All language subtitles for Abandoned.Engineering.S10E01.Raiders.And.Invaders.1080p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-squalor_track3_[eng]

Tom ward (narrates): A
French town drenched in infamy.

Everything is in the
same state of decay

and yet it's also well-tended.

This isn't just a ruin,
it's something more.

In San Francisco bay

a facility famed for breakouts
subjected to a daring break in.

In this case the idea
of who is the invader

and who is the
invaded is pretty blurred.

And a micro nation
of the coast of england

stormed by a band
of mercenaries.

So, sealand was now
occupied by a gang of Germans

with guns and plenty of money.

Decaying relics
ruins of lost worlds,

sites haunted by the past,

their secrets waiting
to be revealed.

(Theme music)

(Dramatic music)

Hugging the banks
of the river glane

in west central France

is a settlement
that appears derelict

yet tenderly preserved.

This looks like the perfect
place to have a very happy,

very productive
agricultural village.

So, why is there no-one here?

What's striking
is how everything

is in about the same
degree of decay,

as if this town was abandoned

and destroyed all at once.

You come into the church
and you see this giant bell,

but it's not right,
it's been melted

and you can't imagine

what kind of heat
must have done that.

Nearby in the village's cemetery

rows of neat headstones
seem unremarkable

until you look closer.

Many of the graves
share the same date

and many of the graves
belong to children.

Your heart just sinks.

It makes you wonder what
on earth happened here.

(Suspenseful music)

Phillippe lacroix has been
mayor of this area since 2014.

His village and these desolate
ruins share the same name,

oradour-sur-glane.

Its ghostly streets
disguise a prosperous past.

Day trippers,
shoppers, and pupils

attending the village's two
schools further swelled its numbers.

Among them were
members of Phillipe's family.

So, why has this thriving
community vanished?

One clue is this ancient car

that's sitting in a very
prominent location

gradually rusting away.

This is a very
particular type of car,

it's a peugeot 202,

a model that was introduced

just a couple of years
before world war ii.

The fate of oradour is
wrapped up in the chaos

and destruction of
the second world war.

But this relatively
tranquil part of France

never echoed to
the sound of battle

or the waves of bombers that
pounded Europe from the skies.

The village lay in the
so-called free zone of France.

While the Germans occupied
the north and west of the country,

this was an area administered
by the vichy regime,

French collaborators
who ruled on behalf

of their German masters.

Life in vichy France
was a very tenuous affair,

in theory they had a certain
amount of governmental autonomy

and yet the German military

was always there
hovering over everything

and always suspicious
of the local population.

They're going to be
essentially left alone

as long as they do
what they're told,

as long as they collaborate

or at least don't actively fight

against the Germans
that are in the area.

Not every French
citizen was so compliant,

bands of guerrilla
fighters collectively known

as the resistance disrupted
the German war effort

in any way possible.

You can imagine the
fault lines of distrust

running through French
society during this period.

For four years
oradour-sur-glane existed

under this uneasy atmosphere,

but then events far away on
the beaches of northern France

would change everything.

The date was the
June 6, 1944. D-Day.

The liberation of
France had begun.

Seeing the German defeat

imminent galvanises the French,

it fires up the French spirit.

The French resistance is
ramping up their activities.

They're becoming more aggressive
and taking even more risks.

The sense of excitement
must have been overwhelming.

Here finally after years
the allies were coming

to save the French
from the Germans.

The villagers must have
thought they can only hold on

until the allies get there.

But on the June 10, 1944,
that was all set to change.

Four days after d-day,
German soldiers arrived.

The villagers had no idea why.

Phillippe recalls speaking
to eye witness Robert hebras

about how he felt during
this mysterious visit.

Unfortunately, these were
not the typical German troops

Robert had lived alongside
for the last four years,

these were members of the
second ss panzer division das reich.

The ss is in a sense

the Nazi party's own army.

Its Hitler's own army.

It separate from the older,

more traditional German army.

They were the fanatics
of the German army,

trusted to carry out Hitler's
barbaric orders without hesitation.

