All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S06E10.House.of.Horror.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org.en

[ dramatic music plays ]

narrator: A peculiar mix
of structures left derelict

in a parisian park...

Auerbach: There seems to be
no rhyme or reason to it.

It's all just smashed together
in the same spot,

and that's part of the wonder
and mystery of this place.

Narrator: ...A watery graveyard
forgotten by time,

the silent protector
of an english village...

This isn't just one old
rowing boat tossed aside.

These things dominate
the landscape.

Narrator:
A network of structures

forged through deception
on a grand scale...

Auerbach:
Audacious doesn't cover it.

You had a team of 1,000
overseers watching,

and if they were caught
breaking those rules,

it could have started
another war.

Narrator: ...And a site
on america's east coast

harboring vast secrets.

Bell: Inside, you're presented
with this large, cavernous void,

and then, as you venture deeper,
you see these rusting elements

that suggest that something
hefty was being hoisted

or lifted up and down here.

♪

narrator: Decaying relics,
ruins of lost worlds

forged through years of toil,
now haunted by the past,

their secrets waiting
to be revealed.

-- Captions by vitac --
www.Vitac.Com

captions paid for by
discovery communications

♪

♪

narrator: Paris, France --
the city of light.

Gay paris --
it's a proper metropolis,

a real melting pot
for cultures around the world.

Mitchell: Liberty, equality,
and brotherhood.

It's really a particular
vision of human democracy,

of equality, that really
resonates in France.

Narrator:
But on the outskirts of the city

are a series
of crumbling structures

that don't seem to belong
anymore.

Mitchell:
You have this park

that combines some features
of seemingly far-away cultures.

There are facets of architecture

that look like
they've been airlifted

from around the world --
vietnam, tonga, china.

There's a bridge there
that looks vaguely japanese,

appropriately surrounded
by bamboo.

Alone, each of these things
are really beautiful,

but they're smashed together
rather curiously.

Narrator: The items in this
collection are relics of a past

that parisians
would rather forget.

And among them all is a garden
which has been left to overgrow.

You wonder when they're brought
together what they mean,

what they were used for,

and why they were placed
in juxtaposition.

[ down-tempo music plays ]

narrator: The story begins
at the dawn of the 20th century

with the opening of a garden.

Catherine hodeir has studied
the garden's dark secrets.

Auerbach: But this wasn't
just an ordinary greenhouse

growing garden tomatoes.

This was an institution
of scientific study.

And where are all these plants
coming from?

The french colonies.

Narrator: In the 19th century,
France had an empire

that stretched across 8%
of the world's surface.

Mitchell:
Alongside England and germany,

France has colonies that really
are all over the globe.

You have french colonies
in the caribbean,

you have a french colony
in south america,

you have them in asia

and in africa --
north africa and west africa.

Narrator:
The 19th and 20th centuries

were a time of rapid discovery.

And the major global powers
competed

for scientific superiority.

Somara: History has
these tipping points

where a new discovery is

made that changes everything.
Things like, wheat,

potatoes, and cotton.

And so the french
were really keen

to find something that would
give them an edge.

Auerbach: So the work that these
french experts were doing here

has real potential,

and any new commodities
that they discover

can then be processed and
redistributed across the empire.

But all that doesn't explain
these buildings.

Narrator: For seven years,
french botanists studied

the samples gathered
from the colonies.

But by 1906,
the garden was broke.

This garden needed some cash.

The ordinary french population
just didn't seem that interested

in the work
that was being done here,

even though it was very,
very important work.

They needed to get
the french people excited

about the colonies
and their products again.

[ down-tempo music plays ]

[ birds chirping ]

narrator:
To raise capital for the garden,

they decided to stage
a grand exhibition,

and at its center
were new buildings

inspired by the colonies.

Auerbach: Imagine a
turn-of-the-century disneyland.

So you were going to see
"the orient"

right next to
"the african jungle,"

and it was a huge hit.

Thousands of visitors came.

And they even got the president
of the french republic

to come and check it out.

[ dramatic music plays ]

the noise would have been
incredible,

from music to squawking animals
and the hubbub of people.

And there would have been
a cocktail of rich odors,

from spices to camel excrement.

