All language subtitles for A.E.S15E04.1080p.WEB.h264-CODSWALLOP_track3_[eng]

An imposing bastion in Dover

transformed in the face of
an unprecedented crisis.

This went from defending
against enemy forces

to a new kind of front line
for Britain.

In Japan, a secret training camp
for wartime missions of no return.

The weapons created here would be
turned against American sailors.

Hundreds would lose their lives.

An Italian town whose people
were given lethal advice

by government officials.

They told the locals to stay inside.

This is what signed, tragically,
their own death warrant.

And a floating fortress
in New Jersey

that became a sanctuary
and a saviour.

This marvel of engineering

played its part in some of
America's biggest battles.

In Southern Japan are the remains
of a facility

that defined a desperate moment
in the nation's history.

We're in Ozu Island,

a really thin strip of land
just a few miles long.

This seems like
a normal little harbour.

But along the cliff face,
there is a tunnel entrance.

When you come out the other side,

there is only the pier
and then the open sea.

There's not a lot to tell us
what this place is for.

And it makes you wonder

how is this tunnel connected
to the other structures

we see around here.

It was built to inflict
mortal wounds on Japan's rivals.

But as their empire crumbled,

it was given
a horrifying new mission.

Their own culture would lead
the Japanese Armed Forces

into a different way
of engaging with their enemies.

These people are indoctrinated

to sacrifice their lives
for their country.

This was the last shred
of their homeland

that these men would ever see.

Kenichi Tanaka was born
on Ozu Island.

He remembers when his peaceful home

became a hive
of mysterious activity.

The Japanese had good reason
to keep this site concealed.

In the late 1930s,
when it was first operational,

Japan was hellbent
on expanding its empire.

By this point, Japan,

having defeated Russia
in the Russo-Japanese War,

sees itself as kind of
the overlord of East Asia,

and they want the United States
out of Asia.

And as tension ramps up,

Japan needs
a much sharper naval weapon

to counter what they see

as inevitable American pressure
on them in the Pacific.

So, the Japanese Navy
starts to design

what becomes the Type 93 torpedo.

The Type 93 has got
a top-secret tank of oxygen inside

that is going to make it
ever so slightly faster,

ever so slightly more powerful
than any other torpedo around.

The Navy now needed somewhere
away from prying eyes

to trial-run
their deadly new technology.

In 1937, construction began
on Ozu Island.

They test them here because of
the size of the Sado Sea,

and the fact that it is remote

and there's not going to be
any collateral damage.

And here on the island
is the barracks for all personnel,

the testing facilities,
the maintenance facilities

for this ambitious
torpedo programme.

After a year of development,

the Japanese Navy
perfected their secret weapon

with the data they gathered here.

It was now the most advanced
naval torpedo in the world.

The effective range of
the Type 93 torpedo is 13 miles,

and the best American torpedoes
in this period,

their effective range
is eight miles,

so this gives the Japanese
an immediate edge.

The American military had no idea
this new weapon even existed,

but they were about to find out.

In December 1941,

Japan launched a surprise attack
on Pearl Harbor.

And the Type 93 torpedo
would prove devastating

against the Allies
in the Second World War.

During the Battle of
the Java Sea alone,

the formidable weapon
destroyed multiple Allied vessels.

These ships that were hit
by those Type 93s,

they didn't know what hit them.

They couldn't believe that

a torpedo could come
from a Japanese ship

that they saw
that far off the horizon.

But by mid-1942, it became clear
Japan had seriously underestimated

the strength of
the American military.

Over the next year,
the US Navy, Marine Corps

start to conduct
the island-hopping campaign.

As island after island is taken away
from the Japanese Empire,

the Americans are getting closer
and closer to Japan itself.

So, they start casting around
for new ideas -

how does this outgunned,

outnumbered,
out-industrialised power

go toe-to-toe
with the United States?

They have to find
new diabolical weapons.

This site is going to be developed
into something terrifying,

something desperate.

The Japanese Navy
would be inspired

by a bloody confrontation
1,500 miles south of Ozu Island.

