All language subtitles for Secret.Nazi.Bases.S03E02.Run.Silent.Run.Deep.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-BurCyg_track3_[eng]

- [Narrator] In 1977, Peter
Johnson, a geomorphologist,

stumbles upon the remains
of something strange

and manmade in the remote
region of Labrador, Canada.

- This is in an
extremely remote,

almost arctic
part of Labrador.

- [Narrator] Canisters
and antennas are strewn

among the rocks.

One canister is labeled
Canada Meteor Service.

- It's not
something ancient.

It's something modern
that doesn't make

any sense to be there.

- [Narrator]
Although he suspects

it's a Canadian
meteorological installation,

Peter Johnson has
no idea what secret
he has uncovered.

- This place is hundreds
of kilometers away

from any settlement.

And this geomorphologist must
have been left thinking,

"What on earth are
these objects?

What are they doing here,
and how did they get here?"

- If Germany could establish
a base on Newfoundland,

imagine what they could
do to North America.

[intense dramatic music]

[graphics thudding]

[graphics crumbling]

[guns firing]

- [Narrator] In May of 1940,
Germany invades France,

Belgium, Luxembourg,
and the Netherlands.

In June, the Nazis
invade and capture Paris,

and days later, France
signs an armistice.

- As Great Britain now
suddenly is isolated

from the continent,
especially by 1940,

after June 1940,
France falls.

Belgium, Holland, the
Netherlands are, you know,

occupied by the Germans,
the entire coast.

Really, Britain is the
only one left standing.

- [Narrator] Pursued
by Nazi forces,

the British evacuate
from Saint-Nazaire,

leaving behind one of
the largest port cities

in northern France along
the Atlantic coastline.

- Saint-Nazaire
played an important part
early in the war

during the defeat
of France.

When British forces
were fighting in France

alongside the
French forces,

they eventually had to
retreat in what's called

the Miracle of Dunkirk.

And what people don't
always realize is that

Saint-Nazaire was another
location by which British

and French forces were
rescued from the continent.

With its important place
on the Bay of Biscay,

it had always been an
important port facility

or dry dock facility
where ships could be

repaired and rebuilt.

- [Narrator] With the
surrender of France

to the German forces,

the port quickly becomes
a hive of activity.

- What on earth
was going on here?

[knuckles rapping]

- [Narrator] Many
residents are evicted
from their homes,

and those who remain in
the now occupied city

witness activity
near the Loire.

Traffic in the
harbor increases,

and Nazi officials arrive
to assess the space.

- Northern France for

the Nazis during the Second
World War was strategic,

both in terms of any
kind of offensive drive

into Great Britain,

it would've been
launched from that area,

and certainly in terms of
defensive strategy, as well.

- [Narrator]
Within a year,

a massive building
project will commence.

- The secrecy
surrounding this project

was so important
to the Nazis.

- [Narrator] Although
the Germans utilized

their ground and air forces
with extreme efficiency

in the early years of
the war, increasingly,

the Atlantic Theater
becomes an important venue.

In 1939, the war
enters the Atlantic

and becomes a
major battlefield

between the Allies
and the Nazis.

- The stakes couldn't have
been higher for the Allies.

How were they going
to defend themselves?

- They realized that
looming behind Allied forces

on continental Europe is
a pipeline of support,

as North America
sends firepower,

supplies and troops to
help push back the Nazis.

Disrupting Allied shipping
routes becomes top priority.

- They were
dependent on food,

but also dependent
on the troops

and the machinery and
the weapons of war

that were produced
in North America.

And for those tanks and those
soldiers to get to Britain,

they had to travel across
the Atlantic Ocean.

- [Narrator] During the
early months of the war,

access to waterways is
given to the Kriegsmarine.

In 1939, the
Kriegsmarine,

unable to challenge the
British and French navies

for the commandment
of the sea,

focused on
commerce raiding.

Many German warships,
including their U-boats,

were already at sea
when war was declared

in September of 1939,

and they immediately
began attacking

British and
French shipping.

- It shows you how
important it was

that the Germans were
able to go after

the supply lines
to the Empire,

and that never stopped.

From the beginning of the
war to the end of the war,

the Germans saw that
as a vital importance.

