All language subtitles for Secret.Nazi.Bases.S03E01.Into.the.Wolfs.Den.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-BurCyg_track3_[eng]

- [Narrator] 1941,
Hitler sets into
motion the building

of a 90 square
kilometer complex

in the remote French
village of Margival.

- You're building
a city in an area that
is not developed,

and you are trying to
do that in secrecy.

It sounds
impossible, really.

- It would be very
difficult to get anywhere
near this place

as an unwanted visitor.

- [Narrator] Meanwhile,
on the eastern front,

Hitler moves into
the Wolf's Lair,

a secret headquarters deep
in the Polish wilderness.

He will go on to
spend more than 800 days
in this fortress,

commanding the
war effort.

- Hitler now personally wants
to be close to the front

so he can meddle
directly.

- [Narrator] In Margival,

construction moves
at a furious pace

to develop an elaborate
top secret complex,

one which will dwarf
the Wolf's Lair.

- Architecture in
Nazi Germany was

like the word of
national socialism
expressed in stone.

- The question is, is this
the hallmark or harbinger

for major action that was
planned to come that didn't?

- [Narrator] Just what is
this colossal structure,

and what could the Nazis
be planning to use it for?

[dramatic theme music]

[rocks crumbling]

[birds squawking]

Late 1943, top German
field marshall, Erwin
Rommel arrives

in the small village
of Margival, France,

flanked by an extensive
security detail.

Already a hive of
Nazi activity,

since local train traffic
had been cut off to the area

in early February, local
villagers are confined

to their homes as top Nazi
brass move into the city.

Locals have become
used to Nazi patrols,

and villager comings
and goings are being
watched closely.

Public buildings have
been confiscated,

and the local church
watch tower taken

down to avoid becoming a
mark for allied bombings.

Security is heightened

as Rommel's detail
moves to a restricted
construction zone,

90 square kilometers
protected by an
anti-aircraft

and anti-tank
defense line.

What were the
Nazis building,

and what was Rommel
here to inspect?

- Margival is about
300 kilometers from the
English channel,

about 100 kilometers
from the Belgian border.

- This tiny French village
is extremely rural,

it's in the middle
of nowhere.

And it is tiny,

there are fewer than 300
permanent residents there.

Suddenly it's been
taken over by the Nazis,

which would've been a massive
change for the people

who lived there and
for the surrounding,

what had been
quiet landscape.

[ominous music]

- [Narrator] But on
December 23rd, 1941,

Hitler signs an
order of requisition to
build at Margival,

and two months later, the
Nazis begin to descend.

Train service
is diverted.

Eight villages are placed
inside a security zone.

Nazis take over
local buildings, houses,
and edifices,

and the signs of construction
start to move in.

- Not only did the
Nazis fiercely occupy
this rural region,

they also requisitioned
a number of the
local businesses

and companies so that
they had absolute control

over their equipment
and products.

Things like
scaffolding, cement mixers,
jackhammers, cranes.

What on earth was going
on here that they needed

all of this stuff?

- The requisition
for the land was signed
in late 1941,

and by the end of 1942,

there were 6,000
workers beginning to
develop this land.

That number
increased quickly.

Within a year, there
were 6,000 workers.

Within 18 months of
getting started,

there were 22,000 workers

at work on a 90 square
kilometer complex.

- People in the area were
probably in a state of fear,

one; because they
couldn't understand

what these people were up
to because it was shrouded

in secrecy and they were
very forcefully excluded.

And also, there
was the fear

of if they inadvertently
stumbled upon some secrets,

they could pay a very
heavy price for it.

This sprawling area,
this vast construction,

what were the Nazis
trying to do over here?

[ominous music]

- [Narrator] When
Rommel arrives at this
top secret base,

he must go through
three levels of security

to reach the heart
of the installation.

- The level of secrecy and
protection of this site was

so important that there were
different levels of security

to get through before you got
to the heart of the complex.

To start with,

the surrounding fields
were filled with landmines.

There were then a number
of layers of protection,

from guard houses, and watch
towers, and security points,

all heavily armed.

- Hope for the best,
prepare for the worst.

And so that kind
of installation has
both an offensive

and defensive capability.

- You zoom out,
and out, and out,

and it's quite a massive
network of people

and thinking that is
needed to develop places.

I can't think of strategies
that would be effective

to hiding this
type of operation.

