All language subtitles for Secret.Nazi.Bases.S01E04.The.Doomsday.Castle.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-BurCyg_track3_[eng]

- [Narrator] Hidden in the
middle of a remote forest

in Northern France, the
Nazis build a structure

of colossal proportions.

- It's spectacularly huge.

- This is just a giant
block of concrete.

- There is no way to hide
something of this scale.

- [Narrator] The
sheer size and speed

that the construction
presents baffles

the watching Allies,
who must find out

what the Germans are planning.

- There must be something
awfully important going on

inside that facility.

- Something that is
not meant to be exposed

to the outside world.

- [Narrator] As
the Allies watch,

a secret terror is
forming in this building.

- This is a new type of terror.

- It took people's breath away.

- It is an absolute
game changer.

- [Narrator] Yet this
secret base will guard

its mysteries throughout the war

and even after its
capture and inspection.

- The Allies knew that
the Nazis were working

on something terrible
in these facilities.

- What is hiding
inside this building?

[dramatic music]

- [Narrator] The forest of
EÉperlecques is dense, high

and set in the
valley of a mountain

just west of the
small town of Watten.

It's the site of a
mysterious structure.

- It just exudes this menace.

- It has that thick, permanent,
evil mysterious look.

[speaks foreign language]

- [Narrator] In 1943, an
Allied reconnaissance plane

spots the construction
of a giant complex

in the EÉperlecques forest
in Northern France.

Unbeknownst to them,
Hitler has a secret plan,

more terrible than anything
the Allies have seen.

And this place is a
foundation of the plan.

- The Nazis built a
lot of big bunkers,

big structures, but this had
to be one of the biggest.

It's literally one of
the largest structures

one would ever see.

- It's a big lump of concrete
in the middle of nowhere.

What the heck could that
possibly have been used for.

- [Narrator] Though Hitler's
plans may be ambitious,

he's deliberate
about his strategy.

In December, 1942, he sent
engineers and officers

on a tour of Northwest France
to find the perfect location

for his secrete base.

- The forest chosen for
where Blockhouse was

to be constructed is
absolutely perfect

for what the Germans
want to achieve here.

It's on a railway line.

It's got a Luftwaffe
base right near by.

There's a radar station.

It's near a river,
so they've got water

for their construction
and for cooling

and everything else they
might need that for.

But it's far enough
away from the sea

so they don't come under
the threat from naval guns.

It backs on to a hill to
protect it from artillery fire,

and of course is
concealed by a forest.

- There is a town nearby,
but it's not big enough

for this particular
site to raise any kind

of attention or concern.

[speaks foreign language]

- [Narrator] By March, 1943,
Hitler has approved the plans

for the site.

His go-to engineering firm,
Organization Todt moves in

6,000 workers, all French,
Belgium and Dutch-forced labor

to begin the excavations.

- Organization Todt
built the Autobon,

the Atlantic Wall,
the Siegfried Line

and so many other remarkable
engineering structures.

- Hitler ordered that
the site be operational

for the 1st of November,
1943, which meant

that they had to build it
in less than six months.

The speed is just phenomenal.

- I worked on some projects
that were municipal bridges,

two, three-lane
bridges, that took years

in the planning and
execution of it.

And that's just a small bridge.

That is a tiny, tiny
portion of Blockhaus.

There is no scale that
can be compared to that.

It's a massive building.

- With everything going
wrong for Nazi Germany,

how did the marshal
the resources

to build something that
big at the end of the war

when everything's imploding.

Where's the money?

Where's the concrete?

Where's the labor coming from?

- Chanling managed to have
it ready in just six months.

[dramatic music]

[speaks foreign language]

- This is an astronomical
amount of concrete.

- In order to create
Blockhaus, the Nazis used

120,000 cubic meters of concrete

that was reinforced with
20,000 tons of steel.

- The reinforcing bars
were made off site,

and they would come
in large bundles.

Those bars maybe
needed to be bent

or cut into different
lengths to be able

to create the structure.

They needed to be placed,
to build this rebar cage,

and tied together to
create a rebar structure.

Then the concrete was
poured around that.

- To feed this construction
that was so concrete-hungry,

cement mixers were
turning and churning out

what was needed, 24
hours a day continuously

during this construction.

[speaks foreign language]

- This is a really
tall structure.

They had to pump that liquid
concrete up to the top

to be deposited into
the forms continuously

as they move across
the construction level.

It's not easy.

