All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S12E07.Countdown.to.Armageddon.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

A top secret site in Arkansas
whose occupants carried

the fate of the nation
in their hands.

They would have been
very aware of the fact

that they could be the person
that started a nuclear war.

An ancient ruin in
Cambodia, ravaged by one man's
cruel deception.

There were gun
battles happening, they were
fighting over the statues.

Calling these
blood antiquities
makes a lot of sense.

And a facility in
Wales, tainted by the actions
of an international hero.

Winston Churchill
is most remembered in history

for leading Britain
through the Second World War.

But for some, his legacy
is more complicated.

In northeast
Arkansas are the sprawling
remains of a secret site

that stood guard over America
during its most
dangerous hour.

This place is huge.

It's obviously been used
for something very big.

You've got offices,
you've got playgrounds,
you've got athletic fields.

There's all the makings
of a proper town here.

But this was no normal town.

It was built with
a very specific purpose.

One area in particular
provides the first piece
of the puzzle.

The most obvious
feature here
is clearly the runway.

With all the housing and other
facilities near the airfield,

you'd have to assume
this is part of the military.

These places were
all around the country,

and most people had no idea.

But what were they hiding?

Everything here
was part of the nation's
last line of defense

during a time
of perilous uncertainty.

The crews knew that
if they were ever called
upon to go aloft

and use their payloads
in battle, they would
trigger World War Three.

And for one
terrifying instant, it looked
like that moment had come.

This is the closest that we,
as a nation
have ever come to nuclear war.

Joseph Alley is
a historian, who has spent
almost three years

uncovering what
went on inside this
clandestine facility.

Security
was paramount.

There were
very specific places

that you were allowed to go,
and there were also places

that you were explicitly
forbidden to go,

and this was all laid out
to you on day one.

This is
the Blytheville
Air Force Base.

It was first operational
during World War Two.

But in the 1950s, as tension
between Western democracies

and the Soviet empire mounted,
it became part
of America's front line

defenses in the Cold War.

In 1959, when the
Strategic Air Command

took this base over,
this is where they
were going to be

making very important,
world-changing decisions.

So, SAC,
the Strategic Air Command

is essential
to the Cold War effort.

They're in charge of all
the nuclear capabilities
that come from the air.

A squadron of B-52 long
range bombers was based here,

poised to counter the
increasing Communist threat.

So, these big B-52s
could carry a nuclear payload.

And so they were meant
to deter any adversaries.

But as soon as the
Strategic Air Command

arrived at Blytheville
to evaluate the base,

they realized there
was a critical flaw
in their deterrent strategy.

If the Soviets were to launch
a first strike attack

intended to cripple
America's defenses,

they would not have been able
to retaliate fast enough.

SAC commanders
understood that the US

was not ready
to respond quickly
to incoming nuclear threat.

Something had to be done
to remedy that and fast.

You have to fuel
these bombers.

You have to get them out of
their hangars,
onto the runway.

You've got to put the
right ordnance aboard.

The average time to do
all that is six hours.

Well, if you're in
a nuclear standoff
and time is of the essence,

that's way too long. And so,
Strategic Air Command decides

it wants to get that down
to 15 minutes.

By 1960,
the construction
of a new building

designed to meet

the rapid response objective
was completed on this base.

So this is the readiness
crew building.

This was a 70-man
crew dormitory.

They would do what was
called an alert rotation.

For seven days,

they would be living,
eating and working in the
readiness crew building.

The airfield's
distinctive design

was also a key part
of the defense plan

if the pilots were
called into action.

The shape of the
tarmac was all about speed.

The planes were fully fueled
and armed on the branches,

ready to pull out onto
the runway
at any moment's notice.

And then they're
going to come up
to the end of the runway

at a specific angle

so that they can
very quickly take off.

There's no stopping
and turning.

There's no having to work
your way and arrange it.

It's just...

Sometimes you would
have one plane's

tail fitted right up
against one plane's nose.

That's how close
these guys would get.

The payload each bomber
carried had the potential

to inflict unimaginable
devastation.

You had five B-52s.

Each one was manned
with two Hound Dog GAM-77
cruise missiles.

Each of those cruise missiles
was roughly three times
as powerful

as the nuclear weapons
that were used on Japan
at the end of World War Two.

You also have about 58
other bases all over the US.

So you can figure out just
how much destructive force
the United States

was capable of bringing
to bear with just
the flip of a switch.

