All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S05E04.Kingdom.of.the.Vanished.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-DoGSO_track3_[eng]

Narrator:
A sprawling european forest

That hides
A destructive force.

This is clearly part
Of something very, very big

And very, very dangerous.

*

Narrator:
In the pacific northwest,

Pioneers and pilgrims

That led
An industrial revolution...

Less than a year after this
Incredible technological

Breakthrough,
Disaster struck.

Breakthrough,
Disaster struck.

*

Narrator: ...And a south african
Ghost town gripped by fever.

Something went wrong
And really rather fast.

*

Narrator: decaying relics,

Ruins of lost worlds,

Forged through years of toil

Now haunted by the past,

Now haunted by the past,

Their secrets waiting
To be revealed.

*

-- captions by vitac --
Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

*

Narrator: in a remote corner
Of northwest poland,

100 miles
From the german border,

Dense woodland conceals
A complex of ominous structures.

*

*

Here we are in europe,
In the middle of rural poland

Surrounded by
These beautiful pine trees.

Suddenly, tucked away,
Something catches your eye.

Man's been here before,

And actually he's made
Quite an effort

To disguise what he's done.

Nusbacher:
You're not just in a wood.

You're inside a very old

You're inside a very old

And very well-protected
Facility

That's all around you.

In a way, it sort of feels
Like you've stumbled

On some kind of dystopian
Hobbit town.

You get all these doorways
Covered with soil,

Leading to something
That's hidden in the ground.

Narrator:
Whatever this place was,

It's been removed
From local maps of the area.

Is its clandestine nature
A clue to its function?

Is its clandestine nature
A clue to its function?

Somebody built something
Very, very strong

And then put a lot of earth
Over it to protect it

From something very,
Very dangerous.

You also have some kind
Of ventilation system

Because you can see these grates
For air intakes or exhaust.

*

Narrator: who was behind this
Shadowy construction,

And what mysteries
Are concealed inside?

*

*

From its earliest days,
This eerie, covert site

Has been shrouded in mystery.

Polish archaeologist
Grzegorz kiarszyt

Has spent years
Trying to unravel its secrets.

Declassified documents reveal
Construction began in 1966,

A time when east and west

Were locked in a tense
Military standoff.

The threat of all-out war
Simmered ominously.

*

The soviet union was
Intensely paranoid

Throughout the cold war.

They were very worried
About some kind of an attack

From europe.

Narrator: to counter
The perceived threat,

The soviets maintained
A presence

The soviets maintained
A presence

In all of the puppet communist
States over which they presided.

The idea that the soviets
Would have a communications base

In poland
Is very straightforward.

It's a great cover.

Narrator: this is the podborsko
Cold war bunker,

Part of a secretive
Network of vast,

Underground
Military installations.

If called into action, its real
Purpose posed mortal danger

To all mankind.

To all mankind.

When you see the size
Of the door,

You imagine the space inside
Must be pretty large.

*

Narrator: it's only by venturing
Deeper that the true nature

Of the subterranean complex
Is revealed.

Of the subterranean complex
Is revealed.

Looking at the bits left
Behind --

And that's all
We've got to go on --

Clearly, there was something

Very, very sensitive
Being stored here.

There's barriers.

There's atmospherically
Sealed areas

So that nothing can get in,

But more importantly,
Nothing can get out,

And this leads you to believe

That there was
Radioactive material here.

So I assess it as likely
That these facilities

Were built to store rm24

Or rm28 tactical
Nuclear weapons,

Or rm28 tactical
Nuclear weapons,

Ready to be dropped
From soviet fighter bombers

Onto nato forces
Fighting in europe.

Narrator: during the late 1960s,
The ussr realized if attacked,

It wouldn't be able to get
Its nuclear arsenal

To poland quick enough.

In response, it hatched a plan
To house atomic warheads

At strategic locations
Throughout its satellite states.

They didn't want the allies
To know where it was,

They didn't want the allies
To know where it was,

Or even the polish people
To know where it was.

It might leak out, so they built
These carefully hidden,

Highly secretive
Underground bunkers.

Narrator: at sites like this,

500 kiloton
Warheads were stored,

30 times more powerful
Than the bombs

That destroyed hiroshima
And nagasaki.

The soviets didn't say that they
Had nuclear weapons in poland.

They told the outside world
That they didn't.

The soviets gave a false answer

The soviets gave a false answer

For operational reasons.