Mitchell: They brought in
ten elephants, even,

that ended up escaping
and going on a rampage.

That must have been quite
the scene.

Auerbach:
This was quite an exhibition.

The rarest treasures from
the colonies were on display.

There was nothing
you couldn't see here,

including human beings.

[ down-tempo music plays ]

mongolians, chinese, africans --
they would have been presented

in what would have been
considered

representative indigenous wear,

clothing that may or may not
have had ceremonial purposes.

But they would be presented
sort of as exotics in dress

and in speech and in behavior.

It was meant to be
a cultural exchange,

but the exchange was
in one direction,

with people who were on display
being gawked at

almost like being in the zoo.

Narrator:
The owners of the garden

hoped to make big money
from their exhibits.

History had taught them that the
human zoo could draw a crowd.

These type of colonial
exhibitions,

or human zoos, if you will,
were not limited to France.

You had similar examples
in terms of England,

in terms of the united states.

Auerbach:
London, berlin, even new york

put human beings on display.

High-minded scientists
would come and perform

a systematic "study"
of non-caucasian people

to try to classify
the differences.

But the conclusions
they came to --

today they would be considered
extremely racist.

Narrator: To raise
enough capital for the garden,

they needed
the most eye-catching displays

from France's furthest colonies.

Auerbach:
There were adventurers

who had traveled to the four
corners of the french empire,

and they would offer to pay
these people handsomely

if they would come to France

and talk to french people
about their culture.

Somara:
The recruiters offered things

like a percentage
of ticket sales,

but that often
never materialized.

Auerbach: And a vast majority
of these people

didn't speak any french,

so they were completely
at the whim

of the adventurers
that had brought them there.

Narrator:
The colonial exhibition of 1907

raised thousands of dollars
for the garden,

ensuring its future.

But a global crisis
less than 10 years later

would see the garden put
to a different purpose.

[ down-tempo music plays ]

narrator:
In paris, France,

a set of buildings where
human beings were put on display

were about to be put
to a different use

upon the outbreak of war.

Auerbach:
France's colonial subjects

were recruited
by the hundreds of thousands

to fight on the side
of their own colonizers.

Somara: Buildings that
used to be exhibition spaces

or ticket halls
were now things like surgeries

for France's foreign
and native soldiers.

They even built
paris' first mosque

for muslim colonial troops.

Auerbach: And you'd think
that this would be

some type of watershed moment --

now that these people had fought
for France,

that they'd get recognition,
if not as equals

then at least more respect
than being put on display.

But you'd be wrong.

[ dramatic music plays ]

narrator:
Over a decade after french

and colonial soldiers fought
as brothers-in-arms,

France threw their biggest
colonial exhibition ever.

For this 1931 exhibition,
there are some

32 million tickets
sold over six months.

There was even an entire
nomadic tribe of people

from senegal,

and that's really
quite remarkable

when you think about it
as being as late as 1931.

You have to wonder how
they were convinced

to participate.

Narrator:
This would be the last time

this kind of display was seen
in France.

The colonial exhibitions
soon went out of fashion.

The park was again closed
to the public

and the buildings left to rot
in this quiet corner of paris.

[ down-tempo music plays ]

today, historians like catherine
dedicate their work

to recording the history
of the colonial era.

Auerbach:
Although these exhibitions

and the legacies of colonialism
has a very, very long afterlife,

but that idea somehow,
that allure, that exoticism,

still persists.

And we should blame
at least part of that

on the history
of putting people on display.

[ dramatic music plays ]

narrator: Standing in the waters
off the new jersey coastline

is sandy hook,

a sand bar littered
with the remnants of war.

♪

wawro:
Looking around sandy hook today,

it's like a kind of a yard sale
of military technology.

Bell:
Some look like very typical

cold war-era installations.

Others look as though they date
back as far as the civil war.

The assortment of structures

and weapons on show here
makes you wonder --

is this your typical
military base

or something entirely different?

Narrator:
The site's position

seems to offer the first clue
as to its purpose.

This long, narrow peninsula
points like a dagger

right at new york harbor,

and this hints
at its strategic importance,

because any deep-draft vessel
approaching new york harbor

is gonna have to swing
right by this peninsula.

