All language subtitles for H-B.07of13.Bombs.and.Paranoia.x264.AC3.MVGroup.org_track6_[eng]

Powell: Adolf Hitler caused
the deaths of 50 million people.

An entire nation
followed him to ruin.

He was hated by
those he persecuted

and even by some of
his own commanders,

yet, in 25 years,
no one managed to kill him.

Winston Churchill had
very few bodyguards,

whilst Hitler had thousands.

He needed them.

During his travels
across Europe,

there were over 40
attempts on his life.

Now, with access to captured
original SS records,

the producers of
"Churchill's Bodyguard"

can reveal for the first time,
in this new series,

how fate and a small number
of hand-picked bodyguards

helped this evil genius
to cheat death

on so many occasions.

Why did no one manage
to kill Adolf Hitler?

Enough people wanted to,
but as this series shows,

it was not as simple
as it sounds,

even after the gloves
had come off

when World War II began.

Hitler's favorite general
was Erwin Rommel,

the "Desert Fox, "

who outwitted and outfought
the Allies

in the deserts of North Africa.

He was a master of tank warfare,

bold and swift
in his attacks on the enemy.

Hitler praised him,
and the Allies feared him --

so much so that after two years
of battle

and a series
of shattering retreats,

British General
Bernard Montgomery

had to rebuild
the morale of his troops

to take on this
elusive and deadly warlord

and finally win
his decisive victory

over Rommel at El Alamein.

But few people know
that Rommel

started his formidable
World War II career

as a chief
of Hitler's bodyguards.

Rommel distinguished himself
in World War I

as an outstanding
infantry officer --

winning Germany's highest award
for valor, the Pour le Mérite --

but by the 1930s he was still

only an obscure
military instructor

with the rank of colonel.

He first came to Hitler's
attention in 1936

when he supervised
the military security

at the September
Nuremberg rally.

This was a huge undertaking --

a gathering
of Nazi party members

so enormous, it had to
take place outside the city

in a specially constructed arena

that had previously been used
to land Zeppelin airships.

A quarter of a million Nazis
gathered at the rally,

watched by 70,000 spectators.

Spectacular effects --
including a cathedral of light

using more than one hundred
powerful searchlights --

were created by Hitler's
favorite architect,

Albert Speer.

By 1936, Hitler was ready
to show off

his massively re-equipped

and expanded armed forces
at the Nuremberg rally.

Thousands of troops
marched past him --

despite the fact that
the Versailles treaty

insisted that Germany
should only

have a small army
of just 100,000 men.

This strong military theme

showed a new emphasis
within the Nazi party.

Hitherto, it had been

the black-uniformed
SS and Leibstandarte

which were the primary keepers
of security

at major Nazi events.

Now Hitler was ready to entrust

his protection
to the military --

a sign that they were marching
arm in arm

to restore German power
in the world.

It was a great honor
and challenge for Rommel

to be put in charge of
organizing the military security

at this high-profile event.

With hundreds of thousands
of people at the rally,

it was a security nightmare.

Any one of them could have been
a potential assassin.

We know that at least one
ex-Nazi émigré group --

Otto Strasser's
Black Front organization --

was targeting Nuremberg
as a place

to assassinate Hitler
and his top henchmen.

But the rally passed off
without major security scares,

and the army demonstrated
that it could be

as loyal and effective
a bodyguard

as the fanatics of the SS.

The success of this event

meant that Hitler kept Rommel
close to him.

And when Hitler
forced union with Germany

onto Austria in March 1938,
Rommel commanded

the small unit
of military bodyguards

that accompanied the Fuhrer
to Vienna.

A year later,
when Hitler took over

the whole of Czechoslovakia,
it was Rommel and his bodyguards

that also accompanied him
to Prague.

This was a dummy run for more
serious security situations --

for the first time,
Hitler had moved

outside areas
occupied by ethnic Germans.

His bodyguard would now be
facing whole populations

of hostile people,
many of whom would be

delighted to assassinate Hitler
at any time

and anywhere
they could get to him.

The Fuhrer
was further impressed

when he read Rommel's 1938 book
of infantry tactics.

The man was clearly
as intelligent

as he was good
at managing soldiers.

He decided to put
the 48-year-old Rommel

in charge of a new unit
of military bodyguards.

War was approaching fast --

with Poland next on Hitler's
list of targets.