Machines, movements,
people, thoughts, planning,

landscape change,
concrete pouring.

Just the work that
needs to be done

to even set up to do this
work, there's a huge impact.

Doing that in secrecy
just seems impossible.

- The secrecy surrounding
this project was

so important to the Nazis
that the workforce were

only ever assigned
three months at a time

before being rotated
out somewhere else,

to make sure that nobody
ever got a clear idea

as to the purpose
or the function

of any particular
construction,

nor as to the scale of
the site as a whole.

- The question is,

is this the hallmark or
harbinger for major action

that was planned to
come that didn't?

- [Narrator] The bunkers
found at its center

are strongholds
built of two meter thick
concrete reinforced

with steel.

- Ordinance becomes
more powerful,

fortifications have to become
more powerful as well,

more robustly
constructed.

The whole idea of sloping
surfaces that will bounce

off an incoming shell
rather than hold against it.

- As engineers, we
need to understand

the different mechanical
properties of our materials.

Concrete is really strong,
but it's also very brittle.

If you can imagine a
shell impacting concrete,

the energy's going
to propagate through
and sort of burst.

You end up with shards,

you end up with
shrapnel from concrete.

Whereas with steel,

it is able to absorb and
dissipate that energy

through its
molecular structure.

And it deforms, it
changes its shape.

And if you have
really thick steel,

that deformation
is able to spread it
over a larger area.

If you have very
thin steel,

that deformation isn't
able to be absorbed.

The projectile penetrate
right through it instead.

So there's a function
of thickness, of mass.

- [Narrator] 80 years
after Rommel's visit,

these installations
have succumbed to decay,

but they are
also familiar.

[soft ominous music]

When Hitler signs the order
of construction at Margival,

he sets into motion the
methodical construction

of bunkers designed
by Organization Todt.

- Architecture in
Nazi Germany was

like the word of
national socialism
expressed in stone.

- The construction
of this complex came

under the jurisdiction
of Organization Todt,

which was the
Nazi's engineering
arm, if you like.

And they had a number
of standardized designs

and construction
techniques for different
types of bunkers,

different types
of buildings.

So they had standardized
munition storage bunkers,

standardized accommodation
blocks and offices,

standardized buildings
built to protect
sensitive equipment

from bombardments above.

And this site included
an elaborate combination

of a number of
these different
standardized designs.

- There's clearly a
plan behind all this.

The walls are gonna
be this thick,

there's gonna be
this much reinforcing
in that concrete,

it's gonna have these
features that are effective

for deflecting impact,
that are effective
for camouflaging.

Every little detail
is already thought

out before they even
touch ground there.

It's an incredible
operation of efficiency.

- The Todt Organization
had thousands and thousands

of engineers, skilled
workers, they had
volunteer laborers,

and they had as
well slave labour.

So there was a hierarchy
of how people were treated.

And at the bottom of
that, the slave laborers,

of course would've been
burnt out and used up.

And ironically,
todt means death.

- You have the
so-called racial enemies
of the Nazi state,

particularly European
Jews who fall under
German control,

whose labor is exploited
for war fighting purposes.

And there we encounter
another contradiction,

because we have a
regime suffering

from a human resource
deficit at the same time

that it's intentionally
murdering hundreds

of thousands of Jews and/or
working them to death.

And the decision to
use European Jews

as forced laborers was not
taken lightly by the regime,

when it really had every
intention on murdering them.

So it was considered
a sort of compromise.

"Well, if we don't murder
all of the Jews outright,

then what we're going to
do is employ their labor.

But really, the goal
is still to kill

them through forced
labor, and malnutrition,

and just general abuse."

And more and more,
this forced labor,

irrespective of
who's performing it,

comes to play a crucial role
in the German war economy.

And by 1944, one in
four workers in Germany

are forced laborers.

- If you have unlimited
people to do the work

because you're willing
to sacrifice them,

if someone passes
away, you just find
someone else to do it.

You throw 10 more
people at a project,

you're gonna move it
along even faster.

It's incredibly
difficult to imagine

that this was the
approach that they took.

[ominous music]

- [Narrator] Why were the
Nazis pouring resources

into this sprawling complex
in such a remote locale?

[ominous music]

[upbeat suspense music]

The secrecy, coupled with
the hyper acceleration

of construction at Margival
in Northwestern Europe,

point to a larger German
strategy for the region.

