fab four"
returned to britain,

the ashram continued to flourish

thanks to the
attention it had gained.

New meditation pods were built

to accommodate the
tourists who flocked here.

The whole enterprise was
resting on shaky foundations.

Maharishi mahesh yogi took this
land from the forest department in 1961.

That lease expired in 1981.

And after that, the maharishi
mahesh yogi foundation

made several attempts
for the renewal of the lease,

but the process
never got completed.

The former ashram
fell into disrepair

as a result of vandalism
and the encroachment

of the jungle.

(Traditional music)

Today, this atmospheric site

is controlled by the
rajaji tiger reserve.

But it will always be synonymous
with four lads from liverpool.

Intellectually, this
site, these bungalows,

these strange halls,
had a serious influence

on who the Beatles
became as a band afterwards.

In Germany, west of
Berlin, a unique complex

is linked to a seminal
moment in sporting history.

Few Germans realised
that the site even exists.

It's almost as if it's been
forgotten on purpose.

A silent swimming
pool awaits guests.

(Eerie beat)

A lone pommel horse sits
in an empty gymnasium

and meadows stretch out in
front of carefully positioned huts.

(Eerie beat)

Jan bejsovec is an expert
on the history of this place.

This site really mirrors
much of our past.

They have the beauty
of youth on one side

and they have the tragedy
of death on the other.

This complex dates back to 1934,

just one year after Adolf Hitler
had become chancellor of Germany.

He understood the
power of propaganda

and planned to use it

at the forthcoming
Berlin olympic games.

Now, in 1936,

he has an opportunity
to show to the world

a new and rebuilt, completely
new kind of Germany.

This is the olympic village

for the 1936 Berlin games,

built to impress
the 4,000 athletes

who would be flocking
in from all over the globe.

People met here to
celebrate their youth,

their physical strength.

These were the most elite
sportsmen of their time.

Among them was the
American Jessie Owens.

You can actually
see the long jump pit

where Jessie Owens,

one of the greatest
American athletes

of all time, trained.

This site had everything
the foreign athletes needed

to ensure they sent
favourable reports back home.

Here, we can clearly see
how the Germans improved

by building an olympic village
which nobody had seen so far.

It's not just having little
houses for accommodation.

It's having real houses
with a terrace for sunbathing,

with a central
heating system inside,

and all the luxury
of that period.

And all the people who were here
in 1936 were really impressed by it.

The athletes could also watch
their colleagues performing live

on the big screen.

The cinema rooms are
a major breakthrough

in technology because
here on this wall

was a TV set and
was for the first time

in sports history, that
you had a live broadcast.

The games videos were
the first video games.

The first real propaganda games.

So, incorporating
everything they had.

But outside of the
luxurious olympic village,

the racial purification of
Germany continued at pace.

While the Germans allowed Jews

to participate in the
games, they were,

behind the scenes,

continuing to pass
anti-semitic laws.

Meanwhile, in the
olympic stadium,

an African-American athlete
was about to make history.

Here, Jessie Owens took
the first of four gold medals

from Hitler's Aryan athletes,
humiliating the fuhrer.

Once the Olympics were over,

the village was handed
to the German army.

After the war, it fell
under Soviet control

until the ussr collapsed

and this site was
left to disintegrate.

Now, the village is
being re-purposed

into modern apartments.

But the events of the
1936 olympic games

leave an enduring legacy.

There are important lessons
offered by a place like this.

One is that we can have

peaceful competition
between nations,

even nations that are about
to engage in terrible war.

But possibly the most
important lesson is,

you shouldn't be betting on
demonstrating white supremacy

when Jessie Owens
is in the same room.

(Eerie beat)

In Romania,

the mystical carpathian
mountains sit cloaked in legend.

You got these incredible valleys

with the rivers running
along the bottom.

It is stunning,
absolutely stunning.

Atop one forested peak is a
blood-soaked cluster of ruins.

This is a proper fortress.

It looks impregnable,

but there's an incredible
amount of damage as well.