- The labor force
needed to build

a concrete mountain
is astronomical.

They used forced labor
from concentration camps,

prisoners of war.

The advantage there is you
don't have to pay people,

and you can literally
work them to death.

- They were working
12-hour shifts

with three to
4,000 men per shift

with only a few
20-minute breaks.

Many workers died on the site.

- [Narrator] In the
space of nine months,

about 35,000 people passed
through the Kraftwerk Nord site.

- Blockhaus must have been
a beehive of activity.

You have trains pulling
in around the clock.

You have trucks coming
in around the clock.

You have laborers
coming around the clock.

And your workforce is literally
working around the clock.

- Yeah, the Allied
planes overhead looking

down on this are baffled.

They can only speculate, what
on earth is this site for?

- [Narrator] Some of
Churchill's advisors

thought it looked
gun emplacements.

Others believed that the
site had no offensive role.

Could it have been a power
station as the locals were told?

- Secret research labs,
weapons factories,

rocket launchpads.

- They may have even
thought that it was a decoy.

- The importance of
what's going on down here

is very much in the
minds of the Allies.

- Hitler's intent was
to have 50 blockhauses

along this stretch of land.

The construction required

to build blockhauses
is substantial.

And you wanna replicate
that 50 times?

The resources, the labor,
the infrastructure alone

just to build the concrete
structure is massive.

- The Nazis clearly
were fanatical

and clearly humanity and
empathy were not a part

of any aspect of
the Third Reich.

But my god, they were organized.

Some of the things they managed
to do are just shocking.

- At this point with
24-hour construction,

the Germans need to
floodlight the site

so they can continue
working through the night.

- By this stage in the
war, the Allies really

leave no stone unturned.

They are photographing
every section of France

that they can get
their hands on.

So they're asking
themselves this question.

Why is it that the
Germans are building

this obviously important
site at such speed,

in full view of the Allies?

It's effectively a gigantic
sign saying, here we are.

Come and bomb us.

- [Narrator] Even though
the Allies have no idea

what this site contains,
they classify it

as a heavy site.

Will they discover the
terrible secrets hiding

inside this structure?

In 1943, Adolf Hitler
ordered the construction

of a massive facility
code named Kraftwerk Nord,

in the forest outside
the village of Watten.

The base is 110
miles from London,

and its size makes it a
target for Allied bombings.

- As fanatical as Hitler was
about building the Blockhaus,

the Allies also
prioritized what they

called Operation Crossbow.

This was the systematic
effort to attack

every one of these facilities.

Sometimes what we don't
know is more terrifying

than what we do know.

And the Allies knew
that the Nazis were

working on something
terrible in these facilities.

But because of the secrecy that
shrouded all these projects,

they didn't know
exactly was in there.

All they knew was they
had to destroy them.

- [Narrator] Hitler knows
this bunker is risky.

But its top-secret purpose
may be the only thing

to help Germany win the war.

- They're trying to second
guess what the Allies

are going to do, how
they might try and defend

against your plans.

Do they know your plans?

- [Narrator] As Allied
bombers fly overhead,

how could the Nazis protect
this critical site from attack?

- Well, with the Blockhaus,
there's no hiding it.

There's no hiding a pyramid.

There's no hiding a skyscraper.

This thing was simply so big.

So rather than try and
hide the actual Blockhaus,

they just reinforced it.

- This site is so
critical, that the Minister

for Armaments, Speer,
orders that it's constructed

to special fortification
standard, [speaks
foreign language]

16-foot of concrete that
can repel the heaviest bombs

the Allies can bring to bear.

- [Narrator] To make the
complex bomb-resistant,

walls are built of thick
steel-reinforced concrete.

- The intention with
Blockhaus was that it would be

not bomb-proof, but
blast-resistant.

Hence the amount of
concrete used, that wall

of concrete that you're
confronted with when you see it.

But building with concrete
doesn't necessarily mean

you can keep bombing
whilst you're building

and everything's gonna be okay.

- [Narrator] By 1943,
the Allies ruled

the skies over France.

Although the German
Luftwaffe still has bases

in the area, they're no
match for the Royal Air Force

and the American pilots
who have joined the fight.

- By now the Allies are
carrying out systematic,

wave after wave of
air attack against

key German positions.

So imagine if you're
in the slave labor

that is constructing
this enormous edifice.

You can hear the hum and
the roar of the engines

as they pass over, or
the single aircraft

photographing your position.

No, they weren't stupid.