And it's not long
before they get the call.

In October 1962, an American
spy plane flies over Cuba,
and they realize

that there are missile bases
being built on
the Cuban islands

by the Soviet Union.

This was simply too close.

They could
take out Miami or take out
Washington, DC

with no warning, really.

So this triggers the
Cuban Missile Crisis.

B-52s across
the country
were put on a 24-hour alert,

and the ones here
were no exception.

In this room, there was
a meeting
with all of the crewmen

that were on alert
at the time.

It was explicitly explained

things are getting tense
with the Soviet Union.

There's something happening
down in Cuba.

And the Strategic Air Command
has officially notified us

that they're going to be
implementing what they called
their one-eighth program.

This means that one out
of every eight bombers

in the Strategic Air Command
is going to be
in the air at all times.

This was all part
of a wider plan
called Operation Chrome Dome,

which would run
for seven years.

For 24-hours a day,
365-days a year,

around 60 nuclear
armed bombers

were circling the skies
around America,

ready to strike Cuba, the USSR
or elsewhere
at a moment's notice.

And as the Cuban missile
crisis escalated,
the threat edged ever closer.

So the aircraft
at Blytheville Air Force Base
are then raised to DEFCON 2,

which is the highest
defense readiness,
short of nuclear war.

In 1962,
at Blytheville Air Force Base,

the crews of B-52 nuclear
bombers were on high alert

after the discovery
of Soviet missiles in Cuba.

On October 24th,

Strategic Air Command
issued a new order,

the crisis was about to enter
a critical new phase.

They stepped up to DEFCON 2.

That's just one step away from
nuclear war.

The DEFCON defense
readiness system

prescribes five states
of alert for the US military.

At DEFCON 2,

you are at your station,

your finger is on the button.

And then, of course, DEFCON 1
is pressing that button.

While the American people
were aware

that the country was on
the brink of nuclear war,

those inside this building
knew that at any moment

they could be called on
to launch a strike.

The tensions
were real.

The stressors were real.

This was an incredibly
dangerous time.

You had this cycle
where guys would wake up

and they would get their
assignments and they would
be in this building,

just sitting and waiting
for that klaxon telling them
that it is now DEFCON 1.

They would have been
very aware of the fact that
they could be the person

that started a nuclear war.

For eight agonizing days,

during the Cuban missile
crisis, the personnel
based here

waited for the apocalypse
to begin.

The purpose of these bases,
can be none other...

But behind the scenes,
President Kennedy

and Soviet Premier,
Nikita Khrushchev
were negotiating.

Luckily, neither side
really wanted to go to war.

And so Kennedy and Khrushchev
were able to come
to a peaceful conclusion.

Nobody was happy,
but nobody was dead either.

The Soviets agreed
to remove their missiles from
Cuba in exchange for the US

removing its missiles
away from Turkey.

Blytheville and
those stationed here

continued to quietly
guard the nation

from the skies
in the decades to come.

You've got thousands
of people that are working to
keep up the alert facilities,

so you've got a veritable
an army of men and women

who are working to keep
the country safe.

As we move through
the 1980s and the Cold War
starts to ease,

American military bases
are being closed.

And so Blytheville
was on the chopping block.

Following its
closure in 1992, Blytheville
became a municipal airport

and the ready alert facility
was permanently closed down.

Now, Joseph and his team
plan to turn this

once top secret site
into a Cold War museum.

Originally, there
were 59 alert facilities
over the continental US.

This is the last one
that is fully intact.

This is the last one
that the public
will ever be able to visit,

and so we are very proud
to be able to take on
a project like this.

In northern Cambodia
is the ruin of an ancient site

caught in the middle
of a modern day scandal.

On the ground,
we can see we're kind of

in Indiana Jones territory.

There are ruined temples.

There are stone carvings,
pillars, walkways.

You get the sense

that these structures
were part of an entire city.

At its height,
this was once the capital

of a formidable dynasty
that mysteriously vanished.

Leaving behind
an extraordinary
treasure trove

that lay forgotten
for 1000 years.

When it was rediscovered,
that became the beginning of
a different kind of tragedy.

If you'd look,
you can see these pedestals,

but it looks like
something is missing.

The treasures of this place
would be plundered

in what some people
have called the greatest
art heist in history.

The mastermind
operated in plain sight,

masquerading as a friend
of the Cambodian people.

