All language subtitles for Abandoned.Engineering.S10E02.The.Rock.1080p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-squalor_track3_[eng]

Tom ward (narrates): A
confounding facility in new Mexico

caught up in a
race to save lives.

It's this weird mix of 19th
century bridge building

and 21st century 'buck
Rogers' kind of thing.

The search for the location of
a highly classified spy mission

in Gibraltar.

There have been rumours

that secret caves had
been deliberately covered up

and hidden away.

An Estonian base
with an explosive story.

This is a mystical island
shrouded in Soviet secrets.

And a site in Italy where
life was forever on the edge.

There's always been an air
of danger around this town.

Decaying relics...

Ruins of lost worlds...

Sites haunted by the past...

Their secrets waiting
to be revealed.

Their secrets waiting
to be revealed.

At the gateway to the mediterranean
on the southern tip of Europe

is a much coveted rock.

It's a piece of land
sticking out of Spain,

but it's not owned by Spain.

All around are signs that it
has long been fought over.

If you make it to
the top of the rock,

you'll find two enormous guns
pointing out to the mediterranean.

This place was important enough

to defend with some
serious fire power.

But below ground, the real
secrets of this rocky outcrop

have been abandoned and
hidden for more than half a century.

Have been abandoned and
hidden for more than half a century.

Gibraltar had been a
place of strange rumours,

that there were these
many secret tunnels.

It is grim.

The air is thick with bugs.

If you're fortunate enough
to have a torch with you,

you just might be able to see

glimpses of rusting
machinery inside.

This is a dark,
nasty place to be.

The top secret operation
planned for this grisly dungeon

would require sacrifice and
service way beyond the call of duty.

Gibraltar aka the rock

is a British overseas territory.

Maintaining control of
this strategic peninsula

has been a centuries'
long struggle.

Well, to say Gibraltar
was well armed

well, to say Gibraltar
was well armed

is a bit of an understatement,
Gibraltar was extremely well armed.

Local historian Pete Jackson

was once a gunner in
britain's royal artillery.

He was stationed on Gibraltar.

What we're gonna walk
to now is a 9.2 inch gun,

this capable of firing a
shell 3 miles into Africa.

The rock overlooks the 8
mile wide straits of Gibraltar

and sits opposite Morocco.

Gibraltar is a very
key piece of real

estate and essentially
whoever controls Gibraltar

controls the mediterranean.

It's been a vital British
military base since 1704.

They turned the
place into a fortress.

With thousands
of soldiers, guns,

with thousands
of soldiers, guns,

canon, cavalry, and Navy backup.

When you see the size
of the shell this thing fires,

you won't want to be
on the receiving end of it,

this is going to
put the ship down.

One of these things
through the side,

the ship is not
going to survive that.

But with the constant
threat of attack,

the British needed
more than brute force

to maintain their
grip on Gibraltar.

And the secret to their success
lies hidden in the rock itself.

The towering limestone monolith

hides a labyrinth of spectacular
caves and natural tunnels...

And there's also evidence of
human activity below ground.

You see the original drill marks
as it's all being made in the 1700s.

The tunnels that we're
in now date from 1782.

This is when we started to
dig in to defend against attack.

This is when we started to
dig in to defend against attack.

Back then, British
defenders needed the tunnels

to survive Spanish assault
during the great siege of Gibraltar.

And centuries later,

when Adolph Hitler
came to power in 1933,

the value of Gibraltar
was not lost on him.

Hitler had hoped to convince
Spain to join the war on his side

and of course if he could
offer Franco Gibraltar,

that would be a
massive incentive.

The British knew
of Hitler's ambitions

and that the age
old tunnel system

would be crucial in
defending the rock.

British commanders in
Gibraltar began to develop

an extensive set of
underground tunnels

utilising those that
had existed before...

And developing a
whole extensive network.

What we're in here is
called the great north road

and what it is is more or
less a main supply route

within the tunnels

and this was big enough
before all the pipes

were fitted to drive a
4 tonne truck through.

The great north road
is literally given its name

after the great
north road in britain

and you'll see as
we move along it,

you enter from maida
vale in the south,

turning to the north
you get to peterborough,

we then get to doncaster
and then on to durham.

The reason for this was to
allow young conscript miners

arriving from the UK

the ability to quickly orientate
their selves to the system

that they were in.

The royal engineers
carved out around 20 miles

of new tunnels

to provide bomb
proof accommodation

for britain's Gibraltar
defence force

which had doubled in size.

So, they tripled the
length of these tunnels,

so, they tripled the
length of these tunnels,

this new space had room
for weapons, ammunition,

housing about 16,000 soldiers,

they had hospitals,
communications,

all within this mountain.