They knew what was coming.

Any day now, the Allies
were going to attack.

- One of Churchill's advisors,
Sir Malcolm McAlpine,

comes up with an ingenious plan.

He advises Churchill
to bomb the concrete

whilst it's setting,
whilst it's still wet.

If concrete's hit when
it's dry, when it sets,

it will crumble, it
will break, it will

expose the still rebar inside.

So you've still got part
of a structure there

you could patch up, put concrete
back on, let that reset.

- If you drop a bomb
in wet concrete,

it explodes concrete
everywhere, wet concrete.

And that concrete will
cure and create a crust

on whatever it touches,
and it's impossible

to form and fix.

You'd have to jackhammer
it out of place.

It's like putting a can
of pop in your freezer

and it's exploding everywhere.

It just creates a huge mess
that is really difficult

to clean up.

So the strategy of
hitting this bunker

when that concrete is
wet, it was a great idea.

[suspenseful music]

- [Narrator] On
August 27th, 1943,

with the site just 35%
complete, 187 flying fortresses

and 147 thunderbolts appear
over the forest of EÉperlecques.

[speaks foreign language]

- The Allies were
planning to bomb at a time

when the workers had
stopped their shift

or were on a break.

They get it wrong.

The workers are there.

- The Allies, unlike the
Nazis, tried to minimize

civilian casualties and
especially forced laborers

from concentration
camps or POWs,

some of which were
former Allied soldiers.

But war being war, and a
total war, and a world war

against a fanatical regime,
there's simply no way

to assure that you don't
have any casualties.

- This was an intense
raid by the Allies.

It completely destroys the
northern half of the building.

- The building's unusable,
and the German engineers

must have had their hands
on their heads thinking

this is just a
complete disaster.

- You wouldn't
wanna be the person

who had to go into the
room to tell Hitler

that his cherished
bunker, the place

that was gonna help him
bring Britain to its knees,

had been destroyed.

- The Allies have no idea
what it is they've stopped.

But they've created
a massive setback

for Hitler and his plans.

- [Narrator] But the
Nazis would rebuild.

And it would completely
confound the Allies.

Why rebuild a structure that
is in complete shambles?

Could there be a clue to
the purpose of this base

hidden in the twisted remains?

What secrets did
Hitler have planned

for this covert building?

[dramatic music]

August 27th, 1943, the Allies
bomb a secrete Nazi base

near Watten in Northern France.

- The Allies are happy with
the outcome with the air raids.

They've hit the concrete
whilst it's curing

and created a mess that's
pretty much irreparable.

- The idea of bombing the
Blockhaus while the concrete

was wet and setting
up is a great idea.

The heat from the reaction
would cause the rebar

to deform and be mangled.

You would have wet
concrete everywhere,

which is very difficult
to fix and clean up.

The surfaces that you
were on would be mangled.

And so rebuilding
from that point up

would be really difficult.

It sets you back so
far in the construction

that it would be
so disheartening.

- [Narrator] After the
bombings, Organization Todt

surveys the damage.

While the south end of the
building remains intact,

the north end of the structure

has been completely destroyed.

And the shattered
concrete fragments

make it impossible to rebuild.

[speaks foreign language]

- We know that as the
course of the war went on

that Hitler became
enraged when things

didn't go his way.

So now imagine the
news gets to him

that this particular
bunker complex, so crucial

to his effort, has
been destroyed.

- Blockhaus was one
of his great dreams

and one of his priorities.

And when it becomes
nonfunctioning, one
can only imagine

the violent response that
Hitler had to hearing that.

- Hitler of course
expects that the engineers

are gonna come up
with a solution.

They're clearly looking
at this site and thinking,

well we've invested so much
time and so much money,

so much material,
we've got to be able

to do something with it.

Otherwise we really have
wasted this construction.

But because of the genius
way that it was attacked

wen the concrete was setting,
there was literally no way

that they can salvage this site.

- [Narrator] Determined,
the Germans continued

to build the site, completely
baffling the watching Allies.

- The Allies cannot
understand why Hitler insists

and persists on
constructing Blockhaus.

Even though it's partly
destroyed, the Allies can see

how much damage they've
caused from their raid.

They've created a mess.

When they hit it, Blockhaus
was only 35% complete anyway.

So what is it that's
going on in there

that has Hitler still
trying to get it finished?

- Was this the stubbornness
of the German engineers

to try and get this
done despite the odds?