- [Narrator] On
September 21, 1939,

US President Franklin
D. Roosevelt replaced

the Neutrality Act of
1937 with cash and carry,

a provision in the Neutrality
Act that Congress had added,

permitting the sale of arms
to European warring parties

as long as they crossed the
Atlantic on their own ships

and paid for them
at once in cash.

- Roosevelt ideologically
is dedicated to somehow

supplying the
British effort.

Firstly, this
is a hold out,

and he's gotta get
that through Congress,

and it is difficult.

- We're talking about
transport ships carrying

thousands of men, but
also oil, gas, iron ore,

textiles, food stuffs.

Those are big,
slow ships.

They travel in huge
numbers together.

Those convoys principally
launch from Canada,

from places like Halifax,

and their jaunts over
the Atlantic is perilous.

As a matter of fact, many
of them never came home.

We often forget that,

how many ships went
down in the process.

- The United States moved
gradually from a system

of not selling weapons,

to selling weapons to
the United Kingdom,

to ultimately entering into
a system called Lend-Lease,

where the United States
was lending weapons

to the United Kingdom,

who would then pay back the
United States after the war.

- And Roosevelt knows
that Great Britain

is this last bastion

of freedom, essentially.

This isn't about
democracy.

Screw democracy. We're
just talking liberty.

- And so the Atlantic was
this pathway through which

the combined might of
North American industry

could send aircraft,
tanks, cannons, bullets,

and shells to those forces
in the United Kingdom

waging the Second
World War.

- [Narrator] And it
isn't long before U-boats

joined warships in
targeting Allied convoys

during the early
days of the war.

- U-boat was essential
to interrupting

all this naval traffic.

- [Narrator] And as
U-boats target and take out

Allied shipping lanes,
performing countless
sneak attacks,

the Allied cruising vessels
and military struggle

to keep the Nazis at bay.

- Between July
and October 1940,

almost one and a half
million tons of cargo

was sent to the
ocean floor by these
invisible predators.

- [Narrator] And with
the Germans battering
their fleets,

the Allies have their
work cut out for them.

- The Allies were
terrified of the threat

posed by the U-boats because
they just didn't have

an effective means
of defending themselves
against them.

- [Narrator] The Royal
Navy, in response,

introduced convoy systems

and formed anti-submarine
hunting groups

based on aircraft carriers
to patrol shipping lines.

They had anti-submarine
weapons, but nothing
comparable.

- These U-boats would
kind of pick off

the weak in the convoy.

There would be destroyer
escorts that would attempt

to sink the U-boats,
but of course,

escorts are also
vulnerable to a torpedo.

- [Narrator] But despite
the Royal Navy's efforts

to stop the attacks
on their fleet,

the U-boats continue to
wreak havoc in the Atlantic.

- In that age of,
again, non-satellite,

unsophisticated electronic
detection systems,

it could hide
very easily,

although acoustically
you hear it.

But still, not the way you
can target a U-boat today.

- [Narrator] In the early
days of World War II,

U-boats team up on taking
down shipping boats,

gaining incredible
success in the ongoing

Battle of the Atlantic.

There is simply no end to the
terror beneath the water.

- U-boat crews spent weeks
and weeks, sometimes,

you know, before they
would resupply, re-up.

- [Narrator] From July
of 1940 into October,

282 Allied ships are sunk
off the northwest approach

to Ireland, and
by March of 1941,

shipping convoys are
sailing with escorts

along with aircraft
support overhead.

- The U-boat was
the one weapon that
could really sever

the lifeline of
Allied forces,

and it was crucial to
find a way to defeat it.

This is what made the U-boat
menace so threatening,

because if the Nazis
could cut off this route,

this Atlantic route by
which convoys of troops,

men and food were reaching
the United Kingdom,

they could strangle the UK
and force it out of the war.

- German U-boats
successfully targeted

more than 1300
Allied vessels.

- [Narrator] But this
wasn't the first time

they had been
used in war.

[explosion booming]
[intense dramatic music]

As the battle of the
Atlantic rages on,

Germany's U-boat fleet
manages to more than double

the number of Allied
warship hits.

- German engineers
had had almost

a hundred years' experience
working with submersibles,

dating right back to the
very first submersible,

something called the
Brandtaucher in 1850.

