All language subtitles for Secret.Nazi.Bases.S03E03.Terror.Out.of.Sight.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-BurCyg_track3_[eng]

- [Narrator] In the small
town of Kammienna Gora,

a network of secret Nazi
tunnels is discovered.

- Why were such great lengths
taken to guard this area

so heavily?

What was being
developed here?

- [Narrator] Could these
tunnels be a key component

of a last ditch
plan of Hitler's

to reach his most
distant enemy?

- Hitler had a
fascination with the idea

of being able to set

New York City ablaze.
Failure was not an option.

- The war they were
reaching was a total war.

- [Narrator] Hitler pursues
new experimental technology

to fulfill his
twisted aim.

- Wars become so
technologically advanced

that the supply chain is
actually of strategic value.

- [Narrator] Could
these tunnels

contain some of the
Nazis most ambitious
technology yet?

- Some local
historians believe

that what's been
found so far

is only the tip
of the iceberg.

- What would a determined
researcher find

if they dug deep enough?
[intense music]

- [Narrator] Between
1939 and 1941,

Western Europe crumbles
under Nazi occupation.

- The Nazis believed
that they had a right
of conquest.

The war they were
raging was a total war.

- [Narrator] As the
United Kingdom struggles

to defend itself
against Germany's rapidly
growing empire,

Hitler eyes a new
enemy further abroad.

Beyond Britain lies
another country upon
which he plans to

unleash vengeance.

- Hitler's attitude towards
the United States is one of

fascination and
curiosity and of course,

fundamental hatred,
on the other level,

even before the war starts.
For him, the United States

is a a mongrel nation,

meaning that it's an
immigrant population,
it's mixed,

totally deluded, of
course, and that madness.

- [Narrator] Hitler
wants to see

the Empire State
building burn.

He wants the world to
know the true power

of the German threat.

But the fury of the Fuührer
is far from being realized.

New technologies will
need to be birthed

to make the journey.

Under the hills of
Kammienna Gora,

engineers work
to fulfill Hitler's
twisted Nazi dreams.

- Why were such great lengths
taken to guard this area

so heavily?

What was being
developed here?

- [Narrator] 2017,

a declassified report
appears in the CIA's
digital archive,

dated March 31st, 1954.

The title, ammunition
factory near Kammienna Gora.

Within it, the ammunition
factory is described,

located in a
network of tunnels

guarded by its own
military detachment.

For local researchers,
the document is a triumph.

Confirmation of what
they already know,

under the hills
of Kammienna Gora

and Jelenia Gora
are a vast network

of forgotten tunnels and
underground facilities.

- Some local
historians believe

that what's been
found so far

is only the tip
of the iceberg,

and that these tunnels
extend much further

than what's currently
documented.

- [Narrator] With 11
kilometers of tunnels
already known

and hundreds of kilometers
more suspected,

what were the Nazis
doing in these hills?

Were they hiding
the technology that
could have brought

not just Europe, but also
North America to its knees?

- Hitler understood the value
of symbols and striking back

at America would be a
huge symbolic victory.

- [Narrator] When the Nazis
rose to power in the 1930s,

they looked to American law
for constant inspiration.

Since the end of the
first World War,

the United States had become
increasingly isolationist.

Racism,

antisemitism, and legislation
enforcing segregation

and criminalization
of interracial marriages
is commonplace.

In 1924, the U.S. Congress
passes new immigration laws.

These introduce a quota
system by country of origin,

which overtly discriminates
against Southern

and Eastern Europe where
most Jewish Europeans live.

To the Nazis, America
is a shining example

of a successful white
supremacist regime.

- The German view of
America is really difficult

to rationalize because on
one hand, the Nazi regime,

including Hitler
in particular,

looked to the United States
as a model of imperial

or colonial practice.

The Nazis looked
to the conquering of
the American West

and the destruction of
Native American people

by the United
States government

throughout the course
of the 19th century
in their so-called

manifest destiny
as a model for

what Germany was meant to
do in the Soviet Union.

But on the other hand,

there is a sense
of resentment toward
the Americans

as being too soft,
too immaterialistic,

too interested in personal
comfort, in luxuries.

