Original subtitles

As Nazi Germany marches ever closer to total war, the pressure is on for the

leaders of the Third Reich.

All the key members of Hitler's inner circle are all jostling their way,

to get as near to the centre of power as possible. They're all stabbing each

other in the back.

Goering, Goebbels and Himmler are holding their positions just about.

But it's Martin Bormann, Hitler's enforcer, who's coming out on top.

You can imagine him thinking, now I've made it. Hitler!

Hitler! The biggest loser is Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess.

He's losing his marbles by this point. You know, he's starting to believe in

sort of ever more wacky stuff.

And he dreams up a secret plan. It's a crazy idea.

Reckless and dangerous.

This has got to be the most loony plot that's ever happened.

This is the inside story of Hitler's henchmen.

The power struggles, blind ambition, and fawning sycophants that would create a

monster and fuel the most brutal horrors of the Third Reich.

The top brass of the Nazi Party take their places on the podium of the

Reichstag.

Among them, Air Chief Hermann Göring and Party stalwart Rudolf Hess.

Göring is riding high in Hitler's favor, following the military takeover of

Austria and Czechoslovakia without a shot being fired.

But Hess...

despite having the grand title of Deputy Fuhrer, is not a happy man.

They've come to hear their leader address the German people, and they know

fortunes hang on his plans.

Hitler is almost at the apogee of his power.

He is so in control. The atmosphere must have been electric. You see these

big... Key figures in Hitler's inner circle, sitting in the Reichstag,

for him to make this absolute most key of keynote speeches.

Hitler says he desires nothing but peace, mocking Britain and America for

demanding assurances that Germany will not invade its neighbours.

He reads out a long list of countries which the Reich had no hostile intention

to war with.

Russia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iraq, Arabia, Syria, Palestine.

But the Reich, he says, has legitimate interests and demands, including

the return of German territory in Poland to the fatherland.

We will make our own decisions.

We will decide our own destiny, and that is the kind of speech that will go down

really well in front of Nazi deputies, who, after all, were all the most

and passionate Nazis you could find.

Hitler claims Germany is the innocent victim of foreign aggression, especially

from Poland.

is essentially a rousing appeal to the German people.

We stand at this point.

If it involves war subsequently, so be it. But we are in the right.

Powerful stuff.

Nonsense, but powerful.

Not everyone is sold on Hitler's vision.

The old war hero, Goering, fears his Führer is biting off more than he can

But it's Rudolf Hess who has the greatest sense of foreboding.

Hess? He's an Anglophile.

He understands the strength of Britain particularly, but also of France and the

United States. And he has severe reservations about how far Germany

things with Poland at this particular time.

Hess knows Hitler well enough to understand that although the Führer

peace, he's preparing for war.

He was thinking, look, it's all going to go the wrong way. We're going to end up

fighting the wrong war.

Instead of actually confronting Poland and the Soviet Union, we're going to end

up fighting against France and Britain. And that's the wrong war.

Back in the old days, Hess was Hitler's closest confidant.

His commitment to Hitler is fanatical.

But after years of unwavering devotion of all Hitler's courtiers, he feels the

least able to influence unfolding events.

He no longer has Hitler's ear, which in the early days he certainly did have.

And it's a slight, it's a fall in prestige that he feels.

very personally.

And although the two men share much in common, Hesse's obsessions are starting

to grate on Hitler.

He's a very odd man, Hesse.

When he goes and visits Hitler in the Burghof, for example, he used to bring

own food. Well, Hitler really took against that. I mean, it is quite rude

number of levels.

If Hesse is starting to feel paranoid, it's with good reason.

Even his own staff are plotting against him.

Six years before, Martin Bormann, a backroom administrator in the Nazi

had impressed Hess with his quiet efficiency and had been appointed to his

personal office.

But since then, the ruthlessly ambitious Bormann has wheedled himself ever

closer to Hitler and never misses an opportunity.

to undermine Heth.

For a schemer like Borman, his boss is an easy target, because he's becoming

obsessed with pseudo -sciences, like astrology and horoscopes.