- [Narrator] Designed
by Bavarian inventor
Wilhelm Bauer,

the Brandtaucher
was designed to end

the Danish
naval blockade.

- Hitler had anticipated the
importance of the U-boat.

He had worked hard to
make sure that Germany

was constructing
these in the 1930s,

even breaking
some international
rules to do so.

- [Narrator] The Minister
of the Marine allowed him

to construct a model that was
demonstrated in Kiel Harbor.

It performed adequately
and was followed up

with a full model, although
slightly scaled down.

On February 1, 1851
in Kiel Harbor,

the Brandtaucher sank.

The crew escaped, but due
to it having no ballasts,

water pooled in the
bottom of the submarine
under the floor.

The Brandtaucher was
followed by the Forel,

the first fully-functioning
German-built submarine

built by the Friedrich
Krupp Germaniawerft yard

in Kiel, which had an
internal ballast and tanks.

New models were created,
the SM U-1, U-2,

and eventually the
U-19, built for the
Imperial German Navy,

which conducted raids all
throughout World War I.

- So if you compare
that to the Allies

at the beginning of
the war, at least,

the Nazis had a
significant advantage

when it came to
submarine warfare.

- [Narrator]
Although submersibles
give the Germans

an edge during
World War I,

they are forced to
surrender their fleet

on October 24 of 1918
under the armistice

of the Treaty
of Versailles.

Those in home waters
were taken to Harwich.

Vessels were studied,
scrapped, or given
to other navies.

The Treaty of Versailles
was signed at

the Paris Peace
Conference in 1919,

and restricted total tonnage
of the German service fleet

and independent
tonnage of slips,

and forbade construction
of submarines.

- The Treaty of
Versailles that had ended

the First World War
governed just what arms

Germany was
allowed to build.

And Hitler explicitly worked
around the Versailles Treaty

to ensure that Germany
was building U-boats.

- [Narrator] Hitler
negotiates to start building

them up again and
overall rebuffs the
Treaty of Versailles.

- So by the time the
Second World War begins,

the Germans are ready
for undersea warfare,

and they're only going
to keep building more

and developing better
U-boats throughout the war.

- [Narrator] But no more
than would put him on parody

with the United Kingdom.

For years, he's
been concealing the
building of vessels

or explaining them
away as research.

Now, Hitler is
ready to re-arm.

- Early U-boats
typically had a range

of 4,300 nautical miles

and a capacity to carry
up to 14 torpedoes.

By the end of the war,

those numbers had
increased significantly.

- [Narrator] The Type
VII U-boat had a range

of 8,500 nautical
miles, active sonar,

diesel engines with
electric motors,

and the capacity
for 14 torpedoes.

- A Type IX U-boat,
for example,

could travel almost 13 and a
half thousand nautical miles

and could carry up
to 22 torpedoes.

- [Narrator] The G7e,
an electric torpedo,

had 20 different
versions, and depending
on the warhead,

could contain a charge
of 250 to 280 kilograms

of a mixture of
dipicrylamine and TNT.

They were powered by a 60 to
72-kilowatt electric motor

with lead acid batteries.

The Type IX U-boat
was also equipped

with an anti-aircraft deck
gun and two periscopes.

- The U-boat posed the
single biggest threat

to the Allied war effort.

- [Narrator] With new U-boats
being sent to the coast

to an impenetrable
hiding place for them
to dock to refuel,

the U-boat menace is one
that is hard to stop.

- If the United Kingdom
could not receive food,

let alone troops and
war material required

to attack conquered Europe,
the war could be lost.

- [Narrator] The importance
of getting supplies,

weapons and machinery to the
UK and Europe is crucial.

- It was massive.

It was strategically
probably the most important

battle of all.

It's the one we kind
of don't realize,

I guess because it was
happening underwater,

literally,
submarine warfare.

- [Narrator] With Nazi sunken
dangers stalking the convoy,

German U-boat technology
and hunting tactics make it

particularly difficult
to target U-boats
from the surface.

- They use communication,
of course,

radio and secret codes
like the Enigma machine

to communicate
with one another once
they've identified

a suitable target.