Was it something about
their efficiency of work,

or was it fear that they felt?

- That must have been
maddening for the Allies

not knowing what
was happening there.

- [Narrator] But as the
construction resumes,

bombs continue to fall.

Churchill won't
allow the Germans

to go about their
business so close

to the English Channel.

To ensure this, the
British bomb the complex

four more times in
a matter of weeks.

- The Allies really had
no idea what the Blockhaus

was being used for.

- In the '40s, you don't have
the kind of espionage tools

and tricks that you have today.

- Looking at this structure
relative to the other structures

along the Atlantic
wall, it's inconsistent.

It's a giant block in
the middle of nowhere.

- So they're looking at
this site and saying,

okay, what is it exactly?

- They may have even
thought nuclear reactor.

- Maybe these sites are
just more of the Nazi deceit

and decoy campaign.

Is it a waste of our
resources to continue

to hit these sites?

- Lord Cherwell, Churchill's
scientific advisor,

is looking at this site
and he can't work it out.

He can't work out what it is.

He's looking at it thinking,
well they're clearly

putting a lot of emphasis and
effort into this building.

So therefore it must
be worth bombing.

- [Narrator] As the Allies
watch, the Germans begin

a massive undertaking and
an engineering marvel.

- The design called
for a concrete slab

that's 16 feet deep.

I mean, that's one foot.

So 16 times that.

In total using 37,000
tons of concrete.

The plan then is to slowly
raise this concrete slab up

using hydraulic jacks, and
then the walls would be

built up underneath it.

[speaks foreign language]

- Now the allies are
watching the enormous roof

come rising out of the forest.

And again they're
asking themselves,

jus what is going on here?

- This thing weighs
tons and tons.

And it's large
because the footprint

of the building is quite big.

And so they have to
jack this slab up

at a consistent
rate across the slab

so that it didn't have
differential settlement

and potentially crack
the slab as well.

The coordination
required to actually

execute this plan
is substantial.

- That idea to me sounds
completely insane.

But they had no choice
because that's the only way

that they could have
constructed the building

under constant enemy fire.

[Hubert speaks foreign language]

- The engineering and
resources that would go in

to taking something that
weighs tons and tons and tons,

a roof, and building a
facility underneath it,

it blows the mind.

The Nazis were always creative.

They were always
overly ambitious.

They were not easily deterred.

And sometimes it worked,
and sometimes it didn't.

- [Narrator] Set
in their new plan,

the Germans construct a
colossal concrete bunker,

the likes of which the
Allies haven't encountered.

- And you can imagine how
puzzling this must have been

for the Allies.

From what they can see,
it's a giant concrete slab.

Why is there so much
importance put on this?

Why go to the effort
of rebuilding something

that's already been destroyed?

- The Allies continue to bomb.

The Germans continue to build.

But the only people who know
what's inside that building,

are the Nazis themselves.

The Allies, they're left
scratching their head thinking,

what on earth does
this building contain?

- [Narrator] Throughout
the autumn of 1943,

Allied bombs fall
on Kraftwerk Nord,

a vast Nazi structure
in Northern France.

- The Allies tried to
destroy the Blockhaus

and they did hit it, but
they didn't destroy it,

and it was rebuilt.

The Nazis continued producing
whatever terrible things

they're producing inside.

- And somehow Blockhaus managed
to maintain its secrecy.

Why go to to the effort of
reconstructing something

that they've already destroyed?

- [Narrator] After the
bombings, Adolf Hitler

meets with Albert Speer,
and Organization Todt

chief engineer
Franz Xaver Dorsch,

to discuss the
Kraftwerk Nord problem.

With the structure now
damaged, they decide

to build another site
only a few miles away

at a quarry they had
been using for storage.

Why would the Germans not
only rebuild Blockhaus,

but also build another
site so close nearby?

- Hitler decides to
construct another site,

but this time taking much
of the operation underground

to give it an added
layer of protection.

Add to that the roof this
time would be in a dome shape

to give it more
structural integrity,

and to provide more
protection from the bombs

raining down from above.

The fact that Hitler
decides to keep building,

despite the failures,
despite of being warned

in the past that big bunkers
were not the way forward,

just goes to show how important
this Blockhaus was for him.

At any cost, it needed to work.

- [Narrator] The Nazis spent
another year building the site,

having it blown up
and rebuilding it.

What new purpose could they have

for the wrecked Kraftwerk base?