Narrator: Yet this wasn't a
place with just one role to play

or one story to tell.

Nusbacher:
I see construction from times

when america was
just another colony,

parts that show america's rise
to military superiority.

I see evidence of the moment

when the united states stopped
being just another country

and became the military colossus
it is.

Here it is, on this little
sandy bit of ground.

[ birds chirping ]

[ down-tempo music plays ]

narrator: Towards the end
of the peninsula,

an old lighthouse provides
a commanding view

across this baffling complex
and hints at its beginnings.

Wawro: The construction
of this lighthouse

points to sandy hook's
significance

in american history,

dating all the way back
to the mid-1700s.

Narrator: Its need was driven
by new york's merchant traffic.

This is a harbor that has been
strategically important

to anyone trying to hold
the north atlantic.

It was an important dutch,
english, and american harbor.

And when you look
at that lighthouse,

it shows how long people
have needed to navigate safely

in and out of new york.

Narrator:
Park ranger tom hoffman

knows the danger of these shores
better than most.

Hoffman: Even on a clear day,
sandy hook is so low and flat,

it blends in
with the ocean water.

And imagine --
that's the daytime.

And at nighttime,
you don't see anything.

The night they lighted it
for the first time

was June 11, 1764,

and it's been standing here
on this location ever since.

[ dramatic music plays ]

narrator: But these ruins show
the treacherous coastline

wasn't the only danger here.

The story of war
written across this place

actually began
at the lighthouse,

when the british hoped to defend
this vital navigational aid

during the american revolution.

Hoffman: The british dispatched
two frigates

and anchored them right out here
and had an armed guard here.

And sure enough, who shows up

but 200 american soldiers
with two cannon.

In 1776,
they're sneaking up the hook.

The commanding officer
ordered the cannons

to fire at the lighthouse.

But as he put it in a report,

"we bombarded the tower
for over an hour

but could make no impression."

narrator: Continuing to shine
for centuries to come,

the lighthouse would oversee
a dramatic transformation

of this land.

War would return
to these shores,

but this time, americans
would be the defenders,

not the attackers.

[ dramatic music plays ]

narrator:
In 1874,

nearly a decade
after the civil war ended,

thunderous shots rang out
over sandy hook, new jersey,

fired from this
now-silent platform.

With the country united
and wary of external threats,

this empty landscape had become

the u.S. Army's
first proving ground.

A proving ground is a place
where you can take a new design

and where you can take samples

of all of your
military production

and you can prove them.

Wawro: They would check to make
sure that the rounds worked,

that the fuses worked,

the range accuracy,
the detonation, the explosion.

They would test every aspect
of the projectile

and the gun firing it.

And so you needed a place
where you could fire freely

without risk to,
you know, civilian life.

Narrator:
Over the coming half-century,

hundreds of thousands of rounds
would be fired

from the sandy hook
proving ground,

and some of the largest, most
ambitious weapons ever created

were tested here.

Yet, as some of the structures
here testify,

this site was about more
than simply testing weapons

or helping ships navigate
these waters.

What if the fight came to sandy
hook and america's own shores?

When you're talking about the
two big stories of sandy hook,

one's the lighthouse,

and that will guide any ship
from around the world

into new york harbor.

But in times of war, you have to
have some kind of defense

to stop enemy warships
from coming in.

Narrator:
In the mid-1890s,

war with Spain
appeared inevitable.

So more emphasis was put
on nearby defensive structures,

like fort hancock.

The u.S. Did not have
the capacity

at the end of the 19th century
to build a big enough navy.

So instead of building
a lot of ships,

the united states builds
a lot of batteries of guns

to defend
all of its major harbors.

What you had here were four
12-inch-caliber mortars.

And you can see their bases
had been circular.

That's because a mortar fires
projectiles high up

to come back down
on your enemy's ships.

Narrator: As a proving ground
for the military

and with access
to the latest technology,

sandy hook was set as
an example to follow.

Wawro: The decision is taken
in the united states to protect

every valuable harbor

with these shore batteries
and so breech loading 8-, 10-,

and 12-inch naval guns are
delivered to forts like hancock

starting in 1895 to defend
america's harbors.