Narrator: for over two decades,

The polish people
Were kept in the dark

Over the destructive forces
Stockpiled on their soil.

Clues inside suggest
The deadly payload

Had the potential to blow
At any moment.

Industrial equipment,
Pressure gauges and sensors

Are crucial signs that specific
Environmental conditions

Had to be maintained.

State-of-the-art nuclear weapons
Are sensitive things,

And when things go wrong,
They go catastrophically wrong,

And when things go wrong,
They go catastrophically wrong,

So temperature control,
Humidity control --

Very, very important,

Particularly if you're
Trying to remain secret.

*

Narrator: but were the soviet's
Sworn enemies in the west

Wise to the site's
Lethal potential?

And how close did the red army

Come to turning europe
Into a nuclear wasteland?

Come to turning europe
Into a nuclear wasteland?

*

Narrator:
Hidden in a polish forest

Is a secret soviet cold war
Nuclear bunker.

By trying to
Cover their tracks,

It seems the red army
Made a fatal error.

So the soviets start to plant

Spruce trees around
Their installation,

But in poland,
The local forest is birch.

And in the autumn,

The leaves fall off.

All you're left with
Is these thin, white stems

And yellow leaves on the ground.

During the cold war,
The americans kept a very close

Watch on soviets
Using satellite photography,

So they're looking
For human activity.

So they're looking
For human activity.

American satellites could see
Right past those spruce trees,

And they knew there was
Something going on.

Narrator: cia reports revealed
The intelligence agency

Identified 23
Similar installations

Spread across
The eastern bloc.

Even with this knowledge,
Western europe

Was powerless to stop
A full soviet onslaught.

If the cold war turned hot,

Total annihilation
Was inevitable.

Total annihilation
Was inevitable.

Narrator: for over two decades
After the bunkers were built,

The world lived in fear
Of the coming apocalypse.

It's only after the iron curtain
Begins to fall in the late 1980s

Mankind can once again
Breathe easy.

And with the red army gone,

The truth about the abandoned
Bunkers was finally revealed.

After the cold war,
There was a treaty

Which required the soviets

To open some of their facilities
For inspection.

As part of that process,
They had to admit

That some of their facilities
In poland

Had nuclear weapons in them.

*

*

Narrator:
Following the soviet departure,

Similar bunkers in the polish
Countryside were vandalized

And one converted
Into a prison.

Today, this site is preserved,
A chilling reminder

Of how close the world
Came to total destruction.

In the heart of america's
Pacific northwest,

15 miles south of portland,

A raging river divides
A curious set of structures.

*

You look around at this site,

And you see industrial spheres,
Chimneys.

Clearly there was a lot
Going on here.

Clearly there was a lot
Going on here.

What this looks like is an empty
Shell of an industrial site.

There are windows broken.

There's rain pouring
Through the roof.

It's a ghost site.

*

Narrator: multiple abandoned
Buildings from different ages

Reveal this place as grown
And transformed over time.

Auerbach:
At the center are older ruins

That don't seem to fit
With the rest of the site.

That don't seem to fit
With the rest of the site.

Clearly this has been used
For centuries,

But for a variety
Of different purposes.

You get the sense that at one
Point this was just teeming

With activity from machines
And activation

And people and hustle
And bustle.

Narrator: so how are these
Structures connected,

And what caused
The use of this site

To change so much
Through the years?

The proximity of the water

Is clearly a very important
Part of this site's history,

Is clearly a very important
Part of this site's history,

And some of the buildings now

Look as if they've even
Been destroyed

By the power of that
Very same water.

Whatever went on here,
The river is clearly the key.

*

Narrator:
This was once the beating heart

Of oregon city's
Industrial district.

Over its 150-year history,

This site has had many
Different identities,

Evolving over time according
To the industry's need.

Evolving over time according
To the industry's need.

Outside, one rumbling, constant
Remains as it has for centuries.

So what we're looking at
Is the second largest waterfall

By volume
In the united states.

There is an enormous amount
Of potential power here.

*

Narrator: but how would that
Power be harnessed

By structures at this site,

And what critical role
Would it play

In transforming cities
Across america?

In transforming cities
Across america?

*

Narrator:
In the pacific northwest is

A sprawling industrial complex.

Here the curious mix
Of architectural styles suggests

Massive change over time,
But the majority of what remains

Speaks of its most
Recent incarnation.