- The crucial turning point
in allocation of resources

to fortifications
in Northwest Europe

is usually about
the spring of 1942,

because it's a few months
after the Americans

are in the war
against Germany,

and the Germans are about
nine months into the war

in the Soviet Union.

And that war was supposed
to be over already,

but of course it's not.

And then it's clear to
anybody who's looking

at the situation
realistically

that the war on the Eastern
front is going to last

a lot longer than
originally envisioned,

and may very
well end badly.

So in those
circumstances,

it's prudent to
begin developing

the defensive infrastructure
in northwestern Europe

to respond to an invasion

that the allies are
already planning.

- It's more than likely that
that invasion will occur

along the French
coast, and so this makes
Northern France

an important point, or at
least a very important point

for the future of the
Second World War.

- [Narrator] These would
not be the only bunkers

Rommel would be on the
ground to inspect.

In fact, at the
time of his visit,

Rommel is completing a tour
of the entire Atlantic Wall.

- He was kind of the
inspector of fortifications,

as it were,

and he was making
sure that these met all
the requirements,

and would be a place
where Hitler could

actually personally
come and visit

and preside over the
front, as it were.

This was certainly
Rommel's burden,

to ensure that all those
requirements had been met.

- The question is,

how best to defend
Western Europe given

the limited resources
available to the Germans?

Building these
fortifications is expensive.

So we have Rommel
who is arguing that
the Germans need

to put their fortifications
as far forward as possible,

because he believes,
with reason,

that if the allies are able
to establish a foothold

or a bridgehead, that it will
be difficult to undo that.

- [Narrator] Built
from 1942 to 1944,

under Hitler's
Directive 40,

the Atlantic Wall commanded
3,200 miles of coastline,

with mines, pill
boxes and tanks.

It required over 17 million
cubic tons of concrete,

and 1.2 million
tons of steel.

- As some Germans
described the Atlantic
Wall at the time,

it wasn't really a wall
in the literal sense,

that was physically
impossible.

But they made the analogy

that it was more like a long
rope extending all the way

from northern Norway
down to the border

between France and Spain.

And that every so often,

at points where seaborne
attacks were likely,

there was a knot
tied in the rope,

and the knot represented
the local fortifications.

- [Narrator] The sprawling
90 square kilometers

of construction at Margival
is a mere 300 kilometers

from the Atlantic Wall,

and is encircled
by strategically
placed defenses.

- The layout is designed
to follow something called

a crossfire plan,

whereby each bunker has
a very well-defined area

that can withstand
a certain amount of
attack from firearms

or bombs whilst protecting
the blind spots

of surrounding
structures.

And to top it all off,

there were a number
of gun emplacements

that housed large
artillery, anti-tank

and anti-aircraft guns.

It would be very difficult to
get anywhere near this place

as an unwanted visitor.

[upbeat suspense music]

- It's in the
theater of operations in
Northwestern Europe.

And therefore,
in a circumstance
where the allies

increasingly are
exercising air superiority,

these forward command
complexes have

to be pretty
well protected.

- The scale of this facility
is not a show of status.

but it's scaling with the
size of the operations

that are being planned.

[upbeat suspense music]

- [Narrator] Moving through
the security checkpoints

of the structure, more
can be discovered.

- This was not a Spartan
military facility.

It was a military
headquarters,

but it also had comforts
that the Nazis didn't

usually build in to
their fortifications.

And one example here is
the infamous swimming pool.

It was a system for
capturing water,

but also quite clearly
a pool for swimming in.

This was a
creature comfort

that had been built
into the headquarters.

- A swimming pool
is typically built
below ground.

You have to excavate out,

you have to create a
bowl in the earth.

If it's soil, it's
easy to excavate.

If you hit rock, you
have to blast that.

It's quite hard
to scrape away.

And this is quite
a big pool,

so that excavation
is significant.

- Other notable features of
the headquarters included

a backup power station,

which ensured that
the headquarters could
keep running,

no matter what was
happening all around it.

And this suggests that
this was a facility

that was meant to be
used in the long term

and in increasingly
difficult conditions.

[upbeat suspense music]

- [Narrator] The
communications bunker

also signals the
site's importance.

- One of the most
important parts

of this complex
was bunker 005,

the largest communications
center built

during the Second
World War.

And it was so important, it
had its own power supply,

its own water supply, its
own air filtration system.

It also had 600
telephone lines, and
most significantly,

one was a direct
line to Berlin.