At the Battle of Saipan in 1944,

the Japanese garrison
launches a suicide charge

at the American invaders,

and 4,000 Japanese soldiers
just run at the American lines

and almost all of them are killed.

This banzai charge of Saipan,
you know,

heralds a new kind
of Japanese warfare.

The Japanese Naval Air Service

starts to use the so-called
kamikaze aircraft attack...

..and the Japanese Navy is
going to find its own way

to conduct suicide attack.

In September 1944,

this facility was given
a menacing new purpose -

to turn men
into human torpedo pilots.

These horrifying new weapons
were called Kaiten.

They take these Type 93 torpedoes
and they say,

"Why don't we, you know,

"put, like, a suicide pilot
on each of these torpedoes?

"We'll make a little cabin
with 30 minutes of oxygen inside

"and the guy will steer it

"into the side of
an American destroyer."

When adding the cabin,

the Navy also increased
the length of the torpedo

to allow for three times
more explosives

than the original Type 93.

A Kaiten was big enough
not just to sink a destroyer.

The Kaiten had enough payload
to sink a battleship,

to sink an aircraft carrier.

Incredibly, when the Japanese Navy

advertised for people
to pilot these suicide submarines,

and they were seeking 200
such people,

more than 2,000
17- to 28-year-olds applied.

By November 1944,

just two months
after training began,

the first Kaiten pilots
were ready to attack.

Before they left this base,

their sacrifice was honoured
by the island's residents.

On the 6th of November,

eight Kaiten and their pilots
were loaded onto submarines.

Two weeks later,
they had US ships in their sights.

So, five of the Kaiten

are deployed against
the USS Mississinewa,

which is a fuel supply ship.

There's a huge explosion

and 63 US sailors are killed
in the attack.

The fireball was so big
that the Japanese assumed

that all these Kaiten
had hit targets

and they'd blown up
this entire assembled fleet

in this anchorage,
when in fact they sank one ship.

But because the Japanese
believed the mission

had been more successful
than it really was,

it gave them a sense
of false confidence.

So, they poured more resources
into the programme,

thinking that this would be
a secret weapon.

They were wrong.

And for the rest of the war,

they only sank, like,
a couple of ships.

It promised incredible results
but delivered very little.

Far more Japanese sailors died

than Americans were killed
by this programme.

Regardless of
the Kaitens' success rate,

the Japanese made plans
to deploy them

against an American invasion
of the mainland.

It was part of
the government's wider strategy

to defend the country,

called "100 million
shattered jewels".

The big picture was that
100 million Japanese people

were ready to give up their lives
in suicide attacks

to defend their homes.

But it never came to that,

as Japan finally surrendered
after the atomic bombing

of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

This terrifying
and inhumane weapon of war

was consigned to a dark period
of Japanese history.

Every year since 1962,

the relatives of Kaiten pilots
and the people of Ozu Island

have gathered to remember
the young men who left here,

never to return.

In Central Italy stand
the ghostly remains of a catastrophe

that left a trail of broken dreams
in its wake.

This is a beautiful
part of the world.

The landscape is rugged,
the mountains are snow-capped...

Nestled in the middle

is what looks like a town
typical of this region,

yet the cobblestone streets
are eerily quiet,

and it creates
this very unsettling feeling.

These buildings look as if

they've been caught
in a moment of time.

People left this place in a hurry.

Why?

The only reason you would do that

is because
you're running for your life.

The warning signs were all around,

yet the authorities
chose to ignore them.

They told the locals to stay inside.

That turned out to be
a terrible and tragic mistake.

This disaster
devastated the entire region

and claimed hundreds of lives.

But the question
that haunts everyone is,

could this tragedy
have been avoided?

Giovanna Colagrande grew up
in this sleepy rural town.

It was a tight-knit community

forged through family
and friendship.

The earliest history of this town

dates back to about
the 12th century,

so it really has stood here
for hundreds of years.

There were generations
that had grown up here,

living side by side with each other.

This is the town of Fossa.

High on the hill is
the most important building

for those that lived here.

It's called the Chiesa
di Santa Maria Assunta,

and it was built in
the 18th century.

Every Sunday, it would be
packed to the rafters.

A storm was coming

that would test the faith
of the town's residents.