It certainly looks like it had a
dramatic downfall in the end.

Local folklore tells
of a shadowy link

to another medieval
castle nearby.

It has turrets. It
has battlements.

It's every single fairytale
that you've ever heard.

Every fairytale has its villain
and this one's no exception.

All sorts of tall tales,

legends and rumours swirl
around about these sites.

Some are old and some are new.

But what do we know for sure?

(Eerie beat)

The man who links these two
castles is known the world over.

('Dracula' movie plays)

I am Dracula.

Dracula is one of the
most famous villains

of all time.

It's a story that's been
told over and over again

in various interpretations
of what vampires are like.

(Long roll of thunder)

This is castello bran
otherwise known

as the fabled Dracula's castle.

Matei petrisor has
spent the past eight years

establishing
what links this site

and the legendary "count" to
the mysterious ruined fortress

in the mountains.

So, we are now in transylvania,
the land of legend and mystery.

A place that will give
you a perfect feeling

for the legend of Dracula
hiding here in this castle,

in transylvania.

In this part of the world,

fear of vampires is
a very common thing.

Transylvanians have been
known to practice a ritual

that stops the
dead from returning.

We go at the graveyard.

We dig into the tomb.

And then, after that,
in order to make sure

that he will never
come back again,

we have to cut the head
with the silver dagger.

And then, we place the
head between the legs

to make sure that he will never
come and kill people in the village.

The local law fired author
bram stoker's imagination.

When he describes the castle,

it's perfectly just
like in the book,

up on the cliff, a
little river nearby.

It's gothic.

It's got this haunted
feeling about it.

It's the quintessential
transylvanian castle.

But this wasn't the
real Dracula's home.

(Eerie beat)

That accolade lies with
the run-down hilltop citadel,

where a true-life
Dracula did exist.

In fact, he was far
more bloodthirsty

and brutal than his
fictional counterpart.

Looking at it, you can see
these incredible, strong walls

heading up from vertical cliffs.

Absolutely vertical.

And then, there's no
easy way to get up there.

There's no defined road.

Just inaccessible.

This is poenari castle.

Historian nicolae ionescu
has extensively studied

the defensive structures

which have stood here
for nearly 1,000 years.

Nicolae (translation):
"The tower behind us

"is the first part of
the castle to be built.

"It was probably built
in the 13th century.

"They chose this
location to build a castle

"because of the close
proximity to the road.

"In trading routes like this,

"castles were built to
control borders and customs,

"where local rulers wanted
to collect taxes from traders."

In the 15th century,

this site earned the
blood-soaked reputation

that easily outstripped that
of the fictional castle Dracula.

Poenari castle

lay in the medieval kingdom
of wallachia, a buffer state

between the expanding ottoman
empire and the kingdom of Hungary.

The castle sat on a flash
point in the border lands.

And this site was the domain

of a wallachian
prince, Vladislav III.

He had inherited his
father's honourable title,

"order of the dragon".

In Romanian tradition,

the word "dracul"
translates as dragon or devil.

So, for most Romanians,
Dracula means the son of the devil.

Vladislav III became
known as "vlad Dracula".

But it wasn't just the name that
earned the real "count Dracula"

his notorious place in history.

Holed up in this
hilltop fortress,

"vlad Dracula" was
known far and wide

for his blood-curdling cruelty.

He earned the nickname
"vlad the impaler"

or "vlad tepist" in
the local tongue.

The stories of
brutality litter his reign.

Within these walls,

Turks who refuse to
remove their turbans,

had them nailed to their heads.

The local nobility was
invited to a banquet

where vlad impaled them.

And rumours of
cannibalism were rife.

As you can imagine though,
such wholesale slaughter

didn't make vlad the
most popular person

at the time.

His brutality was
most often focused

on the marauding ottomans.

Translation: "His most
iconic historical episode...

"Was when he seized a
part of the ottoman army

"that was pursuing
him and impaled them."