Hitler hoped that,
as previously,

he might be able to getaway
with an invasion

without Britain and France
declaring war --

but he knew that this time

his bluff would
almost certainly be called...

and that if war did come,
he could no longer rely

just on his close circle
of SS bodyguards --

loyal old comrades
like Bruno Gesche,

who headed
his SS-Begleitkommando escort --

or even the Leibstandarte
palace guard.

He needed a battalion-strength
unit of trained soldiers

as a bodyguard to protect
his headquarters as he followed

the Polish campaign.

Troops were selected
from the elite

Grossdeutschland
infantry regiment

and from Luftwaffe
ground forces,

and in August 1939, the new
Fuhrer Begleit Battalion

was formally established.

Rommel -- newly promoted
to brigadier general --

was in command.

The Fuhrer Begleit Battalion

numbered just over 500 officers
and men

organized into four companies --

The 1st Guard Company,
for close Sentry duty.

The 2nd Mobile Company, with
armored cars and motorcycles

to escort the Fuhrer's convoy.

The 3rd Heavy Weapons Company,
equipped with anti-tank guns.

And the 4th Machine Gun Company,
to secure an outer perimeter.

Attached to this was
an antiaircraft flak unit

provided by the Luftwaffe.

The air force also supplied

the two antiaircraft gun
carriages at either end

of Hitler's headquarters train.

The main duties of
the bodyguard battalion included

security on this train
when it was on the move.

When the train stopped and he
drove out in a motor convoy,

the battalion would then protect
him with its motorcycles

and armored cars
racing ahead.

At a more personal level,
security was also stepped up.

From now on, Hitler always
carried a pistol

for self-defense,

and his hats were armored
with a steel lining.

War finally came
on September 1, 1939,

with Hitler's armies

bursting across
Poland's borders.

Within two days,

Britain and France
had declared war.

Hitler now faced a war
on two fronts.

But a brutally effective
and swift campaign

soon removed this danger.

The full force of Blitzkrieg --

the new tactics of swift,
deep-thrusting armor

supported by air power --

overwhelmed the gallant
Polish resistance.

Hitler spent the first
three days of the war

in the Reich Chancellery
in Berlin.

He then boarded his special
headquarters train

on September 3rd and traveled

through eastern Germany
to Bad Polzin.

The train carried an all-star
team of Hitler's top bodyguards.

There were the 10 men

of Bruno Gesche's
SS-Begleitkommando --

more old friends
than security officers --

and 10 agents from the RSD,
the Reich Security Service.

Outnumbering them both was

Rommel's
Fuhrer Begleit Battalion,

with 500 heavily armed soldiers,

plus the Luftwaffe
antiaircraft gun carriages.

Above them flew a squadron
of German fighter aircraft,

commanded by Captain Hans Baur,
Hitler's personal pilot.

It was from Bad Polzin
the next morning

that Hitler, his generals,
and his bodyguard escort

set off to inspect
the German front line

in a heavily protected convoy
of six-wheeler Mercedes G4s

protected by armored cars
and motorcycle troops.

Despite their closeness
to the fighting,

the mood was relaxed.

The troops moving up
as reinforcements

cheered their Fuhrer
as he stopped to review them.

Lunch was taken
at a field kitchen --

where a special
vegetarian option

had been laid on for Hitler.

Then, as they moved on
closer to the action,

there came a sobering
incident --

one of the leading armored cars

crashed head on
with an army truck

whose driver had been shot
by a Polish sniper

as he approached
Hitler's convoy.

It was a close call.

At Topolno, Hitler was watching
his troops

cross the Vistula River
when Polish aircraft

dropped bombs
just over a mile away.

After this excitement,
the convoy returned

to the headquarters train, which
had moved closer to the front.

Several more trips followed
over the next 10 days,

as the German Blitzkrieg

smashed deeper into Poland,
surrounding

and annihilating the woefully
under-equipped Polish troops.

By September 18th,

Hitler and his headquarters
train were based

at Goddentow-Lanz station
near Danzig,

modern Gdansk,
on the Baltic coast.

From here,
Hitler visited the city

whose seizure had been
part of the excuse

for the attack on Poland.

[Crowd cheering ]

There were many German-speaking
people living in the area,

and Hitler felt so relaxed
about his welcome

that he stood down Rommel's
military escort at Zoppot.