- [Narrator]
Beginning in 1933,

stories of the Nazi's
violent persecution
of Jews in Germany

became front page
news across the U.S.

Protests begin to erupt
and Jewish organizations

start encouraging the
boycott of German goods.

With the U.S.' increasingly
liberal attitudes,

Hitler's and the
Nazi's opinion shifts
from admiration

to hatred.

In a chilling
1938 statement,

Reichskommissar of
Aviation, Hermann Goöring

makes the German military's
attitude crystal clear.

I completely lack
the bomber's capable of
roundtrip flights

to New York with a four
and a half ton bomb load.

I would be extremely happy
to possess such a bomber,

which would at last stuff
the mouth of arrogance

across the sea.

- Hitler wanted to get back
and there was very little

he could do to hit the
United States directly.

- [Narrator] Before
the Nazis ever set foot

in Kammienna Gora,

there was nothing nefarious
about its industry.

- This area was the center
of a textile industry,

which was very much
so the heart and soul

of the local culture.

- [Narrator] But all
this was about to change

with the arrival
of a new, far deadlier
kind of industry.

- It's pretty typical in
the German wartime economy,

on top of bringing forced
labor or foreign labor

into Germany to do
manufacturing work

for the German
occupation authorities

to take over manufacturing
centers already existing

in occupied territories to
produce all sorts of goods

for the military effort.

- [Narrator] The
Arado company was one of
the most important

suppliers of aircraft
for the Luftwaffe

before and during
World War II.

- The Arado company
was just one

of several aircraft
technology companies
in Nazi Germany

that were working to supply
the Luftwaffe with aircraft

and technologically
advanced aircraft.

What's so interesting
about the German
aeronautical designs

is that these companies
were always trying to push

the envelope.

They were always
trying to develop new
types of airplanes

with new engines that
could fly further, faster,

and higher than
they had before.

And Arado was one
of the companies at
the cutting edge

of those developments.

- [Narrator]
Beginning in 1933,

the AR 66 became one of
the top standard trainers

for Luftwaffe pilots.

It remained in operation
well into the war,

eventually carrying
attack missions

on Germany's
Eastern front.

In the mid thirties,

Germany fully abandons
the Treaty of Versailles

and begins re-arming.
The AR 68 is one of
the first fighters

to emerge, its successor,

The AR68E is the Luftwaffe's
most widely used fighter

from 1937 to 1938,

after which it became a
standard fighter trainer.

Despite supplying
the German military

with some of its foundational
aircraft designs,

Arado's owner Heinrich Lubbe
was not a Nazi himself.

In 1936,

Lubbe was arrested and
forced to sell the company

to the Nazi state.

- By nationalizing
key industries,

they take over these kind of
corporations and then direct

them so they become
state-owned enterprises.

- See, the Nazis were
totalitarians in the sense

that they wanted
total control over every
aspect of society.

And one of the ways
through which they pursued

this total control
was through the control
over industry.

They did it in the
usual Nazi way,

which is the
gangster way,

by simply arresting the owner
and transferring ownership

to the government.

- [Narrator] The war
has not yet broken out.

The Nazi war economy
is now in full swing.

- One of Germany's
major advantages was
their decisions

to start building up their
war machine before war came.

And of course this is
because they chose

when the second
World War started,

and so they entered
the war with something
of a headstart

on new wartime technology

and it was up to the
allies to catch up.

The Soviet Union had made
major gains in the 1930s,

developing their
industrial capacity,

but is still paled in
comparison to what the Nazis

could leverage.

- [Narrator]
With the approaching
invasion of Poland,

the Luftwaffe kicks into high
gear, giving rise to a new

generation of deadly
Arado aircraft.

But as the war
progresses,

new threats to the
Nazis production facilities
force Germany

to make drastic changes.

- When you're looking
at these experimental
aircraft workers

that's going on there,

it is very much part
of the Hitler's dream

that science can
save his regime.

- [Narrator] On the
7th of December, 1941,

Japan launches a surprise
attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Japan is an
ally to the Nazis,

Germany is under no
obligation to declare war

on the United States,

but Hitler
disregards this,

determined to beat President
Roosevelt to the punch,

he declares war on the
US on December 11th, 1941

with virtually
no consultation.

