All language subtitles for Abandoned.Engineering.S09E08.Experiments.Of.War.1080p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-squalor_track3_[eng]

Tom ward (narrates):
An extraordinary dam

on a Welsh hillside.

It's hard to believe that
something could have taken out

that whole middle section.

On the west coast of america,

a deceptively peaceful
gateway to hell.

This was a real contrast

to what many of them
knew was to come.

In Belarus,

a defensive structure
that had a huge impact

on European history...

Were it not for the
small but mighty fortress,

a lot more Europeans might
be speaking French today.

..And a baffling ancient
wonder in Mexico.

You have all of
these massive arches

that really just
dominate the landscape.

Decaying relics.

Shadows of lost worlds.

Ruins haunted by the past,

their secrets waiting
to be revealed.

In San Francisco bay,

a cluster of relics sit
marooned on a hilly island.

You'll come across

what looked like
defensive structures

and you'll see in some areas
there were gun emplacements.

Clearly this was a
place with, you know,

great military or
naval significance.

But when was it used and
who was it working against?

Elsewhere,

an assortment of bucolic
structures conceal a dark history.

There are some that look
like quaint little houses,

it almost looks like
a little holiday village.

It's like a retreat
or something place

that you would
go to rest and relax

but it's completely empty,
completely deserted.

Who lived in these
pretty houses?

And what conflict
shattered their lives?

On angel island,

ranger Casey
Dexter-Lee enjoys sifting

through layers of history.

One of the nice things about
exploring around angel island

is even someone like me

who's lived and worked
here for 20 years,

I'm still discovering new things

even buildings
I've been in before,

there's details that you'll
notice when you return

that really, you
know, get you excited.

The ruins here date
back to the 19th century.

With the beginning
of the civil war in 1861

public concern over
the lack of the defences

in the San Francisco
bay continued to mount.

This is camp Reynolds,

a Garrison for up to 700 men

and the first to be
built on angel island.

Camp Reynolds was built in 1863

to help as defence during
the American civil war,

to protect San Francisco from
attack from the confederacy.

At first,

angel island seemed like

one of the us army's
most desirable postings.

First room here is the library

and it's connected by these
archways into the parlour,

there was also a
large room over here

where gatherings
would have taken place

and there's a large
brick fireplace in there.

Overall this place looks
like a paradise for a soldier.

In 1864 there was an inspection

and one of the people in
that group was Mark twain,

and he wrote about camp Reynolds

calling it a pleasant
little village.

I can see that little village that
Mark twain was talking about

but this place
has a darker side.

As it turns out,

soldiers posted here were sent
off to some pretty awful combat.

When the American
civil war ended in 1865,

the soldiers stationed
on angel island

were looking forward
to some well earned rest.

But before long,

they were facing the grim
prospect of yet another war.

As Americans were
pushing further west

and towards the pacific,

these tensions between Americans
and native Americans grew violent

and this is known
as the Indian wars.

Native American
attacks on white settlers

who had encroached on
their lands were common.

By the 1870s,

the us government had
forced them into reservations.

And the native people say
enough and start fighting back.

It was only a matter of time

before the two us army
companies on angel island were sent

to keep the peace.

If you were a soldier
sent to angel island

there was a pretty high probability
that you were going to be sent

to fight these warring
tribes in the west.

And the troops here
you know, scouted,

provided guards and escorts

and generally patrolled
the American west

during this tumultuous period,

they would be sent
wherever they were needed,

wherever there was
an outbreak of fighting

in the Indian wars.

The men of camp Reynolds

usually had a nervous
wait for the enemy

to show themselves.

These battles were fought
viciously without quarter,

so there would have been
high anxiety among troops here

wondering where
they would be deployed

and against who.

Over in Oregon,

rebels from the modark tribe

were refusing to
stay on a reservation

far from their ancestral lands.

They were led by a
warrior named kintapuse

known to the white
settlers as captain Jack.

Captain Jack ended
up fleeing the reservation

that the us government
had placed them in

and they instead demanded to
be reserved on their own land.

Captain Jack
wanted to return home

to lands the modark had
inhabited for 14,000 years.

The us cavalry

and a company of
infantry from angel island

were sent to
defeat them in battle

and drive them back
to the reservation.

Angel island was the
western most outpost

of the us army

and the nearest Garrison
to the modark wars.

They would leave
the island by steamer,

they'd be dropped
at a rail head,

they'd be sent in to the
interior of the country

or up a trail into
Oregon territory.

By January 1873,

captain Jack was holed up
with fewer than 60 warriors

in an area of inhospitable
terrain called the lava beds.

The us army were closing in.