He's a bit like, you know, one of those people who he's got a lot of money, a

lot of time on his hands, and he doesn't know what to do.

Hess was always a man interested in occultism, what we today call esoterica.

He was interested in magic, with a K on the end. He was interested in astrology,

soothsaying, pendulums, telekinesis.

No wonder his own staff are ridiculing the deputy Fuhrer behind his back.

On one occasion, an aide comes into his office to see the second most senior man

in the Nazi party trying to exert the power of mind control over a chair.

Frankly, anybody who thinks they can keep a chair from falling over just by

using thought control is clearly not the most stable personality.

Hesse's insecurity increases when he discovers Nazi leaders have been

to a crucial meeting in the Reich Chancellery to plan the invasion of

And he's not been invited.

There's no doubt, I think, in Hesse's mind, that this is a disappointment.

Where have I gone wrong? What do I need to do to get back into favour?

Why am I outside the loop?

He's not a very astute politician, and he's surrounded by people, the Goerings,

the Himmlers and so on, who are very astute politicians.

But despite his fleekiness, Hesse is right to worry about all -out war in

Europe. And he's not alone.

As preparations for the invasion of Poland continue, Hermann Goering is also

anxious.

He knows that Hitler is eyeing up communist Russia, and Poland is just the

stepping stone to the main prize.

Goering has close contact to Britain, and therefore believes far more than

Hitler does.

that an invasion in the East will lead to an entry of the United Kingdom into

the war, as a result of which Germany will ultimately be in a two -front war

the East and in the West, and that Germany is unlikely to win that kind of

And that is, again, why he is so hesitant in 1939.

Hitler's gambling that Britain is bluffing, that it won't come to Poland's

Goering fears the Fuhrer is misjudging London, but realises there's no changing

his leader's mind, so he makes a tactical retreat.

Herman retires to his estate, which distances himself from the decision if

goes badly, but also, I think, to safeguard his relationship with Hitler

extent that he didn't want to become a pain, as it were.

to Hitler.

Anxious to prove his worth, Hess tries to persuade Britain to stop supporting

Poland.

He invites a senior British politician, Lord Buxton, to Germany for talks.

But even he can see that Hess no longer has the power to rein in the Fuhrer.

Lord Buxton came back and said, look, Hess is a busker flush.

He's got no influence over Hitler. Yes, he's against the whole idea of invading

Poland and provoking a war with Britain, but I don't think he's going to have

that big influence.

Jürgen Goebb, Hitler's trusted minister of propaganda.

has no reservations about going to war and offers a pretext to invade Poland.

His propaganda machine pumps out stories, some narrated in English for an

international audience, that ethnic Germans living in Poland are being

Thousands of them bleed for the persecutions of Polish gangs.

Their homes are systematically burned down and devastated by the Poles.

But these stories are all fake news.

They based their propaganda onto these massive anti -Polish feelings

within the German public.

And Goebbels was building upon that. So it was easy for Goebbels to raise

this anti -Polish feeling and that there had to be a war against Poland.

Then the propaganda is ramped up to blame the Polish government for actually

organising the attacks on Germans within its territory.

Hundreds of thousands of worn -out, distressed and panic -stricken people

daily into the German refugee camp.

There were tales of brutality, of killings, of confiscations of property,

German families driven from their homes, abused.

denied their right, discriminated against and persecuted.

It's all rubbish, but of course it is believed this is the problem. The German

public starts to believe this propaganda because it has no access to any other

point of view, because Goebbels has a monopoly over all the opinions.

The fake stories do the trick.

German military hardware.

It moved close to the Polish border and primed for action.

Goebbels has prepared the fire. All it needs now is the spark to ignite the

flames of war.

And it's not long before they get it.

The German radio station near the border with Poland comes under attack.

Some of the raiders are killed.

They're found to be Polish soldiers.

Later that night, Berlin Radio broadcasts the news of this outrageous

provocation. But all is not as it seems.

The whole thing has been staged.

The brainchild of SS boss Heinrich Himmler.