In more modern times
With the demand for paper,

And given all the trees
In the surrounding area,

And given all the trees
In the surrounding area,

This became one
Of the heartlands

For newspaper production.

*

Narrator: in its final guise,

This site
Became a giant paper mill

Supplying newsprint
All across the west coast,

Including to
The "Los angeles times."

Local expert don scott
Has been fascinated

With the history
Of this site for decades.

So we're now inside paper
Machine number four.

This is where the actual paper
Making took place.

This is where the actual paper
Making took place.

This building would have been
Filled with people,

Buzzing with activity.

The mill ran 24 hours a day.

It's known as a paper mill

Towards the latter
End of its life,

But decades before that it had
So many other different uses.

*

Narrator:
Hidden amongst the modern,

Rusting ruins are clues
To its ancient past.

Rusting ruins are clues
To its ancient past.

These stone blocks form
The foundation walls,

So what you see is very little
Of what was originally here.

It's got a long history dating
All the way back to 1832.

*

Narrator: as the last stop
Along the oregon trail,

Pioneers flocked to this region
In the mid-19th century.

What drew them here
Was the establishment of

A settlement by a man that
Would come to be known as

The father of oregon.

When john mcloughlin arrived,

When john mcloughlin arrived,

He saw an entirely different
Opportunity in this area

With the force of
The waterfall,

And this realization
Was the true start of

Industrialization in this area,
Which expanded rapidly outwards.

*

Narrator:
This is the location of

The willamette falls saw mill,

The first commercial site
To harness the water's energy

And the reason oregon city

And this vast
Industrial district exist today.

*

*

Before long,
Flour and woolen mills

Sprang up along the riverbanks,
And the area rapidly transformed

Into a thriving
Manufacturing center.

So this is clearly a site
That's built up over time,

And eventually
It's gonna become quite

A sprawling edifice,

But it all started
On the west bank of the river.

And then eventually will
Incorporate the other bank.

Narrator: but another structure
At this site, yet to be built,

Would make a bigger contribution
To oregon's history.

Would make a bigger contribution
To oregon's history.

By the end of the 19th century,
This site had been used

For all sorts
Of industrial applications,

But it was on the cusp of being
Used for something

Even more radical that
Would affect not only the area,

But the wider united states.

Narrator: crumbling concrete
Blocks and rusting pipes

Near the location
Of where the original saw mill

Once stood hold the clues
To the groundbreaking feat

Achieved here.

A power plant was built
To harness the flow of water,

A power plant was built
To harness the flow of water,

And it was
Used to spin turbines.

Don: so this is the location
Of the original station a.

What we're seeing here
Is the outflow of the water,

Which would have passed
By the dynamos,

Which were used to generate
The electricity.

Narrator: but using water to
Produce electrical energy

Was nothing new,

So what was so special about
The power produced at this spot?

And how would it change
America forever?

And how would it change
America forever?

The power potential here
Is obviously immense.

You're talking about
Hundreds of tons of water

Flowing over the falls
Every minute,

And imagine someone
Coming a hundred years ago

And wanting to harness that
Power but knowing the danger.

How were they gonna do it?

Narrator: in 1889,
Hydroelectric energy

Had already been in use
For seven years,

But transferring it
Over long distances

But transferring it
Over long distances

Had never been achieved.

At this time, much of america
Was still lit

By candles and gaslight.

If it could be made to work,
It would be a game changer.

Copper lines were strung
From the power plant

About 14 miles
To downtown portland.

When the switch was thrown,
History was made --

The first long-distance
Power transmission

In the united states.

What they did
Was groundbreaking.

This completely transformed
Portland.

This completely transformed
Portland.

It made it a modern city.

Narrator: but dark clouds were
Gathering over the horizon.

Less then a year after this
Incredible technological

Breakthrough,
Disaster struck.

A storm hit, and the flood
Waters of the rivers

Tore through the building,
Effectively bulldozing it.

So the buildings that would have
Been originally here

Were completely washed away
In the flood of 1890.

This is the danger when
You're trying to harness

The power of mother nature.

The power of mother nature.

When it goes wrong,
It goes very, very wrong.

I can't imagine the level
Of devastation

After having achieved
This amazing thing

Of transmitting energy
And electricity

Over long distances,

To have that completely
Wiped out within a few months.

*

Narrator: so how would this site
Overcome tragedy,

And in decades to come,

Would the fast-flowing river
Strike again

To cause the site's
Final destruction?