[dramatic music]

- [Narrator] Further
exploration shows the
site's potential

as a strategic reporting
station for field marshals.

- Bunker 005 existed to serve
as the communications hub

in support of Hitler and
the entire Nazi war machine,

if needed.

- The Germans have
this huge coast,

and there are many
different places

where invasion could happen,
and limited resources.

So they can't have
strong points

close to the
coast everywhere,

and that's why some of
these command facilities

are situated well inland,
near road hubs and networks.

So that irrespective
of where an invasion

or threat may materialize
on the coastline,

the command element is
able to address it.

[upbeat suspense music]

- [Narrator] Along
with being the Fuhrer,

Hitler was the head
of the high command,

directing the
armed forces.

This included the war
ministry, or OKW,

alonged with the Lufftwaffe,
Germany's Air Force,

and the Kriegsmarine,
the German Navy.

[upbeat suspense music]

- Where on one hand, Hitler
can be terribly insistent

that a particular course
of action is followed,

either at the
strategic level,

or even at the
tactical level

where he increasingly
intercedes,

which shouldn't really
have been his concern
realistically.

So on one hand, he
can be terribly insistent
on following

this or that course
of action, but at
the same time,

when it comes to
making, especially longer
term decisions,

could be terribly
indecisive

about how resources
should be allocated.

We see this time and
again with Hitler,

even early in the war when
there's some uncertainty

over what kind of Navy
Germany's going to build,

is it going to be a surface
navy or a submarine navy?

There's never any
resolution to that question,

and ultimately the
Germans then go to war

without a completely prepared
Navy of either type.

So it's a situation sometimes
where no decision is made,

which is even worse than
making the wrong decision.

- [Narrator] How
does this complex

outside of Margival factor
into Hitler's strategy

for the war?

December 23rd, 1941, Hitler
signs the order to build

on the Western
front at Margival.

For months, he's been staying
on the Eastern front.

- The Wolf's Lair
was a headquarters

from which Hitler commanded
the Second World War

on the eastern front
against the Soviet Union.

The Wolf's Lair was a
much smaller facility,

a much less
comfortable one,

but one at which Hitler
spent 850 days of the war.

- To fully appreciate the
scale of the construction

at Margival,

you need to compare it to
Hitler's primary residence

throughout the war,
the Wolf's Lair,

which itself consisted
of 200 buildings,

it had its own power station,
it housed up to 2000 people.

Margival was 40 times the
size of the Wolf's Lair.

[upbeat suspense music]

- [Narrator] The true
purpose of the headquarters

in Margival
becomes clear.

- The assumption, of course,
that the Germans are having

is they're gonna defeat
the Soviet Union.

[click clacking of
soldiers marching]

[canon explosion]

[fire sputtering]

And so once that happens,

either they'll make
peace with Britain

or they're now going
to return back to the
original plan,

Operation Sea Lion,
and invade now Britain

once they've
taken out Russia.

So you need that headquarters
in that location.

[upbeat suspense music]

- [Narrator] The
headquarters in Margival
would become known

as Wolfsschlucht
II or W2,

and would need to be
perfectly situated

to insulate Hitler from
a potential invasion.

The site is accessible via
roads, railways, and rivers,

along with four airports
within 30 kilometers.

- This particular,
the headquarters, the
Wolfsschluchts

or the Wolf's Gorge was
built in a strategic area,

again, just before the German
border would be looming

up on the inside
of France.

It's far enough from the
coast to be able to evacuate

the Fuhrer, if that
would be necessary.

- This was a place in
that sort of sweet spot,

not in a major city, but
definitely not isolated.

- Some people have pointed
out that it was close

to where Hitler had
fought in World War I.

It's actually fairly
close to Campaign,

and that maybe it was some
sort of nostalgia there.

- I think he was
thinking huge,

so he wanted this
to be almost like an
underground city.

This is where he was
going to set up his base.

He's getting ready.

[action instrumental music]
[rifle clicks]

- [Narrator] Most
importantly,

the site has the
perfect location

for Hitler's preferred
mode of transportation.

- The accessibility
of the site at Margival
was a huge part

of the design, so that you
could get there by road,

you could get
there by river,

but most importantly
for Hitler,

you could get
there by rail.

And more specifically,
on his own custom
built 17 car train,

which had two
locomotives,

it had two anti-aircraft
guns built into the train,

and a 22 man
security force.