Narrator: While the spanish
never came within range,

other enemies would soon
threaten these shores.

And while the u.S. Had always
trailed the european powers

in military might,

here at fort hancock,
that old dynamic was shifting.

European gunmakers are
developing artillery pieces

that can shoot smokeless powder,
fire quickly, disappear.

And sandy hook is where the
american versions of these guns

are being developed.

Here is where american
technology is keeping up

thanks to u.S. Government
research.

This is the very first

and only steam-powered
disappearing gun battery.

So, you load the guns
while inside,

then it lifted up
through openings in the roof

to fire at enemy ships
out in the ocean.

And, of course, once you fire,
now you got to reload.

So the gun comes back down
on the elevator,

and it's a disappearing gun.

Narrator: Within a few years
of being completed, however,

this battery was already
outdated.

The race to keep ahead,
though, was still on.

In 1918, a u-boat reportedly
fired 16 shots at fort hancock,

and the guns that stood here
responded in kind.

The german submarines were
a sign

that the times were a-changin'.

The two big threats to
american ports in world war ii

were enemy bombers
and enemy submarines.

And those big coastal
gun emplacements

designed to defend
american port facilities

were no longer as important.

Narrator:
What remains is a legacy

of both the history of this site

and the route america took on
its journey to the modern era.

Wawro: So walking around
sandy hook today,

you're basically walking
through the history of

american warfare.

Everything is on display here,

from the revolutionary war
period to the cold war.

Narrator: Standing apart
from the old concrete bunkers

of yesteryear

are remnants of the final
chapter of this site's

life in service.

Hoffman: We're walking
in the last defense system

used by the u.S. Army
here at fort hancock,

the nike air defense radar site,

designed to shoot down
russian bombers

if the cold war went hot.

Nusbacher: Once russians have
atomic weapons,

then everyone in america
instantly understands

that american cities
are immensely vulnerable

to russian attack.

Narrator:
After more then a century

defending new york from the sea,

attention now shifted
to the skies

and the gravest threat
the u.S. Ever faced.

[ dramatic music plays ]

narrator:
For hundreds of years,

sandy hook's
military installations

had helped protect the waters
around new york.

By the 1950s, it was also
defending the city from the air.

Bell:
Nike batteries were part

of the u.S. Army
air defense command.

These were placed strategically
near cities across the country

to prevent the destruction
of the centers

of america's great retaliatory
and productive might.

Nusbacher: The nike positions
around new york city

are designed to stop another
pearl harbor-style sneak attack.

Hoffman: So, we just went under
one of the platforms

that held the missile-tracking
radar.

Because the missiles
were a mile south of us,

and once you launched
the missile,

the radar here guided
the missile up to the target.

And then another radar,
the target-tracking radar,

was tracking the target
and through a computer system

brought the two together
and guaranteed a hit.

[ dramatic music plays ]

narrator:
Yet, like all the weapons

and defense systems
on show here,

its life-span was short.

In 1974, with the nike
missile program outdated,

the last of the equipment
and military personnel

left the peninsula.

Left to the elements
on this windswept coastline,

what remains here
paints a picture

not just of the story
of this site

but of the birth
and history of a nation.

Wawro: All of these artifacts
taken together

reflect america's rise
to world power,

from this vulnerable colony
of the british empire

to a nation
that then projects power

and then has the latest
cutting-edge technology

to defend the free world
against a communist threat.

It's all right here
on sandy hook.

[ dramatic music plays ]

narrator: Southern England,
in a village called purton --

here lies a mighty river and
beside it a fleet of the dead.

Somara:
They certainly look like boats,

but they appear to be made
of stone.

Can you make boats of stone?
Are they statues?

Narrator: These marine monoliths
stand half submerged

in britain's longest river,
the river severn.

Some of these boats,
you can only see the very tip

of their rotting bow
just poking out from the ground.

Narrator: These rotting remains
draw a line

one and a half miles
along the shoreline.

There are so many of them,

but they definitely all seem
to have been there for a while.

It's almost as if they've been
put here for a purpose,

as if it's been designed.

But yet they're completely
enveloped by the land.

Narrator:
Beside the mighty river

is a much calmer body of water.