- By now the Germans even
understand themselves

that the Blockhaus is
just too juicy a target

not to hit.

So they keep on building
giving the Allies the idea

that it was still worth bombing.

Meanwhile, they're
building elsewhere.

This could be yet another
sign of the German ability

to use information to
misdirect their enemy,

to confuse their enemy,
and to make the best

out of a pretty bad situation.

- You know it was this
cool game of the dog

chasing its tail in a circle.

The Allies bomb the facility.

The Nazis rebuild it.

The Allies bomb it.

The Nazis rebuild it.

Now it's a drain on both sides.

The loss of bomber
crews was shocking

as Nazi antiaircraft
were shooting these down.

The more the Nazis
are forced to rebuild,

they're running out of money.

They're running out of concrete.

They're running out
of everything at
the end of the war.

But it begs the question, if
something is worth rebuilding

time and time and time again,
there must be something

awfully important going
on inside that facility.

- [Narrator] On June
19th, 1944, an Allied raid

drops a powerful new
weapon on Kraftwerk Nord,

the Tallboy bomb.

- Warfare is always a matter
of keeping with the Jones's.

The enemy makes a
powerful weapon,

so you need a more powerful one.

- The Tallboy was
an earthquake bomb

designed by the British
towards the end of the war.

And it was so heavy it
could only be carried

by a Lancaster bomber.

- So these earthquake
bombs were capable

of just massive destruction.

And they had a fuse and a
design that they could bore down

and then detonate rather
than detonating on impact,

which would have more of
a chance of destroying

something like the Blockhaus.

- It goes into the
core of the structure

sending shockwaves throughout
all the structural points

in the building, effectively
rendering it useless.

- It's almost like the
Tallboy is quite literally

ripping the guts
out of a building.

- To guarantee the success
of the Tallboy bombs,

each one had three delay fuses.

So even if two didn't work,
the third one hopefully would.

- [Narrator] The shockwave
caused by the Tallboy

devastates the site.

- When the bomb hits, some
of the German soldiers

are killed by the
actual explosion itself,

but just from the sheer
shockwave was sent out,

its destruction ripples
through the entire structure.

- With one bomb, you
can create a much bigger

site of destruction.

- It will find weak points.

It will topple over anything
that is not robust enough

to withstand that energy
and will potentially cause

internal collapse of any
load-bearing elements.

It's like if you were to put
a firecracker on your hand,

light it and let it go, your
hand's going to get burned

because the firecracker's
gonna disperse

and it has environment to
work its energy out into.

However if you were
to close your fist

and light that firecracker,
your gonna lose your hand

because that energy is
confined and its going

to rip through your hand.

- Whatever's left over
would need to be discarded

because there was really
no way of reconnecting

the steel that would have
been destroyed or bent,

leaving Hitler with
the only option

of completely
restructuring the building.

- The Tallboys were
incredibly destructive.

There's craters that
were 80 feet in diameter

and up to 100 feet deep.

And that is the
result of the Tallboy.

You can imagine
containing all that energy

inside of a bunker.

It would blow it, blow
it to smithereens.

- [Narrator] In July of
1944, the Allies dropped

15 more Tallboys on
the Kraftwerk Nord site

and 16 on the Wizernes bunker.

Even after being
hit with so many

of the Allies'
powerful new weapons,

the Kraftwerk Nord
site still stands,

and the Germans
don't give up on it.

- The Germans keep building it.

So there must have
been question marks

popping up all around the place.

Why is it that
they're so stubborn,

and they're prepared to
build again and again.

Each time we attack,
they keep on building.

The secrets of the
building must have been

driving the Allies crazy.

- [Narrator] In a forest
in Northern France,

Allied Tallboy bombs
devastate a mysterious

concrete structure
built by the Nazis

for a secrete purpose.

Though the base has lost
its original capability,

the Germans have
new plans for it.

- The Germans do notice
that the Allies are paying

a lot of attention to this
site because they don't know

what's in it.

So they decide to use the site

for another purpose, deception.

- And they continue to
build it just to draw in

Allied ammunition, Allied
effort, Allied energy

that might have been
deployed elsewhere.

- They developed
a lot of decoys.

They used deceit and
misinformation as a front

in the war, and they
were very good at it.

- Perhaps it was
not just a decoy,

but it was also
them understanding

how they can construct
buildings that would be able

to withstand some sort
of substantive impact.

- The Germans came up for
a code name for Blockhaus

in the end.

Translated it means
concrete lump.