In some ways,
vlad, the real person,

is a more terrifying figure
than "count Dracula".

Images circulated at the time
exaggerated vlad's appetite

for impaling and human flesh.

Wherever the truth lies,

vlad Dracula finally
met his match...

When the ottoman sultan
mehmed ii arrived at the gates.

So, 1462, we find
Dracula fighting

against mehmed
down in wallachia.

The capital was
conquered and destroyed.

He was running up poenari,
the fortress that he built.

But eventually, vlad was
driven out of poenari castle

and he fled here to seek refuge

in what would later become
known as Dracula's castle.

He hide here,

and then the spies of
the Hungarian king find out

he's trying to run away
using the secret passage

and they wait for him.

He was arrested at
the exit from the tunnel.

It's believed he spent two
months as a prisoner there,

rotting in the dungeons.

After his release,

vlad Dracula swiftly
regained his lost territories,

but his reign was short-lived.

While marching to yet
another battle with the ottomans,

vlad and a small vanguard
of soldiers were ambushed

and vlad was killed.

His head was cut off and
sent to the sultan as a trophy.

The name Dracula may be synonymous
with the world's favourite villain,

but in his home country of Romania,
Vladislav III is a national hero.

Translation: "Vlad
the impaler was

"and always will remain in
the Romanian conscience

"as a lover of
truth and justice.

"Even though he
used brutal methods,

"he tried to make the
world a better place."

Here, he's admired as a leader
who protected his merchants,

rid the land of thieves and
stood up to oppressive empires.

Translation: "His
courage to do so,

"that's what got him to remain

"in the Romanian
national conscience."

Today, while "vlad Dracula's"
real-life home lies abandoned,

tourists flock to the castle
of his fictional counterpart.

Many movies were
made of this character,

so, I do believe that
this legend will never die.

(Eerie beat)

In guatape, Columbia,
a battered waterside ruin

was once home to
an infamous outlaw.

(Eerie beat)

It looks a little
bit like a cross

between a playboy mansion
and some kind of military fort.

Evidence of violence soon emerges
in this sprawling, 20-acre site.

There is signs of some
kind of enormous explosion.

So, this place clearly
has a story to tell.

William jimenez once worked
at this dilapidated compound.

William (translation): "It
took almost seven years

"to build the structures
that you can see here today."

It had a swimming pool,
tennis courts, a football pitch,

none of which sound
out of the ordinary,

but that football pitch
doubled up as a helipad

and it also had its own
private seaplane dock.

This place was
anything but ordinary.

It's just 25 miles from
the town of medellin...

Where the Colombian
drug lord Pablo Escobar

founded his infamous cartel.

When you're Pablo Escobar,
you can never really relax.

He was always
surrounded by security.

This is hacienda la manuela,
named after his only daughter.

Escobar built this luxury
retreat to keep his family safe.

He had armed guards.

He had walls that were built
like the walls of a fortress.

Escobar wanted to
be ready for anything.

William remembers

the elusive drug
baron's visits here.

Translation: "Pablo
himself was here

"only two or three
times maximum.

"He'd only spend a few
hours here and then leave.

"He wouldn't even
stay the night."

When you're the seventh
richest man in the world,

you got to watch
your back at all times.

Escobar had become a target
not just for columbian authorities

and the us government,
but also rival cartels.

And in 1993, devastation
came to hacienda la manuela.

Some of Escobar's rivals
managed to infiltrate the compound.

Translation: "What happened
was that six more pick-ups

"and one Van
came full of people.

"It was around midnight.

"They placed two
bombs, one on that side

"and one on the other side.

"This was where they
placed the biggest bomb.

"There was a huge explosion.

"You can imagine
everything was shaking.

"In this area, there
was a bathroom

"and that's where the
bomb exploded upward

"and destroyed
the walls around it.

"It was such a
powerful explosion."

This bombing was
kind of the beginning

of the end for Escobar.

Although Escobar survived
the assassination attempt,

his luck would soon run out.