Prior to American
intervention,

Hitler repeatedly encourages
Britain to surrender

to Nazi Germany, but as
Britain repeatedly refuses

to negotiate,

it begins its own raids
over occupied territory.

Hitler's anger
takes hold.

In August, 1940,

off course German
bombers fly over London,

accidentally bombing central
areas for the first time,

the Royal Air Force
or RAF responds with
the first attacks

on Berlin.

[bomb exploding]

Enraged and hungry
for revenge,

Hitler orders the
systematic night bombing

of major British cities.

He's determined to terrorize
the U.K. into submission.

This is the Blitz.

- To begin the war,
that liftoff is huge.

It's much larger
than the British

and the French
forces combined and
that has a lot to do

with the fact that
the British are late
to re-arm movement

that occurs in the
end of the 1930s.

So they still have
World War I vintage
aircraft and service

and the Nazis have
been, you know,

at first secretly and then
quite openly producing

a lot of aircraft.

- [Narrator] The Blitz
has a profound effect
on the British,

but not in the way
Hitler expects.

As the German military
reigned hell on England

between September,
1940 and May, 1941,

Hitler has succeeded
in making his enemy

even more determined to
defeat the Third Reich.

When America
joins the war,

the British have
access to a whole new
wealth of resources.

Armed with formidable
heavy bombers like the B17,

dubbed the
Flying Fortress,

U.K. and U.S. forces are
more confident than ever

about facing the
Luftwaffe head-on.

In early 1942,

The allies eased their
restrictions on air raids

over Germany as they target
major industrial centers

across the country.

Within a year, this focus
narrows even further.

The top priority is now
the systematic targeting

and destruction of the
German aircraft industry

at all costs.

- The Americans,

once they came into
the Air War against
Germany in earnest

in 1942 and 1943

contended that it wasn't
necessary to bomb

the entire German industrial
base into submission.

But that instead,

if bombing was
continually directed

toward one pressure point,
one vital supply artery,

that everything else
is going to fall apart.

- Ball bearings are
small, metal spheres
that are used in

almost all of the
Nazis war machines,
whether it's fighters,

bombers, tanks,
or other guns.

Ball bearings are just
a crucial ingredient

to any of these moving
vehicles or weapons.

And so the allies figured
if they could reduce

the production of
ball bearings,

they could throw a wrench
into Nazi war production.

- The conventional ball
bearing basically comprises

two concentric circles and
in between the two circles

are a series of
small steel balls that
allow the outer ring

to glide around
the inner ring.

And then the inner ring
has some kind of shaft

going through it.

That could be like an axle
on a truck or a drive shaft

on an engine.

And the bearing is
the surface on which
that axle or shaft

can turn without overheating
and coming apart.

- These seemingly
insignificant ball bearings

were so important to the
German aviation industry

and to the Luftwaffe,

that they used 2.4 million
of these ball bearings

in a month.

It's hard to wrap one's
head around these numbers

because they're so large
that to actually sit down

and think that

these were produced goods
which had to be transported,

packed, transported,
and stored, it simply
boggles the mind.

- [Narrator]
Albert Speer,

the minister of armaments
and war production

for Nazi Germany,

has made it protocol to
keep reserve supplies

of the Luftwaffe's
most precious engineering
component,

the ball bearing.

- Albert Speer
is the leader

of the Nazi building
enterprise.

He's the man thinking about
planning and how to build

all of the
infrastructure industry

and these massive buildings
that the Nazis need

to support their
large war machine.

- [Narrator] But without that
one small piece of metal,

the Luftwaffe
collapses entirely.

- The reliance on
this one piece,

this tiny piece that fits
together is so perfectly

in a greater system
that can cripple you.

- Wars become so
technologically advanced

that the supply chain is
actually of strategic value.

- August 17th, 1943,

315 allied heavy bombers
take off on a split mission

bound for Germany and
a Messerschmitt factory
in Regensburg.

But the real target
is Schweinfurt. The
seat of German

ball-bearing production.
Operation: Point Blank.