The raiders were in fact SS troops in Polish uniforms and carrying Polish

And the bodies left at the scene, they weren't Poles either.

A group of concentration camp prisoners were taken from their normal confines.

They were shot.

put in Polish army uniforms and dispersed about this German radio

make it look as if there had been a Polish army attack.

Hitler now has his excuse to retaliate.

War is just hours away, and Goering knows it.

He is absolutely cursing. He just goes, oh my God, this is going to be it. You

know, that is the end of Germany.

But to survive in the inner circle, you have to think fast.

And the head of the Luftwaffe pulls himself together.

Once he gets over that shock and that despair, he then says, but the fury is

magnificent.

You know, we are but pawns.

You know, we are but little people compared to his greatness, and we must

bidding.

Dawn on the 1st of September 1939.

The point of no return to the deadliest conflict in human history.

Göring's Luftwaffe launches the Second World War by bombing civilian targets in

Poland.

Then the warships of the Kriegsmarine join the attack.

and the Wehrmacht storm across the border.

Now the conflict has begun. With new enthusiasm, Hess signs the documents

incorporate Polish territory into the Third Reich.

His fanatical devotion to Hitler trumps any personal doubts he may have had

about going to war.

Hess realises he has to do what Hitler wants.

And if Hitler wants to invade Poland, you either go along with it or you

Two days after the invasion, The whole game plan changes when Britain declares

war.

Goering's prediction, which had been brushed aside by Hitler, has come true.

Goering is hurt to have muttered, if we lose this war, then God may have mercy

upon us.

At the same time, he knows that this is not the time to challenge Hitler and

that Hitler would certainly not like to hear him say, I told you so.

So despite his reservations, he decides that he has to go with it, that he has

to stick with Hitler.

Britain may now be in the war, but it can't stop Germany overrunning Poland

within five weeks.

Goering is the hero of the hour, another feather in his cap after the annexation

of Austria and Czechoslovakia.

Now Heinrich Himmler moves center stage.

He unleashes the SS to crush any resistance.

But they go further, seeking out.

and targeting Jews and other undesirables.

It's another ominous step towards what will become known as the Holocaust.

So far, Hitler's grand campaign for new lands in the East has gone perfectly to

plan.

But now the inner circle is about to face an existential threat, and it comes

the very heartland of the Third Reich.

In the autumn of 1939, the Inner Circle gathers in Munich to commemorate the

failed putsch of 1923.

As usual, Hitler will make a speech at the Berger Brau Beer Hall, where it all

began.

He intends to fly to Berlin later that evening.

But as fog descends over the Bavarian capital, his plans have to change.

On the advice of his pilot, Hans Bauer, he's told that he can't fly.

So the decision is made that he has to go by train, which means that his

his set -piece speech in the Beer Hall has to be cut short.

So Hitler will be leaving the Beer Hall early.

A photographer is there as Hitler starts his speech ahead of schedule.

The Führer leaves the hall as soon as he's finished.

Precisely 13 minutes later...

The bomb had been planted right behind where Hitler would have been.

Eight people are killed and many more injured.

It knocks out the main pillar in which it's located, it brings down the roof,

devastates the room.

And there's chaos.

Had he not got away 13 minutes earlier than planned, it's inconceivable to

that he wouldn't have been killed.

Hitler's life is effectively saved in 1939 because of bad weather.

It's one of those amazing what -ifs, and it's amazing how little is known today.

Each henchman, in his own way, tries to make capital out of the failed

assassination and use it to curry favour with the Fuhrer.

Hess stages an elaborate ceremony to honour the blood martyrs.

And, of course, the Lord prays and the Führer's miraculous escape.

I think this is another sign of him saying, look, I'm still here, I still

the Führer, I'd like to be back in your inner circle. It's a real kind of...

It's a kind of real sort of desperate, creepy moment, really.

Gerborn is also quick to turn the attack to his advantage.

He gives the propaganda line to his newspapers, almost verbatim, as to what

they should take, which is basically that this has to be the work of the

British, it's the nefarious British Secret Service that is to blame, and

justifying the war against the British and the French.