- [Narrator] On September
4th, three months

after the D-Day
invasion, Canadian forces

captured the site.

Would the remains of this
facility provide any clues

to its intended purpose?

- One can only imagine what
the Canadian liberators

felt when they walked
upon such a structure

in the woods.

And the first scientists
who were brought in

to figure out what
was going on here,

must have just scratched
their heads and been in awe.

- All of the documentation
that may have been in there,

would have been destroyed.

And it's a testament
to their abilities

of secrecy and misdirection
that the Allies

were not able to determine
what the building

was to be used for.

- Even after inspection by
some of the top Allied experts,

they're still not
able to work out

what the purpose
of this site was.

The mystery of the
building continues.

[speaks foreign language]

- [Narrator] What the
Allies discover is

shocking and terrifying.

This structure was
designed to launch

the new V2 rocket,
capable of raining down

unheard of destruction on
cities as far as London.

- By 1943, the complexion
of the war has changed.

The Luftwaffe does
not control the skies.

The Kreigsmarine does
not control the seas.

Hitler is not able to
expand the Third Reich.

He needs a hail Mary
at the end of the game,

something so terrible
that it'll change

the complexion of the war.

- If I'm an engineer and I'm
working for the Third Reich,

I wanna find something
that is innovative.

We want to get a leg up,
and we need something

to help us.

And part of that
plan was the V2.

- [Narrator] At Peenemunde
Army Research Center,

top rocket scientists
and minds in Germany

were hard at work designing
this cutting edge new weapon.

- Wernher von Braun, the
famed rocket scientist,

was the lead scientist there.

This is where they were
developing Hitler's

mad wonder weapons.

Rocket technology
was in its infancy

and thus comes the
V1 and then the V2.

- Hitler sees the V2 as
his vengeance weapon.

He can't continue to
fight this war simply

on land and in the air.

He needs a new weapon,
and the V2 is it.

- This is the largest,
fastest, most powerful rocket

of its time.

It's capable of traveling
all the way across

the Channel with ease.

And they produce a
few thousand of them.

- It's tempting to dismiss
these wonder weapons

as then glorious fantasies
of Hitler's crazed

and deranged mind.

But you only have to look
at Hiroshima and Nagasaki

to understand the wonder
weapons of a nuclear scale

changed the tide of the war.

They quite literally brought
countries to surrender.

- [Narrator] Because Germany
had some of the best minds

in physics and
rocketry, the V2 program

was a true breakthrough
in technology.

- The Germans were,
a lot of the time

way ahead of the game.

And the same can be
said for their know-how

on rocketry and ballistics.

- Everything the Germans
seem to have done

has a feeling of efficiency
and precision and progress,

just an interest in
stepping forward.

- The scientists were
thinking out of the box.

What's next?

What new fantastical
and terrible weapon

are they gonna produce?

- [Narrator] Unlike the
V1 rocket, which has been

previously used
throughout the war,

the V2 shoots straight
up into the thermosphere

before plummeting
back towards earth

to hit its target.

The missile has a
range of 186 miles

and is virtually invulnerable
to radar and antiaircraft.

- The V2 rocket was
just a massive weapon.

It was 45 feet long.

It weighed 27,000 pounds.

It could travel 80
kilometers into the air,

and it traveled at
speeds that were

up to 3,500 miles per hour.

- In order to achieve
that, the rocket's tanks

hold 9,200 pounds
of ethyl alcohol,

and over 12,000 pounds
of liquid oxygen.

That massive amount of fuel
contained within the rocket

is then pumped through
1,200 individual nozzles

at exactly the right ratio
to achieve the perfect mix.

- The V2 rocket also
contained a pretty

sophisticated guidance system.

There were two gyroscopes
which indicated the position

of the rocket, and it
also had an accelerometer.

That was a critical component
of the guidance system

because it told when
the rocket needed

to basically shut
off so that it would

reach its intended target
with its ballistic trajectory.

- The V2 weapon is so advanced
it's virtually impossible

to detect, to track
and to counter.

- Even if you could
track it, there was no

antiaircraft system, no
plane in the Allied arsenal

capable of flying
remotely that fast

to try to shoot this thing down.

It was basically a
bomb with a tail on it.

[speaks foreign language]

- The V2 rocket is so
advanced, it becomes

the first manmade object
to travel into outer space.

On the 20th of
June, 1944, one V2

crosses the common
line, which is basically

the boundary between
the earth's atmosphere

and outer space.