So they will conceivably
go after any military ship.

- [Narrator] While the
Allies continue to look

for signs of the hidden
menace on the water,

on land British code
breakers do their part,

working to crack
the Kriegsmarine U-boat
communications.

- The German codes during
the Battle of the Atlantic

are ciphered using
a special machine

called the
Enigma machine,

which was thought to
make their communications
unbreakable.

- [Narrator] In
that same year,

after Enigma machines and
code books are captured,

Bletchley Park breaks
the Enigma code.

On May 8, 1941, German
submarine U-110

is rammed by the
HMS Bulldog.

The crew evacuated,
but the U-boat doesn't
sink immediately.

Allies are able to
seize an Enigma machine

and its operating
instructions,

giving code breakers access
to German communications,

an edge the Allies
desperately needed

if they were to take
control in the Battle
of the Atlantic.

[explosion booming]

As the Battle of the
Atlantic rages on,

the Allies gained
control of a U-boat,

giving them access to
secret Nazi communications.

- When they were able to
break the U-boat codes,

they were able to find out
where these U-boats were.

This would allow
them either to move

to destroy these U-boats,

or even better to route the
convoys on a different path

to avoid the wolf packs.

- [Narrator] The Nazis
would have to come up

with new tactics and
technologies to win

the now intensified
Battle of the Atlantic.

- The Germans,
for their part,

realized that their
codes were broken,

and they added
an extra rotor,

an extra complication
to their Enigma machine,

which made their codes even
more difficult to break.

- [Narrator] Having
secured their ability

to safely communicate
once again with the fleet,

the U-boats would continue to
wreak havoc on the Atlantic.

- They were truly, truly
built to cause damage.

There was nothing
benign about a U-boat.

Their mission was
to be secretive,

to be unseen
and to destroy.

On September 3rd,

the day that Britain
declared war on Germany,

there was a civilian ship
that had left England

sailing to Canada, and it
was called the SS Athena.

And these were people
that were fleeing Britain.

That very day, actually,
it was in the evening,

it was sunk by a
German U-boat,

and over 100
people perished.

- They were really at the
mercy of these U-boats.

- [Narrator] By 1941,
the Nazis had gained
superior access

to the waterways of the
Atlantic by conquering

many countries such as
the Czech Republic,

Slovakia,
France, Belgium,

Greece, and many more.

The U-boat threat feels like
one that can't be contained,

but to keep pressure
on the convoys,

the U-boats have
to be kept up.

The fleet requires
constant fuel, supplies,

and safe harbors to
dock between missions.

- Over the course of their
occupation of France,

almost immediately they begin
this massive construction

of what becomes a
massive city of concrete.

[flames roaring]

- [Narrator] While the Battle
of the Atlantic rages on,

Saint-Nazaire is eyed
as an early U-boat base.

- Saint-Nazaire
is a particularly
important location

for the Germans once, of
course, they occupy France,

because it ultimately
ends up being

their only Atlantic
base where they have

a dry dock facility,

which means that they
can affect repairs.

- [Narrator] So what is
it about Saint-Nazaire

that made it so
important for the Nazis?

- Saint-Nazaire is
also located on the
coast of Brittany.

That makes the range
of U-boat operations

across the breadth of the
Atlantic the logical place

that they would be based,

so it's a hub in
many respects.

- Germany being
landlocked, you needed
access to the seas.

That was going to be a
critical thing for this war.

That played into the
design for sure.

They weren't gonna
build a facility

that could easily
be damaged.

They needed to make something
that was quite robust,

would be able to manage
any sort of attack,

and work and
function for them,

because this was a
critical thing to access

the seas and bring
war that way.

- In December 1940, a group
of elite German engineers

arrive at Saint-Nazaire
on the French east coast

with plans to construct an
enormous concrete structure.

- It became incredibly
important for the Nazis

as a site to house and
repair the U-boats

that were fighting the
Battle of the Atlantic.

When the Nazis finally
took over Saint-Nazaire,

they found already existing
dry dock facilities,

but what they built
there dwarfed anything

that had come before.

- There needs to be a
particular depth of water

for it to be able
to traverse to.

It needs to have adequate
space to draw from.

And then you also have
to get that U-boat

up to the surface
and then service it.