- They just can't
destroy entire cities,

that's not gonna
change anything.

They have to find a kind
of strategic weak point

in the supply chain where
even if the other parts

of the chain are working,

the entire system
doesn't work without

that one piece,
the target,

it's no longer let's put a
thousand planes over Dresden

and burn Dresden
down to the ground

and incinerate half
the population.

How's that gonna
help us win the war?

But if we knock out the
ball-bearing plants,

everything we can stop.

- The Schweinfurt
bombing is important

'cause the allies use it in
one of the first examples

of a staged bombing.

So they're gonna fly from
bases in the United Kingdom,

they're gonna hit the targets
and then they're gonna fly

onwards to North
Africa, so this is

a big gamble
on their part.

- So the Allied
bombers are these large
lumbering aircraft.

They're carrying tons
of bombs that they're
going to drop

on Nazi Germany.

These bombers
have some guns,

some machine guns
that are designed to
protect the bomber,

but they're still
extremely vulnerable.

They're vulnerable
to Nazi interceptors

that are really
designed to go up and
shoot down bombers.

And so one way of protecting
bombers is to send them

on missions with
a fighter escort.

So this means that
bombers are protected

by allied fighter planes.

The problem
unfortunately is that the
bombers can actually

fly farther than
the fighters.

And so a bomber squadron
is only going to have

fighter escort protection
for a certain distance.

This means that for
part of that time,

they're gonna be vulnerable
and there'll be no fighters

to protect them.

- [Narrator] Suffering
heavy losses,

the bombers reached
their target,

the Schweinfurt factory
and release their payloads.

- The bombers struck the
factory and they were able

to inflict some damage
on the factory,

but not really enough to
put it out of production.

And at the same time, they
suffered incredible losses.

This was just too
costly a mission for
the allies to run

without fighter cover.

And after a second
raid in which the
bombers were able to

inflict more damage on
the ball bearing factory,

they were actually
able to drop enough
bombs that the Nazis

could make fewer
ball bearings.

And this actually had
significant knock on effects

in Nazi war production.

This put a choke hold on
supply lines for all sorts

of other Nazi vehicles,

and it was the vulnerability
of these factories,

as demonstrated
by these bomber raids
that played a role

in causing the Nazis to
think they needed to move

their bases out of the
line of fire of bombers.

- [Narrator] Albert Speer
is horrified and knows that

within four to six weeks,

the reserve supply
will have dwindled

and Germans will be
living hand to mouth
for ball bearings.

After the successful
bombing of the Schweinfurt
ball bearing

manufacturing plant,

Germany faces a
supply chain crunch,

threatening their wartime
industrial output.

- It took considerable
analysis and intelligence
to kind of

narrow down that if the
industry at Schweinfurt

was destroyed,

if the ball bearing
manufacturers were removed

from the picture,
the German Air Force

would be in
serious jeopardy.

It was absolutely
necessary vital for
the Germans to find

a substitute for what
was lost at Schweinfurt.

- [Narrator] After the
bombings at Schweinfurt,

Speer must figure out
how to keep German planes

in the air and he
must do it fast.

He knows that rebuilding
the plants will once again

make them a target.

Germany simply cannot
risk another bombing.

The Nazis need
to find new ways

to protect their
manufacturing capabilities.

- At this point in
the war when there's
a lot of air raids

and bombings going on,

not only is it something
that affects factories

and infrastructure that are
trying to produce materials,

whether it's ball
bearings or airplanes,

but what also happens
is that it reduces
worker efficiency.

If you're there and
you're concerned about
all these things

happening about
potentially being bombed,

it's not exactly the
best work environment.

So if you really want that
productivity to stay up,

what you need to do
is provide a space

that people feel safe in.

- When the Nazis
realized that the allies
had figured out

that the top of the
line factories would be

an excellent target
for aerial bombardment

and that this kind of aerial
bombardment would cripple

a German armament
production,

the Nazis came up with
a strategy of dispersal.

This was initially with
the case with the ME262,

the fighter jet,

which had its parts
manufactured in all
kinds of places,

in houses, in
forests, in tents,

all kinds of imaginable
places throughout Germany.