He visited the German
battleship Schleswig-Holstein

that had started the war
by blasting Polish

coastal defenses.

During the visit,
even his SS and RSD guards

didn't bother to accompany him.

The Fuhrer felt so safe

that he left his protection
to the local police.

On September 22nd, Hitler flew
to the outskirts of Warsaw

to watch an artillery
bombardment of its suburbs.

The city was now
under siege

and facing a constant
and devastating air assault.

[ Explosions ]

It fell on September 27th,

two days after Hitler
had returned to Berlin,

to start planning
the next stage of his war --

an assault in the west
against Britain and France.

But he was back in Poland again

on October 5th
for a massive victory parade.

This time he was escorted
into the city

by an army detachment,
and closely shadowed

by his close escort.

Their country may have been
defeated,

but there were plenty of Poles

ready to sacrifice themselves
in order to kill

their conqueror.

Hitler's bodyguard
knew that their task

had become even more difficult.

It is possible
that the new dangers

had made them take their eye

off the fact
that at home in Germany,

there were still people
who hated him.

Once again, it was not a network
of foreign plotters

that would threaten him,
but a lone assassin.

And that assassin would come
to within minutes

of ending Hitler's life.

[Crowd cheering ]

Two months into World War II,

and Hitler returned
to a special place.

It was November 8, 1939,
and he was due to make

the anniversary speech

at the Bürgerbräu Bierkeller
in Munich.

[Crowd cheering ]

It was from here

that Hitler first made

his bid for political power
in 1923.

That putsch had failed,

but the attempt set him
on the path to political power.

And every year,
the Fuhrer and his henchmen

would commemorate the day
with a march

along the original route,

and a gathering
at the Bierkeller.

It had become one of the most
significant ceremonies

in the Nazi calendar,
and an occasion

of particular concern
for Hitler's bodyguard...

for the event was one of the few

entirely predictable days
in the Fuhrer's year.

Every potential assassin knew
precisely where he would be

and what he would be doing.

For a man who saw
unpredictability

as one of the strongest weapons
in his security armory,

this was a rare chink
in his defenses.

Waiting for their Fuhrer
that evening

was an audience of specially
invited Nazis,

many of them Alte Kameraden,

the Old Comrades

who had marched alongside him
on that fateful day.

Sepp Dietrich, commander
of the SS-Leibstandarte,

was there -- he had been thrown
out of the police force

for supporting
the putsch attempt.

So too was Heinrich Himmler --

the SS chief had carried
a banner on that fateful day.

He should have felt very safe
sitting in the hall.

For it was his RSD,
the Reich Security Service,

that would have checked
the location thoroughly.

At 8:00 p.m.,
the Nazi Blood Standard

was carried into the hall --

the bloodstained flag
carried during

the failed putsch.

Hitler followed, to the roar
of cheers

from hundreds
of the party faithful.

He mounted the podium
and spoke rapidly.

Behind him on a column
hung a large swastika flag.

Normally, Hitler
would have happily

gone on talking
to past 9:30 p.m., but this time

he cut his speech short

because he had urgent business
in Berlin.

The Fuhrer left the hall
at 9:08 p.m.,

accompanied by several
senior Nazis.

[ Explosion ]

At 9:20 p.m.,

a massive bomb
tore the podium apart.

It exploded
from inside the column

holding the swastika flag

behind where Hitler
had been speaking.

The explosion brought down
the roof of the hall,

with wood and bricks
collapsing on the podium

and the table where Hitler was
just minutes before.

Six Nazis and one waitress
were killed immediately.

Another Nazi died
from his injuries.

Over 60 were badly injured.

Hitler would undoubtedly
have been killed.

When the bomb went off,
Hitler was in his car,

on the way to the station.

He had missed death
by a matter of minutes.

On hearing the news,
Hitler claimed it was evidence

of his divine mission --
he was protected by fate.

It was undoubtedly

one of the greatest near misses
of his career.

Amongst the wreckage,
investigators found

the remains
of what appeared to be

the timing device
for the bomb.

Who was responsible
for such an effective plot?

Did it involve army generals,
foreign agents --

a vast network
of conspirators?

Certainly, Hitler believed
it had to be a complex plot.

But on the night
of the explosion,

just one man was arrested --

36-year-old
Johann Georg Elser.

It was pure luck he was caught.