Both connect the small village
of purton

to the rest of England.

Somara: You have a major river
right next to the canal.

I mean, talk about belt
and braces.

Why would you need both?

[ down-tempo music plays ]

narrator: Nearly 50 years ago,
a young boy and his family

came to a riverbank
in southern England.

When I came here as a child,
this was a great place to play.

Narrator:
Paul barnett and his father

found strange shapes
sticking out of the mud.

But they had no idea
what they were.

Barnett:
My father being an ex-sailor,

he had his own curious
sort of observations

as to what this may be,
and he just naturally assumed

it was just a great and easy
place to get rid of vessels.

We didn't know.
We really didn't know.

Narrator: The secrets of the
site and its boats made of stone

would remain buried

until paul returned to solve
the mystery 20 years later.

Well, the first thing
that I chose to do

was to carry out a research
project at the local archive.

The information held therein
was very sparse.

I was absolutely astounded
by the lack of information.

Selwood: These things dominate
the landscape.

You would have thought

that if they had been put here
for a reason

that there would be
an official record.

Narrator:
Yet the archives were empty.

Paul's investigation
had hit a wall.

But a clue would be found in
the river severn's storied past.

Although it may not look it,

this is an immensely
dangerous area.

Barnett: Nobody would venture
out into the river severn.

It's incredibly treacherous.

The tide itself actually runs in
at about 13 knots.

Narrator:
The river severn is deadly.

But next door
is a more placid body of water.

Selwood: Directly next door to
this powerful river is a canal.

Two hundred years ago,
canals like these

were the main ways of moving
freight around britain.

And people came to rely
on these.

These canals were the arteries
for moving goods around britain,

including here at purton.

Narrator: The sharpness canal
opened in 1827.

The people of purton
were now connected

to the rest of England.

But less than 100 years later,

the canal's existence
was under threat.

The canal, a major piece
of infrastructure for trade,

is protected from this
very dangerous river

by a very narrow mound of dirt.

Narrator: That mound, in some
places just 20 feet thick,

is all that keeps these
two bodies of water separate.

Barnett: With the full force
of the river coming in,

it was hitting the bank.

And as a result of which
it was now prone to erosion,

which was happening
almost on a daily basis.

Selwood: The riverbank literally
holds back the tide.

Without it, the river
would consume the canal.

Narrator: For nearly a century,
the canal and the riverbank

coexisted in harmony.

But in 1909,
that harmony was shattered.

[ dramatic music plays ]

somara: A massive storm
hit the southwest of England.

And the river severn began
to overflow

and spill over into the canal.

Barnett: The full force of
that storm came into the bank.

Approximately 60 meters of it
was removed.

One hit, and it was swept away
by the river severn

and its fast-flowing waters.

Selwood:
Tons and tons of dirt and silt

were carried away downstream.

Narrator: Nearly 200 feet
of the bank was eroded away.

The canal was now in real danger
of breaching.

Something had to be done.

Narrator: The storm almost
obliterated the riverbank,

but a fleet made of stone
was about to change it forever.

[ dramatic music plays ]

narrator: In southern England,
the village of purton

was under threat
from a failing riverbank.

They had no money
for big restoration projects.

This was a very small part
of britain

that had very limited means
and very little time.

But the chief engineer for
the canal had a radical plan.

The engineer for the
dock company made a request --

are there any barges that
could be brought to this point,

run out to the foreshore,
and add their strength

in order to protect
that waterway?

Bell: For the plan to work, they
needed a whole fleet of boats.

So they asked the locals
to volunteer their old tugs,

and they rallied to the cause.

Narrator: In total, 15 wooden
vessels were brought to purton.

This was actually
one of the first vessels --

in actual fact, the first vessel
to be beached here.

Twenty minutes before high tide,
the vessel,

with a full head of steam, would
come thundering into the bank.

Selwood: The plan
was to then drill holes in them

to let water in.

This would allow silt and mud
from upstream to come down,

then fill into the boats
and around the boats

and effectively rebuild
the riverbank.

Narrator: The barges
were beached onto the riverbank,

protecting the canal
from the severn.

They became known
as the purton hulks.

It appeared the canal
had been saved.