To cause the site's
Final destruction?

*

*

Narrator:
Following a violent storm

At the end of the 19th century,

Repairs to the power station
Were quickly underway,

And soon it was powering
What would be the final act

In the development of
This industrialized heartland.

A thriving paper making
Industry emerged

That was among the first
In the country

To have machines operated
By electricity.

To have machines operated
By electricity.

Over time, older buildings

Made way for modern
Paper-making facilities,

The derelict remains of which
Line the water's edge today.

At its height, the factories
Provided vital jobs

For around 2,000 workers,

But the manufacture of paper
Also came with a heavy price.

The early days of paper
Making was very toxic.

Sadly a lot of that was dumped
Into the river in the late '60s,

Sadly a lot of that was dumped
Into the river in the late '60s,

Which virtually killed the fish
Population in the river.

Narrator: in time, the mills
Cleaned up their act,

Later leading the way
With recycled products,

But the writing
Was already on the wall.

In the end, the spiraling costs
Of keeping up

With the ever more severe
Environmental legislation

And the stiff competition
Coming from cheaper products

Abroad meant that the paper mill
Couldn't keep up and closed.

Abroad meant that the paper mill
Couldn't keep up and closed.

*

Narrator: with evidence of
Almost 200 years worth of

Development
Still visible here,

This place has seen
A huge amount of change,

And with work underway on plans
To redevelop the site,

There's still plenty of life
In it yet.

*

In the mpumalanga province
Of south africa,

Nestled at the foot
Of a mountainous valley

Nestled at the foot
Of a mountainous valley

Is a set of structures with
An incredible story to tell.

*

When you first
Sort of look at it,

It's clearly some
Sort of abandoned town,

But it's not like some
Small stagepost town

In the middle of the outback.

Fran: there's a main street
Running through the middle.

There's houses, hotels, bars,
Church,

But it's not just one street.

This place is
Utterly sprawling.

We're way out in the remote
Countryside,

We're way out in the remote
Countryside,

So there must have been
A good reason

For all these people
To move here,

Some incentive to get people
To settle these hills.

*

Narrator: lining the ridge above
Are run-down buildings

Constructed in
A different style.

Could these provide a clue
To why a community grew

In this unforgiving terrain?

Around this place is some pretty
Industrial-looking machinery,

And that, coupled with all
The numerous buildings --

And that, coupled with all
The numerous buildings --

This was clearly designed
For processing something,

But what that was
Is not so clear.

They've even got,
Up in the hills --

They've actually got
What looks like some sort

Of abandoned tram line,

And so there was clearly
Something very important

That they wanted to
Move around.

Narrator: but what exactly
Was being transported,

And how does it connect
To the eerily preserved houses

And empty streets below?

Fran: it was clearly,
In its day, a booming town,

Fran: it was clearly,
In its day, a booming town,

But something went wrong
And really rather fast.

Was there a really
Dramatic thing

That happened
That killed off everyone?

Why is there nobody there?

*

Narrator: in the late 1800s,
This was a place of discovery,

A new frontier which, in time,
Would be gripped by fever,

Tainted by greed,
And touched by war.

Tainted by greed,
And touched by war.

It's a stunningly beautiful
Landscape,

But when you look at it
In this remote area,

You do wonder,
Aside from the natural beauty,

"Why would somebody
Want to live out here?

What would their livelihood be?"

19th century south africa

Was all about opportunity
And exploitation,

So although this place
Was in the middle of a vast

And empty landscape,

People flocked here
In their thousands

From every corner of the globe.

From every corner of the globe.

Narrator: but what valuable
Prize first drew people here?

And why did they
So suddenly leave?

The answer is buried deep
In the ground

And in the country's
Streams and rivers.

There's not really actually
Clues in the landscape

That there's lots and lots
Of mineral wealth there,

So in a sense, you have to be,
Kind of, looking for it.

Narrator: in 1886,

Fortune seekers descended
On the african continent,

Fortune seekers descended
On the african continent,

Kickstarting one of the biggest
Land grabs in history,

But a decade earlier,
This region was the setting

For south africa's
First gold rush.

And the story
Behind its discovery

Is the stuff of legend.

Back in 1873, there was
A prospector who was known as

"Wheelbarrow patterson"

Because he had brought his gear
All the way from the coast

Literally in a wheelbarrow,
Over 1,000 miles.