On December 14th, 2008,

this region was struck
by a series of tremors

called a seismic swarm.

Just over a month later
in January 2009,

the tremors began to intensify
in both severity and frequency.

It was good reason to be concerned.

After all, Italy is the most
geologically active area

in all of Europe.

If the big one came,

the town's residents
wanted to be ready.

But predicting earthquakes is not
considered scientifically possible,

yet Giampaolo Giuliani,
a local amateur seismologist,

claimed he knew how to do it.

He installed radon detectors
in the basements of buildings

in the nearby city of L'Aquila
and elsewhere in the region.

Giuliani believed that
the release of this gas

signalled a looming tremor.

When the seismic swarm occurred,

he noticed increased radon levels
in his detectors

and predicted that
a major quake would strike

in a town 30 miles from here.

On the 30th of March 2009,
the earthquake did happen,

but it was much smaller
than Giuliani anticipated.

As a result, the authorities
put an injunction on Giuliani

for causing unnecessary
panic and alarm.

He was even forced to take down
his warnings from the internet.

But the day after,
there was an earthquake -

4.2 on the Richter scale.

The residents in the region
were now terrified,

especially because
they had been told

that there was no basis
to Giuliani's claims.

The Italian government
convened a special committee

of six scientists
and a government official,

Bernardo De Bernardinis,
to assess the risks.

So, after the meeting,

the government official
relayed the scientists' discussions

to the public.

About a week later,
in the middle of the night,

a 6.3-magnitude tremor
struck the Abruzzo region,

and this was the deadliest
the country had seen in 30 years.

Fossa was directly
in the firing line.

People were sleeping
when the quake hit,

and the ground began
to shake violently.

Cracks opened up in buildings.

Huge boulders sheared off
the sides of mountains

and came crashing down on the town.

In one building,
a boulder has struck a house,

and bunk beds that children
once slept in are left exposed.

In the nearby city of L'Aquila,
the situation was even worse.

Entire buildings
were reduced to rubble,

and 70,000 people
were forced to flee.

309 people were killed
and more than 1,600 were injured.

The damage totalled somewhere
in the range of $10 billion.

The dust didn't even have time
to settle before the backlash began.

Mounting anger led to
the region's capital of L'Aquila

bringing a prosecution case
against the scientists

who said there was
no reason for alarm.

The prosecution didn't blame them
for not predicting the earthquake,

but rather for the failure
of accurate communication.

The fact that they told people
to stay in their homes

was a key part of the trial.

A year later,
the seven defendants were convicted

and sentenced
to six years imprisonment.

The result triggered
an international outcry,

as researchers around the world

felt science itself
was being put on trial.

Many in the scientific community

warned it would
discourage scientists

from sharing their expertise

for fear that they might
face lawsuits in the aftermath.

5,000 scientists
signed an open letter,

calling, demanding that
these defendants be released,

and in 2014, the court of appeal
overturned these convictions,

but the families of those
that lost their lives

were outraged at this.

One conviction was upheld -
that of Bernardo De Bernardinis.

He was convicted of manslaughter,

but with a reduced sentence
of two years.

Now, well over a decade later,

a reconstruction
is happening in Fossa,

but it's a slow process.

In Camden, New Jersey,

lie the remains of
an American juggernaut

that symbolises an era
plagued by global conflict.

We are on the Delaware River,

and on it you can see
this huge mass of metal

just glinting in the sunlight.

You don't have to be a naval expert

to realise that you are looking at
a battleship -

and a big one at that.

So, the ship had served
in World War II and Korea

and earned 13 battle stars

and the affectionate nickname
The Big J.

It was an avenging angel
to American servicemen in conflict

time and time again.

In Vietnam, this vessel
achieved something extraordinary.

We fired all nine 16-inch guns,

and then we had the plane come back
and tell us, "Congratulations.

"You're the first battleship
to sink an island."

But any ship
with a service record that long

is bound to eventually
run aground of controversy,

and that's what happened
with this one's last deployment

to the Middle East.

In 1968, Steve Sheehan
began serving aboard this vessel.

At the time,
he was an electrician's mate.