Even so, at the start
of the second world war,

Hitler's forces looked
set to capture Gibraltar.

So, the British devised

an extraordinary
intelligence operation

that would spring in to action
when the German's invaded.

It was so highly classified

that little is known
about it even today.

For decades, there
has been rumours

that the rock of Gibraltar had
these secret caves and rooms

that were deliberately
covered up and hidden away.

More than half a century
after the war ended,

the long lost bunker
had still not been found.

But the hunt continued.

But the hunt continued.

For many years,
historian Phil Smith

has been exploring
Gibraltar's tunnels.

In 1997, a group from
the local caving club

sat down just outside here

and felt wind coming through
from behind a corrugated iron sheet.

When they removed it,
they found cast concrete

and as they moved
further up they found a small

entrance that leads
to this room here.

Until the discovery
of these rooms,

the top secret British
intelligence operation

had been little more
than conjecture.

The first time I was
bought in to this room,

I was absolutely amazed,

I just couldn't believe here
hidden away inside of the rock

would be a room like this.

What's unusual about this room

is there aren't any
windows anywhere.

There's a door on that side,

there's a door on this side

there's a door on this side

but all the rest of it is
just solid wall and ceiling,

so a very strange place.

This clandestine complex
was the base of operation tracer,

an audacious British mission

to be activated when
Hitler conquered Gibraltar.

Operation tracer
was the brainchild

of head of naval intelligence
admiral sir John Godfrey.

If Gibraltar fell the British
would need information

on what the enemy were doing

so the plan was to seal six
naval personnel in this chamber

with enough
supplies to last them

so they could observe and report
back on enemy movements in the area.

The discovery of these
underground spy base

finally proved the
existence of operation tracer.

The six volunteers would be
entombed within these rooms

for the duration of the war.

For the duration of the war.

With this 6 inch crack
as their only window.

There was a 10,000
gallon water tank...

Food supplies for
up to seven years...

And the all important
communications room.

From here they would spy
on Germany military operations

and radio their findings
to London every night.

The floor was covered in
cork tiles to dampen sound.

They couldn't afford to
make a lot of the noise,

so we got the cork
tiles on the floor

and the door would
have been sealed up

and they've got a
wall on the outside

leading to the tunnels,

so all those things would
help to keep the area quiet.

And a hand cranked generator
was installed to power the radios.

In the '90s, the cavers found
this strange contraption here,

you can see the blades
on it like a propeller,

but there's also a handle here,

but there's also a handle here,

so it looks like it
was hand operated.

It could provide electricity

and being operated by hand

it would give the
men a bit of workout,

a bit of upper body training
to keep them fit and healthy.

So, now we know why
there's two toilets here.

Six men potentially sealed in
this area for up to seven years,

if you just had one toilet

and it broke that would be a
very serious problem for the men.

So, this along with other
things in operation tracer

was always a belt and braces

with something to
support the primary object.

In a remarkable act of bravery,

these men would be walled
into this underground complex

for the duration of the war.

We're not talking about
a couple of days or weeks

or even months.

Years of hiding out
in utter darkness,

you'd really have to be a person

that was truly
committed to the cause

and one who had high
levels of mental toughness.

And one who had high
levels of mental toughness.

Operation tracer was
brilliantly conceived

if the people involved were
carefully selected and trained

I think it would
guarantee success.

The concept came

from head of naval intelligence
rear admiral John Godfrey,

it's a brilliant plan

and if it all seems
slightly James Bond,

then what you
should bear in mind

is that one of John Godfrey's
assistants was a young naval officer

called Ian Fleming

who later went on to write
the James Bond novels.

In the end, Hitler did
not attack Gibraltar

and operation tracer
was never activated.

And when the war was over,

the undisclosed complex
was surreptitiously sealed up.

Today, the British
still control Gibraltar,

today, the British
still control Gibraltar,

but for how much longer?

Gibraltar is one of
those places left behind

as not quite ruins of empire
but something like that.

But now that
britain is retracted

and no longer thinks
of itself as an empire,

what place does Gibraltar hold?

The badlands of new Mexico
are as remote as it gets.

Yet someone has built here.

Inside this open desert

is a construction
that looks like

it's from the 19th
century 'wild wild west'.

There's a sort of
bridge to nowhere

that runs off of the ground
level, on to this platform.

When you get closer,

this place gets actually
more complicated.

This place gets actually
more complicated.

It's constructed almost
entirely out of wood.

But at the same time,

you've got all this clearly
modern technology around it.

A bird insignia could be a
clue to what went on here.