The unit that crossed the
village's bridge that warm

afternoon were ominously
known as der fuhrer regiment.

Led by ss commander
Adolf diekmann

and hard bitten
from years of fighting

in hellish conditions
on the eastern front.

They had been
resupplying in the area

when the received the order
to move north to reinforce

their beleaguered
comrades in normandy.

The whole German armed
forces operating in the Soviet union

have been brutalised.

Their humanity is gone.

These are no longer soldiers

in wartime,

these are monsters in uniform.

They weren't just
passing through.

They came like
they had a mission.

The ss troops said

they needed to
check peoples' papers.

They started
rounding everybody up,

pulling them out of shops and
homes and assembling them

in the central square.

It was all a lie.

In fact, diekmann and
the der fuhrer regiment

were carrying out
a murderous plan

they had used throughout
the eastern front.

The ss comes
up onto this village

and they're very clever about
the way they do this, right?

They come in one end of the
town, but only half of them do.

The other half goes to the
other end and surrounds the town

so that no-one can escape.

They began to divide the
town's people up into groups.

The women and
children were taken

and ordered inside the local
church, the biggest building in town.

Groups of men were taken

to a variety of barns
and other buildings

in smaller groups and
ordered inside those structures.

You can only
imagine the anxiety,

the fear that was going
through these people's minds,

but I doubt they really expected
what would happen next.

The terrible events
here shocked the world

and posed questions that many

are still struggling
to answer today.

Once the villagers were all
spilt up the murdering began.

This was one of
the six killing sites,

the lordy barn.

Here after the
initial volley of fire,

the German soldiers
passed among their victims

shooting anyone that moved.

Then they set the
building on fire.

Five men including
Robert hebras played dead

before escaping the inferno.

As similar horrors
unfolded in the other barns,

more than 400 women and
children huddled together

in Saint Martin church.

There is no mercy for them
even in a house of worship.

They attempted to set of some
kind of smoke bomb or a gas bomb

to kill the people inside.

Once they'd subdued
most of the occupants,

the ss piled wood
on top of their bodies,

some still alive, and
set the place ablaze.

In the chaos some
sensed an opportunity.

A local woman madame rouffanche,

she saw her own daughter
killed when the shooting began.

She knew that

there was a step
ladder behind the altar.

She got the step
ladder and propped it up

climbed out of the window and
dropped ten feet to the ground.

Elsewhere soldiers
searched the village for anyone

that had evaded the initial
round up and finished them off.

Then they set up camp.

They don't leave,
they don't march away

as they set these
buildings on fire,

instead they find a nice
space and spend the night.

They had no remorse,
they had no feelings

that they needed to escape
from the thing that they had done,

they stayed there
and almost celebrated

the devastation that
they had just caused.

By the time the ss departed

only seven people are thought
to have survived the horror.

643 had been brutally murdered.

As the ruins smouldered,
one question remained,

why was
oradour-sur-glane targeted?

The commanding officer
of the der fuhrer regiment

was angry that a German officer

had been captured by
the French resistance,

and the response was
to kill the local population

as a demonstration
of German power.

But normally when that happens

there is a lot of grandstanding

and verbalisation that this
is why and... and messaging,

but there was none of that.

There is no good explanation
other than just pure cruelty.

(Eerie music)

Even some of the battalions
ss superiors were appalled

by their actions,

diekmann faced a court martial,

but soon he and many of
his murderous comrades

were killed in the battles
raging in normandy

and the matter forgotten.

Eventually in 1953

some of the soldiers
from the ss unit were tried

for their parts in the massacre.

Two of them were
sentenced to death,

while the others were
given a prison sentence

of only 8 to 12 years.

Survivor madame
rouffanche having spent a year

recovering from five gunshot
wounds was there to give evidence.

But the death sentences
were never carried out

and the men released soon after.

General Charles
de gaulle decreed

that the village
should never be rebuilt,

but remain a memorial to
French suffering and sacrifice.