But as always with Goebbels, it's a lie.

The bomb wasn't the work of enemy agents.

It had been planted by a German, acting alone.

Georg Elser had wanted to stop the war, fearing it would lead to untold human

suffering.

He is caught trying to flee across the Swiss border and confesses.

He believed, and in retrospect absolutely rightly, that Hitler was

country back to war.

And he decided... Unlike many of his fellows who would have been also dubious

about Hitler, he decided to actually do something about it, which is the mark of

Elther's bravery.

Behind Rick Himmler, the man in charge of Hitler's personal security, the

assassination attempt is very bad news.

Himmler is absolutely furious about this. So it sort of happened on his

really.

And according to the local Gestapo chief, Himmler doesn't hesitate to take

his frustration on the prisoner.

Himmler personally intervenes for the part of the interrogation and actually

beats the hell out of this guy.

He felt humiliated, and perhaps he was trying to show his own mettle and show

that he was as big and as tough as many of his rivals.

I'm going to really make sure that this guy is going to suffer.

Anyone who messes with the Führer messes with me.

Spring 1940.

Goering's Luftwaffe leads the way. Hitler unleashes the next phase of his

plan to conquer Europe.

First, German troops occupy Denmark and Norway.

Then a huge invasion force pushes its way through Luxembourg, the Netherlands,

Belgium, and then defeats France within six weeks.

British forces in northern France are overwhelmed by the speed of the German

blitzkrieg.

They're pushed back to the coast and evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk.

Goering is confident he can finish Britain off when the time comes.

Within a matter of two months, the situation of Germany and Europe has been

transformed, and the situation for Hitler and his entourage will be

as well.

The conquest of France is the high -water mark for the military success of

Third Reich.

Hitler is triumphant.

This victory has been his life's ambition and sweet revenge for

defeat in the First World War.

Goering barks in his fear of success.

The fall of France meant also for Goering that he reached the peak of his

career. But he was still keeping his position at the top of the

pyramid.

Newly promoted to Reichsmarschall, the most senior rank in the military,

heads to Paris, to the Louvre, and rewards himself with the spoils of war.

So either Herman or one of his buyers would then go through all this stuff and

just say, OK, put it on a train back to Germany.

It was wholesale theft, essentially.

The full scale of Goering's plundering will only be revealed at the end of the

war when his treasures are discovered by the Allies, hidden in Germany.

Inner Circle favorites Borman and Goebbels are also in Paris, riding high

Führer's coattails.

Goebbels arranges the ultimate propaganda photo opportunity of the

hero.

But there's one leader left out of the party in Paris.

The Deputy Führer.

What that tells you is that Hesse's influence is on the slippery slope

downwards. You know, he doesn't have that access to Hitler that he once had.

Other people who are cleverer, more Machiavellian, who Hitler likes

more, are getting closer to him.

One of those now constantly at Hitler's side is Albert Speer, formerly a junior

on Hesse's staff.

but now chief architect of the Reich.

He is steadily assuming the role of Hitler's confidant, and his writings

Hess's fall from grace.

Hitler said to me after a conversation with Hess lasting many hours, With Hess,

every conversation becomes an unbearably tormenting strain.

He always comes to me with unpleasant matters and won't leave off.

So we have some evidence there from a close acolyte of Hitler that Hess is

really, how can I put it? I'll use the Liverpool vernacular. He's doing me head

in.

So I think that is true in the case of Hess. And it does reveal that

Hess was getting to be hard work.

Shut out of the inner circle. The pressure is getting to Hess, and the

can see it.

Goering gossips about how the deputy Fuhrer uses psychic powers to divine if

letters bring good or bad news.

While Hitler no longer takes him seriously, saying, I only hope he never

take over from me. I wouldn't know who to be more sorry for, Hess or the party.

Hitler's waging world war, that's what really interests him at the moment. He's

not interested in Hesse's anxieties about, you know, party rivalries.

Barely three weeks after the surrender of France, Goering's Luftwaffe launches

an onslaught on Britain, the prelude to invasion.

The Battle of Britain is underway.