And you have to be
able to access all sides
of it, as well.

So from a structural point of
view, we need a big space.

- [Narrator] Two
months later,

building begins under
the watchful eye

of a Nazi engineer
named Probst.

- Then you need
machines to operate.

You need cranes,
you need people,

you need platforms,
you need tools,

you need machinery that's
going to service this boat.

So there's a ton of activity
inside of this space.

- [Narrator] It takes
four months to build

the first three pens, and an
additional 11 by June 1942.

- The entire structure
covers an area

of 39,000 square meters.

It's 300 meters long
and 18 meters high.

Almost half of that
height, though,

is taken up by the roof,
which is eight meters thick,

and it's built
up through different
layers of concrete,

granite and
steel-reinforced concrete.

And this building is
built to protect.

- [Narrator] Here,
crews can refuel, rest,

dine with others, have
their U-boat serviced,

and be protected
from aerial attack.

- The Germans built a
series of U-boat pens.

These are protected
areas where U-boats
could be repaired,

but could also replenish
and restaff themselves

when out of the battle.

In addition to the docking
stations for U-boats,

Saint-Nazaire represented
a large facility.

It had dozens, 92
dormitories, a whole
series of offices.

It was an important node
in the German's ability

to wage the Battle
of the Atlantic.

- [Narrator] But
at Saint-Nazaire,

danger lurks over
the Kriegsmarine.

- Repeated attempts to
attack Saint-Nazaire

and to eliminate the U-boat
base there in particular

are pretty useless.

They make some damages and
they destroy part of it,

but they're not able to
get to the hub of the base,

and therefore the Germans
are able to prey upon

all ships in
the Atlantic,

which is the lifeline for
the British, in particular,

in surviving the war.

- The roof or the top
layer of the U-boat pens

at Saint-Nazaire was
over eight meters thick,

made up of concrete
with reinforced steel
and other stone

designed to make the
U-boats totally protected

from Allied bombers.

- [Narrator] As
the Kriegsmarine
entrenches itself

along the coast,
docks become a target
for Allied bombings.

Is this the only
hope for incapacitating
the U-boat threat?

- Over the course of the
Nazi occupation of France,

they continued to
fortify and build up

the facilities at
Saint-Nazaire,

and they actually built
a series of locks,

which was a defensive
system that made it

very difficult to
approach the U-boat
pens from the water

without the proper
authorization.

- [Narrator] With
refueling stations,

maintenance and crew
replenishment all happening

under one roof in
Saint-Nazaire,

the prospect of
incapacitating Saint-Nazaire

by bomb becomes obsolete.

The U-boat and warship
menace is now operating

completely unchecked.

Having control of these
waterways enabled them

to provide fuel and
other supplies needed

for the U-boat pens.

The infrastructure that
they created for the upkeep

of their U-boat fleet
was staggering.

- The fact that the
U-boats were successful

in sinking so much
Allied tonnage

or so many Allied ships
crossing the Atlantic

raised real fears that the
Allies would lose the war

during the Battle
of the Atlantic.

- They were hunting.

They were looking for
these Allied ships,

whether they were tourism,
whether they were military,

whether they were
merchant marines.

They were targeting
anything that shouldn't be

in the waters that
they didn't recognize

as being one
of their own.

And so they, that they were
on the hunt, if you will.

They were looking for
ships to take out,

and they didn't really
care about how big

or how small
these ships were.

- [Narrator] As the Allies
scrambled to keep up

while monitoring U-boats, the
fate of the war is at stake.

- We often forget that

biggest, longest
battle fought in the
Second World War

was the Battle
of Atlantic.

This was, this
went for years,

and this essentially

was the battle to
keep supplies coming.

- [Narrator] With new
fortified U-boat pens

being erected
along the shores of
continental Europe,

the U-boats docked
in Saint-Nazaire

would be embarking
on a new mission,

one in particular that
would see a U-boat

go to an extremely
remote and strange place.

This is the coast
of Labrador.

Harsh, remote, and
far from Europe.

Why would the Nazis
send a lone U-boat
to remote Canada?

- Weather and information
about weather

played a remarkably important
role in planning operations

in the Second World War.