And despite appearances
this creaking structure

is part of a wider landscape
that has had global impact.

The deserts of new Mexico

has a very high pedigree
for world changing science.

It was here that the first
nuclear bomb was tested.

So, what was this ramshackle
wooden construction built for?

The origins of this site

relate to an unprecedented
event back in 1962.

The launch of telstar 1.

The launch of telstar 1.

The world's first
communications satellite.

Telstar was a real watershed
moment of the 20th century.

It was a satellite

that was able to
broadcast television signal

from space for
the first time ever.

But seven months
after telstar launched,

it shut down

and it wasn't immediately
obvious as to what went wrong.

Today scientists like lieutenant
colonel Jeff heggemeier

of the us air national guard

only know what happened
thanks to this crumbling structure

out in the new Mexico desert.

Once a highly
restricted military facility.

So, telstar 1 went offline

because we were doing
nuclear testing in the pacific.

Once that bomb went off,

it created the first ever
electromagnetic pulse.

An electromagnetic
pulse, or emp,

is a burst of
electromagnetic radiation.

A nuclear explosion
causes an emp

because it excites
electrons in the ionosphere

which then cause an
electromagnetic pulse.

Nuclear electromagnetic
pulses cause

damaging current
and voltage surges...

Which interfere with electronics
in susceptible devices.

From mobile phones to aircraft

to satellites like telstar 1.

An electromagnetic
pulse attack today

would decimate the
technology we now depend on.

Emp was a real national
security threat back in the 1960s.

But today an emp spike
would still be devastating.

Emp was such a threat
to the American air force

because our aircraft relied
on these electronic systems.

It just wipes out
the technology,

it wipes out the ability
to respond to an attack.

So, america needed a way
to make its aircraft emp proof

and therein was the
engineering challenge.

The wooden relic at this site

is what they used to
subject us military aircraft

to the electromagnetic pulse

created during a nuclear attack.

It's all that remains of a
classified testing facility

codenamed atlas one.

So, simulating an emp
for an airplane in flight

is not practical,
nor is it really safe

because if you
affected the electronics,

because if you
affected the electronics,

you could potentially cause
the airplane to have issues

while in flight.

The structure was
made out of wood

because if it was metal,

it would affect the electromagnetic
pulse we were trying to simulate

and so the solution was to build
the world's largest wooden structure

in the middle of the desert.

The design they came
up with was inspired

by those old railroad trestles,

hence the name of
the structure was trestle.

But the structure
couldn't be too high

or they wouldn't
be able to get the

100 tonne $300
million aircraft onto it.

The hole in the ground idea
was to take a natural hole

and dig it out a little bit more

such that we could put
the trestle inside of it.

The idea was to roll
the plane off of a cliff

on to a platform,

on to a platform,

so finding the hole in the
ground was the easy part.

The difficult part was being
able to design this platform

with all of the
specific specifications.

That was the job of
scientists like bill prather.

My role with atlas one

was as a member of the
engineering design team.

Bill knew that the damaging
electromagnetic pulses

created by a nuclear blast

would wipe out the electronics
in American military aircraft.

But how were they able to
simulate such an explosion

on this rickety
looking structure.

It's hard to tell
from a distance,

but if you look closely,

you'll see these cables
that look like powerlines

that are running on
either side of the platform,

those are incredibly important

to how atlas one
actually worked.

The wedge building on this side

was used for the instrumentation

that recorded the
currents measured off

of the aircraft
and on either side

are high voltage generators

that generate the emp.

8 million volts on each side

and it drives the pulses
on to these wire plates,

one on this side and one
on the far side over here,

generating the emp across this
way where the aircraft is parked.

We had to do that

because we couldn't
use nuclear weapons,

so, we simulated it with
high voltage equipment.

Basically, this plane
was just inundated

and just bombarded with
emp and then after that,

they would turn off
the machine, get in,

they would turn off
the machine, get in,

put the key in the ignition, and
see if the plane still turned on.

This was cutting-edge
technology at the time as well

and they couldn't really tell

if it was going to work

until they ran their first test.

The emp pulse from
an enemy nuclear attack

would put millions
of lives in danger,

so, they put their trust in
scientists and engineers.

We knew the structure was
good and we knew the concept

would generate the emp.

When they were
ready for their first test,

they rolled the aircraft
on to the platform

and then they turned on generators
which then fired 16 million volts.

As the structure was blasted
with the massive current,

to bill's relief, it worked.

It was the first of many
atlas one experiments

which showed the us air force
how to shield electronics from emps.

Which showed the us air force
how to shield electronics from emps.