Literally in a wheelbarrow,
Over 1,000 miles.

Patterson did strike it lucky
In one small stream,

But he kept this
Finding to himself.

He didn't report it,

But he could only
Keep it secret for so long.

But pretty soon
The word got out,

And miners from all over
Began flooding into the area.

*

Narrator: almost overnight,
A makeshift camp sprang up.

Joseph mashego is an expert

On the history of mining
In this area.

On the history of mining
In this area.

When prospectors arrive here,
There were no proper structures,

So they used tents
As accommodation.

Narrator: within months,

1,500 miners were
Working around 4,000 claims,

United in their thirst
For the most precious of metals.

Before long, the ramshackled
Parade of canvas tents

Was replaced by buildings
With iron roofs.

In its heyday, this was ground
Zero for the great

South african gold rush.

South african gold rush.

Narrator: this is the ghost town
Of pilgrim's rest,

And these are the rivers
Of gold that built it.

Very, very quickly,
Pilgrim's rest became a classic

Boomtown, a gold rush town,
And the population exploded.

You had saloons
And everything else

Associated with young men
With too much money.

Narrator: in under a decade,

Gold worth hundreds
Of millions of dollars today

Gold worth hundreds
Of millions of dollars today

Was pulled from the riverbed.

Now when the prospectors arrive
Here, they had no machines.

They had no chemicals.

Now how they separated
The gold?

There only is water.

So one of the classic ways
Of exploring for gold

Is looking in rivers,

Because rivers
Erode the landscape

And concentrate
Heavy things like gold in them.

Meigs: the kind of gold that
They were finding here

Is what you call alluvial gold.

Is what you call alluvial gold.

It means "Gold that's been
Washed out of the big ore veins

In the mountains."

Narrator: the rewards could
Bring unimaginable wealth,

But lust for gold also came
With a heavy price.

Wherever
There's been a gold rush,

It has attracted adventurers,
You know, often reckless types,

But they're willing
To gamble a lot

And live through a lot
Of hardship for this chance

To literally strike it rich.

To literally strike it rich.

Jerram: during such a gold rush,
The environment is electric,

But it's also dangerous.

People would fall into despair.

If their particular plot
Was barren,

They may, you know,
Even be driven suicide.

It was that sort of
Crazy environment.

Mashego:
No, they suffered a lot.

Then they were alcoholic.

That's how they misused
Their money.

Only 5% got rich,
And 95% were poor.

*

Narrator: yet trouble of
A different kind was brewing.

Narrator: yet trouble of
A different kind was brewing.

In time, gold from
Pilgrim's rest

Was sought to fund
A bloody conflict,

One that would result
In the death of thousands.

*

Narrator:
In south africa is a deserted

Town that was built on gold.

At its peak, fortune seekers
Fought for the right

To work
The most valuable claims.

At the turn of
The 20th century,

The region's riches would become
The rallying point

For a very different
Kind of fight.

At pilgrim's rest,
The advent of the boer war

Meant the mining industry
Pretty much shut down.

Meant the mining industry
Pretty much shut down.

Narrator: after two blood-soaked
Years of battle,

The dutch-descended boers
Fighting for independence

From british colonial rule
Were forced to retreat.

The mine, however,

Had the potential
To reverse this loss.

The boers took over the area,

And a lot of the miners
Were forced to leave.

Narrator:
Outmanned and outgunned,

The boer army desperately
Needed to raise capital.

Using gold from the mines,

Using gold from the mines,

A makeshift mint
Was hastily assembled.

530 so-called pilgrim's rest
Gold coins were struck,

But before they could be used,

The beaten boers
Were forced to surrender.

*

But this was just
The beginning.

What was in store
For pilgrim's rest

Was so much bigger than anyone
Could have ever imagined.

Narrator:
Hunger for gold would drive

Technological innovation.

Technological innovation.

The mine's most productive days
Were yet to come,

But the dreams of many
Were left in tatters.

Some of the different operations
Mining for gold, they merged,

And they built a much more
Industrialized mining operation

That, kind of, took the place
Of a lot of small groups

Out there
With their picks and shovels.

That starts to explain
The big machinery.

It starts to explain the sort
Of rock crushing equipment.

It starts to explain the sort
Of rock crushing equipment.

So once you began this
Mechanized mining operation,

You need a lot of power
To run it.

The solution to this

Was the belvedere
Hydroelectric power plant,

And this became the largest,
At its time,

Hydroelectric power plant
In the southern hemisphere.