In December 1993,

Columbia's national
police finally pinpointed

the gangster's whereabouts

and shot him dead as he tried
to flee across medellin's rooftops.

Today, Escobar's
complex legacy means

his once-glorious
mansion lies abandoned.

(Eerie beat)

In the woods of western Poland,

an unassuming
collection of ruins

saw a heroic endeavour
immortalised by Hollywood.

You see some concrete
vestiges of the past,

but it seems that the forest has
reclaimed whatever was here.

So, at some point, years
ago, this was cleared.

But why did somebody clear

a space in this forest?

You actually come across some
concrete pillars in the ground.

They're clearly the constructs
of something that's repeated,

something quite large.

Below-ground a series of
passages seems to go nowhere.

And deeper in the words,
a curious feature emerges.

On a pathway, you
see this line of stones

with names inscribed
on the stones.

Then, you arrive at the end

and there's a big stone
and it says, "Harry."

Harry, here in the middle of
a forest somewhere in Poland.

Quite the mystery.

Marek lazarz has scoured
these woods to piece together

what went on here,
back in the 1940s.

These are foundations
of the theatre,

large, large theatre, 350 seats.

What you see
here is orchestra pit,

stage, backstage
and few rooms behind.

Surrounding it are the remnants
of neatly built barrack buildings.

This was a military
camp and in the 1940s,

this Polish wood was
part of Nazi Germany.

It was known as stalag luft III.

"Stalag" is short
for stammlager.

This is where
they kept prisoners.

"Luft", because it was
run by the luftwaffe.

And it housed various prisoners
from the allied air forces.

From 1942,

it held more than
10,000 prisoners of war.

One of the biggest
officer's camp for the army.

Risky allied air raids
in the early years

of the second world war

resulted in many
daredevil airmen

caught behind enemy lines.

Prisoner of war
camps were filled

with brilliant, highly motivated
officers and sergeants.

And these guys were
able to make life miserable

for the German soldiers.

There was a code of
honour among officers

that, in world war ii,
that if you were captured,

you had to try to escape.

And it was clear that the
German luftwaffe knew this.

This place was
built in the heartland

of the German reich.

Even if you managed
to get out of this camp,

you weren't going anywhere.

But that wasn't enough
to stop the allied airmen

trying to get out.

This camp, surrounded
by searchlight towers,

rows of barbed wire,
machine guns and dogs,

meant there was only one
way to do that, by tunnel.

But the Germans
had that covered too.

They build the huts, the
barracks, off the ground,

with a clearance beneath.

So, that it's harder
to tunnel down.

Undeterred, a group
of allied officers

led by squadron leader Roger bushell
came up with a daring escape plan.

Bushell's idea is that
you're going to build

three big tunnels nicknamed
Tom, dick and Harry.

You're going to assume
that the Germans

are going to discover
one or two of them.

But with three, you'll all
get out of the third one.

The hope was that
one of these tunnels

would lead 200 men to freedom.

It would become
the stuff of legend.

(Gunfire)

Give up your hopeless
attempts to escape.

We're going to
devote our energies

to sports and gardening,
all the cultural pursuits.

Meanwhile, we dig.

This is the basis of the
movie 'the great escape'

starring Steve
McQueen, James garner,

Charles Bronson
and other greats.

Man: They did manufacture.

(Dramatic music)

Remains on the
site still hold traces

of the true-life escape,

including the most
audacious tunnel, Harry.

We are now actually
in the north compound,

where the hut 104 was.

Not much left except
few pieces of the concrete.

And it was selected
because it was almost

in the middle of the compound.

So, the Germans, they didn't
suspect there would be any tunnelling.

Even so, the
Germans still left gaps

under their accommodation,

so tunnelling could
easily be spotted.

But there was a solution.

Inside all the huts,

solid stove bases stood
between two rooms.

These plinths went down
through the gap to the ground.

Two stoves were connected
to the one chimney.