And you can see why
further on down the road

the Americans become
very interested

in German rocket science.

- [Narrator] In early
1942, Hitler set a goal

to fire 144 V2 missiles per day.

- The damage from one V2
hit, could complete take out

a multi-story building and
kill hundreds of people.

So imagine what Hitler's
plan was, to rain down

hundreds of these
rockets every single day

on metropolis like London
and other big cities

on British mainland.

- The warhead of the V2
rocket is 2,100 pounds.

But 2,000 pounds of
that is explosive.

That ratio is astronomical.

It is 93% explosive power.

- I would imagine that it
could basically wipe out

the entire city of London
within that one day.

[speaks foreign language]

- The V1 rocket had a signature.

They could identify the rocket.

It had a very distinct sound.

The V2 didn't.

The V2 hit before you
knew it was coming.

It enhances the
psychological terror aspect

of the weapon.

- Some people said
they saw nothing.

Some people said they
saw a thing streaking

in the sky.

All the people said
that the explosion

was like nothing they
ever heard before.

And it would obliterate
entire blocks.

Hundreds of people murdered.

And they don't know
where it's coming from.

- [Narrator] The plan called
for 50 V2 sites installed

across the Western front.

- All of that is within
300 kilometers of London.

So London and other large
cities on British mainland

are well in range here.

And that is an insane
amount of firepower

that would have
rained down daily

onto the British mainland.

Hitler's convinced that
this plan and this firepower

is gonna bring
Britain to its knees.

- [Narrator] The V2 appeared
to be the game changer

Hitler was after.

But with the Nazis
losing ground in the war,

how would they produce
and launch enough V2s

to turn the tide
back in their favor?

- Well, Hitler was mad.

And Hitler's folly,
his continually making

the wrong decision helped
the Allies win the war.

He set goals to launch
so many rockets per day,

the goals were utterly and
fantastically unrealistic.

So these things use
so much liquid oxygen,

and this is
enormously expensive,

time consuming to
produce, and by 1943,

Nazi Germany's
running out of money.

They're running
out of resources,

and most importantly,
they're running out of time.

- Despite engineering
challenges along the way,

the V2 is eminent.

The challenge now is
to be able to launch

these V2 rockets in volume
and with maximum efficiency.

Hitler's vision for the
V2 rocket launch site

is through a series
of well-entrenched,

well-defended bunkers.

They're static but we're
talking about high volume.

- [Narrator] Albert Speer,
Hitler's chief architect,

recommends mobile launchers
called meillerwagen,

portable trailers
with hydraulic lifts

and built-in fuel tanks.

- Albert Speer and Hitler
got into a disagreement.

Speer says we should not
build more hardened sites

to launch these.

We should put 'em
on a mobile rail,

a trailer perhaps.

That way we can launch and hide.

- All of this is happening
within the context

of a huge amount of
air force activity.

The Allies are sending out
planes on a daily basis.

They're bombing.

Albert Speer's argument is
that by having static bases,

they're vulnerable to
attack, constantly.

- Fortunately for history,
Hitler overruled him

and said no, we
build hardened sites.

Had Speer carried the
day in that argument,

the number of
casualties inflicted

would have been
exponentially higher.

- [Narrator] From this
site, Hitler intended

to launch a quarter of his
planned V2 missile capacity,

36 missiles per day,
straight towards London.

But those plans would
never be carried out.

The devastating allied
bombings in August, 1943

destroyed the north
end of the building,

crippling the site's
launch abilities.

However, the south
end remained intact,

and the Nazis had a
new purpose for it.

In a Northern French forest,
an allied Tallboy bomb

destroys a V2 facility
built by the Nazis

to launch a space-age weapon
that could have changed

the course of the war.

- The V2 launch site
at Blockhaus was

a failure ultimately.

No V2 rocket was
ever launched there.

Even after it's captured and
inspection by specialists,

the Allies still can't
work out what secrets

were held within Blockhaus.

- [Narrator] Hitler
orders the Blockhaus built

110 miles from London,
well within V2 range.

- Hitler wants dozens of
V1, dozens of V2 sites.

He's limited in
where he can put them

because of the reach
in terms of the rocket.

So he needs to place
them strategically.

- [Narrator] It's built
to be a one-stop shop

for V2 production,
a railway station,

V2 assembly factory,
liquid oxygen plant

and launchpad all in one.

- When they first built the
Blockhaus, it was going to be

where they assembled
parts of the V2.