But it will see a turn in the fortunes of war.

The battle is fought above the clouds, but this is how it ends.

Another.

And another.

169 in one day.

Against the odds, the Royal Air Force holds out.

And the blitz.

The intensive bombing of cities and industry across the country fails to

British resolve.

For the first time, the Nazi war machine doesn't look quite so invincible.

And this reveals one of...

Goering's great shortcomings, because although he is a great war hero, he's

never been to staff college, and actually he just doesn't know what he's

militarily as commander -in -chief of the Luftwaffe.

Goering's failure to crush Britain from the air forces the planned invasion to

be put on hold.

The reputation of the Luftwaffe commander is now looking rather

His star.

may be waning.

But Heth, meanwhile, finds new resolve.

He begins to formulate a secret plan, an opportunity to redeem himself, with the

help of a skill he learnt many years before.

Heth is an experienced pilot.

He flew biplanes in the First World War.

Now, he familiarizes himself with the prototype of the latest Messerschmitt,

taking it on flights under the guise of testing its capability.

The 110 is usually crewed by two pilots, but Hess has it modified so he can fly

solo.

And he has extra fuel tanks fitted to increase its range.

Hess knows that Hitler is preparing to invade Russia, and he recognises that

Germany cannot fight a long war on two fronts.

His outlandish plan is to go behind the Fuhrer's back, fly to Britain, and try

to meet an influential contact who, he hopes, will introduce him to Winston

Churchill.

The aim?

To persuade the British to sue for peace.

He knew if he would be able to make peace with Britain, that would

please Hitler.

Here, the Fuhrer, I bring you the peace with Britain.

This would also, of course, immediately overnight, meant that he would make it

back in the inner circle again.

The person had hoped for act of a go -between.

is someone he met five years earlier when the Olympic Games were held in

Germany.

Behind the scenes, the Nazi leaders laid on lavish parties for foreign

dignitaries. And it's then that Hess is thought to have been introduced to a

well -known Scottish aristocrat.

It's at one of these banquets where it is said that he met... The Duke of

Hamilton. And there they forged some sort of connection that Heth would use

the future.

Like Heth, the Duke of Hamilton was a keen pilot.

In fact, he was something of a hero in the aviation world, after being the

person to fly a biplane over Mount Everest.

To Heth, this dashing adventurer with a fancy title must have come across as

being at the heart of the British establishment.

Someone very well connected.

who probably mixed with royalty, and perhaps even had a direct line to the

British leadership.

Now, five years on, Hess plans to renew that acquaintance.

He'll fly to the Duke of Hamilton's estate in Scotland and ask him for an

introduction to Churchill.

So, emboldened by all these sort of ideas of, you know, faith and

and astrology, Hess decides that he's got one last card he can play.

And if he plays it well, he will have the eternal gratitude of not only his

beloved Führer, but also of the German people.

At the beginning of May, Hess visits the Führer.

In the Reich Chancellery.

It is to be their last meeting.

Hess never said what they talked about that day.

A fact that would give rise to a conspiracy theory that maybe Hitler was

the plan.

But does it stand up to scrutiny?

There's no evidence whatsoever that Hitler knew about Hess' plans. And all

evidence we have is very clear that Hitler was totally surprised by that

So to me it's absolutely clear Hitler did not know that Hess was planning to

to Scotland and try to negotiate a peace with Britain.

Six days after that meeting, the most bizarre episode of the Second World War

starts to unfold.

Rudolf Hess explains his intentions in a letter to Hitler.

He then leaves home, telling his wife Ilse he will return in a couple of days.

On the 10th of May, Hess...

Played his last card. The card played by a desperate man.

Heads drive to the aerodrome.

He tells his adjutant to deliver his letter to Hitler by hand the following

There's no turning back now.

Hess's route takes him across Germany and over the North Sea towards Scotland.

He navigates right into enemy airspace and reaches his planned destination

of Glasgow.

But in the fading light, He cannot see anywhere to land.

He decides he has no alternative.

He'll bail out.

I mean, it really is absolutely extraordinary.