He was just a hundred yards
from the Swiss border

when two German guards
stopped him

for a routine check
of his identity papers.

Under Gestapo interrogation,

Elser admitted planting the bomb
in the Beer Hall.

A cabinetmaker from Wurttemberg
with strong socialist beliefs,

he was angry that Hitler
had let down German workers,

and he wanted to stop the war
in Europe.

Elser had spent a year preparing
his assassination attempt.

Moving to Munich, he visited
the Bürgerbräu Beer Hall

night after night,
hiding there after it closed.

Carefully, he dug a hole
in the pillar

behind the speaker's podium.

Into this, he placed a time bomb
he designed himself.

Expecting Hitler to be still
talking at 9:20 p.m.,

he set the timer on his bomb,
but Hitler cheated him,

delivering a shorter speech
than usual.

The funeral of those killed
in the blast

was turned into another
Nazi extravaganza,

but the pomp could not disguise
one embarrassing fact --

that Elser had been able
to visit

such an iconic Nazi location
day after day

without being noticed
by the RSD.

Its operatives were trained
to search

for bombs and anything unusual.

When the swastika flag was hung

on the column behind the podium
containing the bomb,

why did no one notice anything?

Why was there no SS guard
on the main hall day and night?

The RSD knew that this
anniversary was

one of the most dangerous
moments of Hitler's year,

and on this occasion it was only
his erratic timekeeping

that had saved him
from certain death.

It could be said that the very
enormity and complexity

of Hitler's security services
had conspired against him.

With so many agencies devoted
to his protection,

some personnel
may have been confused.

They may have believed that
others had checked the premises

when they had not.

Himmler was thoroughly
embarrassed by Elser's bomb.

He had been there
and could well have been

one of many senior Nazis
killed in the explosion.

Ultimately,
it was his security services

that had failed to protect
the Führer.

Such a mess-up
put tremendous pressure

on Himmler
and his SS associates

to investigate the plot
thoroughly.

Hitler made his own sardonic
comment on the affair.

Man: "In the two really
dangerous attempts made

"to assassinate me, I owed
my life not to the police,

but to pure chance."

Powell:
Pure chance saved Hitler --

not the RSD or the SS --
and the Nazis

devoted to protecting the Fuhrer
could not believe

that Elser had acted alone.

Germany was at war,
and they were convinced

that Elser was part
of an international plot

to stop the fighting --
with British secret agents

almost certainly involved.

It was time to open up
the investigation

and accuse foreign powers
of trying to kill their leader.

The opportunity to link Elser's
bomb with a foreign conspiracy

came just a day after the bomb
went off--

one of Hitler's cleverest and
most ruthless security chiefs

was running a sting operation
on the British

which was too neat to ignore.

The man who now became involved

in the follow-up
to the Elser plot

was a 29-year-old SS
intelligence officer,

Walter Schellenberg.

Schellenberg was born smart.

He studied medicine and law
at Bonn University

and joined the SS in 1933.

He rose rapidly within its ranks
and worked closely

with both Himmler and Heydrich.

By 1939, he was head

of the Gestapo
counter-espionage department.

His mission was
to get to assassins

before they got to Hitler.

As part of this, Schellenberg
had been tasked

by his boss,
Reinhard Heydrich,

head of the Gestapo
and Security Service,

with running
a misinformation operation

against the British
Secret Service.

It was being conducted
in the Netherlands,

which had remained neutral.

He was using a political refugee
who had

fled to the Netherlands
to feed information to London,

since the man was known

as a virulent anti-Nazi,

the British were ready
to believe his reports.

Thus, they were very interested
when the contact told them

that high-ranking officers

within the German army were
working against Hitler.

This had been true
in the previous year --

1938 -- when war with
Czechoslovakia looked likely.

Some generals had protested

that they weren’t ready for war
in central Europe.

They had prepared to launch
a coup

against Hitler
and even to kill him.

But now that Hitler was
victorious in Poland

and the Allies seemed unable
to stop him,

his disgruntled generals
were fully behind him.

Nevertheless, the reports

coming from the double agent
in the Netherlands

chimed in with the earlier mood
of the German general staff

and seemed convincing enough
to the British.

Schellenberg now took
the deception further.

He decided to impersonate
one of the conspirators

and set up a meeting
with British agents

in the neutral Netherlands.

