All language subtitles for Secret.Nazi.Bases.S04E06.Wolves.in.Wolves.Clothing.1080p.UKTV.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

June 23rd, 1941.

The scent of fresh pine
and the promise of conquest

hang heavy in the air as Hitler
strides into the Wolfsschanze -

a sprawling beast of a complex
nestled in the heart of a forest

in East Prussia.

Just two days earlier, the Nazis
unleashed hell on the Eastern Front,

raining fire down on the Soviets.

Amidst 200 buildings

scattered across a staggering
6.5 square kilometres,

the Fuhrer orchestrates his war
against the USSR,

plotting to reshape Europe
to his liking.

Here, in the Wolf's Lair,
both his ambition and paranoia

will brew a deadly storm.

The Nazis are essentially building
a functional, heavily-armed city

in the middle of a swamp.

There's about 175,000 cubic metres
of concrete used.

These buildings were intended
to stand the test of time

and survive over the course
of that Thousand-Year Reich.

The Wolfsschanze becomes
Hitler's second home.

It's the headquarters he visits
more than any other during the war.

All his military conferences
took place there

and his major decisions
were made there.

This is not merely a fort,
it's a monument to a madman's ego.

But even the walls of
the Wolf's Lair can't contain

the growing cracks in his regime.

A boiling dissent threatens
to erupt and break his iron grip.

Dictators very often reach their end

because of an inside job.

Despite these layers of protection,
the Wolf's Lair ends up being

the site of an almost fatal
assassination attempt.

Spring, 1940.

Colonel Rudolf Schmundt, Hitler's
head adjutant, and Dr Fritz Todt,

leader of the Third Reich's Civil
and Military Engineering Group,

the Todt Organisation,
receive a crucial directive -

find the perfect site for Hitler's
next clandestine headquarters

near the Soviet border.

After an extensive search,
they identify a site

deep within the Gorlitz Forest, just
8km east of the town of Rastenburg,

modern-day Ketrzyn, in Poland,

and a mere 80km from
the Soviet frontier.

This hidden enclave
is destined to become

one of Hitler's most elaborate
and heavily-fortified bases.

Cloaked in secrecy,
this will become the site

of the infamous Wolfsschanze -
the Wolf's Lair.

It's a peculiar decision
to build a military complex

in a remote, swampy forest.

It's mucky, it's muddy,
there's instability in that soil,

potentially, there's water issues,
building here is hard,

supporting these structures
adequately with the soil is hard.

It's an ambitious undertaking.

The location is chosen for the
strategic advantages it provides.

Nestled deep within a forest, it
is surrounded by lakes and swamps,

far from any communication routes

but dangerously close
to the Soviet border.

To the east, Masurian Lake system
forms a 70km natural barrier

against enemy ground forces.

The area's dense woodlands
and sparse population

provide the perfect cover, ensuring
maximum security and secrecy

for Hitler's most ambitious
headquarters.

It put Hitler close to the war,
but not too close.

It was quite some time
before people discovered

that he actually was operating
out of that region.

The fact that this was a sparsely
populated area made it easy for them

to control the information that
would go in and out of this region.

Despite being this secluded,
it actually is very accessible.

There are good roads,
as well as a rail line

that goes directly to Berlin.

Against the backdrop
of apparent invincibility,

plans for the Wolf's Lair are laid -
a pivotal command post

from which Hitler envisions
directing his next major move.

German principality have dreamed
for a thousand years

of expanding eastward.

"Lebensraum" - living space.

The Soviet Union, of course,

are the major continental rival
to Germany at that point,

France is knocked out,
Italy is an ally,

and it was very questionable
how long

the British are going to survive.

Hitler buys into this strange myth
of a Jewish Bolshevik conspiracy,

whereby Jews and Communists
are one and the same.

His plan is that they quickly defeat
the Soviet Union

and are able to subjugate
its people and its resources.

This is going to provide
a huge pool of slave labourers

to serve the Aryan master race.

In turn, they're also going to
be able to take advantage

of the massive agricultural lands,
the oil in the Caucasus

and all of the other resources
the Soviet Union has.

This will guarantee the creation
and the preservation

of the Thousand-Year Reich.

Obsessed with keeping
a tight grip on the war,

Hitler demands a base
close to the action.

In the heart of these dense forests,
the Wolf's Lair will be

the launchpad for his upcoming
invasion and the protective den

where he hopes to watch
his grand scheme unfold.