But the celebrations
were short-lived.

The one thing about wood
is that it rots.

Barnett: What was happening was
the timber loaders were rotting.

And as a result, once again
the canal was in danger.

Bell: So wooden boats rot
and metal boats rust.

Fortunately, history provided
the answer.

Narrator:
In the years after world war I,

the price of timber and iron
rose sharply.

It became too expensive
to make riverboats.

So boatmakers turned to
an unlikely material.

The concrete boats could be made
really fast and really cheap,

but apparently they were
a nightmare to drive.

Narrator: Old concrete barges
were the solution

to protecting the riverbank
permanently.

In the 1960s,
eight were brought to purton,

the final purton hulks.

Sixty years later, the bank's
thickness has doubled.

The canal was saved.

Barnett: Knowing how
you can work with the sea,

you can't work against her,

absolutely astounded
by the real seamanship

that would have taken
to get these vessels in here.

And yet they continue to do
the job that they were put here

to do,
to protect the bank,

to protect canal,
and to allow

the river severn to continue
flowing gently by.

Narrator:
The purton hulks,

silent guardians of wood
and stone.

Bell: For the last 60 years,
they've been there,

protecting the canal
from the powerful river severn,

a testament to engineering
by the seat of your pants.

[ dramatic music plays ]

narrator: In a remote region
of western poland

is an engineering giant
hidden in plain sight.

[ music continues ]

auerbach:
When you approach this site,

it really doesn't look like
much.

And then, as you get closer,

you see that there are pillboxes
dotted around the landscape.

Selwood: Once you've spotted
one, you then see another.

And as your eye carries on,

you realize this line goes on
almost forever.

This is a really major piece
of engineering.

Wawro: It reminds me
of the maginot line in France.

But we're not in France,
so it couldn't be that.

Narrator:
These pillboxes draw an outline

of a fortress buried
underground.

There is an immense network
of tunnels

that seems to go on
just forever.

And in one of them,
there's a railway line.

Auerbach: People worked here,
and then they left.

But they left some clues as to
what they were doing down there.

A room with a sign above it
that says "maschinenraum" --

"machine room."

selwood:
This is a place where clearly

an immense engineering effort
went in

but ultimately
it came to naught.

Narrator:
Almost 22 miles of tunnels

are buried
in the polish countryside.

But a clue on the surface will
unlock the mystery of the site

and unravel a tissue of lies.

Auerbach: There's this one
aboveground feature --

this odd bridge.

That's the key to understanding
the structure.

Narrator:
A mammoth engineering project

spanning nearly 40 miles.

Why was it put here?

And what secrets are buried
beneath the surface?

Buried in the polish countryside
is a wartime secret.

Auerbach: Most of this site
is underground --

these miles and miles
of tunnel, the train tracks.

But the clue to what the site
is about

is right here in this one
aboveground part of it --

the bridge, a bridge
with an odd hinge on it.

[ down-tempo music plays ]

narrator: Historian
and architect robert jurga

has spent his career

exploring one of poland's most
overlooked historical sites.

Jurga:
[ speaking polish ]

interpreter:
The plan of this bridge

is still protected by the patent
that's kept in berlin.

The level of security
was so high

that the operators consisted

of a specially trained group
of soldiers.

Narrator: Swing bridges
are common on major rivers

to let large ships pass through.

But the water here
is practically a trickle.

Auerbach:
The swing bridge is here

because this entire set
of fortifications

is actually illegal.

[ mid-tempo music plays ]

narrator: The story begins after
the end of the first world war,

when this part of poland
belonged to germany.

Think back to what happened
to germany

at the end of world war I.

They were defeated
by a big allied coalition.

They were disarmed.
They lost territory.

They lost citizens
to the treaty of versailles.

Auerbach: The treaty was
punishing to germany.

They had to give up
their entire empire,

they had to allow the allies

to occupy part
of their industrial heartland,

and they also had to limit
their army to 100,000 men.

Narrator:
Germany was also forbidden

from building any new
fortifications along its border,

leaving the country
virtually defenseless.

Selwood: The germans felt
a great sense of vulnerability

about their border
because after world war I,

they were a universally loathed
nation.