A new village was built nearby

where madame rouffanche
remained until her death in 1988.

Its present mayor Philippe
has his own deep connection

to this harrowing site.

(Sombre music)

Today, these haunting
ruins and their tragic story

attract people from
across the globe.

(Dramatic music)

Off england's east
coast is an outpost

once declared terra
nullius, nobody's land.

As you come up on this,

this looks like an abandoned
oil platform or something like that

with these two big towers
that are kind of rusting,

but it's too small to
be a modern oil rig.

There is no dock,
there is no jetty.

You just pull your
boat up, tie it on

and ask the people above
to haul you up on deck.

Once you're on
board you can see that

the whole thing is
just bodged together.

It's got masses of
rusting old metal,

rivets that are decades old,

and everything just
slathered in black paint.

But inside are signs
of recent habitation.

The structure in the middle

looks like it's been
randomly thrown together,

its steam punk meets
Swiss family Robinson.

The fact that we have evidence

of stuff left lying around
says that perhaps

there was no organised
departure from this place.

Perhaps people left in a hurry,

perhaps they
haven't left at all.

What makes this rusting
platform so precious

that it would find itself

in the middle of an
international conflict?

Liam bates knows this
place better than most.

It was a lot less
welcoming back then.

There were heavy machine
guns all over the place.

It was... it was very much
an active working fortress.

It would have been quite a...
Quite a frightening place to be.

There were... There
were mines here

some of which scraped
by the inside of the towers,

but didn't luckily explode

otherwise we wouldn't
be stood here today.

This is a maunsell fort built
when britain faced invasion.

So, this platform was built
was built during world war two

with the idea that

it was going to be
a defensive position,

something that is going
to keep the Germans

from laying mines in the area

and its going to
be a forewarning

if German aircraft
come towards the shore.

There were loads of
these built in the north sea,

but after the war most
of them were demolished,

but not this one apparently.

So, this room in war time
in the second world war

would have been for the
officers to spend time in.

It was part of the
honour of, you know,

a higher ranking officer to
able to actually spend some time

up on the deck level

because the... the
marines and sailors

would have been
spending the vast majority

of their day down in the towers.

During the war there
would be anything

from 100 to 300 royal marines

and naval personnel
stationed here.

For the size, that...
that's a lot of people.

But things have changed

since this was a
royal Navy Garrison.

This is the home of prince
Liam of the principality of sealand.

In 1966,

Liam's grandfather Roy
bates lived in the UK,

he ran a pirate radio station.

In britain back in the '50s

and right on through
the '60s commercial radio

wasn't really a thing.

And people created illegal
commercial radio station

called pirate radio stations

by putting them on top
of buildings in city centres

that would be hard to detect.

Roy bates made money
broadcasting pop records,

but it was against the law.

And the British government
did everything they could

and used every law in
the book to shut them down

and for intense and
purposes they did.

So, my grandpa not
being the kind of man

that could take
no for an answer.

He thought well where
is the next jurisdiction?

Where is out of the
UK government reach?

Roy put his young
family on a fishing trawler

and sailed to a site outside
British territorial waters.

They get to this platform
and claim it as their own,

they raise a flag that
they've designed themselves,

declared themselves
prince and Princess

of the new
principality of sealand.

And he thought well
this is no man's land

and no-one has jurisdiction.

This is mine.

Prince Roy declared
it a principality

mainly for practical reasons.

He couldn't declare it a
kingdom and call himself a king

because the queen of england

might have had a thing
or two to say about that.

I think it was excuse for
another big adventure,

so, off he went
further out to sea.

From sealand, prince Roy
could broadcast radio signals

outside the law,

but the outpost also
became a home.

So, this is a bedroom.

It's got all the creature
comforts you would expect

anywhere in the world.

We've got our power outlets

which are actually powered
by over 95% renewable energy.

The... the decoration in
here isn't really to my taste,

but there is all kinds of
characters and people

from all walks
of life stay here.