We're sitting right

At the bottom
Of the blight river canyon

Where the belvedere
Power station is established.

We had electricity before
England and france

We had electricity before
England and france

When they were still using gas.

*

Narrator: this impressive feat
Of engineering pumped out

Over 2,000 kilowatts of energy.

Armed with a constant supply
Of power,

Production at the mine
Stepped up a gear.

Fran:
The real wealth of this area

Could finally be realized.

This tram line took
The mining of this area

Up to a whole new level.

It meant that huge amounts
Of iron ore

It meant that huge amounts
Of iron ore

Could be transported
At one time,

And with it,
The gold that's hidden within.

The main boom period for this
Mine actually was 1913, 1914.

They were producing
112,000 ounces of gold

Leading to a profit
Of 550,000 rand,

Which you might not think
Is that much money.

But in those days,
It was an awful lot.

*

*

Narrator:
But for pilgrim's rest,

The industrial mining
That brought such prosperity

Was the architect
Of its own demise.

The land stripped of its worth,

Gold production
Steadily declined,

And the people abandoned
The slowly dying town.

Some amount of mining
Limped along until the 1970s,

And then they shut down
For good.

But the town didn't
Completely disappear

As is so often the case.

*

*

Narrator: in 1986, the largely
Deserted settlement was declared

A national monument,
A south african boom town

Built on gold preserved
For future generations.

People love to see these
Dramatic moments in history,

And there's nothing
More dramatic

Than the idea of a boom town

And gold miners
And all that romance.

And you can still see
A little bit of it

And you can still see
A little bit of it

When you visit a place
Like pilgrim's rest.

*

Narrator: southwest england --
The county of somerset.

Hidden amongst the rolling hills
And green pastures

Are the relics
Of an era long since past.

*

So here we are in the beautiful
English countryside, you know?

So here we are in the beautiful
English countryside, you know?

Surrounded by field,
Miles from anywhere,

And it looks like nothing
Has ever changed.

You see this weird
Sort of train of trees.

As you delve further
Through the trees,

You actually come to a waterway
That leads to an arch,

Leading somehow into the hill.

Auerbach:
The tunnel has been barred.

You can't get into it.

It's dark, so you can't see
What's down it.

What was the purpose of this?

What is it doing here,
And where does it lead?

What is it doing here,
And where does it lead?

Narrator: investigation of
The surrounding terrain

Reveals other
Bizarre constructions.

So moving away from this sort of
Mysterious tunnel,

All of a sudden you start
To come across

Some other quite quirky things.

Tucked in amongst
The undergrowth,

You find these brutal, heavy,
Robust concrete structures,

Very deliberately placed
But completely at odds

With the surrounding.

Narrator: the abandoned
Creations appear to be

From a different era entirely.

From a different era entirely.

So here we have this tunnel
On one hand,

But then we have these much
Later concrete structures

Scattered around
The countryside.

There's a link between them,
But what is that link?

*

Narrator:
How does the deadliest conflict

In history and a revolution

That changed the world
Unite the derelict structures?

*

Narrator: in southwest england
Are a series of structures

Built over a century apart.

Seemingly unconnected,
Their fates are tied by bloody

Struggle
And technological change.

Their story begins
In the early 1800s,

A time when britain
Was in the midst

Of the industrial revolution.

In the 19th century,
It's a time of opportunity.

We're moving from this
Very agricultural,

We're moving from this
Very agricultural,

Rural base
To a manufacturing setup,

And there is fortunes
To be made.

In this period, the demand for
Resources was huge

And growing daily,

But it was just about
How much you could get.

It was about how fast you could
It to where it needed to be.

Narrator:
The solution was a series

Of interconnecting canals

To link
The country's main rivers.

The canal system in the u.K.
Really kicked things off.

Suddenly there was a way
To transport these high-bulk,

Suddenly there was a way
To transport these high-bulk,

Low-value materials
Around the country,

Export them around the world,

And the canals made
That transportation possible.

*

Narrator: by the early 1800s,
Over 2,000 miles were built.

David viner is an expert on

The u.K.'s pioneering
Canal network.

Okay, so we just arrived
At a place called crimson hill,

Which is about halfway along
The line of the old canal

Which is about halfway along
The line of the old canal

That ran from creech,
Just outside taunton, to chard,

And this was a serious bit
Of geography

They had to contend with.