But they had enemies
on their right.

There was poland,

and behind poland, of course,
the soviet union.

Narrator: With limited defenses,
the german capital

was vulnerable to invasion
from the east.

Its biggest weakness
was a stretch of land

sandwiched between two rivers.

This region was flat
and had no natural barriers.

It was a highway that led
straight to berlin.

If the poles or the soviets
wanted to invade germany,

that was a perfect route
'cause it gave them

a direct path to berlin,
the capital.

This was a huge hole
in germany's defenses,

and they wanted to plug it.

Narrator: But with the treaty
making new defenses illegal,

the german government concocted
a ruse.

[ dramatic music plays ]

narrator:
In a former german territory

is a border wall
that began with a devious ploy.

Auerbach: The rules
of the treaty of versailles

limited germany's spending
on the military

and on fortifications.

But it didn't say anything
about water management.

So they brought in engineers

and dug up hundreds
and hundreds of tons of earth,

redirected rivers,

and essentially created
a new natural barrier.

Jurga:
[ speaking polish ]

interpreter: The main tool
against the tanks was water.

Many tactical canals were built,

and they became the main barrier
against the enemy's tanks.

On those channels, they built
a line of tactical bridges.

[ dramatic music plays ]

narrator: A series of bridges
across an artificial waterway,

each with a mechanism
to stop an enemy advance.

Interpreter:
Those bridges were closed

in case of the arrival
of the enemy

and in normal times were used
by the civilians.

Narrator:
Over five years, a line is drawn

between the warta
and oder rivers.

This is the beginning
of the ostwall.

"audacious" doesn't cover it.

You had a team
of 1,000 overseers

watching to make sure
germany adhered to the rules.

And if they were caught
breaking those rules,

it could have started
another war.

Narrator:
An emboldened german government

adds tunnels and bunkers,
making the ostwall

a state-of-the-art
battle fortress.

Descending beneath
the surface, we find mile upon

mile of concrete tunnels,

linking together these forts
that are -- you could

barely glimpse above ground.

There's even
a small light railway

installed in some of
these tunnels.

Jurga: [ speaking polish ]

interpreter: The main road is
12 kilometers long,

and the whole system,
with corridors leading to

the bunkers is more than
32 kilometers long.

It was too big a distance
for the soldiers to March.

That's why they used
train tracks like this

for transportation.

Narrator: The ability
to move almost 20 miles

unseen by the enemy

would give the germans

a huge tactical advantage.

So the men can race between

the various positions to meet
various different threats.

Narrator: The ostwall was
designed to accommodate

thousands of soldiers.

Jurga: [ speaking polish ]

interpreter: We are currently
16 meters below

the surface
in the underground system.

This is the dormitory.

They attached bunks
to these brackets here.

Three soldiers
would sleep on one side

and two
on the other side.

They didn't share bunks.

When they were down here,

they probably listened
to the radio, played cards,

drank wine,
and read the newspapers.

There were propaganda banners
hanging on the walls there.

Narrator: To begin with,

they lived in relative comfort.

Jurga: [ speaking polish ]

interpreter:
Under normal circumstances,

when the bunker was
working properly,

electric heating was supplied
from the machine room.

This washroom was for
all the soldiers from

the two bunkers in this part
of the underground system.

Both those fighting
and the spare units used

this washroom.

In total, about 60 to 70
people had to use

this small washroom.

Narrator: In 1938, germany's
fuhrer came to inspect,

and he was not happy.

When hitler visits
the ostwall in 1938,

he is definitely underwhelmed.

Hitler is somebody
who wants to see, you know,

parades of panzers
in the street,

flyovers by luftwaffe bombers,
dive bombers,

and fighter planes,
goosestepping infantry.

He does not want to see
these subterranean fortresses

with just a little
machine-gun turret

poking out of the pine trees.

He calls it a worthless
set of mousetraps,

and he's also very upset
that most

of the soldiers are going
to be underground.

Narrator: The ostwall failed
its inspection,

and its construction
is put on hold.

The following year,

hitler marched the troops
past the wall and into poland.

[ gunfire ]

once germany had conquered
poland,

this fortification lay
in the middle

of german-controlled territory,
so it was militarily useless.