[upbeat suspense music]

- He can essentially go
anywhere he needs to go,

as long as the Nazis can
control the railway system.

[dramatic bass music]

- [Narrator] The
goal was to protect the
Fuhrer at all costs

as he traveled
between the fronts.

Documentation of each journey
was destroyed after arrival,

so it could not be
used to plan attacks.

[dramatic bass music]

- One of the reasons
for building the
military headquarters

here at Margival was
because it lay upon a system

of railway lines.

And along this railway
line, Hitler and the
Nazis repurposed

a large underground train
tunnel to essentially create

a bunker for
Hitler's train.

The tunnel was
specially repurposed with
two lines of track

to allow Hitler's train or
any other train to be parked

and others to pass by.

And was a place where
Hitler's train could park,

and essentially wait
out any enemy attack.

- [Narrator] The Vauxaillon
tunnel was repurposed

from the SNCF rail
system's Paris-Soissons
Margival line.

[dramatic music]

- It was 30 meters down
from the plateau above.

It was 650 meters
long, and had two tracks
along its length.

The ends of the tunnel
were also blocked

off with doors reinforced

by 50 millimeter
thick steel plates.

- A bullet is not going
to penetrate that.

A shell is going to deform
it, but still be resisted

and contain that blast
on the right side of it.

[rocks crumbling]

- Anything that was parked up
inside there would've been

incredibly well
protected.

- [Narrator] The doors open
and are driven by a winch.

- Swinging that door alone
is a heavy, heavy force.

Imagine building
these plates,

and you can only build
plates in certain sizes

so you need to weld
that together,

so the fabrication of these
doors alone is amazing.

And then they're
heavy as heck,

so you've gotta have a crane
in place to position those,

and a hinge system to allow
for a rotation of that.

Just the operation
of this door alone,

it's really impressive
to think about.

- [Narrator] Ventilation
shafts and escape hatches

are installed to expel
fumes from the tunnel.

With this tunnel and
three rings of security,

a few bunkers left over from
1940 are quickly transformed

into the next Fuhrer
headquarters for Hitler.

And inside the
three rings,

a comfortable welcome
awaits the Fuhrer.

- The underground
bunker system built
here for Hitler was

a mix of comfort
and command.

It had the facilities he
needed to manage the war,

but it also had a
whole series of rooms,

like dining
rooms, bedrooms,

and other rooms
where he could live

while he managed the war.

[dramatic music]

[ominous music]
[birds squawking]

- [Narrator] Knowing
this site to be the
next Fuhrer bunker,

theories circulate
around the purpose

of the large pool found
within the complex.

[ominous music]

- First of all, Hitler
didn't exercise.

He was a sedentary
character who,

if he ever went for a walk,
always walked downhill,

and there was always a
car at the bottom waiting

to pick him up,

which was one of the factors
that aggravated his health

as he got into his
40s and early 50s.

So whether the
pool was put

there for other people's
recreational use or not,

I mean, that's possible.

- There are rumors that
this swimming pool was

actually installed
for Eva Braun, who was
a keen swimmer.

And from that,

you could deduce that
there must have been plans

for Hitler himself to
spend large amounts

of time here at Margival.

[upbeat bass music]
[swoosh effect]

- [Narrator]
Observing from above

the massive 90
kilometer installation
at Margival destined

to house the
Fuhrer himself,

those building it and
manning its battlements look

constantly to the skies
for signs of the enemy.

[upbeat bass music]

- It's a remarkable
fact that despite

the aerial reconnaissance
undertaken by allied forces

against France and
against conquered Europe,

this headquarters
was never discovered

by the allies
during the war.

- This gargantuan complex
took two years to build.

How on earth did it escape
detection from the allies?

[dramatic instrumental]
[swoosh effect]

- To try and do something
like this quietly is,

it sounds
impossible, really,

you're building a city in an
area that is not developed,

and you're trying to
do that in secrecy.

But every single move you
make is impacting the land.

You need to deforest things,
you need to build things,

you need to blast
things, create roads.

So our impact as
humans in a space, it's
evident over time.

It's like a time lapse,

you're gonna see
movement on that ground.

How do you build in
secrecy around that?

That's another variable
that they're thinking

about when they're
developing here.

We don't have to think about
secrecy in our projects.

We're able to be
open and clear about
what we're doing.

Adding in that layer
of complexity makes

it really difficult.