Auerbach: if you look at
The site from the air,

You can see the canal.

Just follow that line of trees,

And it goes pretty flat
For a while.

But then you get to this base
Of a significant hill,

And that's a real obstacle.

And there's no easy way
Round this,

So the engineering solution,
At a cost, is to go through.

So the engineering solution,
At a cost, is to go through.

*

Narrator: this is
The crimson hill canal tunnel.

Viner: we're just coming to
The entrance of the tunnel.

It's the first time I've been
Here, so it's quite exciting.

It's fenced off
To stop intruders.

Let's unlock the door.

Narrator:
In 1835, construction of this

13-mile long canal began.

The 5,400-foot tunnel

Presented the biggest
Engineering challenge.

Presented the biggest
Engineering challenge.

They dug down from
The top of the hill

And then dug out
Towards each side,

And they did this one first

Because if they
Couldn't overcome this obstacle,

Then the whole project
Would have fallen apart.

*

Viner: so we're traveling
Through the crimson tunnel now.

I don't know when the last time
Somebody came through

Because it's normally gated off.

This is really quite exciting.

This is really quite exciting.

It is in very good condition,

Water dripping
Through in places.

Narrator:
But the clock was ticking.

A new invention threatened

The supremacy
Of the country's waterways.

So in the case
Of the chard canal,

It was always at a disadvantage.

It was built late-on
In the canal period,

Right at the end of
The canal period.

By the 1840s,
The railways were coming,

And the advantage of
The railways

Is that they were much faster.

And they could carry
A lot more freight.

Narrator: by the mid-1800s,

Britain had over
6,000 miles of railroad track,

Britain had over
6,000 miles of railroad track,

Connecting more of the country
Than ever before.

Steam-powered locomotives were
Quicker and more cost-effective.

For the nation's canals,
The death knell had sounded.

Auerbach: in the end,
Canals couldn't really complete.

It became cheaper to lay down
Railway lines

Than to dig canals.

Narrator: after only two decades
Of operation,

The chard canal was abandoned,
But it appears

The demise of this waterway
Was not the end of its story.

The demise of this waterway
Was not the end of its story.

After the heydays of the canal,

The landscape just fell back
Into its rural farming role,

But these brutalist structures

That follow
The line of the canal

Mean that
Something else happened.

Narrator: 70 years after

The last barge
Transported goods,

The advent
Of the 20th century's bloodiest

Conflict demanded
The canal be repurposed.

Following the evacuation at
Dunkirk in the second world war,

Following the evacuation at
Dunkirk in the second world war,

Britain had to gear up to face

One of its greatest existential
Threats to it ever --

The possibility
Of a german invasion.

Defenses had to be prepared.

Narrator:
But this is not the coast,

So why build defenses here?

Out of nowhere there's this
Great concrete structure here,

Which is a pillbox,

Part of a second world war
Defensive line,

And it's in an absolutely
Commanding position.

And there's another over there,
So they could control

And there's another over there,
So they could control

The line of fire
In two different directions.

Narrator:
This is the taunton stop line,

A continuous
48-mile anti-tank structure

Running between the bristol
And english channels,

Intended to frustrate

Hitler's plans to invade
And take over the country.

When they were designing
This defensive line,

They wanted,
As far as possible,

To take advantage of the natural
Obstacles, so rivers,

Waterways like canals,
Railway embankments

Waterways like canals,
Railway embankments

Or anything
That proved an obstacle.

Narrator:
In a matter of months,

18,000 pillboxes and lines
Of antitank dragon's teeth

Were hastily constructed
At strategic locations

All over the u.K.

Here they were designed to
Protect the crucial

Southwest corridor.

Fortunately, the brave men
Stationed inside

Were never called into action.

They did the best they could
With the time

They had
And the materials on hand,

But in the end,

But in the end,

These fortifications
Were not going to stop

A determined enemy
For very long.

If you were stuck
In one of these pillboxes,

It was likely gonna be
Your last stand.

*

Narrator:
At the end of the war,

With the nazi threat
No longer looming large,

The redundant defenses
Fell quickly into disrepair.

This is not state-of-the-art
Defensive engineering,

But what it is, is a very quick,
Very cheap solution.

It gives heart to the population
That they're being looked after,

It gives heart to the population
That they're being looked after,

That they're being protected.

Narrator: today they survive
As a visible reminder of

Europe's bitter
Struggle against tyranny.