Hitler needs a location that is
as close to the Soviet border

as possible, while also
remaining safe and secure

and hidden from Allies.

Locating that headquarters
so close to the front line

was a demonstration
just of how confident

Hitler was in his victory.

Essentially, Hitler said, "All
I have to do is kick in the door

"and the entire edifice
will come crashing down."

On November 15th, 1940,

amidst the early successes
of Hitler's blitzkrieg tactics

in Western Europe, the Fuhrer
issues the official order

to commence construction
on Wolfsschanze.

He demands its completion
by the following April,

underscoring his urgent need
to establish a secure base

for orchestrating his upcoming
crucial campaigns.

Most of these structures,
they want to bury them,

they want to protect them,
they want them to be more secret.

However, here, they're building
on the surface.

And if they were to try
and build underground,

you would do the excavations and
they'd fill back in with water.

The way the Nazis
prevented these structures

from sinking down into the swamp

was by building incredibly thick,
reinforced concrete foundations.

These look like relics
from an ancient society.

Massive concrete monuments

that have slowly been
swallowed up by the forest.

In the months and years that follow,

Wolfsschanze undergoes continuous
growth and development.

Construction never ceases,
and the site evolves

into a formidable fortress
with thick fences, ever-expanding

minefields, and concrete blocks
casting shadows in the lush forest.

By the time it is fully operational,

Wolfsschanze consumes
nearly 175,000 cubic metres.

You have to wonder why the
Wolf's Lair, hidden in plain sight,

was never subject to
Allied bombing campaigns.

Even after the Allies were aware
of its location,

they didn't launch a campaign
to attack this particular site.

To further disguise the site's
true purpose, the Wolf's Lair

is built in total secrecy
right beneath the Soviets' noses.

They tell the locals that
they're actually building

a massive chemical plant.

There's also thick forest cover
that makes it almost impossible

to detect from the air.

The workforce are forced to wear
greenish-brown uniforms

taken from the Czech army
after the invasion

of Czechoslovakia in 1939.

Workers are rotated constantly,

so no one worker gets a sense
of what they're working on.

It looked like perhaps
some kind of military operation,

but the idea that this is where
the Fuhrer is going to be living

and working was a super secret.

The exact number of workers involved
in constructing the Wolf's Lair

is uncertain, with estimates
ranging from 2,000 to over 5,000.

Hitler was also a very careful
strategist.

He would unpredictably
move around his schedule

so that even if there was risk
of a leak of what was going on

at the Wolf's Lair, there would be
a layer of protection.

The forest buzzes with activity
as inhabitants and buildings

are cleared, transforming the area
into a forbidden zone

with a 10km radius, surrounded
by barbed wire and fences.

Access to the Wolf's Lair is tightly
controlled by a strict system

of passes issued solely
by the HQ Commandant.

Every visitor must navigate
at least three security checks,

and only about 200 individuals
possess the coveted pass

granting entry to
the inner security zone.

Officially, anyone found inside
without a pass

faces arrest and interrogation,
but, in reality,

the consequences are often
far more brutal.

The Wolfsschanze
was highly fortified.

There were three layers
of protection surrounding it.

There were over 54,000 land mines
placed strategically around

to ward against any intruder
gaining access to the site.

On top of that,
it was regularly patrolled,

so it was impossible
for any intruder to penetrate

into any level of the Wolfsschanze
where Hitler was likely to be.

The entire Nazi regime is built
on the principle of hierarchy,

with him being at the centre of it

and him being in complete
control of it.

And that same concept
is then mirrored in the way

that military complex itself
is built - in concentric circles.

Today, all we see are scattered
ruins of the watchtowers

and bunkers, remnants of roads,
barbed wire fences,

and other buildings are preserved
throughout the site.

Within Security Zone III
is Security Zone II,

a self-contained area
ringed by a menacing fence.

Its buildings, vital to
the Wolf's Lair's operation,

are huddled south of
the complex's railway line.

Security Zone II contained housing
for Hitler's ministers

and top staff, and there were
one-storey houses that were used

by top Nazis, including
Armaments Minister Albert Speer

and the Reich Labour Front leader
Fritz Todt.

A second ring of steel tightens
around the innermost layer

of Wolfsschanze - Security Zone I.

This fenced enclosure,
patrolled by elite SS bodyguards,

becomes an impenetrable bubble

within the already
heavily-guarded complex.

Only those deemed worthy by Hitler's
personal security detail are allowed

to enter this inner sanctum.