And then this, in
the later years,

this principle was
applied and manufacturing
was similarly

delegated and dispersed.

- Germany in its effort
to avoid the invasion

of allied forces to
stay out of their reach,

they started moving
their production,

moving their
infrastructure eastward.

They took over
existing facilities
in these countries

that they had already
seized, so in Poland,

they took over
existing textile factories
and they would

actually retool the footprint
of that factory and create

and establish their
own facilities

for their own
war production.

- [Narrator] Important
Arado facilities

and the engineering
design HQ

formerly located in
Berlin are relocated
to Kammienna Gora

in a vast underground
tunnel network dug by
slave laborers.

Relics underground tell
of Germany's response

to the strategic
bombing of industry.

- It's an interesting
area because it's remote

and not easily accessible
to the average person,

but it's still able to
connect by rail lines

to other important
locations.

There are textile productions
in other manufacturing

in the general area,

so it's not close to major
cities or in a major city,

but still able to connect
with those other parts

of the Nazi empire.

- In the darkened caverns
under the mountains,

Germany keeps the wheels
of industry moving,

producing all important
Luftwaffe planes.

The ramp up of allied
aggression against Germany

infuriates Hitler.

He and Goring are more
desperate than ever

to get their hands on a
design for a super weapon

that will finally be able to
decimate the United States.

- Energy and resources
being deployed and finding

a technological
solution to the stalemate
that the German

expansion has hit.

And so how do we get
back to the initiative

and now we're on
the defensive and
now, God dammit,

we might even
lose the war.

It's not gonna be
our infantry or our
armor or artillery

that is gonna now suddenly
turn things around.

So secretly, some
super weapon that skips
three generations.

You know, let's
go to jet power.

Let's go to rocket
power, ballistic
missiles, rocketry.

Hitler is part
of that mindset, the
scientific solution,

the, you know,
miracle solution.

But what are miracles but
science we understand.

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] On the
12th of May, 1942,

top military brass deliver
one of Nazi Germany's

most ambitious plans
yet to Hermann Goering,

outlined in a 33
page document.

This newest proposal
contains a detailed,

top secret strategy.

The America Bomber program
is officially launched.

The program identifies
specific air bases

in the Azores islands of
Portugal as the best place

from which to launch
an offensive.

During this period,

Portugal maintains a
neutral position in Europe,

but the Nazis are unfazed and
are determined to carry out

their plans.

Now, all they need
is a bomber powerful
enough to make

the daunting return journey
across the Atlantic.

- This is a great
irony of the war because
you have Germany

going to war without a
really capable long range

four engine bomber,

which other air forces like
the U.S. Army Air Force

have the B17 and the Royal
Air Force ultimately has the

Avro Lancaster.

It's ironic that the Germans
at the very 11th hour

are trying to build this
sort of super bomber,

which is capable of
crossing the ocean and
bombing New York.

I mean, it's clearly
another expression of
wishful thinking.

- [Narrator] For German
aircraft manufacturers,

the America Bomber
program represents a
massive opportunity.

Not only would the winning
design gain the approval

of the furor and
Reich's Marshal Goring,

it would also represent an
enormous scientific leap

in aviation technology.

In order for New York
City to be bombed,

the craft's combat
radius would need to be

11,680 kilometers.

Germany's most
powerful bomber,

the Messerschmitt ME 261

has a range of just
11,025 kilometers.

The race is on between Nazi
Germany's aircraft companies

and the competition
is fierce.

Three of the Reich's
major aircraft designers

submit contenders
for the bombing of
the United States.

These are the
Messerschmitt ME 264,

the Focke-Wulf TA-400,

and the Junkers JU-390.

But one more manufacturer
stands out from the crowd.

By 1942,

Arado has secured a legacy
as one of Nazi Germany's

top aircraft
manufacturers.

Despite many of their
designs being passed over

in favor of Heinkel
and Junkers models,

the Arado company continues
to innovate and look for

opportunities to
impress Nazi officials

from their brand new,

top secret manufacturing
facilities in the hills

of Kammienna Gora

- How do you establish
a war machine long-term?

Well, in Germany's mind,

they felt that building
not only out but under

would be sustainable
long-term.