He was warm.

He was funny, and so
he was a brilliant con man.

But his luck would
eventually run out.

Dr. Ea Darith is
an archeologist
and expert on this site.

He first came here in 2005,

and has been unearthing
its secrets ever since.

I was astonished to see
these ancient temples.

They'd been built here

more than 1000 years ago.

We estimate that around
10,000 workers

we were involved
in building this capital city.

The origin of this
lost world dates back to the
birth of a great civilization.

The Khmer Empire
began to come together
in about 900CE

when a leader named Jayavarman

began to unite
various warring tribes

into a large entity
like a modern state.

But just over a century later,
it was hit by a power struggle

with Jayavarman, the fourth,
emerging

as the potential new leader
of the Khmer people.

He needed an impressive city
to prove his superiority.

So he built this...

Koh Ker.

He cemented his power

with deliberately ambitious
construction projects.

In order for a location
to be considered a capital,

it had to have
a pyramid-shaped temple

with multiple levels.

This was a competition
to showcase the leader,

Jayavarman,
the fourth's power.

It would have been furnished

with priceless objects,
including statues
revered by the Khmer people.

The statues in Cambodia
are important symbols

of our respect
for our ancestors
and those who ruled before us.

By 928, Jayavarman's rivals
were no more,

and he proclaimed himself
the sole emperor at Koh Ker.

But Jayavarman, the fourth's
reign would be short lived.

He died in 941,

and in the political shifts
that followed,

the Khmer capital
was relocated.

That, coupled with
a likely water shortage,

left his city abandoned.

Koh Ker would remain
hidden for almost 1000 years.

But when it was rediscovered,
it opened the door

to some very
nefarious characters.

In the late 19th century,
after French explorers

stumbled upon
the remains of Koh Ker,

they documented the site,

including it's
numerous statues.

But a century later, in 1975,
when Cambodia was taken over

by the Communist
Khmer Rouge regime,

the country, and this ruin,
were cut off

from the world
until the late 1990s.

As the country
recovered slowly,

it was becoming clear
that it wasn't
just the Cambodian people

who had suffered,
their ancient history had been
destroyed and ravaged.

Hundreds of temples
were looted,

and at Koh Ker, virtually
every statue was missing.

In 2012, lawyer
Bradley J. Gordon,

an American based in Cambodia,
was called in
to help bring them back.

I have been hired
by the Department of Justice

to track down stolen
Cambodian antiquities.

My assignment was to find
the smuggling network,

and we were just focused
on one statue,

the Duryodhana statue.

One year earlier,
the statue
had gone up for auction

at Sotheby's in New York,
with a list price
of $2-3 million.

It was a 500-pound sculpture
of a mythical Hindu warrior,

and it was taken from Koh Ker.

After a tipoff
from the Cambodian government,

that this was
a stolen artifact,

the US Department of Justice
stopped the sale
and opened an investigation.

We interviewed more
than 100 people, and we found
one man in particular

who remembered seeing it
at Koh Ker village
on an ox cart.

But we also started to realize

that many people we were
talking to knew a lot more

than just about
that one statute.

As Bradley
dug deeper, it appeared
the widespread theft

of treasures from Koh Ker
could be linked
back to one man.

I came across
the name of this
dealer, Douglas Latchford.

He was a well-known character
when it came to the
sale of Cambodian antiquities.

He was
this charming guy.

He presented himself as almost
a amateur archeologist.

The idea that he might be
a kind of kingpin of

an international looting
scandal was really shocking.

Latchford was born
in British India

and moved to Thailand
in the 1950s.

From there, he began searching
the ancient ruins of Cambodia

and became obsessed
with the statues at this site.

To me, Douglas Latchford was
the shadow king of Koh Ker.

He was behind
one of the greatest art crimes
in history.

Bradley's
investigation revealed that
Latchford had used

his contacts and knowledge
of the region

to exploit the chaos
of the Khmer Rouge period
to make himself rich.

For 40 years,
from his home in Bangkok,

he organized gangs
of Cambodian looters
to smuggle out statues.

The reward was so great,
the looters
were willing to risk

their lives to get their hands
on the ancient treasures.

Calling these
blood antiquities
makes a lot of sense

because they definitely have
blood attached to them.

There were gun battles
happening, they were fighting
over the statues.

And so we've heard stories
about individuals being killed
out here at Koh Ker.