Wherever Hitler goes,
these men follow.

They remain in his shadow,
close enough to watch for danger

but always out of earshot.

Security Zone I was the inner
sanctum of the Wolfsschanze.

This is where Hitler himself
would reside in the Fuhrerbunker,

where he would be safe from
any bombing or other incursion.

But it was also constructed
so that Hitler wouldn't be exposed

to direct sunlight.

Hitler is a bit of a night owl,
and so we see here

how he really doesn't want
any light intruding on him.

The Fuhrer really surrounds himself
with his inner circle,

and so only his closest advisers,
his high command,

his personal physician, are allowed
into this bunker with him.

This is why it was so important
that the Wolf's Lair

was so heavily fortified
and protected.

A successful assault could have
taken out the top Nazi leadership,

so it was critical that
the Wolfsschanze be impenetrable

and protected at all costs.

Deep within the forest of Gierloz,

the Wolf's Lair possesses
a logistical challenge.

To overcome its remote location,

the Nazis built a multi-pronged
access system.

Visitors arrive by air or rail,
while a hidden railway

ensures Hitler's personal train
can discreetly come and go.

Tunnels further ensure
the Fuhrer's safety,

underscoring the Wolf's Lair's
transformation

into a self-contained
wartime capital.

The main way of accessing the Wolf's
Lair was through the train station -

Bahnhof Gorlitz, and that's
where Hitler would arrive

in his infamous private train

and make his way from there
to the bunker.

Expanded to accommodate
Hitler's personal train,

this station serves as his
private rail stop upon arrival

at the Wolf's Lair headquarters.

Complete with hidden sidings,
it ensures a discreet

and secure entry point
for those deemed worthy

of entering the Wolf's
inner sanctum.

His train remains,
while Hitler is in residence,

prepped to be on the move
within two hours.

When travel by train isn't feasible,

visitors arrive by air
at the nearby Rastenburg Airport,

which is retrofitted with over
200 buildings and extended runways

to accommodate the Fuhrer
and his Luftwaffe planes.

With the bulk of the construction
complete,

it's time to launch the attack.

The Wolf's Lair stands ready
and Hitler prepares

to set Operation Barbarossa
into motion,

signalling the beginning of his
grand invasion of the Soviet Union.

June 22nd, 1941,
Operation Barbarossa explodes,

unleashing the largest
military invasion

the world has ever witnessed.

The unsuspecting Soviet Union

plunges into a brutal
new chapter of war.

Two days later, Hitler arrives
at the Wolf's Lair,

ready to oversee
the colossal offensive.

Operation Barbarossa
had three lines of attack.

German forces headed towards
Leningrad, towards Moscow

and into the farmlands of Ukraine.

Three million German troops
are engaged in this offensive

and they are pitted against
three million Soviet soldiers.

The Red Army quickly suffers
catastrophic losses.

In large encirclement battles,
hundreds of thousands

of Red Army soldiers are killed
or captured by the Nazis.

A blitzkrieg inferno engulfs
the Eastern Front

as German tanks surge forward.

Powered by air superiority
and ruthless tactics,

the German army cuts deep
into Soviet territory.

By September, millions
of Soviet soldiers are captured.

Leningrad is besieged
and Kiev is within reach.

The Nazi juggernaut
seems unstoppable,

crushing all resistance.

Hitler spent a lot of time
at the Wolf's Lair

during this part of the war, but
the isolation gave him more space

for crazy plan-making
and building up a fantasy

of what the world could
and should look like

that's increasingly detached
from the facts on the ground.

The fact that he is so
well protected also means that

the intelligence is not
reaching him as efficiently

and as effectively
as it should have.

And yet, at the same time,
this is where he feels most secure.

The above-ground structures and
support buildings at Wolfsschanze

posed a vulnerability
to potential air attacks -

a critical drawback for
a military headquarters.

Protecting this conspicuous site
would require innovative solutions

and strategic planning
to mitigate the threat.

Listening troops are dotted
around the area,

using specialist equipment to be
able to detect aerial approach

from up to 100km away.

Hitler comes from an era
where people believed

after the First World War that there
will be no more ground warfare -

that aerial warfare is going to
dominate warfare in the future,

so Hitler's bunker
addressed his fear

of being assassinated from the air.

Though only 2km wide,
the forest isn't a uniform shield.

Open spaces dot the landscape

and construction requires
felling some trees.