Two British agents from

the Special Intelligence
Service, SIS,

were assigned to the mission --

Captain S. Payne Best,

who lived in the Netherlands
with a Dutch wife,

and Major RH. Stevens.

Schellenberg took the identity
of a real officer,

Hauptman Schaemel,

from the Military Transport
Department.

Having done that,
he set up a meeting

with Captain Best
and Major Stevens at Arnhem.

They talked as Best drove
a large Buick

through the Dutch countryside.

Schellenberg explained that
German generals were shocked

at the level of casualties
in the Polish campaign

and wanted an end to the war.

They wanted an end
to Hitler, too.

Best and Stevens replied that
they were empowered to speak

on behalf
of the British government,

and they, too, wished
to see Hitler removed.

This was in stark contrast
to the year before.

Then, Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain’s government

had been reluctant to help

any German attempts to remove
the Führer.

It was too late now,
but Best and Stevens

reported back favorably
to London.

Schellenberg was delighted

with the level of trust
he had established

and saw it
as a tremendous opportunity

to plant false information.

But then came Elser's bomb
on November 8th.

The next day,

Schellenberg had scheduled
a meeting

with the British agents
to carry on their discussions.

But on the evening
of the explosion,

Himmler telephoned Schellenberg
from Berlin.

The furious head of the SS

told Schellenberg
that they had just missed

being killed.

He said that Hitler believed

it was the work
of the British Secret Service.

Schellenberg
must change his plans

and turn his meeting
into a kidnapping.

Hitler wanted the agents
interrogated

about their part
in the bomb plot.

Schellenberg was assigned
a hit squad of SS troops.

They accompanied him as he
set off to meet Best and Stevens

at the Dutch border with Germany

and then go to a café in Venlo,
a small town

5 miles inside Holland.

On November 9th,

just after lunchtime,
Schellenberg

and his SS snatch team

took up their positions
at the isolated

and infrequently used
border crossing.

Schellenberg waited
for the British

just by the German barrier.

The British agents arrived
at 3:20 p.m.

Payne, Best and Stevens
were accompanied

by a Dutch officer
and a chauffeur.

They drove through the Dutch
barrier towards Schellenberg --

and straight into the SS trap.

As the car halted,

the SS hit squad burst out.

[Gunfire]

The car was rushed

and its occupants forced out
at gunpoint.

As they emerged,
the Dutch officer pushed free

and raced off,
turning to fire

at the SS men.

He was cut down
and died a short while later.

Best and Stevens were driven
to Berlin,

where they were interrogated
by the Gestapo.

Schellenberg was invited
to the Reich Chancellery.

There, he and other SS officers
involved in the Venlo incident

were presented by Hitler with
the Iron Cross, First Class.

The Fuhrer was delighted
to get one over

on the British Secret Service,
which he admired greatly.

It was a brutal affair,

but highly successful.

Under Gestapo interrogation,
the two kidnapped British agents

revealed a network
of other spies in Europe.

From then on, British
intelligence was wary

of dealing with any Germans

claiming to be
anti-Hitler plotters.

Following the Venlo incident,

Hitler was angry
at the involvement

of the supposedly neutral Dutch

and felt that this conduct
justified his later

invasion of their country.

Above all, he was convinced
that these captured agents

were actually involved in a plot
to kill him --

and this was linked
to Elser's bomb.

Schellenberg now became involved
in the quest to find out

whether Elser had had support
in carrying out his plot.

For the rumored military plot
to overthrow Hitler --

cooked up by Schellenberg
as a way

of enticing
the British agents

to meet him --
soon became interpreted

in the labyrinthine corridors
of Hitler's security empire

as part of the foiling of
a real attempt on his life.

That these two events --

Elser's bomb and Venlo --

happened on successive days

helped to link them
in Hitler's brain --

a man who took
every major incident

as an omen
on his path of destiny.

The quest for this link
now tormented

Himmler, Heydrich,
and Schellenberg

over the next three months.

They knew there was
no connection --

it had been pure coincidence --

but they had to explore
every avenue

in order to satisfy
an increasingly paranoid Hitler.

The questioning of Elser
was supervised

by Heinrich Muller --
the brutal head of the Gestapo.

The prisoner admitted
to planting the bomb

and happily described
how he made it,

but insisted
that he acted alone.

The Gestapo did not believe him.