It's estimated that
Latchford's gangs stole

up to 100 statues
from Koh Ker alone.

We know that from
one billionaire client,

he sold him $35,000,000
of statutes.

That's just one client.

Latchford had many.

His customers were
private collectors,
but also museums,

including the world renowned
Met in New York
and the British Museum.

He was even knighted
by the Cambodian government

after donating
a number of statues
to the National Museum.

Latchford had fooled the world
and in the process

earned himself
around $100,000,000.

But the volume of evidence
was adding up
and his time was running out.

In 2019,
US federal investigators
made their move

because the attempted sale of
the stolen Duryodhana statue

was going to take place
at an American auction house.

He was indicted
by the US government

for the trafficking in stolen
Cambodian antiquities.

Douglas Latchford
escaped justice.

He died in his late 80s,
and he didn't serve any time

for these incredibly
massive crimes

he carried out.

Bradley and his
team didn't give up the fight

to get back what belonged
to the Cambodian people.

We entered into
negotiations with
the Latchford family.

We were dealing mostly
with Douglas's daughter
during the negotiations.

Julia Latchford
did the right thing.

She agreed
to give back everything.

Now, of course,
there remains a huge problem
of identifying and returning

the hundreds of other
Cambodian antiquities

that Latchford peddled
over the years.

But that's under way.

Our restitution team
has already successfully

brought home
about 300 objects.

We know that there are more
out there,
especially from Koh Ker.

I think for the rest of my
life I will be working on this

and it will be far from over.

Today, Koh Ker is
still revered as a place of
worship by the local people.

Meanwhile, in July 2024,
14 of its statues

were finally returned to the
National Museum of Cambodia.

For the
Cambodian people,

these statues
are not art work.

They're not Picassos.

They're not Van Goghs.

They are living,
they're spirits.

So they feel very strongly
that the statues were taken

out of the house,
out of the family, and now
they need to come back.

In northern France
near the Belgian border,

a bizarre collection
of structures
litters the landscape.

It's an area covered
in rolling hills
and sprawling farms.

But up on one ridgeline
is a massive metal saucer
tilted on one side.

Almost like a UFO
crashed there.

This huge, heavy
piece of steel

has been popped up
like a bottle cap.

What power was required
to knock that loose?

The land is scarred
and riddled with craters.

It looks as if a violent
and terrible event
has taken place.

A short distance
away is a building
that at first seems unrelated.

Yet further investigation
reveals they are
intimately connected.

When you go inside,
you realize
that most of this site

is actually underground,
and it is enormous.

We see bunk beds,
crumbling walls,
twisted metal.

This was clearly a military
site on a massive scale.

This marvel of 20th
century technology

became the pride of France
that came before its fall.

In northern France
is the fallen symbol

of a nation vanquished
by a powerful enemy.

The first time
I came to La Ferte,
I was 10-years-old.

It was a school visit.

Benjamin Dumont
is part of an association

dedicated to preserving
the memory of this site.

He was inspired to return
when he understood

its importance to history.

I have been here
for 15 years now.

What happened at La Ferte
is a story that touches people
in different ways.

That story began after Europe
was engaged in a conflict

that had grave consequences
for future generations.

After World War I,
French leaders began to debate
how to best prepare

for what they saw as
a second inevitable
conflict with Germany.

They, therefore,
began to construct
this line of defenses

that would straddle
the demarcation

between Germany and France
and protect France

from an attack.

It was called the Maginot Line

and was named after France's
minister of war,
Andrei Maginot,

who ordered its construction.

By 1938, the line of
fortifications was complete.

This section was called
Ouvrage La Ferte.

The result was meant
to be invulnerable

both to airplane bombing
and to tank fire.

If a French soldier
can stand in a dome

with a machine gun
and shoot Germans all day,

that it makes the French
soldier more powerful.

The technology is a substitute
for manpower,

and the technology
is going to save lives

in the next war.

Of course, it didn't work.

In 1940, the Nazis
invaded France.

And the nation's defenses
would be put to the test.

But there had been
a major oversight
in the French design.

They never expected
the Germans
to invade through Belgium,

and this part
of the Maginot Line

had been left
vulnerable to attack.

The idea is they're
going to armor

the whole border of France,
but then budget cuts.

It's expensive.

There wasn't enough
money to fully fortify
this section of the line,

and this was a fact the Nazis
were all too aware of.