- The Nazis were on
the lookout for places
where they could

have armament
factories, have armament
research undertaken,

places where ammunition
could be stored,

and caves are
a natural site

which is suited
because of its

defensive capability.

Like cave is basically
a covered structure.

It cannot be easily seen, it
can be easily camouflaged,

and it is two varying extents
safe from aerial bombard.

- Mining is a science
in some ways,

but there are
lots of unpredictable
conditions in rock.

It can encounter
different types of rock

really close together that
you weren't expecting.

You can find fissures,

you can find pockets
of unstable soil,
things can give away

in a second. You
really have no idea what's
going to happen,

and it can be very,
very dangerous.

- [Narrator] For
the Nazis in 1943,

there was absolutely
no time to waste.

To facilitate the
digging and populate

the relocated industries,

the Nazis build
a sub camp

of the Gross-Rosen
concentration camp.

During the war,
around 1600 men,

mostly Poles are
imprisoned here and used
as forced labor.

A second forced labor
camp is built for Jews.

- The Nazi war machine
basically mobilized first,

the German worker to work
for the Nazi war goals.

But as the war expanded
and as territories
were occupied,

the Nazis knew that this
was not gonna be adequate.

So they forced workers
from occupied territories.

They were opening
kind of branches of
concentration camps

near work sites in
order to ensure

that there was labor
supply, this was brutal
tankless work,

and many people lost their
lives in this process.

- Through history,

when people have used
slave labor to do things,

what you're really doing
is you've completely

controlled individuals.
Over time,

people get into a
state that's called
learned helplessness.

You have no more
hope and anything you
thought you could do

or try to do,

you have learned over time
only makes things worse

for yourself, there's
no saving yourself.

There's no way out.

- According to records,

these tunnels are intended
to be air raid shelters,

but several ominous
clues point to something

far more nefarious.

- These are not
garden variety air raid
shelters, I mean,

it can seem like a
legitimate excuse

for construction
activity to be building
air raid shelters

in these areas to protect
the civilian population.

But this was
something else.

These spaces which were
tunneled into the mountains

were big enough for
trucks to drive through.

- If that's an
air raid shelter,

you really don't need a
ton of excessive space.

It's just a
temporary thing.

It's for
protection really.

It needs to be
reasonably robust,

but not more than the
requirements of that space

that you require for
each individual.

You know, make it bigger.

- [Narrator] These deep
caverns will soon be home

to one of the most

advanced innovations in
Nazi aviation history.

This is the new home
of the Arado company.

- By moving manufacturing
underground,

not only would the Nazis
be preserving the secrecy

surrounding the research
and development,

they'd also be creating
a safe space far away

from the threat of any
allied bombing from above.

- [Narrator] Less
than 40 kilometers from
Kammienna Gora,

the site of massive
underground factories
lies something

quite different.

Miles of underground
tunnels that vary greatly

from the tunnels
at Kammienna Gora.

In Jelenia Gora,

hastily built tunnels are
carved out of sandstone,

strange rooms with boilers
and water systems hint at

preparations for
a life temporarily
lived underground.

- The proportions of the
underground facilities here

are strange.

They don't match
the catalog of building
plans that we see

applied elsewhere
in Europe,

and we don't know why the
size was different here.

- The rock where
these tunnels were built
was so soft that

instead of using explosives
to excavate them out,

the prisoners of war forced
to work on these projects,

drilled multiple holes
in the rock face,

and then just collapsed
their way through.

- The tunnels,

which were built
for the purpose of
housing factories,

housing,

manufacturing
sort of workshops or
something like that,

were, of course more
purposefully made.

They are much
more built up,

including train stations
inside the tunnel system,

which in itself
boggles the mind.

And on the other hand that
the later tunnels seem to be

hastily collapsed.

It seems as if the
effort there was to
conceal something.

- We don't know if this was
simply a bombing shelter,

an area designed
for storage,

or whether it was
the expansion

of the manufacturing
facilities that was
being developed

in the region.

- [Narrator] The tunnels
continue well beyond

what could be needed
to shelter the Germans

from overhead
bombings, in fact,

some tunnels
are caved in.