Taking the first steps onboard
since I've been discharged

made me feel like
I was finally home.

It's the only ship
I ever sailed on in the Navy,

and I'm very proud of it.

This now-peaceful ship
was built at a time

when the United States was
on the brink of war.

The American government
sees the writing on the wall,

and in July 1939,

two months before
the German invasion of Poland,

they commission an entirely
new class of battleships.

When this vessel was launched,

it was the biggest
and most powerful battleship

in the entire US Navy.

This is the USS New Jersey,

one of four Iowa-class battleships
built to strike fear

into the hearts of America's rivals
during World War II.

Able to hold a crew up to 2,700,

the New Jersey was
a floating fortress.

It had nine 16-inch guns

and a secondary armament
of 20-millimetre

and 40-millimetre
anti-aircraft batteries

to protect the battleship
from aerial attack.

In 1944, the vessel arrived
in the Pacific, ready for war.

It served with distinction,

playing a key role
in the battle for Leyte,

the largest sea campaign
of all time.

But despite its critical role
in the American victory,

its days were numbered.

By 1957, the USS New Jersey

had reached the end
of its useful life.

The era of big battleships
was really coming to a close.

Naval technology is changing,

and the battleship is being
supplanted by the aircraft carrier

because the aircraft carrier can
engage targets at much longer range.

When the Vietnam War begins,

the Americans
begin this air campaign

called Rolling Thunder,

where they send planes
over North Vietnam

to take out critical infrastructure.

But these repeated sorties
are ending up

putting American pilots
in immense jeopardy.

Around 1,000 US aircraft
were shot out of the skies,

with the same number
of pilots being wounded,

killed, or captured.

As increasing numbers
of downed US airmen

were paraded on TV screens
around the world,

pressure mounted to find
a new way to attack the enemy.

The US Navy had a secret weapon,

and it was one
that would save American lives.

On August 1st, 1967,
the USS New Jersey gets the call.

I thought, "This is my opportunity
to go onboard a ship,"

and when I came up here
to look at the battleship,

I went, "My God, that thing is big."

I went to the Panama Canal,
and then we were off to Vietnam.

On September 29, 1968,

the USS New Jersey arrives
off the Vietnamese coast,

and the next day, it opens fire.

The New Jersey would maraud
up and down the coast,

demolishing bunker complexes,

fortified positions,
troop concentrations,

and sinking enemy ships
in the process.

The ship would also provide
ad hoc artillery support

to US troops on the ground
near the coast.

In one three-day battle,

it's estimated that
the USS New Jersey

saved 100 American lives
for each day it was deployed there.

They knew when the battleship
was firing,

because it sounded
like a railroad train

as the projectile
went through the air.

Just, "Phump, phump, phump, phump,
phump," before it hit.

So, they knew the battleship
was coming to their aid.

With this unrivalled firepower,
the USS New Jersey

is able to pull off the unthinkable
in the South China Sea.

The ship was called on to bombard
some coastal artillery on an island.

The captain said, "All hands,
get to your battle stations.

"Turret one, two, and three
is going to go in line.

"It's going to be a nine-gun salvo."

And when the USS New Jersey fired,

it ended up sinking
part of this island.

This is reported
with great enthusiasm

back in the States,
with newspaper headlines saying that

the New Jersey has sunk an island.

But to the troops
fighting on the ground,

Big J, as it became known,
was much more than a battleship -

it was a sanctuary.

The grunts -
the ground troops in Vietnam -

found it, you know, just filthy,
dirty work in the field,

and some of them
were fortunate enough

that they got a period
of rest and relaxation

onboard the USS New Jersey.

The poor guys
hadn't had showers in weeks.

They got a good night's sleep,
a warm bed,

hot dinner, good breakfast.

When going by
where they were bunked,

we had to walk softly because
we knew they were still asleep

and we wanted them to be asleep.

For the beleaguered troops,

an even bigger surprise
lay in store.

At 10am on Christmas morning 1968,

a helicopter touched down
on the deck of the USS New Jersey.

So, this was approximately
where I stood

when Bob Hope was
on the top of the turret

with all of his gorgeous women.

And the deck was filled
with Marines, Army, and Navy.