We then added protection
to the plane to stop

that electrical energy from
getting through into the plane.

Atlas one really helped the
military make leaps forward

in terms of emp
resistant circuitry.

By making certain that
aircraft could still fly,

even after being hit with emps,
we were able to make sure

that mutually assured
destruction stayed in place.

And that's an important piece
in keeping the cold war cold.

In 1991, with the
cold war at an end,

the atlas simulator
was finally abandoned.

But the efforts of bill prather

and the atlas one engineers
certainly did not go to waste.

And the atlas one engineers
certainly did not go to waste.

The thing about emps is
they haven't gone away.

Our cell phones,
our electrical grids,

all these things would just
be completely wiped out.

In the aspromonte
mountains of southern Italy,

the shell of a town looms
above an inaccessible land.

The town follows the
contours of the hillside,

winding down all the way
to the river at the very end.

There are multiple
levels of houses stacked

on top of each other in
places as many as five stories,

all overlooking
this deathly drop.

Its desolate streets are
paved with the husks of homes

and businesses.

There were stacks
of gas cannisters, the

there were stacks
of gas cannisters, the

remains of an empty bakery,
and even a solitary woman's shoe.

Floors have given
away and fallen through,

this place is teetering on
the edge of total collapse.

A river bed full of curiously
large boulders and scars

on the surrounding
hillsides could give an insight

into what left this
place deserted.

You wonder if
whatever happened here

was completely natural
or if there is something else

that could have happened
to make everyone leave.

When this village died,

a unique and ancient
culture died with it.

The ghost town of roghudi
vecchio sits in a precarious position.

The name roghudi derives from
words meaning full of crevasses

the name roghudi derives from
words meaning full of crevasses

or just harsh and
looking around here

you can really understand that.

But that's not the most
interesting thing about its name.

Its name is actually
Greek, but we're in Italy.

Roghudi is so cut
off from the world

that many don't use Italian here
but a dialect of ancient Greek.

Former resident Bruno
stelitano is one of the few

who can still speak
this rare language.

(Speaks foreign language)

The people of
roghudi claim origins

that trace back
thousands of years

that trace back
thousands of years

to the ancient Greeks.

In the 8th century bc,

the Greeks established colonies
along the nearby coastlines

of the black and
mediterranean seas.

Many ancient Greeks moved

to the coast of Italy

where they founded
trading ports.

But over the centuries,

invasions by coastal raiders
forced these Greek speaking people

to retreat into the mountains
to fortress villages like roghudi.

Not only did this keep them safe

but it preserved their culture
from outside influences

for many years to come.

Isolated in this harsh
landscape, for centuries,

they clung to the traditions
of their Greek ancestors,

some of them eerily
foreshadowed the future.

Not far from the village,
there's this strange rock

that has confused
geologists for years.

That has confused
geologists for years.

No-one can quite tell if it's
naturally made or man-made.

Supposedly an ancient
dragon lived under this rock

with a hoard of treasures
taken from bandits and thieves.

The residents of roghudi
even sent their priest to feed

the dragon to keep it
from destroying their town.

When the priest died, there
was no-one to feed the dragon,

it's said that it was so
angry that it Rose up

and created landslides
for the rest of the town.

The rugged terrain that had once
kept them safe would in the end

be their downfall.

This region was
prone to earthquakes

and there are two
earthquakes that occurred,

one in 1905 and
another one in 1908.

The earthquakes rocked
the whole of southern Italy.

(Speaks foreign language)

And the river valleys that cut
through this region contain evidence

of an altogether
different threat.

The reason why the riverbeds
that surround the town are so wide

is because when the winter
rains and the spring fall comes,

it creates these
raging torrents.

As all of this water rushes
through the landscape,

it scours the riverbed
and everything in its path.

As the water courses
down, it causes mudslides

that send boulders powering
down towards the riverbeds,

putting the mountaintop
villages in serious danger.

In the 1950s, a series
of flash floods threatened

in the 1950s, a series
of flash floods threatened

to wash roghudi away.

The villagers clung on,

but two decades later,

they weren't so lucky.

In 1971, there was an
unprecedented storm.

The saturated ground caused

the slopes beneath
the village to move.

(Speaks foreign language)

There was a real fear
that the entire town

could have come crashing down
hundreds of feet at any moment.

On 16 February 1971,

the town's mayor
ordered an evacuation.

The entire population
of 1,600 people

were forced to pick up
everything they owned and leave.

Were forced to pick up
everything they owned and leave.

It seemed the freak rainfall
was not the only thing to blame

for the destruction.

Although the floods
definitely weakened

the town's foundations, there
might be more to this story.