- One has to wonder what
it is that they were

in such a hurry to hide.

- [Narrator] It is here.

The Arado company would push
the limits of engineering

with its newest aircraft.

- One of the places
where the Arado company

is really pushing
the envelope is in
the development

of their AR 234.

This is the first turbo jet
powered aircraft in history.

The turbo jet is going to
allow this airplane to fly

further, faster, and higher
than other airplanes.

It's all part of
the bid of the Germans
to develop weapons

that will give them
dominance of the skies.

- It can be used
as a fighter,

but it also at a
capacity to bomb.

So clearly the Germans
are, you know,

trying to cover as much
ground as possible

in the manufacture
of airplanes.

- [Narrator] The
German Luftwaffe has
plans to produce

500 of these per month,

some of which would've been
under the hills of the area.

- The 234 flew faster
than the P51 Mustang,

the American Fighter of fame
by about a hundred miles,

which is huge,
that's a, you know,

from a scientific and
technological perspective,

that's a really
big advance.

So these are
impressive German
technological devices.

- [Narrator] The
Arado Company's success
with the designs

of the AR 234

proves they are the cutting
edge of aviation design.

Who better to outline
Hitler's ultimate
revenge plan?

Deep in the secret
tunnels of Kammienna Gora,

laid plans for an aircraft
powerful enough to see

through Hitler's dream
of America in ashes.

- One of Arado's
proposed aircraft was
the Arado E 555.

Now, this was to be a long
range strategic bomber

that would be powered
by six jet engines,

capable of producing 34.3
kilonewtons of thrust.

But why was this
proposed plane so
important to the Nazis?

- The America Bomber was
this fascinating initiative

in which

Hitler and the Nazis were
trying to develop aircraft

that would allow
them to directly target
the United States.

Hitler had a
fascination with the idea
of being able to set

New York City ablaze.

- Why would Germany invest
so much time and effort

into new technologies like
a jet powered aircraft

at such a late stage
during the war?

I believe it was because
Hitler had this mandate,

and that was this world
domination, to take over,

to have industry
at his disposal,

to have people at
his disposal and his
delusional vision.

This is what he saw for
himself and what he saw

for the world and he
was not gonna stop.

And I believe that that's
why right until the end

of the war, he was continuing
to try to better himself

and better Germany
and to better his
grip on the world.

- There is a belief
engendered by Hitler himself

and his top lieutenants that
Germany would win the war.

And based on
that assumption,

continuing with these
projects made sense.

Failure was
not an option.

- [Narrator] Under the
hills of Kammienna Gora,

engineers develop
advanced new aircraft.

Are they also
developing the machine

that would bomb America?

Could the Arado E 555
be the plane to do it?

- These technological
developments did serve

a double function.

On the one hand, they
allowed Germans, the
German military,

Hitler, and his leadership
to be proud of what Germany

could accomplish with
its scientific endeavors,

developing these new
and terrifying weapons.

It suggested to
Germans that German was
the strongest power,

the rightful power
in Europe and perhaps
in the whole world.

At the same time, they did
have a practical effect.

While many of these plans
never came to fruition,

some of these
wonder weapons,

these terror weapons
would come into practice

and would be used by the
Nazis against their enemies.

And so they did have a real
practical effect on the war.

- [Narrator] But
with resources dwindling
in Germany.

One question remains,

will the Arado E 555
ever get off the ground?

- If you were a
scientist who could
develop a wonder weapon

that actually worked,

you became instantly famous
and instantly powerful

and instantly a
success in Germany.

All of that is, of course
predicated on one thing,

which is a
fundamental belief,

ideological belief in
what the Nazis were doing.

- [Narrator] Hitler's
thirst for revenge

fuels every decision he
makes during the war.

His hatred of Britain
and to determination
to destroy the UK

are the driving force between
two major wonder weapons,

the V1 and V2 missiles.

The success of the V1 and
V2 drive Hitler to invest

even more into developing
new technology

to defeat his enemies.

By the end of 1944,

the Nazis are fiercely
chasing new wonder weapons.

Hitler's willingness
to invest in untested

miracle technology
knows no bounds.