- [Narrator] Controlling
the skies came down

to new technology,

one that could accurately
predict the weather.

- The Nazis must have
intended for this site

to be an incredibly crucial
part of their war machine.

- [Narrator] In 1940, the
Germans were sending out

weather ships for three
to five weeks at a time,

using Enigma machines
and radio technology

to transmit weather
data back to Nazi
military strategists.

- It was especially important
when it came to deciding

when and where
aircraft could fly,

and also when and
where U-boats

and other naval
vessels could operate.

- [Narrator] But
many of these ships

were vulnerable
to attack,

traveling into areas where
the Allies held territory.

As a solution, they
began plans to set up

covert weather stations.

- A land-based
weather station,

a series of sensors
and transmitters

that could pass
information about weather

back to the Germans.

- [Narrator] On
October 22, 1943,

U-boat 537 arrives at
Martin Bay, Newfoundland.

- The Germans used an
extremely long-range U-boat,

a U-boat that could travel
over 25,000 kilometers,

to send a small team
of men to Martin Bay

in Newfoundland, Labrador,
on the North American coast.

- [Narrator] The
location is a barren and
isolated outpost,

almost 550 kilometers north
of any human settlement.

From here, the Germans
plan to transmit

crucial weather data.

- Not many people
realize what the Nazis

were up to when they
landed in Newfoundland.

And not many people
realized that they even

had landed in
Newfoundland

and that what
their agenda was

in terms of
covert operation.

- [Narrator] They drop anchor
and send a scouting party

ashore to find
the best location

for a secretive
piece of technology,

one that could give
the Nazis an advantage

over the ever-pressing
Allied forces.

[guns firing]
[plane roaring]

Miles from any population
on a barren piece

of Newfoundland tundra,

the Nazis are
preparing to change the
course of the war.

- If Germany could establish
a base on Newfoundland,

imagine what they could
do to North America.

To have that
kind of base,

a grounding, if you will,

right on the shores
of North America.

So Newfoundland was
a great target.

- [Narrator] The
crew leaves the boat

after more than
a month at sea,

having departed Kiel, Germany
on September 18, 1943.

After a brief stopover
in Bergen, Norway,

the boat proceeded to
the North Atlantic,

led by Captain
Peter Schrewe.

Also aboard is scientist
Dr. Kurt Sommermeyer.

When the crew aboard
the U-537 lands ashore,

they are dragging a
covert weather station,

a series of canisters and
antennae that will transmit

crucial weather data
to help Nazi brass

plan military operations
by land, air, and sea.

It is a Siemens manufactured
Wetter-Funkgeraät,

a covert weather
station featuring

a 150-watt, 150 FK
transmitter powered by

10 nickel cadmium and dry
cell high voltage batteries.

- A lot of countries
were trying to understand

and, you know,
predict weather for a
really key reason,

which is that it makes your
war effort that much easier

if you know when to go,
when to launch an attack,

how to launch it.

So meteorological
weather-based technology

became important in
the course of the war.

- [Narrator] After the
successful deployment

of battery canisters and
sensitive meteorological
equipment,

the U-boat raise
anchor and returns to

an anti-shipping
U-boat patrol located
off of Newfoundland.

- Even today, I think
very few people realized

that the Nazis managed to
even reach North America,

let alone set up any kind
of military installation.

- The whole idea
there was, of course,

to anticipate weather with
particularly convoys in mind

in this case, right?

Understanding when and
where they may be launched

and how you could try
to anticipate that.

- [Narrator] The
station, uncovered in
1977 by a geologist,

also provides proof
of a harrowing fact.

- Having found a
weather station

that happened on the side
of the Atlantic, unknown,

actually says that, you
know, there was a footprint.

- [Narrator] That the
Nazis were far closer

to America than
anyone realized.

- By '42 people
on Coney Island could
see ships burning.

Submarines were operating
up the St. Lawrence River

and sinking a
lot of tonnage.

- [Narrator] Unable to
answer the U-boat presence

in the seas, the
Allies planned their
most daring raid

to take out the
U-boat threat.

- Saint-Nazaire, however,
was so heavily fortified

that it couldn't be easily
bombed into submission.

A naval attack was
out of the question.