The Nazis hired a specialised
gardening company from Stuttgart

called Seidenspinner to come to
the Wolf's Lair and plant shrubbery

and trees in the hollowed-out roofs
of its various buildings,

essentially to create
a canopy above it,

shielding it from prying eyes
and effectively camouflaging it.

They deliberately built
what would be now known

as a modern-day green roof.

They put soil and vegetation
on top of their structures

to make it look like normal land.

Using this seagrass and green dye
mortar mix looked more organic,

less human-made, and helped
blend into the environment.

To confirm this masterful deception,

the Germans commissioned
aerial photographs.

The results are undeniable.

From a bird's-eye view,
the entire complex vanishes,

swallowed by the dense canopy
above.

In 1941, beneath the cloak
of fall foliage,

lies a hornet's nest
of military activity

made up of heavily-fortified
bunkers.

Security and secrecy
were paramount in the design

and layout of the entire complex.

The remnants of the bunkers today
offer an insight

to the extraordinary engineering
that went into creating

the Wolf's Lair complex.

You can still make out
the angled blast corridors

and underground tunnel networks.

You can imagine the logistical
challenge of transporting

and assembling hundreds of thousands
of cubic metres of concrete.

Each above-ground bunker is made
from steel reinforced concrete

with roofs up to two metres thick.

Their foundations, though,
extend up to seven metres down

into the swampy ground.

These bunkers are designed to
withstand the mighty explosion

of the half-tonne bomb.

There is a massive amount of energy
and force in those bombs.

An impact might create cracks
in the concrete

and create shrapnel
of concrete flakes.

They often had steel panels
installed on the roofs

to protect any occupants
inside from bomb impacts.

As the network of fortified bunkers
snakes through the Wolf's Lair,

one stands out -
Hitler's personal sanctum.

Far from opulent, it houses
a workroom, a meeting room

and a simple bedroom.

Even a shower and toilet
offer little indulgence.

A later extension
adds a conference room,

but the overall impression remains
one of stark functionality.

Here, within the concrete womb
of the Wolf's Lair,

Hitler conceives plans for his war.

Why does a leader who could
demand anything he wanted

have a place to live and work
that is so underwhelming in design?

The belief was the Soviets
would be invaded

and would surrender
within a few months.

Hitler never had any intention of
spending 800 days at this bunker.

The bunker featured thick,
airtight steel doors,

which could seal off
the rooms entirely

and protect the inhabitants
from any blast,

but also against any gas attacks.

Hitler, in the First World War
experience,

was wounded in a gas attack,

so the use of poison gas was
something that Hitler feared.

The Wolf's Lair sprawls
with over 80 structures.

Roughly half serve as
living and working quarters,

while the rest are a mix of
reinforced concrete storage bunkers

and seven imposing,
heavily-fortified buildings.

It also features amenities
such as a hair salon,

a sauna and a cinema.

The Wolf's Lair is essentially
a self-contained town

in the middle of the forest.

The Wolf's Lair also includes
a stenographer's barracks,

and it's these stenographers
and their memoirs

that provide us with a lot of
insight into what was going on

on a day-to-day basis
within the Wolf's Lair.

Remnants of many such buildings
still exist today -

an eerie reminder of a time
when Hitler's daily routine

involved a mixture of daily
pleasures and military meetings.

Hitler would get up around ten
o'clock, 11 o'clock in the morning,

take his dog, Blondi, for a walk,

then have his breakfast,

and then the day would begin around
one o'clock in the afternoon.

He would have his conferences
and his meetings

and this would go
till about suppertime,

and then Hitler would pontificate
into the night.

So these guys, all his inner circle,
have a double shift.

One is to patsy Hitler at night,
the other is to run their ministry

in the morning
while Hitler is sleeping.

It was this huge exercise of ego
with a captive audience.

That's the way his days went.

With its concrete claws
firmly dug into the forest floor,

the Wolf's Lair stands as Hitler's
symbol of unwavering resolve

to conquer the East.

However, by September 1941,

as Hitler shifts focus from Moscow
to Kiev and the Caucasus oil fields,

the tide of war turns.

The Battle of Kiev sees over 500,000
Soviet troops encircled

and captured, while German armies
besieged Leningrad's outskirts.

The brutal campaign claims
millions of civilian lives -

unsettling even within Germany.

Freezing temperatures
and tenacious Soviet resistance

halt the German advance
outside Moscow,

marking a critical turning point.