I don't know if you can hear,

but that's actually the waves

lapping up against
the side of the tower

which is lovely and relaxing

when you're trying
to get off to sleep.

And if you follow
me through here...

We have another bedroom.

Apart from being one hell
of a conversation starter,

sealand was the real long-term
home of prince Roy and his family.

But they also found
a way to work the land

as a data storage centre
for companies and individuals

that didn't want governments
prying on their information.

Well, trying to sum
my grandfather up

in a few words is a bit challenging,
hard as nails, larger than life.

And he just had this sheer
passion for adventure.

Yet, sealand was about to
receive some unwelcome guests.

In August 1978 they
arrived unannounced,

and Liam's father prince
Michael was home alone.

(Dramatic music)

A helicopter approached

from the direction
of Europe over there.

And as they approached he was
trying to persuade them not to land,

you know, and waving them away

when he... he
recognised who they were.

On board was a German, a
business associate of his fathers

and the man said he had
just done some business deal

with Michael's father

and now needed to come on
board to sign some paperwork.

The main defence
is very rudimentary,

it's actually just this mast
that you can see here,

and that will prevent helicopters
from being able to land

'cause it's quite a
small space anyway.

Michael is not feeling
really good about this,

but is... is...

There was just
enough truth to the story

that the German's were
giving him that he said ok,

and lowered the defences.

A group of man
stepped onto sealand,

each of them armed.

The invaders grab hold of
Michael and they lock him up.

I think his main concern as
he's told me over the years

was that he was put in this
room with no food or water.

And no... nobody
knew he was here

apart from the guys that
had thrown him in here.

There is no way out,

the whole room you
are standing in now

is made of steel that's
nearly an inch thick

designed to withstand you
know, strafing from the luftwaffe.

So, I mean, there... there literally
would have been no means of escape.

Sealand had been conquered

and prince Michael was a
prisoner in his own home.

The mercenaries inspired by the
idea of an international take over

had grand plans to expand
sealand with additional forts,

a bank, hotel, and casino.

Yet, after just three days
and without explanation

they let prince Michael go.

The German's agree

to put Michael out of
the cell and onto a boat.

They ship him to the
Netherlands without his passport

making it very difficult.

Whatever the reason releasing
him would soon backfire.

A few days after my father
was released from captivity,

him and his father hatched
a plan to recapture sealand.

They codenamed
it 'operation trident'.

Fortunately for
Roy he has a friend

who is not only a stunt person

but flies helicopters for
shows like James Bond.

They take the doors off,

they bring ropes with them
and they arm themselves,

they fly out to sealand.

To approach sealand stealthily

they made sure that they
approached into the wind

and that would suppress the sound
of the helicopter to a great degree.

They also flew
very close to the sea

and the absolute maximum speed
that the helicopter would allow.

When they arrived over
sealand they noticed that

the German's had put the
anti-helicopter defences up,

so, Roy and his team
rappelled from the helicopter

down onto sealand and they
were armed with shotguns.

I don't think they ever
stopped to consider

they might get killed,
obviously, it was... it was risk.

They went armed to the teeth,

even the pilot had a revolver
in his jacket, you know?

As they just single-mindedly
came out here to do a job.

They rappelled
down to the platform

and they fire one shot of
a rifle and this big boom.

(Gunshots)

My father launched
himself off of the helipad

down onto the deck here

at which point the butt of a
sawn off shotgun hit the deck,

let a round off right
next to his head

and all of the invaders
ran out of the building

with their hands in
the air in surrender.

The invaders decided that

they weren't so into
this fight after all.

They weren't willing to go down
fighting for the glory of sealand,

but Roy was.

The prince had retained
the throne of sealand,

but there would be retribution
for crimes against the crown.

Prince Roy let most
of the Germans go,

but not the one who had masterminded
the coup and beaten up his son.

His name was putz.

Putz was tried for
treason by my grandfather.

He was sent to the jail down
the bottom of north tower here.

Apparently they took
good care of their prisoner,

he was fed and watered
and allowed up to the surface

for fresh air every
now and then,

but it was a very small
and shabby jail cell

and he was kept
there for three months.