- What I find curious is that
considering how many agents

the allies would
have in France,

and the legendary
French resistance,

that there wasn't any
intelligence coming

from French resistance on,
especially by 1944, 1943.

So it does surprise me
it wasn't detected.

But again, if it's not
near another target,

we have those
famous photographs of
Auschwitz taken

by the US Air Force, but only
because they were bombing

a facility near
Auschwitz.

[fighter jet engine roars]
[bombs exploding]

- The allies have a
reasonably complete picture

of what the coastal
defenses look like

through their contacts with
French resistance elements,

many of whom are
living or working

in close proximity to these
coastal fortifications.

And of course the
coastal fortifications,

by virtue of
their location,

cannot be completely hidden
from allied observation.

When we're talking
about structures

that are built further inland
in occupied territory,

they might not be
so easily spotted

by allied
reconnaissance flights.

[fighter jet engines roaring]
[dramatic music]

- Their priority is
on getting ashore,

and then overwhelming
the German military,

that's their
top priority.

So with that in mind,

looking for secret bunkers
in the middle of, in effect,

nowhere isn't their
top priority.

Killing Germans
on the beach

and getting their
own boys ashore is.

[bombs exploding]
[waves crashing]

- [Narrator] Incredibly,

two years of
construction goes unabated
and undetected,

but that doesn't mean that
another kind of attack

isn't coming.

[ominous music]

- Their singular goal
for these structures
was to protect

the senior command,
that was it.

Nothing was going to
stop them from that.

They didn't have
those constraints.

That was their one goal,

every day they were
thinking about that.

And so it wasn't money,
it wasn't labor,

it wasn't materials,
it wasn't logistics,

it wasn't anything.

The environment
didn't factor in,

people's lives did
not factor in.

That sole goal propelled
them relentlessly

to do whatever it
took to make sure that
that was achieved.

- [Narrator] This suggests
a prolonged battle.

All of these
structures are built

to withstand
continuous attack,

and house Hitler for
months, and even years.

In 1942, Rommel visits
Wolfsschlucht II

to make final preparations
for the assumed arrival

of none other than
Hitler himself.

- People like
Erwin Rommel,

who was responsible for the
defense of the French Coast,

thought that troops,
that mobile forces
were the best way

to combat any invasion.

And he would've
preferred to rely more
on the fighting power

of men and tanks rather
than these fortifications.

But ultimately,
it was Hitler's view
that held sway.

- Rommel sees
Wolfsschlucht II's needs

as far more immediate,

and sends a dispatch shortly
after his visit requesting

he be stationed at
W2 in anticipation

of an upcoming invasion.

His request is denied.

This will all change
June 6th, 1944.

- It's inevitable that
the allies sooner or later

are gonna open up
the second front.

The only question is
where on the French coast

it's going to be, and
so June 6th, it happens.

- I mean, the great
mystery is over,

as to where the allies
are gonna land,

when they were
gonna land.

And the allies had
gone to great lengths

to conceal the actual
details of D-Day.

So the reality is
already there on their
very doorstep.

- This is the invasion
that everybody was
dreading forever,

and that the Russians were
desperately asking for.

It's the second front.

It's, we're hitting
now Northern Europe.

- The D-Day landings
for the Western allies
really represent

in the European theater
of war at least,

the culmination of
years of planning.

Because much like many
of the German commanders,

the Western allies were
fixated on the challenges

of penetrating this
defended coastline.

And from the perspective
of the 1940s,

landings against defended
coastlines were not

commonly attempted,

because a landing force could
become victims of weather,

tide, and other
natural phenomenon that
were impossible

to surmount with the
technology of the day.

Consequently, when
the bridgehead,

which was a combined
amphibious and airborne
bridgehead,

is effectively established by
the end of the 6th of June

at a rather lower
cost than what anybody
dared to expect.

And at least in
part, that success on
the 6th of June was

a function of the
Germans confused reaction
to the landings.

[dramatic music]

- [Narrator] Under
Hitler's command,

the German war machine is
still pouring resources

into the construction
of Wolfsschlucht II.

Meanwhile, the Atlantic
Wall coastal defense can

no longer hold back
the allied forces.

[bombs exploding]

- This is a disaster
for the Germans.

The allies get a ground,
a hold, beachhead,

which wasn't
supposed to happen.

All these fortifications,

all these things
that were supposed

to stop them in
the water failed.