This is the Nazi's
central flaw,

betting on one
hypothetical weapon as
opposed to investing

in tried and true
conventional equipment.

- You know, to me,

these scientists or corporate
interests that keep building

towards the end of the war
demonstrate the same sort of

futility and therefore
the same madness, right?

This madness that descends on
Germany in the third Reich.

[audience cheering]

- [Narrator] The Nazis
have fallen into the trap

of believing
that raw science

will somehow be able
to counteract Germany's

increasingly dire
standing in the war.

As the war enters
its final year,

the Reich is
quickly crumbling

and the allies
are closing in.

While the plan to build a
Nazi super bomber capable of

devastating the
Eastern United States

is theoretically
possible,

the Nazis face increasing
pressure from the allies

that ultimately leads
the mission to build

the America bombers
to a dead end.

By 1945,

allied bombing raids
had rapidly decreased

Germany's
industrial output.

Officially,

plans are scrapped for the
America bomber prototypes

after December 22nd,
1944 on order from the
Reich Ministry.

- Could remnants
of the legendary E 555
possibly still be

lurking somewhere in the
darkness amongst this

underground labyrinth.

- [Narrator] As Red
Army troops marched

towards Kammienna Gora

in May of 1945, the
surrounding area is
hurriedly evacuated.

The factory facilities are
cleared out in an effort to

prevent incoming forces

from retrieving
sensitive information.

- While the Nazis
are in retreat,

they take a
number of steps,

both to cover their
tracks in a sense,

but also to deny their
facilities to the oncoming

Soviet red army.

So we see that the
Nazis burn records,

but they also collapse
entrances to their tunnels,

to factories in a bid to make
sure that those resources

aren't used against them,

that the facilities they've
built to defend themselves

and to protect
their production
isn't instead used

by their enemy.

- [Narrator] Hitler's
underestimation

of two of his
greatest enemies,

the U.S. and the USSR has
finally cost him his empire.

- At a time where the
allies have virtually

complete air superiority, jet
bomber, or no jet bomber,

it's not going to be able
to operate effectively

because it would
be so vulnerable

to the overwhelming
superiority in aircraft

that the allies have at
that stage of the war.

And furthermore,

having just a hundred or
even a few hundred of these

aircraft,

it's difficult to
see what difference
they could have made

under those particular
circumstances.

If such aircraft
had been available
earlier in the war,

perhaps they could
have had an influence.

If the Germans had had a
decent four engine bomber

in quantity earlier
in the war,

maybe the Blitz would've come
out with different results.

But by this stage,
it's really an example
of too little,

too late.

- [Narrator] The
story of Arado

and of ball-bearing
manufacturing in the
Silesian Mountains

of Kammienna and Jelenia Gora
is just a drop in the bucket

of all that existed here.

- The scale of German
manufacturing in the
armament industry

was such that we can
not have a very clear
idea of what else

was going on in this region,
when we look at the numbers,

the quantities
involved with the ball
bearing manufacturer,

we can only imagine what
other industries which also

serviced the war were
involved in this region.

- [Narrator] To this day,

it is known that there
are four tunnel systems

in Kammienna Gora alone; Gora
Zamkowa, Gora Szubianka,

Gora Widok, and
Gora Parakowa

the modern day
Arado museum.

But for hundreds
of kilometers,

researchers have
found artificial hills,
cleared expanses

and deep shafts hidden
among the trees,

suggesting something
larger underneath.

To this day,

we still can't be sure
what the Nazis built here

or how close they came
to achieving their goal

of developing a bomber
powerful enough

to reach the
United States.

Had the experts in these
underground laboratories

had more time and
enough resources,

could this region and
have held the key

to the Nazis victory?

Were the Nazis really afraid
of the air raid attacks

that never came?

Were they merely
relocating the war machine
far out of range

of allied bombers,

or were they continuing
cutting edge research here,

hoping to deploy futuristic
aircraft to rain down death

and destruction
on America?

- For every site,
which is discovered,

even if it has been
strategically collapsed,

there's a lot of information
to be gained from it.

What would a determined
researcher find

if they dug deep enough.

[intense music]