After a decade of pouring
so much effort and money

into this line,
it was left as a lame duck.

Wawro: This speaks to hitler's
conception of warfare.

The german army
had to be on the move.

It had to be attacking,
and that

it was not going to sit
passively behind fortifications.

Narrator:
With the ostwall canceled,

the tunnels were left empty
until the fuhrer found a new use

for his empty
underground bunker.

After hitler stopped
construction on the ostwall,

it was largely unused.

But when the allies begin their
strategic bombing of germany,

it finds a new purpose.

They move machinery down here
to build aircraft engines.

Jurga: [ speaking polish ]

interpreter: When the factories
were up and running,

the train track was
constantly used,

but not to
transport ammunition

or soldiers -- it only
transported parts of

aircraft engines.

Narrator:
With most able-bodied soldiers

fighting on the frontlines,

only a small regiment was left
to defend the wall.

Auerbach: Regular troops
weren't stationed there.

You just had militia,

which were mostly poorly trained
hitler youth

and men too old to be sent
to the frontlines.

Selwood:
Conditions were dreadful.

It was dank.
It was dark.

It was underfunded.
There were no resources.

The people who were here
really had been forgotten about.

Remember the frontline
was hundreds of miles away --

until everything changed.

[ mid-tempo music plays ]

narrator:
By the end of 1944,

the germans were being
pushed back,

and the soviets were creeping
closer to berlin.

The forgotten ostwall
was about to join the war.

Auerbach: So hitler was not,
by any

stretch of the imagination,
a military genius,

and he insisted on this tactic
of no retreat.

And what happens is hundreds
of thousands of german troops

are surrounded and captured
by the red army until

one of the last things in
between the soviet war machine

and berlin is this one bit
of fortification.

Narrator: Reinforcements were
rushed in to defend the wall,

but they were poorly trained
and ill-equipped.

Jurga: [ speaking polish ]

interpreter: The volkssturm
soldiers who were

sent here didn't
have enough weapons.

When they arrived
at the train station,

they were given two or three
guns for the entire group.

When they asked
where the weapons were,

they were told that they would
find them inside the bunkers,

but there were none.

The ostwall was seriously
under supplied,

and one general, kuchler,

even refused to call it
the east wall, because he didn't

think it had any real
strategic value.

Narrator: And yet the ostwall
and those defending it

it were about to be put to
the test.

Jurga: [ speaking polish ]

interpreter: Enemy was
approaching from that side --

approaching slowly.

Firstly, he had to overpass the
antitank barrier on the road.

So these hitler youth and these
old guys in the militia,

they stand no chance
against the soviet army.

But that doesn't stop 'em.

They put up resistance,
and they were determined

to defend the border
and defend this fortification.

Selwood: The soviet attack here
was relentless.

You can still see
the hundreds of

bullet holes and impact marks
from artillery.

For those inside
manning the line,

it would have been
utterly terrifying.

Narrator: In just days,
the wall was breached

and the red army rolled
towards berlin.

The ostwall had failed.

The slightly pathetic thing
about the line, really,

is that after so much
deviousness, so much planning,

so much hopes for it,
when the time actually came,

they weren't prepared to put
the manpower

or the resources into using it,

and the lame duck became
a damp squib.

Jurga:
[ speaking polish ]

interpreter: Had this
fortification been completed

the way it was designed,
most likely it would have been

very precious
to the german army.

Unfortunately for them,
they completed it only to 30%.

And without antitank weaponry,

the soldiers didn't have
a chance

against the power
of the soviet army.

When the war ended
and the treaties are signed,

the borders are redrawn.

And this area ends up
inside poland,

the very nation it was built
to keep out.

Now the cavernous ostwall
lies empty,

and anything valuable that
remained inside has long since

been stripped away.

Jurga: [ speaking polish ]

interpreter: The russian army
sent special trophy battalions

who were not only interested
in gold,

silver, or museum artifacts
but also in machinery,

and tools.

All of it was taken outside,

packed inside the wagons,
and sent to the east.

Narrator: Rumors speak of
nazi treasures

still hidden in the walls,

but all that fills the dark
corridors today are some

35,000 protected bats.