Beatings, carried out personally
by Muller, achieved nothing.

Then three psychiatric doctors
were allowed to work on Elser.

They injected him
with high doses

of the truth drug Pervitin,
but each time,

he kept to his story --
he acted alone.

Schellenberg dictated a minute

detailing his own meeting
with Elser.

Man:
"He had a high forehead

"and strong, sensitive hands.

"He looked a highly skilled
craftsman,

"and his work was, in its way,
a masterpiece.

"At first,

"he was very shy.

"It was only when we began
to ask him about his work,

"to praise its ingenuity
and precision,

"that he came out of his shell.

"He went into a long
and enthusiastic explanation

"of the problems he had to solve
to construct the bomb.

"I became fascinated
by his explanation,

almost forgetting
its deadly purpose."

Powell: The Gestapo installed
a carpenter's workshop

for Elser
to recreate the bomb.

They built a wooden pillar
identical to the one

that stood behind Hitler
in the Beer Hall.

Elser showed them
how he installed his bomb

and set the timer.

Eventually, Elser did admit

to having two anonymous
accomplices.

This was the news
that Schellenberg wanted.

But Elser went no further.

He would not and could not
identify them.

The Gestapo next used hypnotists
to prise the truth from him.

Man:
"One of these hypnotists

"made a precise analysis
of Elser's character.

"He said the assassin was

"a fanatic who always
acted alone.

"He had strong compulsions,

"especially related
to technical matters.

"They sprang

from a need to achieve something
really important."

Powell: The hypnotists
also revealed

that Elser was motivated
by revenge.

His brother was a Communist
and had been

thrown into a concentration camp
by the Nazis.

Man: "By killing the leader
of the Third Reich,

"he would satisfy
all these desires,

"because he would
become famous himself

"and he would have felt
morally justified

"by freeing Germany
from a great evil.

"Such self-sacrificing urges

are typical of religious
and sectarian fanatics."

Powell: As far as Schellenberg
was concerned,

these deep-rooted motivations
explained Elser.

He was not part
of a wider conspiracy.

The investigation culminated

in a robust exchange of views
between Himmler and Hitler

during a dinner
at the Reichschancellery.

Man: "There is no possibility
of any connection

"between Elser
and Best and Stevens.

"I don't deny that British
Intelligence may be connected

"with Elser
through other channels.

"They may have made use
of Germans --

members of Strasser's
Black Front."

Powell: This was a sore point
for Hitler.

He hated and feared
Otto Strasser.

He had had Strasser's brother,
Gregor, murdered

during the Night
of the Long Knives.

In exile, Otto had set up
the Black Front,

a devil's alliance of ex-Nazis
and Jews,

who had launched several

assassination attempts
against him.

Man: "Elser admits he was
connected with two unknown men,

"but whether he was in touch

"with any political group,
we just don't know.

"They may have been Communists,

"agents of the British
Secret Service,

"or members of the Black Front.

"There is only one other clue.

"Our technical men are
practically certain

"that the explosives
and the fuses used in the bomb

were made abroad."

Powell: Hitler seized
on this reference

to a foreign-made bomb.

Man:
"That sounds quite possible.

"What I want to know is,

"what type of man
we are dealing with.

"I want you to use
every possible means

"to induce this criminal
to talk.

"Use hypnosis, give him drugs --

"everything that modern science
has developed in this direction.

I've got to know who stands
behind this plot."

Powell: Hitler wanted Elser
put on trial

with both Best and Stevens
as a high-profile event

to show the world
that he had defeated

an international plot
against him,

but the failure to make Elser

involve Best and Stevens
stymied him.

Eventually, Hitler lost interest
in Elser.

He remained in Dachau
concentration camp

until executed only days

before the end of World War II.

Best and Stevens were luckier.

They, too, stayed in prison
for the rest of the war,

but were finally liberated
by American troops.

Although the attempts

to link the Elser bomb plot
with the British

distracted senior SS commanders
pointlessly for weeks,

the affair did reveal

significant gaps
in Hitler's security.

As a result, the SS announced

a complete overhaul of
arrangements for his protection.

A 60-page directive was sent
to every Nazi security agency.

Closer coordination was
recommended between the RSHA --

the SS Central
Security Office --

the RSD, and the Gestapo.

The constant surveillance
of all locations

closely associated with Hitler
was ordered.