The us troops were approaching

what they thought was flat land

and what they didn't know
was that the modark people

were hidden away
in a stronghold,

us troops expected a
quick modark surrender,

but that is not what happened.

You have this great battle

where the American
soldiers believe

they're going to
have an easy go of it,

in reality, it's very
rugged terrain,

it's foggy, it's cold, the
Americans just get confused.

They're being attacked

from all sides and
they finally retreat,

and this is a great victory
for the modark people.

The American troops
withdrew to camp Reynolds.

They would be
returned to the island

for rest and relaxation

and to be reformed in

to another unit for
another operation.

But as the soldiers on
angel island knew all too well

the war was far from over.

The modarks would not
go down without a fight.

Back on the mainland,

president Grant had
decided on a different way

of dealing with captain Jack.

He sent a peace
commission, one us general,

a clergyman to parley
with captain Jack

and captain Jack, you know,
welcomed the peace commission,

parlied with him,

was getting nowhere
with his demands,

so he killed the
two commissioners.

Though captain Jack had hoped

that killing these
two peace negotiators

would push the
Americans to back off,

it had the exact
opposite effect,

the American troops come
down hard on the modark people.

This provoked a violent
reaction from Grant,

he sent cavalry troops

plus the 12th regiment
from angel island

and they pursued captain Jack,

cornered them, fought
a battle, defeated them.

After their capture,

captain Jack and three others
were hanged for their crimes.

Other comrades of the captain
faced similarly gruesome fates.

The two men who were
captured with captain Jack

died in prison and eventually
were buried on angel island.

The cemetery at camp
Reynolds is no longer here,

when the army left,

they removed everyone
from the cemetery.

The modark war is thought to be

the costliest of all the
so called Indian wars.

Both companies from angel island

suffered heavy casualties
in the modark war.

The casualties
included 53 us soldiers,

17 civilians,

15 modark warriors

of whom only 5 of
which died in battle?

Following the war,

most of the modark people
were relocated to Oklahoma.

During the 1890s,

angel island reinvented
itself completely

as a line of defence
against an invisible enemy.

A us quarantine
station on angel island

was built in the 1890s

to help protect San
Francisco from illness

that might be bought
in to the area by ships

coming from all over the world.

The buildings were
kind of spread out

so that they could
segregate people

based on illness,
class, race, sex.

And the whole idea behind
the quarantine station

is that the ship itself would
be isolated, fumigated,

the immigrants and crew
aboard the ship would be taken off

and put into the
quarantine station

where they would be
isolated for 14 days.

With the advance of medicine,

the quarantine station
gradually became obsolete.

The world war has
bought a final burst of life

and new construction
to the island

before the army finally
moved away for good.

Angel island is now
a California state park

and historical landmark

and as the largest natural
island in San Francisco bay

it's become popular with hikers.

You've got the space
that was once for soldiers,

now it's being used by families

and enjoyed by people
from all across the state

and all across the country.

On the central Mexican plateau

is an engineering masterpiece

that once bought
life to this arid land.

There's this stunning
bridge like structure

that rises over the earth and
then disappears at the ends.

It looks like a railroad bridge,

but for some kind
on miniature train,

it's only a couple of feet wide.

The architectural style
suggests the vision

for this classical looking ruin
was conceived on foreign shores.

When you get close,

you see that first
of all it's very old

and it seems to be
built like something

that the romans might have built

or that might have been
built in renaissance Italy.

Nearby are more stone structures

and a religious looking building
that don't seem to be connected.

You've got a series
of tanks and pools

scattered around the place

and then you have what
looks like an abandoned chapel.

But how is
everything here linked

to the massive stone monument

and the surrounding
desert landscape?

There must have been a
good reason for engaging

in such an extraordinary
act of construction

right here at this remote spot.

The idea for this unusual
piece of engineering

came from a surprising source.

Raul macul Martinez
is an archaeologist

at the Mexican
ministry of culture.

He spent years sifting
through the desert sands

to understand how
these structures were built.

(Speaks Spanish)

The history of the otomba
region is stained in blood,

spilt by fighting
foreign invaders.

In the early 16th century
Spanish conquistadores

began a campaign against
the aztec empire here

in this region of
Central America.

Once the aztec empire
had been vanquished,

a period of brutal
Spanish occupation began,

and there seemed
little anyone could do

to unite this troubled land.

(Speaks Spanish)

Key to Spanish culture
was their religion.

Everywhere they went,

they would bring
these catholic friars

who would set up missions

and try to convert the
native peoples to catholicism.

The conquistadores
also created havoc

on the local terrain.

The introduction of
European farming methods

like cattle grazing
took a devastating toll

on the limited
supply of clean water.