Because the winter ends up
setting in a bit earlier that year,

the Germans can't make
any more advances

and, as a result, the Soviets
are able to regroup,

they also are better equipped to
deal with the winter conditions,

and so, by the spring of 1942,

the Soviets are ready to
actually continue fighting

against the Germans.

The Soviets were able to repel
the German advance

and, in the wake of the failure
of Operation Barbarossa,

Hitler only became more fanatical,

more possessed of this messianic
idea that he was either going to

impose his will on the world or
watch the world burn around him.

You're the military commander,
you're the Fuhrer,

you're completely checked out

because you're secluded
in your bunker.

As Hitler became increasingly
more and more paranoid,

the number of people that he could
trust was also starting to shrink.

Information is power
and, with poor intelligence,

you're going to make
some poor decisions.

As the Red Army recaptures
territory near Moscow,

a fierce battle erupts
further south in Stalingrad,

where every inch of the city
becomes a brutal battleground.

The German army is forced
to fight street by street,

house by house, and Hitler
condemns those soldiers

to a horrific fate by ensuring
they are made to hold their ground.

And as someone who fought
in the First World War

and experienced first-hand
the horrors of stalemate,

it's absolutely unforgivable

that he didn't allow his generals
to move their forces around.

The Germans are unsuccessful.

They actually are not able
to take Stalingrad

and, as a result, can't push further
and deeper into the Soviet Union.

Everybody in Germany
lost somebody at Stalingrad,

so this wasn't something that could
be hidden from the German people.

After Stalingrad, Hitler will
make no more public appearances,

he's so embarrassed.

The failure exposes
a weakness of Hitler

and the Allied forces
were ready to exploit it.

While war rages on
beyond its fences,

within the Wolf's Lair,
there is an eerie air of normality

concealing rising tensions.

August, 1943.

As the tide of war shifts decisively
in favour of the Red Army,

the atmosphere in the Wolfsschanze
undergoes significant change.

Hitler now orders improvements
to be made at will Wolfsschanze,

because, of course, the danger
is becoming more real.

As well, you know, it's symbolic
that we're not going to

abandon this place.
We're going to win this war

and so we're going to invest money
into improving this place

because we're not leaving.

When Hitler ordered
additional fortifications,

he had it built to be able
to withstand a 6.8-tonne bomb.

The so-called Grand Slam.

This new, improved design
consisted of an inner concrete wall

and an outer concrete shell,

and the space in between
was filled with sand

to absorb the shock
of the heaviest bombs.

If these structures were
to experience a direct hit

from the Grand Slam bomb,
they would be OK.

However, that energy needs to go
somewhere, so that first impact

will propagate through that
3.5-metre-thick concrete roof,

blowing all sorts of bits off it
as it creates a path

down to the half-metre-thick
sand layer

that helps dissipate
some more of that energy

and eventually down into
the original concrete roof.

By then it's very manageable.

A lot of that energy has dissipated
out through the concrete

and the interior space
is maintained and safe.

By 20th of September, 1943,
security at the Wolf's Lair

is tightened with the creation of
an inner zone within Sperrkreis I

called Sperrkreis A or IA.

Access to Sperrkreis A
is strictly limited to individuals

directly serving Hitler
or those with offices there,

each issued special passes
for regular entry.

The Fuhrerbunker is transformed
into a fortress

with a complex series of passages.

Roofs are fortified to a thickness
of seven metres of concrete

and these bunkers are also
windowless for added security.

Any sort of opening in a structure
can be a point of vulnerability.

Think about a window or a door.
By choosing to eliminate those,

you're really building
an even stronger secure space.

Pipes are also installed to bring
in natural oxygen from outside

because Hitler is worried that
this internal oxygen being piped

through the rooms could lead
to some sort of an explosion.

Should an enemy gas attack
force a complete seal,

this artificial supply
becomes his only lifeline.

Fearing the threat of a bombing,
he insists his oxygen canisters

reside in a hidden ditch outside.

Hitler also installed
anti-aircraft radar

that could detect enemy aircraft
up to 96km away,

so even as the Soviets advance,
Hitler is digging in

and not accepting that his vision
of a German-dominated Eastern Europe

may be on the wane.

Hitler's bunker becomes
almost a physical manifestation

of what's happening in his mind -

that he's becoming
increasingly paranoid,

sealing himself off from
the rest of the world,

holing himself up in this cramped,
small space,

surrounded by this labyrinthine maze
of holes and passages.

September, 1944.

The Red Army closes in.