Another Beer Hall bomb
would never happen again.

With the Polish campaign won,
Hitler withdrew

to his private residence
at the Berghof

in the Bavarian alps.

He felt safest there.

He was far away
from the intrigue of Berlin

and gained megalomaniac
inspiration

from the mountain grandeur.

For the bodyguard,
it was a quiet time.

Hundreds of
SS Leibstandarte guards

patrolled the perimeter,

and anyone suspicious
could be stopped

long before they reached
the house.

Hitler was surrounded
by old comrades

and their children and pets --

including his long-term
companion, Eva Braun,

and enjoyed the nearest thing

to a normal life
he had ever experienced.

Within the house, Bruno Gesche

and his SS-Begleitkommando
bodyguards

provided a constant presence,

and when the Fuhrer went to bed,

a detail slept on the same floor

in nearby bedrooms.

From October 1939 to May 1940,

this was where Hitler spent
much of his time,

plotting his future campaigns.

It became his Fuhrer
Headquarters -- the FHQ --

to which his generals came to
plan and receive their orders.

He spread out maps
on the huge marble table

in the main conference room

with its magnificent
picture window

that was lifted electrically.

Hitler's work regime
was relaxed --

he would rise late
and take a leisurely lunch

and then a walk.

Often, planning meetings
would not start

until late in the afternoon
and go on late into the night.

He had hoped to be able
to turn west immediately

and attack While Britain and
France were still mobilizing,

but on this occasion,
his generals were able

to persuade him that the army
was totally unprepared.

The need to move
the panzer divisions west

and build up their strength
would take time.

And despite its apparent
invincibility,

the army had shown substantial
weaknesses --

particularly in supplying
and maintaining

the fast-moving tanks --
which needed to be put right.

For the next few months,
nothing appeared to happen

in Hitler's conflict.

It was what the British dubbed
"the phony war",

and the Germans,

the Sitzkrieg.

[ Barking ]

The winter was
a particularly severe one.

The two sides built up
their forces

and watched each other
from behind their defenses.

Despite the pre-war belief
that war would bring

massive and devastating
air attacks,

no one wanted to be
the first to start --

and risk massive retaliation.

The British launched a few raids
on the German naval bases --

and quickly discovered
that their bombers were

highly vulnerable
to the German defenses.

Beyond that, only propaganda
leaflets were dropped.

Such action as there was
was at sea --

German U-boats began
their attempt

to strangle Britain's
supply lifeline,

but there were too few
to have a major impact.

The powerful British navy hunted
down Germany's surface warships,

forcing most back to port

and cornering and destroying
the pocket battleship Graf Spee

off the coast of Uruguay.

But on the western border
of Germany,

laborers were secretly
constructing

military headquarters
for Hitler.

The first was in the village
of Rodert, near Munstereifel,

just south of Bonn.

It was code-named Felsennest --
the Rocky Nest.

This consisted of four bunkers
and several barracks.

General Erwin Rommel, head of
Hitler's military security,

visited the site and ensured
it was fit for use.

The Felsennest was surrounded
by barbed wire

and camouflaged
against aerial attack.

Antiaircraft gun emplacements
were constructed

and air-conditioning installed
in all the bunkers.

Ominously, this FHQ was

less than 30 miles
from the Belgian border.

It was the clearest sign
that the war in the west

was about to erupt.

Hitler was still at the Berghof
when the war in the west began.

On April 9, 1940,
German troops burst into Denmark

and occupied it
in just 24 hours.

At the same time,
German paratroopers

dropped on Norway

to seize key airfields.

And airborne troops
were then flown in...

while seaborne forces
seized the main ports.

As the German troops moved north
from their bridgeheads,

they met some resistance,
but the Norwegian defenders

were steadily pushed back.

By the end of May,
despite an attempt

by the British and French

to intervene, most of Norway

was securely in German hands.

The occupation of these
two neutral countries

was just a curtain raiser --

designed to secure
Germany's northern flank

as a preliminary
for the main campaign --

knocking Britain and France
out of the war.

Now Hitler and his bodyguard
would have to move

outside the Berchtesgaden
comfort zone --

for the Fuhrer was going
to the front again,

and this time, his armies
faced an enemy

which outnumbered them
in most areas.

Soon Hitler's journeys by car

would expose him and other
senior Nazis

to an extreme risk
of roadside assassination.

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