On May 18th, 1940,
the Germans began pounding
Ouvrage La Ferte.

The French soldiers stationed

as the garrison there
fell under the command

of Lieutenant
Maurice Bourguignon.

With only around 100 troops,

he was left to fight
a battle against the Nazis

he could never win.

The Germans have got 88 mm
anti-tank guns.

These high velocity
artillery pieces

are capable of drilling rounds
right into those steel domes.

We can see the scars.

On May 18th
alone, 8000 shells fell on
the wall on the block here.

It was extremely violent.

But worse was to come.

The German forces
had dug trenches

up the sides of the hill,
reaching the gun emplacements.

The Germans put
40 kilos of explosives
on the side of the turret,

and it's these 40 kilos
of explosives that lifted
the top off the turret,

which dropped back down.

Once
the fort's defenses

had been breached,
the German attackers began

to drop bombs and smoke
down inside.

Fire raged throughout the fort
detonating munitions

and filling the passages
with smoke.

It was clear
the battle was over and
Lieutenant Bourguignon

made a desperate
plea for help.

Bourguignon requested
an evacuation order

from his superiors several
times and systematically,

this evacuation order
was refused.

Lieutenant
Bourguignon
wanted to save his people,

and the general comes back,
your fortress
is like a submarine.

And you are going to
go down with the ship.

The French soldiers
had no choice

but to retreat
to the lowest levels
of the fallen stronghold.

Around 50 soldiers
arrived in this gallery

and joined 40 others
already there.

They put on their gas masks,
and try to survive.

The vast majority
of the fortress's
soldiers died in this gallery

on the morning of May 19th.

Twelve hours after
the German attack began,

it's over.

The myth of the Maginot Line's
strength had been shattered.

And the Nazi propaganda
machine went into overdrive.

The Germans are able to say
that superior
German technology,

and German racial superiority,

overcame the vaunted
Maginot Line.

One German
leaflet read,

"The Maginot Line
is a mass grave
for all those who defend it.

There's no way of resisting
the German army.

Stop fighting.

Lay down your arms."

In the chaos that followed,

Lieutenant Bourguignon
was accused
of betraying his country.

In June, the Germans
gave the French soldiers
a burial.

Fourteen of them
were not named.

Among those unidentified,
was Lieutenant Bourguignon.

Rumors swirled
that he had deserted his men

or even collaborated with the
Germans to hand over the fort.

This was a theory
that had some currency

during the war
and immediately after.

But one man
was determined to find out
the truth and clear his name.

In 1940, Hitler's
Nazi forces overran

this French
military stronghold
along the Maginot Line.

Soon after, rumors spread
that the man in command,

Lieutenant Maurice Bourguignon
had deserted his post

when no trace
of his body was found.

When Bourguignon died in 1940,

his only son, Yves,
was just five-years-old.

But years later,
Yves wanted to know
what happened to his father.

Yves worked tirelessly to
contact German war veterans,

hoping one of them
might know something

33 years after the fateful
German assault,
his prayers were answered.

Wilhelm Penniman
had been a German sub officer
at the time,

and he dealt with the bodies.

In 1973, he showed
Bourguignon's son where the
missing bodies were buried.

They exhume
the shallow grave, identifying
some by their ID tags.

Bourguignon's body was
confirmed by his
uniform stripes.

It was discovered
that Lieutenant Bourguignon
had not deserted his men.

Posthumously, he was given
the Legion of Honor,

which is France's
highest military order.

Today, the site
is open to the public

and includes a small cemetery
for those who gave their life

defending France
in its darkest hour.

In the Welsh town
of Tonypandy,

stands the relic of a time
when this region

was the center
of a fierce rebellion.

This building looms large,
and it's clearly from an era

that's now been forgotten.

Inside,
it's just this vast,
cavernous space.

There's nothing really
to suggest, you know,
what it was used for.

Yet, within these walls,
a desperate people mobilized

against the might
of the British army.

The townspeople here
tell stories

of mounted cavalry
marching down their streets.

It must have felt
like an occupation.

And for them
the treachery lay at the hands

of one of Britain's
most lauded politicians.

Winston Churchill
is most remembered in history

for leading Britain
through the Second World War,

but for some, his legacy
is more complicated.

He faced
an impossible decision,

to do nothing,
or send in soldiers
against his own citizens.

His decision still haunts
the town to this day.

This place was the flashpoint.