The Wolf's Lair stockpiles weapons
alongside reinforcements of tanks

and armoured vehicles.

Hitler was really hunkering down
in the Wolf's Lair

and, sure, he was increasingly
cocooned and paranoid,

but also he was increasingly
under threat by Allied advances,

so it does make some sense
that he would feel the need

to have increased protections
and fortifications

at a time when the war wasn't going
the way he thought it should

and the prospect of an enemy attack
on his position

was more and more realistic.

A colossal fortress of concrete and
steel emerges at the Wolf's Lair,

Hitler's new bunker,
dwarfing all others in the complex.

This behemoth stretches 36 metres
in each direction

and reaches 18 metres tall.

Overhead, an ominous double-layered
ceiling eight metres thick

hangs like a constant threat.

His personal fortress is anchored
into the earth with a foundation

that penetrates eight metres
into the ground.

There is a tonne of extra concrete.

These bunkers are incredibly strong

and that was important to Hitler.

The longer the war drags on,

the deeper Hitler retreats
into seclusion.

The insular society
within the Wolf's Lair

shields its inhabitants from
the harsh realities outside.

Bad news seldom breaches
the barbed wire

and those who dare to deliver it
are dismissed

as lacking a global perspective
or labelled defeatist.

The Wolf's Lair is actually where
Hitler spends most of his time

in the later years of the war,
so it begins to feel

less like a temporary refuge
and more like his full-time home.

Being in that bunker
highlights the fact

that he is incapable
of really leading his people

and that his reality is crumbling
around him.

Despite all the physical
protections,

the base's greatest defence is its
hidden location, or so they think.

The Allies know the geographical
location of the Wolfsschanze

thanks to their intelligence

and communications
interception services.

However, only the heaviest bombers
stripped down to their bare elements

could reach East Prussia.

The logistical nightmare
cripples the plan.

A direct assault from the air
fades into a tantalising

but impossible task.

They hesitate dropping a bomb on it
primarily because

they don't know if Hitler
is going to actually be there.

It's like attacking
anything pre-emptively.

You have to be sure of your target,

otherwise you're intelligence
might be compromised.

Raids on other Nazi targets
in eastern Germany

cause heavy air crew losses
and any attempt to bomb

the Wolfsschanze
faces strong resistance.

Summer, 1944.

As Hitler's paranoia intensifies,

his daily life at the Wolf's Lair
becomes a fortress of suspicion.

Despite the thick walls
and tight security,

things are not going well.

Dissent brews among
those closest to him,

plotting in the shadows of
his most fortified headquarters.

We can see that there are
kind of these grumblings

in terms of Hitler's leadership

and also the poor decisions
that he's making.

Hitler is fantasising in a bunker
while his ministers

have to shuffle back and forth
between paradise

and the inferno
that Germany is becoming.

I think at that point in time
many military officials

have probably started questioning,
well, what's the endgame here,

and, when it comes to an end, what
is Germany's position going to be?

The tide of war has turned and
fingers point squarely at Hitler,

the architect
of their nation's ruin.

Over the past year, there have been
at least 40 attempts on his life,

but Hitler's ironclad security
and a sliver of luck

have carried him through.

A small number of high-ranking
members of the German Armed Forces

decide they are going to
assassinate Hitler

and try and take over
the German government.

If you were a member of the Nazi
elite and you were planning

an attack on Hitler, you also had to
contend with all of the perimeters,

all of the security zones, all of
the things that protected Hitler

from anything that could cause him
harm, injury or death.

Wishing to see the end of Hitler
and his regime was one thing,

but achieving it was another.

Fortunately, a mechanism
already exists

for temporarily seizing
key government agencies -

Operation Valkyrie - originally
designed by the German military

to counter internal revolts
or takeover attempts.

This plan tasks the reserve army
in Berlin

with immediately occupying
and securing

all government buildings
and communication installations.

It also establishes emergency
military control

over civilian authorities.

Operation Valkyrie was simply
a code word ordered by a general,

and they start arresting
high-ranking officials

on the presumption
that they're traitors.

The point of the coup was not
only to kill Adolf Hitler,

it was also to take control
of the German state

and the German military
away from the Nazi Party.

What motivated them to attempt
an assassination was really

the feeling that Hitler was going to
lead Germany into defeat and ruin.

Hitler seems untouchable.

The conspirators would need to pick
a static location for their attack.

The isolated headquarters,
where Hitler has already spent

long stretches of time,
could be their best shot.