Think about this. He's never even done a parachute jump before.

This is the deputy leader of the Nazi party on a lone mission in a

110 flying over Scotland to a place that he doesn't know at all and then

parachuting out for the very, very first time.

The whole thing is... Frankly, you couldn't make it up.

But despite all the dangers, Hess lands safely.

This is a near miracle that he's managed to do this. And maybe when he lands, he

feels he's survived this epic flight and this epic parachute drop.

And yet he's still alive. He must feel that, well, maybe providence is making

this go well.

On hearing the plane crash, a farm worker goes out to investigate and comes

face to face with the deputy Fuhrer.

I am a German, the well -spoken intruder announces, and I have an important

message for the Duke of Hamilton.

Then the local Home Guard arrives on the scene.

And at this point, it all gets rather farcical.

What happens next is like something out of one of those old -fashioned British

comedies.

The farmer then takes him off to his house, gives him a cup of tea in time

-honoured British fashion.

That's how we do things in Britain. We always give people a cup of tea, even if

they are the second -most senior Nazi.

But the warm welcome will be short -lived.

Eventually, he's taken off to a barracks where he's held and... then the real

trouble starts for him.

The prisoner is positively identified as the enemy's deputy leader.

This is not the reception he had in mind.

Hess is suffering from a delusion of viewing the British political system

almost in a feudal mindset, as a system in which dukes and barons and so on

still have tremendous political influence.

In truth, they don't.

He believes he'll be sent straight down by special car to go and dine with

Winston Churchill where they'll have top -level discussions.

No far from a practical idea.

And it's a measure of how detached Heth has come from reality.

That same weekend, Adolf Hitler is taking a relaxing break at his Bavarian

retreat, the Berkhof.

On the Sunday morning.

Around the same time as Hess is identified in Scotland, his adjutant

with a most important letter for the Fuhrer.

My Fuhrer, when you receive this letter, I shall be in England.

You can imagine that the decision to take this step was not easy for me.

Hess says, I've done this.

for the sake of your good self, mein Führer, and for the sake of Germany. War

with Britain is not serving our interests. We must make peace.

And if, mein Führer, this project, which I admit has but very little chance of

success, ends in failure and the fates decide against me, this can have no

detrimental results for you or Germany. It will always be possible for you to

deny all responsibility.

Simply say, I am crazy.

High up in the Obersalzburg, up this mountain, there was a maelstrom going

At the heart of it was Hitler, incandescent with rage, that his most

loyal comrade from all those years back had just got off in a plane in the

middle of the night and flown off without telling him.

The principles are summoned.

Bormann has no answer to Hitler's furious questions.

How could Hess have flown off?

Without anyone knowing?

Why didn't anyone stop him?

He's in a very delicate position, being still nominally Heth's deputy.

Will he be tainted by association to the traitor?

The control freak has lost control.

So what happens now?

Within the inner circle, the question arises, how are we going to present this

to the public?

So Martin Borman contacts Joseph Goebel, and he replies, there are some

situations where propaganda hasn't got the answer, and this is one of them.

Rudolf Hess has lost the plot.

In his diary, Goebel sums up the mood inside the inner circle.

The entire affair is thoroughly confused at the moment.

A hard, almost unbearable blow.

The Fuhrer is quite shattered. What a sight in the world's eyes.

The Fuhrer's deputy.

A mentally disturbed man.

Threatful and unthinkable.

Now we shall have to grit our teeth.

Goebbels does precisely as Hess suggested.

His radio stations report that Hess is mad.

The broadcast goes on to suggest that the Deputy Fuhrer has most probably

crashed or met with an accident.

And that, as far as the stunned entourage around Hitler is concerned, is

of the matter.

Heth becomes a non -person.

He is never to be mentioned in public again.

But it leaves an uncomfortable question in the mind of many Germans, but a

question which no one dares voice.

If Heth was deranged, how come he was still in place as the Fuhrer's deputy?

Precisely four hours after the German radio bulletin, the BBC broadcast this

astonishing announcement.