What happened here
spread like wildfire.

Philip Rowlands grew up
in this small Welsh town.

His grandfather worked here
in the early 1900s

and told him stories
of a very different place.

People flooded into Tonypandy

and the surrounding valley,
to dig for a major commodity
of the time...

coal.

It's places like these that
used to be the industrial
heart of the country.

This coal field
was the largest in Britain,

and this town sat
in the middle of it.

At the time,

mining was one of the most
dangerous jobs in the world,

and the pits in this valley
were no exception.

Water would pool and
fill the mine shafts,

so they needed
to constantly pump

the water out to prevent
it from flooding.

This is
the Tonypandy powerhouse.

Built in 1905, it housed
state of the art machinery

capable of pumping
up to 5,000 gallons of water
from the mines every minute.

Without these engines running,
the mines would be unworkable.

But even with
the powerhouse in place,

it was still a risky business.

The coal seam
the miners excavated

was one of the most
dangerous in Britain,

and they wanted their wages
to reflect this.

It's gaseous, which means that
it's especially volatile.

It wasn't uncommon
for workers to end up dead
from explosions,

partial collapses,
any number of accidents.

Meanwhile, the mine
owning cartel

who controlled
these coal fields

refused to compensate
for the dangers

despite their
exorbitant profits.

They called the shots

and they would squeeze
their workers
as much as they could.

Years of hard work,
injuries and meager pay

took a toll
on a place like this.

At some point,
people were going
to demand a change.

The miners had fought for
years to receive a fair wage

for their life
threatening work,

but their pleas
had been ignored.

It was a scene all too
familiar in mining
centers across the world,

including the US.

And in Tonypandy, in 1910,
came the final straw.

A new pit opened
in the valley,

and it came time
to negotiate pay.

Workers and management
were immediately at odds.

The new pit was
extremely difficult to mine,
and the miners ended up

with even less pay.

The haggling went on

until the mine owners
decided to force the issue.

On September 1st,
1910, the company

locked out
the entire workforce
from one of their mines.

But the mine owners
had underestimated

the strength
of a new workers union.

Miners across
the region responded by
balloting for a strike.

And on November 1st,
12,000 men
went out on strike.

Tensions were high
and the Tonypandy powerhouse

had become
a ticking time bomb.

In 1910, the miners
of Tonypandy

in Wales had reached
a breaking point

and gone on strike,
demanding higher wages.

Only one pit was left
operating in the area,

and it relied on the Tonypandy
powerhouse to keep it going.

So on November 7th,
angry workers
descended upon the facility,

determined to force
the crucial
powerhouse to shut down.

8,000 striking miners
began to gather in the town,

with their sights set on
the powerhouse
still churning away.

But the police knew
the strikers were coming

and had prepared
for the assault

by drafting in
100 extra officers.

A tense standoff ensued.

The whole situation was
balancing on a knife's edge.

And then a stone came crashing
through one of the windows.

The scene quickly
turned violent
and a riot erupted in town.

After repeated
baton charges,
police drove strikers back

just before midnight.

Yet the police were terrified

they would be overrun
by the strikers
and made a frantic call

to the government
in London for help.

The man in charge of homeland
affairs at the time
was Winston Churchill,

30 years before
he became prime minister.

Churchill had authorized
police forces

from London and Bristol
to maintain order.

But it was becoming clear
this wasn't just going to
go away.

The next day,
the riots didn't subside.

In fact, they escalated.

People were smashing
in windows,
breaking into shops.

It was a mess.

Churchill was faced
with a tough decision.

Appease the miners
or send in the army
to crush the uprising.

He chose to use military force
against his own people.

At 1:20 am on November 9th,
two days after the riots began

Churchill dispatched a British
cavalry squadron,
to restore order.

This was a big call to make,
one that was guaranteed
to be contentious.

Not only were there hundreds
of police in the streets,

but now there were armed
troops alongside them, too.

The miners faced
such an overwhelming force,

they had no choice
but to back down.

The line had been
crossed, and that would
never be forgotten.

These weren't foreign enemies.

These were his own countrymen.

The Tonypandy powerhouse

continued operating
until 1966.

And today,
following the decline

of Welsh coal mining,
only one mine remains in use.

That's the sad part.

We are losing our legacy,
and we're losing
our memory of things.

We are trying to raise
the awareness

of the rich
and unique heritage

of this area that people
should be proud.