If there's one element

that defines otomba and
the surrounding regions,

it's a scarcity of
rivers and fresh water.

(Speaks Spanish)

In the mid-1500s,

a Spanish priest
called father tembleque

came to otumba with a solution.

Father tembleque was an
expert in hydraulic theory,

the construction of a new
and highly elaborate aqueduct

was meant to supply otomba

its residents and
surrounding region

with the fresh water
that they needed.

Named after the
catholic clergymen

who inspired its creation,

this is the aqueduct
of padre tembleque.

(Speaks Spanish)

Some of the people around him

did not have faith
in tembleque's ideas

and they called him
fraile loco de la nada

or crazy friar of nothing.

(Speaks Spanish)

For this ambitious
project to succeed,

father tembleque needed the
help of the indigenous people.

But he had to convince
sceptical tribal chiefs

that a reliable source
of drinking water

was good news for everyone.

(Speaks Spanish)

But the Spanish were desperately
in need of local knowledge.

In Europe, when people
built large stone structures,

whether it was a
cathedral or an aqueduct,

they would build
an elaborate wooden

scaffolding around
it as they built it.

But out there in the desert,

you didn't have
sources of timber

and working with wood

was not something

these local artisans
really knew how to do.

But if you actually
look at this structure,

we can get some clues

of how they worked
around this issue.

So, they came up
with a brilliant idea

which was to build in essence

a structure out of adobe

that would rise up as
they built the stones,

support the stones

until they got
everything put together

and then they could
take the adobe away

and you'd have this beautiful
self-supporting stone structure.

Construction began in 1555

and continued for 17 years.

While Roman ingenuity
inspired the aqueduct's design,

it was home-grown
expertise that got the job done.

(Speaks Spanish)

Another clue to the idea

that these local artisans

were really invested in this
project was the decorations they did,

the little paintings,
the little insignia,

little markings on the rocks.

(Speaks Spanish)

It seemed to say we're
taking some pride in this

and I wanna put my John
hancock on this arch that I built

because it's a big deal.

The building of this waterway

would not have been possible

were it not for the
indigenous people

and their knowledge.

When complete,

the entire canal system
stretched for 30 miles.

The channel carrying water
was only about a foot across,

but if that channel's full of
water all day and all night

that's a lot of water,

now they had a system

that distributed
water all year round.

And for the next few centuries,

water continued to flow

along this engineering marvel

that had been inspired
by ancient technology.

But over time,

the mountain spring that
supplied it began to dry up

and new sources of
water had to be found.

(Speaks Spanish)

The monument stands

as an enduring reminder of
the clash between two worlds.

What remains
today is this fusion

of two distinct
cultures and ideas,

you have this mezzo American
knowledge of construction

with this Roman hydraulics,

and the two exist
together in this aqueduct.

(Speaks Spanish)

On a remote hillside in wales,

a collection of stone relics have
somehow survived the centuries.

Looking around in the valley,

you see a lot of these
old, old structures.

There are homes here,
as well as signs of industry.

As we make our
way up this valley,

we see these two
strange thick walls.

And it looks a bit
higgledy piggledy

but it's definitely been
placed there deliberately.

The whole middle section of
the wall is completely missing

and through the gap
flows a small little river.

What catastrophe
could have caused

this well built
wall to collapse?

If there's a failure in
either the masonry structure

or an explosive failure,

then you're basically
sitting on a bomb of energy.

As the pieces of this
stone Jigsaw come together

a historically significant
picture begins to emerge.

This valley was pivotal

to British history
for several reasons.

David James' family

has lived in the elan
valley for generations.

He knows how to
read the clues here.

So, we're walking
towards the entrance

of the mine shaft.

There was metal work here

to lift the lead ore
out of the mine.

So, lead is one of
those wonder materials

and wales is very, very lucky,

it sits on some of the
world's best lead supplies.

Originally you would have
had a big, big opening here,

nice big square open,

opening with a
timber frame around it

and just went a long way down

240ft eventually
with levels going off.

Lead has been mined
here for thousands of years.

The romans mined
in the area as well

going back 1,000bc

where they mined lead

in which they mainly
made water pipes,

ornaments, and coffins from.

Over the millennia,

extensive infrastructure
gradually developed.

So, we're walking now towards
one of the two water wheels

that was built at the mine here.

The waterwheel was basically
like an engine if you like.

By the 18th and 19th century

britain becomes the centre
of lead mining in Europe.

The elan valley became
a hive of industry,

as people flocked to work here.

Working men came
from all over the valley

and walked many
miles to work here.

The miners lodged

in the different
cottages and farms

spread throughout
the elan valley here.