In the 1940s and 1950s,
the inhabitants decided

that they wanted to
install running water

and a sewer in the town.

Some locals believe

that this may have had
unintended consequence.

(Speaks foreign language)

When the floods hit in 1971,

it's possible that the
new drainage system

had already weakened
the ground below the town.

There's a cruel
irony in that trying

to bring modern
conveniences to their town,

to bring modern
conveniences to their town,

they may have signed
its death warrant.

Some residents attempted
to return over the years

but most stayed away.

And roghudi was left to rot.

Although the people here
lost homes and livelihoods,

there was another
casualty of the floods.

It was not only the town

that was decimated
by these disasters.

They also severely diminished

the ancient greco Italian
culture of the region.

Once widely used
across the region,

today calabrian Greek is
spoken only by a remaining few.

(Speaks foreign language)

Off the coast of Estonia sits a
small island with a big secret.

If you look at the
island from above,

you can't see much
apart from a thick covering

of evergreen forest.

This forest cover is hiding
a narrow Gauge railway.

If you follow along
this railroad track,

it will lead you to these
pretty imposing structures.

The threatening installations
are clearly military.

All along the
shoreline of this island

are concrete emplacements
and they've got no windows.

When you come up
to these buildings,

you see all these
things scattered about.

And the rusting remains
of heavy ordnance

and the rusting remains
of heavy ordnance

may explain the
absence of life here.

Something dangerous must
have been going on here,

this place was once
heavily guarded.

So, what was it hiding?

Estonia's naissaar island
sits in the Gulf of Finland,

a strategically
important stretch of sea.

(Speaks foreign language)

Olar gofman's family has
a strong link to this place.

Olar gofman's family has
a strong link to this place.

(Speaks foreign language)

He was following in the footsteps
of his grandfather Johannes

who had come to naissaar

when it was still
controlled by Russia.

(Speaks foreign language)

The island had been inhabited
by fishermen and seal hunters

for hundreds of years.

But because of its
strategic position,

but because of its
strategic position,

it began to attract the
attention of major militaries.

You've got Finland to the north,

you've got Russia to the east,

Estonia to the south,

and Sweden to the west.

In the early decades
of the 20th century,

tsarist Russia was
on the defensive.

(Explosion)

The original defences
were built in 1914

when Estonia was part
of the Russian empire.

They'd just suffered a
humiliating defeat against Japan,

so the empire led by
tsar Nicholas ii decided

to build a series of
coastal fortifications

to protect st Petersburg.

(Speaks foreign language)

And there are more
tsarist constructions hidden

and there are more
tsarist constructions hidden

in the woods.

(Speaks foreign language)

Following the Russian
revolution in 1917,

naissaar continued
under Russian control,

this time under the communists.

And soon olar's grandfather Johannes
was one of the only residents left.

(Speaks foreign language)

For the Soviets, the
island's dense forest

was extremely appealing.

Around 85% of the
island is covered in forest

making it perfect
for covert missions.

The Soviets see the
location of the island

as an important
one, from that place,

they're going to be able to
dominate and control the baltic sea.

They spent a lot of time
and a lot of energy building

a whole industrial
complex there on the island,

under the cover of the forest.

This is the naissaar
sea mines factory.

(Speaks foreign language)

It was the largest
naval mine factory

in the whole of the baltic,

it had workshops,
storage facilities,

barracks, a network of
subterranean bunkers,

and even a power station.

These mines were
incredibly dangerous,

when one of them
exploded in the water,

the shock from it could
be felt over a mile away.

Moving such dangerous weapons
around the island was no easy task.

(Speaks foreign language)

They could be
moved safely, silently,

without having
to build up stores

of vehicles and vehicle fuel.

All the sites on the island
were connected by rail.

After assembly, these deadly
weapons would be transported again

to the harbour and
out into the far reaches

of the Soviet union.

Naissaar was
fortified yet further

when the cold war intensified
and secrecy heightened.

In the 1960s, the Soviets
moved beyond mines

and they actually
built a missile base.

(Speaks foreign language)

At the end of the cold war,
thousands of sea mines

were abandoned here.

They dismantle and disarm

something like
13,000 of these mines.

When you walk
across the island today,

you see hundreds,
thousands of empty shells

you see hundreds,
thousands of empty shells

of these formerly active mines.

But one mystery
remains unsolved.

(Speaks foreign language)

Today, naissaar welcomes
back visitors of all kinds.

In 1995, naissaar island becomes

a nature reserve, so
tourists and hikers can go

and walk on this once forbidden
and very dangerous island.

(Speaks foreign language)

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