And so the British had to
develop a very ingenious

and bespoke attack to try
and take Saint-Nazaire

out of commission.

- [Narrator]
March 28, 1942.

Operation Chariot
is launched.

Using covert
memes to take out

one of the Kriegsmarine's
most dangerous U-boat nests.

- They're gonna take
a ship which is

largely unimportant now.

It's been battered
and beaten

and isn't a frontline ship
anymore, the Campbeltown,

and they're gonna
load it with time-delayed
explosives.

- [Narrator] But the
mission comes with its share

of risks for
all involved.

- I think all of the
men going into it must
have understood

this is a one-way
ticket because this
isn't a bridgehead.

It's not like the cavalry's
coming over the hill.

This is a solo raid and
you're trying to get out.

- This force, this British
ship filled with explosives

and laden with commandos

approached Saint-Nazaire
from the sea

and actually rammed its
way in to Saint-Nazaire.

- And I think something
like 600 commandos
go on the ground.

They're extremely
well-trained for
the operation,

and their job is to blow
up whatever they can,

basically, to cause
maximum damage, try
to take the town.

- The commandos
entered the facilities

and engaged in a fight
at this Nazi facility,

and the explosives on
the ship were detonated.

The following explosion,

this enormous
explosion destroyed

the dry dock facilities
at Saint-Nazaire.

Many Nazis were killed by
the attacking commandos

and a significant part
of the facilities

were put out
of commission.

- They have
incredible success.

They're able to damage
it quite substantially,

and they're able to
blow a lot of stuff up,

and the British are able to
have a very successful raid.

Success comes at a price,

because several hundred
men are taken captured,

many die, and I think
only 200 and some odd guys

actually come back,

so basically 1/3 are
gone from this operation.

- The facility would continue
to operate on the war,

but this was considered a
successful commando raid

and one way of
dealing with this

heavily reinforced
U-boat pen.

- It's not outta
commission because U-boats

are still able to
run out of that,

as well as some
surface fleet stuff,

but it's an important
moment in World War II,

and it's also a
propaganda value.

It it occurs in March
1942 when the war

isn't going so great
for the British.

- [Narrator] Despite
the facility's ability

to remain in operation
even at a limited capacity,

thankfully for
the Allies,

the tide in the war
begins to change.

Hitler's strategy changes
once he invades Russia.

Operation Barbarossa
doesn't go as planned.

Hitler must divide
his military might

between two fronts, and he's
spreading himself too thin.

There is a drop in
fuel supplies needed

to run Hitler's
fleet of U-boats.

By 1945, the Wehrmacht
are grounded,

and German tanks are
running on fumes.

On October 30th of 1942,

U-boat 559 is seized,
along with its code books,

and Bletchley Park
is once again able to
break the code.

With naval Enigma
messages being read,

convoys could be routed
clear of the Nazi wolf packs

waiting in the Atlantic.

- The Allies were very
careful to ensure

that they never
attacked a U-boat

solely on the basis
of intercepted codes.

They always created
another excuse

or another viable
explanation for why

they were able to find
and target a U-boat.

- [Narrator] This, combined
with the success in breaking

the new Enigma codes
in October of 1942,

sees a drop in the
U-boats' efficiency.

- The Allied ability to
read the Enigma codes

was more than top secret.

It was actually
classified ultra secret,

and that's why we now call
this ultra intelligence.

It was crucial that
the Germans not know

when the Allies had broken
various German Enigma codes.

And so the Allies went
to a number of steps

to camouflage or protect
the fact that they were able

to break the
German ciphers.

- [Narrator] Allied ships
lost to U-boats in 1943

dropped to 582.

In 1944, down to 243,

and just 98 lost in 1945.

By intercepting and cracking
the Nazis' communications,

the U-boat threat
in the Atlantic was
less formidable,

and the Allies were
now in a position

to change the
course of the war.

Having gained the upper
hand in the Atlantic

by cracking the
latest Enigma code,

the Allies go on
the offensive.

On June 6, 1944,

Eisenhower gives the go
ahead for the largest

amphibious operation in
history, Operation Overlord.

- Of course, the Germans
don't know that's coming,

but the Allies have
been preparing for
the big assault.