They don't construct
them completely.

They were still on
rail bringing the parts

into the Blockhaus.

They assemble them there,
and they can launch it there

and from France, they
can still hit the targets

that they need.

- [Narrator] Liquid oxygen
would be produced onsite

to minimize volume loss.

- Creating liquid oxygen
is no easy process.

Oxygen, as we have around
us, wants to be a gas.

If you're making
it into a liquid,

it requires a huge amount
of energy and effort

to keep it as a liquid.

Once you've got liquid
oxygen contained in tanks,

it wants to get out and it
will dissipate over time.

So you want the shortest
distance possible

from its construction
and storage

to where it's gonna be used.

- [Narrator] The V2s would
be hooked up to fuel sources,

loaded with explosives
and moved outside

via rotating doors to
be launched rapidly.

The devastating Allied
bombings in August, 1943

destroyed the north
end of the building.

- By now Hitler and
Speer have had to give up

on the Blockhaus as a launch
site for the V2 rocket

that's gonna change the war.

And they do have other plans.

- [Narrator] The south
end of the building

containing the liquid
oxygen facility

remains intact.

- The V2 production
is still going on,

and they still need
the phenomenal amounts

of liquid oxygen for
other rocket sites.

They're already building a
better launching facility

not too far away,
using the liquid oxygen

that they're now producing
at the Blockhaus site.

- [Narrator] Following
the Tallboy bombings

in the summer of 1944, Hitler
moved the V2 facilities

back to Germany away
from the Allies' reach.

Yet even after capture
in September of '44,

this would not be the end
of the building's story.

- The Americans
developed the Dizzy bomb,

which is a 4,500-pound bomb.

And they needed
somewhere to test it.

What better place to
test it than on a bunker

that was built to
withstand bombs.

- It's built proper solid.

It's far enough away
from civilization

and it's massive.

What was once something
they wanted to bomb,

funnily enough they
still want to bomb,

but for very different reasons.

- We would normally
test something like this

on the computer, using
computer simulations.

Rarely would there even
be access to a structure

that would have been
fortified as much

as the Blockhaus had
been, that they could use

to carry out physical testing.

- [Narrator] Hitler's V2
dreams never materialized

and the war ended soon after
the events at Kraftwerk.

Yet the secrets
of the V2 program

would not be lost to history.

- The Third Reich is over.

The vision Hitler had
completely destroyed.

But the fruits of the
scientific endeavors

that the Reich was
dedicated to, remain.

- When the war ends,
the United States does a

snatch and grab
effort with something

on the order of 1,500 of Nazi
Germany's leading engineers,

leading scientists, among
them Wernher von Braun.

And rather than have them
face trial at Nuremberg,

or rather than put a
bullet in their head,

we bring them back
to the United States.

The V2 was one of
the most diabolical

and deadly weapons of its time,
used for purposes of evil.

Yet the V2 gave birth to the
kind of rocket technology

that allowed us to go to
the moon and explore space.

- [Narrator] Some 5,000
V2s were produced,

and over 3,000 launched
against Allied targets.

An estimated 9,000
casualties were inflicted

by this new
technological terror.

- Luckily for the
Allies, and indeed

for the rest of the
world, the V2 program

came into place too late in
the war to have a real impact.

We can only imagine
what would have happened

and the number of people whose
lives would have been lost

if Hitler had decided to
build this program earlier on,

and what would have happened
if he had followed the advice

of his advisors and generals
and picked the mobile

rocket launchers rather
than the fixed sites

in the Blockhaus.

- When I see the Blockhaus,
I would expect there

to be quite a bit more
destruction visible.

It makes me fairly impressed
that they were able

to still maintain
this type of structure

despite the intense bombing.

- I'm always
impressed by the scale

of what mankind can build.

When you see Blockhaus and
something else happens to you,

it's quite intimidating.

- The Blockhaus is a
monument to engineering

and science at the time.

And it's a very eerie
reminder of the destruction

that can also impart.

- The Blockhaus is
Hitler's sought-after dream

of an impregnable fortress.

It's bombed, and
bombed with some

pretty impressive weapons,
and it doesn't destroy it.

It seems to be indestructible.

- [Narrator] We can
only speculate what
kind of destruction

Kraftwerk Nord
might have unleashed

had the Allies not destroyed it.

The V2 might have
been the weapon

to bring about German victory,
launched from right here

in the woods at this
secret Nazi base.

[dramatic music]