The UK government were contacted
by the German embassy to say

look this has happened

on what they considered
British territory.

And the UK government
responded by saying this is...

This is outside of our jurisdiction
you must deal with this yourself.

It gets to the point where
Germany sends a diplomat

from their London office to
sealand to negotiate for the release

of this German national.

Of course, bates does release
the prisoner and lets him go.

He would have been
here indefinitely I'm sure,

if the German ambassador
hadn't negotiated his release,

I mean, the...

You know, the punishment
for treason is a lot more heavy

in every other country.

Since 1978 sealand has
never been invaded again,

but if anyone should try,
Liam's family will be ready.

We have various
contingency plans

and plans drawn up
for that kind of thing,

so, yeah, we're prepared.

Today, the sovereignty of
sealand remains an open question.

In a strictly legal sense

sealand is part of the
archipelago of Great Britain

and so has no
independent sovereignty,

but the longer it's tolerated
and not interfered with

arguably the more rights it
and its people may acquire.

And the invasion may have
had an unintended benefit,

when price Roy hosted
the German ambassador.

He uses that point from
that moment forward

that Germany is
essentially recognising

the principality of sealand
as a legitimate nation,

and that is the tool
that they are able to use

from that moment forward.

Quite a moment for
sealand in a political sense,

you know, there are many
international politicians

who have said that
is de facto recognition.

In San Francisco
bay on a tiny outcrop

is a complex everyone knows.

The setting in iconic,

you can see the San
Francisco skyline.

There is no doubt
about where you are.

Known as the rock

it's possibly the most
infamous prison in the world.

Everybody knows it as
one of the most remote

and secure prisons
in all of history.

Surrounded by icy waters,

escape stories both real and
imagined have become legendary,

but once upon a time
a determined group

actually decided to break in.

This is a lesser-known
story about Alcatraz,

but equally as
significant as the rest.

Alcatraz became a place
of symbolic resistance.

In this place
the line is blurred

between who are the invaders
and who are the invaded.

Its hail and farewell to Alcatraz
at redrock in San Francisco bay

plays host to the
press on its closing day.

Shut down in 1963,

it was designated surplus
land by the federal government.

Six years later though a
group set out on a mission

that would capture
the world's attention.

As one journeys through
this once penal institution,

one sees the signs
of recent occupation.

These signs indicate that this
became a place of resistance.

There is writing
on the water tower.

And then you go
to the cell blocks,

and there's writing and it's
names of American presidents.

Why are their names
written in these prison blocks?

Those responsible
for this scrawling

saw this as a place

where a great injustice
could be challenged.

Elijah oakes' family
was among them.

So, when the occupiers
first arrived on the island,

my grandfather and my family
ended up staying right over here,

the second window from the sign.

Elijah's grandfather was one
of 14 indigenous Americans

who made it past the
coastguard on a cold night in 1969.

They called themselves
the Indians of all tribes

and when they landed on Alcatraz

they dispersed in all
directions to assume control.

They had real plans.

They wanted to start an
American Indian cultural centre,

they wanted to start a school,

they wanted to make
this something special.

The organisers also saw
it as a platform for them

to get out an urgent message

about what was going on

in native communities
around the country.

Native Americans
to this very day

are subject to extreme racism,

they have fewer
economic opportunities

and let's not forget

that the entire continent
once belonged to them.

Elijah's grandfather
was Richard oakes,

leader of the revolt.

For him this small island
could symbolise the fact

that this continent
was once all theirs.

Indians of all tribes decided
to occupy this Alcatraz

because in my grandfather's
words now on one side

of the United States you
have the statue of Liberty

and this is pretty much
the entire opposite.

The quote from my
grandfather is that

those entering golden
gate will first see Indian land,

that's to be reminded of
the true history of this nation.

Land once ruled by
free and noble Indians.

Occupying federal land
was hugely controversial,

but to many what they were
doing was simply reclaiming

what was rightfully theirs.