You would have had whole
families that, you know,

clustered around
these lead pits.

But there are also some seemingly
unrelated structures hidden here.

You've got bricks
inside and outside

and then a concrete
reinforced concrete in between.

The walls are roughly
about 1.5ft thick.

They're leftovers from
the second world war,

all they're designed
to do is hold a man,

a gun and defend an area
that he can see directly from it.

They line up one after the other

and you create a
wall of fortification.

In here you have the
window for the marksmen

to point their guns out of.

These gun ports
face down the valley

toward a series of lakes

which have been manmade
but for no apparent reason.

But directly downstream
from elan valley

is the city of Birmingham and
its vast industrial hinterland.

In the late 19th century

Birmingham needed a
better source of fresh water

as their population grew.

They constructed a series of dams
to impound the water in this valley.

It took almost 10 years to lay
73 miles of underground pipe,

build four dams and flood
850 acres of the elan valley

submerging a manor house
and a lead miners' village.

By the time of the
second world war

water from the Welsh valleys

had helped Birmingham
grow in to a centre of ordnance,

armaments and
vehicle manufacture.

The British were worried

that the Germans might try to
attack and take out these dams.

This was German planning
for operation sealion,

their eventual take-over
of the British isles

and so the British were on guard

against attacks on
key infrastructure.

The overgrown fortifications
were built to guard

Birmingham's
crucial water supply.

But one dam has
been blasted apart.

So, what we had here
was a nant-y-gro dam,

it was a structured across
the nant-y-gro stream here

as 35ft high and full of water

and as you can see

the middle section of the dam
was completely blown away.

By the start of the war,

the nant-y-gro dam
had become redundant.

The nant-y-gro dam

was a substantial
structure in its time,

originally built for the
workers living in the area,

but times had moved on
and it wasn't needed anymore.

But with the onset of war

the out of use dam
came in to its own

when it attracted the
attention of the British inventor

and aeronautical
engineer Barnes Wallace.

Barnes Wallace began thinking

about what it was going to take
to damage German infrastructure.

The British knew there
were a number of dams

on Germany's rue river

if they could knock out one,
two, three of these dams,

it could set the Germans
back months or years.

So, Barnes was starting
from scratch here,

how could he take out a huge dam

behind enemy lines?

No existing aircraft was capable

of carrying a bomb big enough
to blast the dams from the air...

So Barnes Wallace
started by experimenting

with naval torpedoes.

But the Germans had
already thought of this

and they had assembled

an array of underwater nets

to protect these dams
from just this risk.

Wallace had to find a way

to blow up the dams
using smaller bombs.

He needs to find
a place in the UK

where he can try out
this dam busting concept.

And that's where the
nant-y-gro dam came in.

It's only a fifth of
the size of the dams

that they were
aiming for in Germany,

but if they could get
it to work on this one

there was a good chance

that if they scaled it up, it
would work behind enemy lines.

But the nant-y-gro dam
wasn't that easy to destroy.

The first experiment
was done in may 1942

and even though
it's spectacular,

it didn't cause much
damage to the dam.

It goes off successfully

but barely dents the
dam structure itself,

they need to think bigger.

They come back in July
1942 with a bigger bomb,

a 279 pound explosive,

dangled it from the
centre of the dam

under the water

and remotely
detonated it, and boom.

It blew a hole in the
dam you see today,

60ft wide the hole is

and if you come through here,

what we have here is the remains

of the other side of the dam

and if you look down here
is the bottom of the dam

what's left and the
rest was blown away.

This experiment proved

that if you could get a
big enough explosion,

just below the water line,

you could blow the masonry apart

and then use

the pressure of the water
built up behind the dam,

use all of that energy to
tear apart the structure itself.

You're on to a winner.

Now, they have to figure out
the tactics of skipping that bomb

up against the wall of the dam.

Wallace thought,

"what if I can build a bomb

"that could bounce
along the top of the water,

"over the nets the
Germans had assembled

"to protect their dams?"

After the nant-y-gro trials,

the bouncing bomb
was successfully tested

on other British reservoirs.

And in may 1943,

Barnes Wallace's invention

successfully destroyed
two German dams,

marking a major
turning point for the allies

in the second world war.

Back at the broken dam in wales,

enthusiasts like David
continue to unearth secrets.

I absolutely love the
history of the elan valley.

It goes back as far
back as the bronze age

and is still making
history today.

On the flat lands
of central Belarus

sits a small collection
of ruins with a big history.

All across the site,

there's a real hodge-podge
of different types of buildings

from different
periods, some ancient,

some more modern.