Here is the news from London. Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy, has flown from

Germany and landed in Scotland by parachute.

The newsreels float over this bizarre turn of events.

Hess's unexpected arrival in Scotland is a moment of life relief.

During the dark days of the Blitz. His name is David MacLean. He works on a

not far from Glasgow.

He saw Rudolf Hess coming down in the darkness by parachute.

Yes, I'm the man that captured Rudolf Hess.

The British treat it as one big sort of laugh.

I went over to the farm and the only weapon I could find was a pitchfork.

What is this all about?

This can't be real.

The man refused tea and we don't have a drink of water.

Churchill doesn't take any notice of it.

It's treated in the British press like one big laugh.

What is going on here?

Rudolf Hess may have thought he would be invited to have tea with Churchill, but

instead he's taken off to the Tower of London.

The wisest course of action, Hess tells his interrogators.

would be for Britain to seize this chance to make peace with Hitler and

alliance against Soviet Russia.

And if king and country would just allow Nazi Germany a free reign in

continental Europe, Britain and its empire will be left untouched.

The interrogators can't work out if Hess is deluded or plain mad.

And his arrival in Britain had coincided with one of the worst air raids of the

Blitz, in which 1 ,200 people had been killed.

Winston Churchill is in no mood to talk.

So the whole thing has been an absolute catastrophe from any which way you look

at it, whether you be Hess, whether you be Hitler, or whether you be Goebbels or

anyone in Nazi Germany, frankly.

Back at the Berghof.

Bormann's keen to fill the new vacancy, and so immediately moves to distance

himself from his former boss.

He has Hess's wife Ilse interrogated, and threatened with eviction from the

family home.

But she appeals to Eva Braun, and Hitler accepts he was not in on the plan.

In happier days, Bormann had named two of his children, Rudolf and Ilse.

After their godparents, now he promptly changes their names by court order.

Within days having ridden the storm, Bormann's loyalty is rewarded.

Hitler abolishes the post of deputy Fuhrer, and despite strong objections

both Goering and Goebbels, appoints Bormann as head of the chancellery, his

closest aide and formal gatekeeper.

With fox -like cunning, the backroom operator has finally reached the

of his power, at the heart of the injustice, violence, and terror of the

Reich.

You can imagine him thinking, Now I've made it, and Hess is yesterday's man.

I've got all this in front of me, sitting down, putting his feet up

putting an ashtray on the table so he could smoke.

You can imagine that for Borman this is a unique moment.

Back in Britain, Hess is moved to a safe house outside London.

Hess is being held captive.

And he's feeling that he must have failed. He's feeling lonely, more lonely

he did in the Third Reich.

And he must be aware of the fact that, really, his future's deeply uncertain,

and he knows he must be being vilified by not only the inner circle back home,

but also in the world at large. He's been written off.

Heth is in the depths of despair.

To him...

There's only one way out.

He reaches his lowest ebb and tries to commit suicide by throwing himself over

the banister down into the hall of the building.

But Hess fails again.

He breaks his leg on landing, is in tremendous pain.

And that must have been his lowest moment.

Not only had he failed in his mission, but he'd also failed to take his own

life.

Rudolf Hess will remain behind bars for the rest of his life.

He pours his heart out in Red Cross letters to his family and friends.

Dear all, you can imagine how I am thinking of you.

My thoughts are no less with the Führer and with the whole nation.

Some day I shall return home.

I am looking forward to it with pleasure.

True, I achieved nothing.

I was not able to stop the madness of the war and could not prevent what I saw

coming.

But it makes me happy to think that I tried.

pretty sympathetic thing to have written. It looks like a man who desired

rather than war, and it looks like that he was probably, of the inner circle,

the least martial of the lot.

And yet we mustn't be too kind to him.

He was a man who propagated and helped to bring to power one of the most evil

regimes the world has ever seen.

With one man down, Hitler's henchmen reassess their positions.

Goering is looking vulnerable, while Goebbels and Himmler are holding their

own, and Bormann is stealing a march on all his rivals.

But as the war progresses, the infighting among Hitler's inner circle

become even more intense.