The Wolf's Lair becomes an ideal
location for a number of reasons.

First of all,
they know that Hitler's there,

so the target is physically
in the complex.

Second of all, they have access
to Hitler in that complex

through one of the conspirators.

Third, the isolation of the
Wolf's Lair will probably give them

much-needed time to successfully
overthrow the Nazi leadership.

A young officer,
Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg,

emerges as the unlikely champion.

Fate intervenes in 1944, granting
Stauffenberg a coveted role -

Chief of Staff.

This new-found access to Hitler
offers the chance

to rewrite history
with a single explosive act.

That summer, a golden opportunity
presents itself

when Stauffenberg receives
a personal invitation

to meet with the Fuhrer himself.

This could be the moment the
conspirators have been waiting for -

a moment that could change
the course of the entire war.

The stakes are high for the success
or failure of this operation.

If the coup is successful, that's
an additional year of Hitler's rule,

of Hitler's destruction of Germany,
of Hitler's ongoing

industrial genocide that could
have been stopped in its tracks.

And if the plotters fail, that means
certain death for all of them.

July 20th, 1944.

A lone figure,
Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg,

36 years old and burdened
with the nation's fate,

arrives at the Wolf's Lair.

He carries with him
a deadly secret -

a briefcase that holds the key
to a desperate gamble -

the assassination of Adolf Hitler.

Each of the explosives that
Stauffenberg planned to use

in the assassination
included a chemical starter

with a ten-minute delay.

So Stauffenberg is called
to the Wolf's Lair

and he arrives with two bombs.
He is able to activate one of them

but he doesn't have time
to activate the second one.

Just before the meeting,
Stauffenberg catches word

that the location has been changed
at the last minute.

Because it's a warm summer day,
the original location of the meeting

is changed to a different room
that has better ventilation,

so we're no longer in, sort of,
this concrete bunker,

we're actually in a regular room
with windows and a wooden frame.

The table at which they're meeting
doesn't have legs.

It has these thick, wooden oak
bulkheads that support the table.

Stauffenberg puts the briefcase
under the table.

The guy who's next to Hitler
keeps bumping into the briefcase

at his feet, so he takes
the briefcase and moves it

to the other side of the bulkhead.

Two minutes later, at 12:42,
Hitler leans in,

tracing a path on a map
spread out on the table.

Suddenly, a blinding flash
follows a deafening roar

as the room shakes
from the surprise explosion.

The explosive device devastates
the conference interior.

Broken chairs, shattered glass,

and scattered paper
is all that remains.

A crater approximately
1.5 metres across

is left in the place
where the briefcase once sat.

24 men are caught in the blast.

In that suspended moment,

the future of the Fuhrer
and Germany hangs in limbo.

The best-case scenario
for the conspirators

is that they kill Hitler and they
successfully carry out a coup

that leaves them
in control of Germany.

Von Stauffenberg has prearranged
for a phone call

so that he's called away
from the meeting room,

and, as he's taking the call,
the bomb detonates.

The explosion echoes
in Stauffenberg's ears

as he races for the exit.

Luckily for him,
the guards at the airfield

have not yet been notified
of the attack

and his car is able
to pass through unchallenged.

Stauffenberg gets back to Berlin

and assumes that Hitler
has been killed

and he puts in place the rest
of the Valkyrie protocol.

The inferno clears,
revealing a scene of devastation.

One man was instantly killed
and others cling to life.

But amidst the carnage,
a figure emerges -

Hitler, shaken but alive.

His injuries are minor.

The bomb, a monstrous gamble,
has failed.

The bomb goes off, of course
the bulkhead saves Hitler.

There's a famous photo
of one of Hitler's staff

holding Hitler's pants.
Hitler's pants are shredded.

They don't believe
the original plot.

A bomb in a suitcase,
it wouldn't destroy that concrete.

It wouldn't make
that thing collapse.

However, it is going to contain
that force in a constrained area,

it has nowhere to go,
and would cause dramatic impact.

The wood structure is so fragile
in comparison,

that explosive force
just blows the whole thing up,

and that plays a big role
in why this attempt failed.

The fact that only one
of the bombs had been armed

probably also saved Hitler's life.

I mean, thank God they failed,
because in July 1944,

you had competent generals
take over the war,

we might have lost that war.

Hitler being left alive was
the best break we might have had.

It just destroys his world

because he's created
the most secure, safe bunker,

and yet the handful of people
who are let in

are the ones who try to kill him,
and this is why he goes out

and kills thousands of people
afterwards - because he is furious.