Ceilings have caved
in, walls have collapsed,

and the greenery
and grass look like

they're almost swallowing
the structures up.

Spanning just 100 acres,

the secret's here are
cleverly concealed.

It's not all about the surface,

underneath there's
lots and lots of tunnels,

lots and lots of
places to get lost.

These underground military
structures help to shape

the destiny of Europe.

Were it not for the
small but mighty fortress,

the situation might have
turned out very differently,

a lot more Europeans might
be speaking French today.

Local historian Sergei pshantsev

has been studying this
place for many years.

(Speaks French)

This is the Babruysk fortress.

Its story is linked to one
of the most infamous men

in European history.

Napoleon Bonaparte.

In early 19th century,

most of the European
continent was under French rule

and the power of the
mighty Napoleon Bonaparte.

Back then these ruins
and the country of Belarus

were part of the Russian empire,

the sworn enemy of
Napoleon and his allies.

Various plans were drawn up

for the defence of
the Russian empire

and one suggested
a series of fortresses

along the rivers on the
western side of the empire.

Construction began in 1810,

a series of
state-of-the-art strongholds

would block napoleons
path in to Russia.

The town of Babruysk was
critical to the defence of Moscow.

This was a key
spot on the river,

a tactical advantage
to create a fortification.

You could stop a
huge number of people

moving from a to b
in this particular spot.

The Russian tsar
threw everything he had

at building a fortress
to defend his empire

against a powerful enemy.

Napoleon didn't
do things by halves,

he raised a massive,
massive army,

a huge number of men

and started approaching
the Russian border.

Using troops from all over
his European territories,

he raised an army
that's estimated

to have been between
450,000 and 650,000 soldiers,

this was the largest
invasion force

that had ever been put
together in European history.

With fewer than half
Napoleon's troops,

the Russian commanders
were facing almost certain defeat.

Napoleon expected
a quick victory.

He thought he could
push straight through

to the capture of
Moscow the capital.

He was determined
to get to Moscow

and meet the Russian
army in open battle.

Napoleon Bonaparte
was a scrapper,

he was a fighter,
he was a, you know,

really wanted to get up
close and punch the enemy

and he had thousands
of troops behind him.

But this time,

Napoleon's daredevil
tactics worked against him.

What he wasn't expecting
was for the Russians to retreat.

With Napoleon
hot on their heels,

the Russian army retreated
more than 100 miles

heading for the
safest place it knew.

The Babruysk fortress.

This was the only fortress
on the route to Moscow

that had the infrastructure

that could hold out against
a determined assault.

When the Russian
troops made it to Babruysk,

they received a warm welcome.

They found medical
supplies, they found food,

and they found a
defensive safe place to stay.

When the French army
finally reached Babruysk,

Napoleon was expecting
to find the Russians lined up

for a glorious battle.

But all that remained

was a small Garrison of
men cowering in the fort.

The clever design of
the tsar's fortress meant

that even the great French
leader was unable to conquer it.

(Speaks French)

If anyone steps into that zone,

they are risking getting

a huge, huge set of
explosives sent their way.

The well planned kill zone

prevented Napoleon
from taking the fort.

So, he left behind a
detachment of 10,000 men

to lay siege and starve
out the Russian troops

holed up inside.

But thanks to the ingenuity
of the Babruysk planners,

the Russian Garrison

had one more trick up its
sleeve to thwart Napoleon's plans.

(Speaks French)

During the siege,

they used the
tunnels to sneak out

and spy on the army,

collecting vital intelligence

that could then be forwarded to
the Russian army high command.

Meanwhile the Russian troops
at Babruysk continued to hold out.

Napoleon drove his exhausted
men on towards Moscow

expecting to find the
Russian army there.

When they arrived,

they were met by an
extraordinary sight.

When Napoleon's depleted
grande armee finally reach Moscow.

To their utter disbelief,

they find it abandoned and
scorched to the ground as well.

The Russians had already left,

they'd already moved out,

they were not going
to engage in the fight,

and Napoleon and his
already stretched, depleted,

unhappy troops
found an empty city.

With winter approaching
and food supplies dwindling,

Napoleon had no
choice but to retreat.

But there was one big
problem blocking his path home.

Babruysk fortress
had still not fallen.

(Speaks foreign language)

The fortress was never taken.

For the great Napoleon Bonaparte,
it was a calamitous humiliation.

The napoleonic
invasion of Russia

is one of the greatest
military disasters of all time.

And that is really the beginning
of the end for Napoleon.

Within two years,

Napoleon is going
to have to abdicate

and go into exile.

Today, the Babruysk fortress
lies silent and crumbling.

(Speaks foreign language)

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