When those girls came out,
the place went wild.

Bob Hope was a lifelong
performer and comedian.

He first began entertaining troops
in 1943 during World War II.

It was always something that
the troops yearned for.

It was a break from the monotony.

He stayed around afterwards

and thanked everybody
for their service.

He was very generous.
He was a wonderful guy.

Christmas can be such a lonely
and difficult time of year,

so what Bob Hope did
for soldiers' morale

is really incalculable.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

But less than four months later,

Big J was called back
to the United States.

Among the ship's crew,

it was rumoured that
the North Vietnamese

had refused to engage in peace talks

while the battleship
patrolled their coast.

Four years after
the New Jersey returned home,

America's involvement
in the Vietnam War finally ended

when they withdrew from Saigon.

But its service was not over yet.

And incredible as it sounds,

the USS New Jersey,
laid down in 1943,

is called back to action in 1983.

Lebanon was in the midst of
a messy and brutal civil war.

And the New Jersey became

part of Reagan's decision
to send US Marines

and other personnel to Lebanon

to try to calm down the civil war
and bring peace to the region.

Sadly, it ended with tragedy.

After the New Jersey arrived
in Lebanese waters,

its fearsome weaponry
was soon called on to retaliate

when US naval reconnaissance planes
were fired on by enemy combatants.

But there was a problem.

The ship's powder
had been mixed incorrectly,

so these huge guns
were wildly inaccurate

and they were missing
their targets by big margins.

Civilians were likely killed
as a result of that,

and so America's reputation
in the region took a hit.

These were the last shells
ever fired

aboard the USS New Jersey.

After leaving Lebanon in 1984,

Big J continued
to serve in the Pacific

and the Persian Gulf until 1991
when it was officially retired.

It was a ship of such significance,

it was even featured in Tom Clancy's
classic Cold War thriller,

The Hunt For Red October.

In 2001, the USS New Jersey
was turned into a museum.

Steve Sheehan
now shares with the public

the story of America's
most decorated battleship.

They should know about the people
that have fought for their freedom

and the ships they were aboard.

On England's south coast
is an ageing complex

designed to defend
the nation's borders.

Overlooking the port,

a vast structure is etched
into the hillside.

It seems to dominate
the town and the coastline.

It's a real jumble of architecture
from different eras.

There are cannonades,
defensive ditches...

This is clearly some sort
of military stronghold.

Once intended to keep
Britain's enemies out,

it turned into a site
that trapped people within.

There's barbed wire
and shiny metal fences,

a sports pitch, 1960s blocks,

and a foreboding
castle-like structure.

There's no mistaking
this place is a prison.

So, what kind of criminals
were kept here?

Yet looks can be deceiving,
and not all is as it seems.

Despite its appearance,

this building was not planned
to be a prison.

But the people
who passed through here

tell a very different story.

There was no charge, no trial,

but the doors were locked
and they were trapped here.

Weekly, you were hearing
someone trying to commit suicide

cos they've lost all the hope.

For centuries,
the coastal town of Dover

has been the gateway to Britain.

Its proximity to mainland Europe -
only 21 miles from France

across the narrowest part
of the English Channel -

meant that it often needed
to be defended.

Let's just say
the British and French

have had their disagreements
over the years.

In 1803, the rise of a new dictator
named Napoleon Bonaparte

spurred a frenzy of construction.

He posed the biggest threat
to the nation in over a century.

During the Napoleonic Wars,
the fort held barracks for 200 men

and was intended to house 12
24-pounder guns

in large casemates.

It was called the Dover Citadel,

and it formed part of
the biggest defence network

ever built on England's south coast.

If Napoleon dared
to cross the Channel,

Britain was going to be ready.

Defensive ditches,
ramparts, and barracks

were built in anticipation.

But the feared invasion never came,

and when the war ended,
it was put on hold.

Yet the Dover Citadel
continued to be upgraded

for the following 150 years

to combat Britain's
foreign adversaries.

The fort would remain garrisoned
through both World Wars until 1944,

when the threat of Nazi invasion
had passed.