News of his survival reaches
General Friedrich Fromm,

commander of the reserve army.

Originally a supporter
of the July plot,

he turns on his fellow conspirators

to hide his involvement
and spare his own life.

The coup attempt only lasts
about seven hours

and collapses at midnight.

Around 12:30am, Count Claus
von Stauffenberg is arrested,

sentenced to death,
and executed immediately.

And that's one of the rare times
you hear Hitler.

Hitler gets on the radio
to prove that he's still alive,

with that distinct voice of his.

Approximately 700 people
are arrested

and around 180 people
are brutally executed

for their role, or alleged role, in
the assassination attempt on Hitler.

Hitler's inner circle tightens and
his army is now deemed a liability.

His already powerful headquarters
is ordered to be made even stronger.

The walls are thickened,
an anti-tank gun bristles

and machinegun nests are installed.

Soon, the SS arrives
with an array of weapons.

The failed assassination
breeds paranoia,

transforming the once confident
Wolfsschanze

into a monument of fear.

It highlights the fact that Hitler
is not invincible

and the Wolf's Lair
isn't impenetrable.

Hitler needs to give it
a positive spin

and so he says he survived
the assassination attempt

and that probably makes him
even more

the right man to lead Germany
in this effort.

This is not uncommon
for megalomaniacal leaders

who survive
an assassination attempt.

They see the very fact
of their survival as proof

that it's their destiny
to see their vision

and their mission
through to completion.

In late 1944, the situation for
the Nazis grows increasingly dire.

The successful Allied invasion
of Normandy

and the Soviet Red Army's
relentless push from the east

severely diminished Germany's
control over occupied territories.

At the time of
the assassination attempt,

the Soviets are just 140km
from the Wolfsschanze complex.

As the Red Army advances
into East Prussia,

air raid warnings become almost
daily occurrences at Wolf's Lair,

marking the site's decline
from a strategic hub

to a place of palpable urgency
and desperation.

The inevitability of the Soviet
capture becomes apparent,

signalling the fall of Wolfsschanze.

In November 1944, construction
was finally completed

on the Wolf's Lair, but the
concrete hardly had time to set

before Hitler had to flee
because the Soviet Red Army

was only 16km away.

Hitler orders the Wolf's Lair
to be demolished

before the Red Army
can actually get there.

The destruction of the Wolf's Lair

was codenamed
"Blowing Up The Island"

and was intended to prevent
any use of this Nazi bastion

by the Russians
as they came across.

They needed eight tonnes of dynamite
to blow up one of these bunkers

and, in that explosion,
chunks of concrete

would rocket up to 20 metres
in the air.

It's said that the blast
caused cracks through the ice

of a nearby lake and blew roof tiles
off the houses in nearby villages.

The destruction was another attempt
to control Germany's fate.

They destroyed it themselves.

They got rid of any evidence
of any foul doing themselves.

They got rid of the legacy
themselves.

On January 27th, 1945,
a once unimaginable scene unfolds

when the Red Army enters
the Wolfsschanze headquarters

without firing a single shot.

The capture of the Wolf's Lair
is an important domino

in the fall of Hitler
and his regime.

The fact that this place
that he had spent most of his time

while he was conducting the war,
he is no longer there,

and it's in the hands
of his mortal enemy.

As Berlin is being destroyed
all around them,

Hitler is plotting
for what would come next.

What do they leave behind?
Who should take charge?

What should the fate of the German
people and the German state be?

It's all delusion because
the only thing that could come next

was unconditional surrender.

On April 30th, 1945,
facing defeat in Berlin,

Hitler ends his life
by shooting himself in the head.

The Nazi regime breaks down.

It's incapable of continuing
without him.

In the months that follow,
Nazi Germany capitulates,

culminating in its unconditional
surrender on May 7th, 1945.

After the war, Soviet authorities
embark on the arduous task

of clearing land mines
around the area.

It takes a decade before
they can successfully clear

all 54,000 land mines
that had been carefully planted

around the perimeter.

Hitler saw himself as the architect
of a Thousand-Year Reich

and these buildings
that he had constructed

were intended to stand
the test of time.

While most of this site
was demolished or destroyed,

we can still see
in that central security zone

remnants of Hitler's bunker.

The great irony about the
assassination attempt on Hitler

is the Wolf's Lair had been
set up to protect him

from any and all threats but, in the
end, the threat comes from within.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media