And now they got a leak,

and now the allies
are pouring hundreds of
thousands of men,

and there's no
stopping them.

- [Narrator]
Rommel sends frantic
dispatches to Hitler,

voicing how overwhelmed
they are at the front.

- The situation is becoming
increasingly tense,

because it's imperative
at that stage

that the Germans
prevent the allies

from breaking out of
the Normandy peninsula.

Contrary to the popular idea
that Hitler is directing

everything with the puppet
strings at the very top,

actually in
many respects,

power becomes quite
decentralized,

and there are
so many different
stakeholders involved

that we end up with a sort
of jungle when it comes

to who is going to
determine the direction

of key strategic
decisions.

All of them claiming
that they're the ones

who are working
toward Hitler's will.

- [Narrator] Hitler
sees the note and
launches into a fury.

He plans his first
visit to W2.

[soft ominous music]

[upbeat suspense music]

Frustrated by Rommel's
view of the western front,

Hitler prepares to make
his first trip to W2.

[upbeat suspense music]

- Hitler now personally wants
to be close to the front

so he can meddle
directly.

And with allied troops
now on the ground,

Hitler's gotta be
kept safe, as well as
people visiting him.

- [Narrator] With no
time to travel by train,

Hitler flies into Mets
under Luftwaffe cover.

He's been diverted
from Enna,

which had been bombed
two days earlier.

Hitler is then
transferred to a car,

and spends eight hours
driving towards Margival

under cover of darkness,

taking many detours
around severed routes

and protected
by SS officers.

- Even his trip from
Berlin is quite dangerous

because he can't take
a train anymore,

the allies are better
at bombing those things

and are looking for
trains on the move.

And of course
with them ashore,

there's all sorts
of questions

about the security
apparatus that's necessary.

[upbeat suspense music]

- [Narrator] In the depths
of the Fuhrer bunker,

Erwin Rommel awaits
his arrival with nervous
anticipation.

He knows Hitler will not
appreciate the dower news

from the front.

Within hours, Rommel
will advise the Fuhrer

to pull back from
the Atlantic Wall,

reinforcing them with
Hitler's own OKW,

which ultimately means
losing ground to the allies.

[upbeat suspense music]

June 16th, 1944,
Hitler arrives at W2

with over 100 flack
artillery poised

to intercept
enemies from above.

He passes through three
rings of security,

towards what was intended
to be the command center

of another Reich victory.

[upbeat suspense music]
[clock ticking effect]

On no sleep, he enters the
room to find Rommel ready

to deliver the bad news.

- Hitler arrives at
the headquarters,

and he's furious about
the course of the war,

he's extremely
frustrated.

And he meets his
commanding generals there,

he meets Rommel
and others,

and Hitler and his
generals discuss the
course of the war.

- By June of 1944,
the end is nay,

but the only one who
doesn't fully understand

that is Hitler.

And that I think is
well documented.

A lot of people who knew
him and talked to him were

consistently pointing
out that he had lived
in a fairytale.

And so he was commanding
fictitious armies.

He wasn't listening to
generals who were trying

to tell him as
nicely as possible

that the war
effort was done.

- Some of the guys who
haven't had physical contact

with Hitler are
kind of shocked

by just how delusional
Hitler is by now.

He's getting
high at night,

he's on all sorts
of amphetamines.

The guy's hitting the
pipe essentially,

and that doesn't
bring rational,
unemotional thinking.

- What exactly
transpired, what kind
of conversation is,

there's a lot of
speculation about that.

But given what we know of
Hitler in his last days,

it's quite obvious to
think he wasn't happy

with what Rommel
told him.

And we know definitively
that Rommel had contemplated

and probably
suggested surrender,

which of course is not in
Hitler's mind whatsoever.

- That is a true
turning point

within Hitler's
own inner circle,

because now he's getting
pushback from his own men.

You can see him
kind of unraveling.

[upbeat suspense music]
[clock ticking effect]

- [Narrator] Hitler
leaves in a rage,

refusing reinforcements
and plans for peace talks.

Furious, he skips his
next meeting with generals

about the state of
troops in France,

and returns home
to Germany.

[upbeat suspense music]
[clock ticking effect]

- Hitler cuts his meeting
with senior generals short,

citing a security threat
due to the misfiring

of a V1 missile.

Well, 75 years on,

researcher has shown that the
V1 misfire happened miles

away from Margival.