- [Narrator] By daybreak,
18,000 Allied parachutists

were already
on the ground.

13,000 aircraft mobilized
to provide air cover.

By 6:30am, American
troops came ashore at
Omaha and Utah.

This was an
enormous force

that was going
to punch through

those fortifications
at any cost.

- [Narrator] The British
and Canadians captured

Gold, Juno, and
Sword beaches.

Then Americans
captured Utah.

By day's end, 155,000
Allied troops had stormed

the beaches and were
able to push inland.

Within three months, the
northern part of France

would be freed and the
invasion force would be

preparing to enter
Germany where they'd
meet the Soviets.

Prior to the assault,

Hitler's armies had
been in control

of most of
mainland Europe.

Hitler had hoped to repel
Allies from the coast

with counter attack.

Hitler had also believed
the invasion was a faint

to distract from
north of the Seine.

But what happened to the
U-boat pens at Saint-Nazaire

after the Allies stormed
the beaches of Normandy?

Why aren't they used to
mount a counterattack?

- D-Day was such
a massive convoy

that came across that
very narrow channel.

Had they, you know,
even deployed every
U-boat they had,

it wouldn't have
made a difference.

- [Narrator] Due to a
disinformation campaign

mounted by the Allies
to convince the Germans

of a second landing
that would be happening
after Normandy,

the Kriegsmarine
decides not to risk

their dwindling naval forces
on the Normandy landing.

The subs that could
leave the dock

would have to do
so on the surface,

risking getting targeted
by the Allied fleet.

- The problem was in
command and control,

and the problem was
intelligence anticipating

where that invasion
was actually going
to take place.

- [Narrator] But one group of
three German torpedo ships

risks slipping out
of the docks to attack
at Sword Beach,

sinking a Norwegian
destroyer.

And that night, U-boats
attempt to slip out

and disturb landings at
Normandy, but were repulsed.

Two were sunk and
four damaged.

The Allies had sub hunting
planes that could detect

on the surface with
radar at night.

Only U-boats with
snorkels were viable,

and Germany only had 14
within range of the beaches.

For weeks, German
U-boats were pinned in
and navy limited.

Only eight Allied ships
were lost to U-boats

off Normandy at a cost
of 20 German U-boats.

The German force was
simply too small

and two underpowered to
take on the Allied fleet.

When Germany issues
their surrender in 1945,

156 U-boats are turned
over to the Allies,

of which 116 are scuttled as
part of Operation Deadlines.

The Royal Navy tows
the submarines

to three separate
locations hundreds of miles

outside of Ireland
and sinks them

to the bottom
of the ocean,

putting them out of
commission for good.

Today, only four
U-boats remain intact
from World War II,

relics of a time when
U-Boats menaced the Allies

in the Atlantic
and elsewhere.

- The Germans had great fun,
as they called it, at sea.

And they really hampered
the economics of the war,

at least up until the
Americans joined,

and more importantly,

the British were
able to crack

German military
communications.

- [Narrator] Although the
Allies and Soviets were able

to bomb and battle
Germany to its knees,

the Nazi U-boat terror
on the high seas

was an incredibly
formidable threat.

- So much so that
there were suggestions
that even Churchill

was contemplating
surrender or negotiation

given the tremendous losses
that were occurring at sea.

And we are talking
about, you know,

tens of thousands of boys
and thousands of ships.

So those losses are
really, really important

in the grand
context of the war.

- [Narrator] In
his memoirs, Winston
Churchill remarks that

"the only thing that ever
frightened me during the war

was the U-boat peril."

- Over the course of
the Second World War,

it's almost impossible
to fully acknowledge

the amount of death
and destruction caused
by the Nazis.

- [Narrator] What might
have happened had Germany

not invaded Russia,

allowing them to keep the
pressure on Western Europe

and the United Kingdom?

What might have happened had
fuel supplies not dwindled

or if Bletchley Park
could not crack the
Enigma code twice?

What if the Germans had
not been able to roll out

the new versions
of the U-boat?

- Hitler wanted
world domination.

They just wanted
everything.

- [Narrator] With remnants
of the U-boat threat

on North American shores,

the U-Boat brought the
Nazis closer to home

than anyone
ever realized.

[intense dramatic music]