For 400 years,

the native Americans
had been robbed

and their land had
been stolen from them.

The island of Manhattan
for example was sold

on the basis of a few
coloured beads and silk cloth.

It is this precedent that
native American activists

ceased upon when
they took Alcatraz

and said that they
would also pay

$24 worth of beads

and some silk cloth
for the island of Alcatraz

in recompense for what the
Americans had done to them.

As far the Indians of
all tribes were concerned

this wasn't an invasion,
it was a reclamation.

The land that was once
theirs would be so again,

and this place of imprisonment
would become their place of freedom.

In fact, it was
written into us law

that the indigenous American
people had rights to this land.

So, Alcatraz had been
labelled as surplus land.

And under a number of treaties,

surplus land was
supposed to be available

for occupation by
native American people.

This clause was
probably one of those

that the writers
had never intended

the native Americans
would be able to act upon,

but that's precisely what
these activist intended to do,

acting upon the
letter of American law.

But living on an
abandoned prison island

would prove challenging.

They had to
establish shelter, food,

and how they were going
to deal with the media.

Most of the occupiers moved
into the Broadway cell block

and you had whole families
living behind bars in cells

that once held america's
most dangerous criminals.

Of course, this is
an isolated space,

it is an island.

And they don't have
the ability to grow food,

they don't have Wells for water,

so, everything has to
be brought in by ships

and get around the coastguard

who is trying to actively stop
them from getting supplies.

At first what they were doing was
greeted with admiration by many,

money and supplies flooded in.

The occupiers found

the perfect billboard
for their cause,

the water tower, easily
visible for miles around.

So, they put slogans up like
"welcome to free Indian land.

"Indians welcome."

Prison cells were assigned

to those responsible
for racist policy,

among them governor of
California, Ronald Reagan.

Their message
was strong and clear

and the people of
america were listening,

but something was about to
happen that would change everything.

In early 1970 about six months
after the occupation had begun,

there's a fire.

We don't know,
how it was started,

but the warden's
house is burnt down,

and importantly the
lighthouse is destroyed by fire.

Now, this is going
to be significant

because the lighthouse
was still actively used there

in San Francisco bay

and not long after
you have two oil ships

that collide and spill hundreds
of thousands of gallons of oil.

So, this is a
real turning point.

Luckily, no-one
was killed in the fire,

but it's at that point
that the headlines turned

against the occupiers and
you started to see stories

about how they were
anarchists, or hooligans,

or just students
too lazy to work.

Though the occupiers claim
they didn't cause the fire

and made attempts
to fix the lighthouse,

public support waned.

And then the group
were dealt another blow.

Richard oakes was such an
important part of the leadership

of the occupation of Alcatraz,

but tragically his 13-year-old
stepdaughter died.

What happened is that

they were playing in
the outer haze building

and she had slipped and fall

while she was playing
with other children.

And they called 911

and they had flown
her to Oakland hospital.

And two to three days later
she was pronounced dead.

And yeah, that...

At that point my
family had decided that

they were going to leave.

It was too big of a tragedy.

With their charismatic leader
gone, others soon followed.

The Nixon administration
ceased its opportunity.

The government took
the extraordinary step

of cutting off the electrical
supply to the island.

At that point life on
Alcatraz already inhospitable

became even more difficult.

In June 1971

the federal government
finally decided to send in agents

to forcibly remove
anyone still on the island.

Going against the very
laws they themselves had set.

The following year
Richard oakes was killed

and the white man who shot
him was acquitted of all charges.

The occupation of Alcatraz

didn't turn into the kind
of permanent outpost

that the organisers
had hoped for,

but their message did endure.

They inspired an entire
generation of American Indians,

of indigenous people
to take their own charge,

to have their own voice

in the civil rights movement
and the activism of the day.

It's a real sense of
honour to be out here

and experience the island now.

You know, and the impact

it left for the entire
indigenous rights movement.

There it's like a tremendous
legacy, it really is.

It's... it's powerful
indeed, yeah.

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