After they removed the
stove from this place,

they used this area
to build the entrance

and, kind of, fake floor
was built using the same tiles

here to cover the
entrance of the tunnel.

Harry would be dug
nearly 10m below hut 104,

then travel more than 90m
under two barbed wire fences

and exit at the tree line
that bordered the camp.

At under 1m wide,
the tunnel was tiny.

So, two larger staging
areas were also incorporated.

These would aid the movement
of escapees and house

some of its
technical innovations.

The diggers moved
into the tunnel

using a kind of underground railway
and they were able to illuminate

by using lamps made
with cooking fat scavenged

from the camp's own kitchens
and from the prisoners own meals.

In order to ensure that people
didn't asphyxiate in the tunnels,

fresh air was pumped in.

They used a gym
bag as a set of bellows

to pump fresh
air into the tunnel.

Dug with only improvised
tools including cutlery,

even the earth they were
excavating was hostile.

One of the reasons the
Germans decided to camp here is,

the soil is very
weak, very Sandy.

It's prone to collapse.

So, the tunnels were
shored up with timber

that had been looted
from around the camp.

The bunks, the bed boards,

the benches, the chairs,

they disassembled all this stuff

and they'd take it underground
to shore up these tunnels.

And the soil at this site
created a further problem.

Topsoil of the camp
was actually dark grey.

Meanwhile, the dirt
taken from the tunnels

was extremely bright and yellow.

So, you can see the top
soil, which is dark grey,

but if you try to dig, you
will find some yellow soil.

This could be soil dug out
from the escape tunnel Harry.

You feel like you
are touching history.

So, the inmates

would conceal soil
inside their baggy,

second world war trousers

and they would walk
out across the camp

and they would spread
the soil from the tunnels,

so, that it wouldn't be
noticeable to the Germans.

It's estimated they removed
about 100 tonnes of material

with essentially, sort
of, handmade tools.

Before long, every
available area of the camp

was being used to dispose
of the excavated soil,

even the theatre.

The theatre was
selected by the prisoners

because there was
a large, empty space

underneath the
floor of the audience

and it was perfect place
to hide tonnes of the soil.

Oh, my god! They found Tom.

But the tunnellers'
luck would soon run out.

First, curious guards uncovered
Tom and destroyed it with dynamite.

Then, dick was abandoned
when the camp expanded

and covered its exit point.

Now, all hope rested on Harry.

But even that
wouldn't last long.

They had to escape

because Germans were
very close to find tunnel

and they had to make a decision.

"We have to escape
as soon as possible."

The airmen knew that
Harry wasn't quite ready.

A stone line running
through the wood shows

the tunnel's path.

They actually break out
through Harry in march 1944.

In reality, it was the tail end

of the coldest winter
in European history.

It was freezing cold.

They get to the end of Harry
and the hatch won't open,

'cause it's just frozen shut
beneath a carapace of snow.

So, they're sitting there, they
spend an hour and a half...

An hour and a half, trying
to like knock this thing loose.

Another problem was that
the tunnel was too short.

Hold onto yourself,
bartlett. You're 20ft short.

The wall is right
here on the opening.

The guard is between
us and the lights.

So, it makes the
escape very difficult.

By the time guards
spotted the fleeing prisoners,

76 men had crawled
their way to freedom.

Tragically, the majority
were quickly rounded up.

When Hitler heard
about the great escape,

he was absolutely furious.

And Hitler wanted
to kill every airman

who escaped
from stalag luft III.

Actually, only three of them
successfully escaped to england.

73 were captured by the
Germans and 50 of them

were executed by the gestapo.

The pows quiet determination,

spirit and resistance

were stirringly
captured by Hollywood,

although with a bit
of artistic licence.

You know, people would expect

that there are a lot
of Americans involved

in this escape attempt
because of, you know, the role

of Steve McQueen in the
movie 'the great escape'.

But, in fact, all the Americans
in the camp had been moved

to a different stalag
before the escape attempt.

So, there are actually
no Americans involved

in this "great escape".

Captioned by
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