Over the next half-century,
parts of this site were converted

for use as a prison
for young offenders,

but it was transformed

after a wave of instability
swept across the world in the 1990s.

Global conflicts in places
like the Balkans, Somalia,

Sri Lanka, and the Middle East

triggered large-scale
population movements.

The UK government was struggling

to deal with the growing numbers
of refugees.

In the late 1970s,

individual asylum applications
to the UK were around 300 a year.

In 1999,
there were more than 70,000.

They resorted to housing some
asylum seekers in criminal prisons.

But that was only
a short-term solution.

This is the Dover Immigration
Removal Centre.

Opened in 2002,

it was part of
the British government's answer

to the growing refugee crisis.

The nationalities of those detained

tallies closely with countries
that have been torn apart

by war in recent years.

Iraq, Syria, for example.

The facility housed more than
300 asylum seekers.

Your freedoms are very restricted.

At night,
the doors to your cell are locked

and you're held there
until the following morning.

Jack Taylor is visiting
for the first time

since he was detained here in 2015.

I'm from Afghanistan.

When I've first been brought here
and been put in this building,

I was very, very afraid
and suffered a lot,

going through depression, anxiety.

Jack's path to this place
began in the aftermath

of the September 11th attack
on the World Trade Centre.

Following the US-led invasion
of Afghanistan,

Jack's father served
in the newly formed Afghan Army,

fighting the Taliban
alongside American troops.

But in 2006, the Taliban
launched a major offensive,

marking the most significant
escalation of the war

since the regime was overthrown.

Jack's father was killed
during this violent period.

As the Taliban regained territory,
the country became more dangerous

for those opposed
to their radical beliefs.

Imagine what it must have been like.

It must have been
absolute hell for them.

Tens of thousands
were forced to flee.

Jack was one of them.

In 2007,
he arrived in the UK illegally

and applied for asylum.

First day when...
when I came into this country,

I'm being taken to
the police station,

and then they have asked me
what was the reason

that I've come to this country,
which I've told them,

and then transferred me
to foster care.

I was 14 years old.

He spent the next eight years
in a legal limbo,

waiting for his asylum application
to be processed.

But in 2015,
when Jack was 22 years old,

he was detained in this building

after failing to report
regularly enough to the authorities.

There was a bunk bed here
and my cellmate was on the top.

It was a very, very noisy place,
cos imagine how many rooms,

and every single room,
they were putting two, three people.

Detainees were usually restricted
to the wing they were held in,

other than at mealtimes

or if you were taken
to the medical building.

Making friendships is very difficult

as people are regularly moved
without warning.

At any time,
you could be presented with the news

that you were going to be deported
within the next two weeks

back to the country
you'd suffered so much to escape.

Jack discovered
he faced the same fate

after being held here
for around two months.

The country he fled in 2007

had become even more dangerous
following the emergence

of the Islamic State
terrorist organisation.

My head went spinning.

I was like, "Gosh," you know,
"This is a very short time."

But then I was trying
to find a lawyer to do something

and to cancel the removal decision.

For some, the fear of being

sent back to the country that
they'd escaped from was so bad,

they decided
to take their own lives.

So, a lot of people were
going through very hard time.

They were thinking
it's better to die here,

so they were just
hurting themselves.

But Jack didn't lose hope,

and fought the decision
to return him to Afghanistan.

He managed to find a lawyer
who helped secure his release

and get him permission
to stay in the UK.

It was the very happiest moment,

the day when I've been released,
you know,

cos I wasn't expecting
that would ever happen to me.

Now I have the ability
to make my life better day by day,

and make new friends.

I feel very, very lucky.

Around six months
after Jack was freed,

the Dover Immigration Removal Centre
was decommissioned.

In 2015, it was announced
the detention centre

would be shut down,

with the government citing
its lack of modernity,

security, and proximity to airports.

Within two weeks
of the announcement,

the site was closed

and detainees moved
to other centres.

In 2022,
Jack was granted refugee status

and could now begin his new life
in the United Kingdom.

He has high hopes
for what the future holds.

This country has saved my life
and has given me dignity.

Now it's time for me
to do something and pay back,

and be able
to help those people like me

who have a very difficult past.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media