And that the security
threat to Hitler was no way

near what he claimed
at the time.

- The way the
regime was set up,

the way the regime
was organized,

I mean, it would be
very strange to find
that the Fuhrer

around whom the entire Reich
was, as it were constructed,

was taking orders or advice
from a field marshal.

The Fuhrer could
not be wrong.

- And so he came
in a hissy fit,

panicked about the
allies getting ashore

at Normandy in
the first place,

and then he left
in hissy fit.

[loud bang]

[ominous music]
[birds squawking]

- [Narrator] With Hitler
returning to Germany,

and disarray on
the western front,

Paris returns
to the allies,

presenting a clear
path towards Germany.

Hitler orders Paris
destroyed by V1s and V2s,

but a general refuses
because he loves the city,

yet another sign of defection
from Hitler's higher ups.

[upbeat suspense music]

- Inside, deep inside, or
maybe not so deep inside,

he understands that
the cause is lost.

But since Hitler looks at
the world in binary terms,

"We're either gonna
come out with everything

or we're gonna
be destroyed,"

why not throw your last
energies into the fight,

why not put all of the
chips on the table?

It'll be total victory
or self destruction,
essentially.

It's not unreasonable
to describe

the Nazi state
as a death cult.

- Symbolic domination
is not real domination.

So a megalomania
and great ideas,

even great engineering
skills only go so far.

The reality was that Germany
was not in a position

to fight a war on two fronts
against very strong enemies,

and that was inevitably
gonna show at some point

or the other.

[upbeat suspense music]
[clock ticking effect]

- August 28th, 1944, the
allies reached Soissons,

and it falls to
troops of the first army
of General Hodges.

- After the phenomenal
effort, and materials,

and cost that went into
designing and building

the site at Margival,

Hitler only ever spent
one day at the complex.

- It's difficult to reconcile
looking at these structures

from an engineer's
point of view

and then from a humanitarian
point of view as well.

They're impressive
structures,

they're impressive projects
in terms of their ability

to build something
rather quickly.

But you have to remember
that they're also have

a very sinister purpose,

there's quite an evil
approach behind them.

Knowing that so many
people died for this,

it's quite devastating.

- [Narrator] The
allies are shocked

to find the 90
kilometer installation.

It becomes the
subject of an inquest by
the American army.

Why did no reconnaissance
flights detect it?

[fighter jets
engines roaring]

- I mean, you can
only imagine what it
must have been

like for those
allied soldiers who
first discovered

this site when that
area of France was
liberated in 1944.

I mean, the
shock of it all,

the awe of it all
must have been

quite something to
properly take in.

[upbeat suspense music]

- This is in France.

It's within reconnaissance
range of their airplanes.

They're flying over,
they're taking pictures,

they're looking
at things.

Nobody noticed such a massive
infrastructure project.

That's gonna be
considered a failure

in military intelligence.

- [Narrator] What might
have happened had

the Germans been able to
hold the Atlantic Wall?

Would Hitler have committed
a crippling offensive

from inside the
Fuhrer bunker?

Could the same
boardroom where Rommel
delivered the news

of D-Day instead
have been the sight

of Hitler's greatest triumph
as he pushed the allies

back towards defeat?

- If the German forces
had retreated slightly

and set up better
defensive positions,

they might have been
able to force the allies

to something of a
standstill in France.

[ominous music]

- Had the Nazis
managed to resist the
advance of the allies,

you can't help but
think what would've
become of the complex

at Margival.

Who would've
resided here?

what decisions would've
been made here?

What were the intentions
for this enormous complex

in the longer term that were
never properly realized?

- [Narrator] 80
Years later,

what was built as an ultras
secured military complex,

a closed fist of steel and
concrete around the Fuhrer

is now a relic of Hitler's
incredible megalomania

and denial,

and the place where
Hitler was once asked
to face the truth.

- Hitler, he enslaved 22,000
people to build a facility

that would never be used.

- These were not
realistic projects.

These were projects
which were half fantasy,

half megalomania.

- You gotta understand
that there's not always
logic applied

to everything
the Nazis do.

So sometimes we look
for logical reasons,

but don't forget this is
the man who demonstrated

anything but logic
his whole life.

So building grand
fortifications towards
the end of the war

for purposes that
are anybody's guess

is kind of what
the Nazis did.

[ominous music]

[dramatic theme music]