All language subtitles for H-B.08of13.Dangerous.Car.Journeys.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.

A good example of this
was the frequent occasions

when Adolf Hitler
was at his most vulnerable --

traveling by car through crowds

which could easily
harbor assassins.

For Hitler loved cars,

and particularly Mercedes.

His gleaming,

open-topped parade cars
were his pride and joy.

They symbolized the Third Reich
more than any other machine.

Later, when Hitler toured
his conquered territories,

or went to
wartime headquarters,

he moved in
a heavily armed convoy

of giant six-wheel
Mercedes G-4s.

His closest SS bodyguards --
men such as Bruno Gesche --

rode with him.

Dozens of other
bodyguards followed,

each man armed with
two pistols and a machine gun.

If Hitler were
going to be killed,

it would probably be in
one of these cars.

He was philosophical
about the danger,

and said he would rather die
standing up in a Mercedes

than hide away.

Hitler's love affair with cars
started early.

Shortly after he became leader
of the National Socialist party

he acquired
a brilliant red Benz.

But after his failed putsch
attempt in 1923,

the car was seized
by the police.

When Hitler became Chancellor
ten years later,

he tracked it down
and added it to his collection.

While in prison,
Hitler dreamed about cars.

Man: At the window of my cell,

I used to watch the cars going
by on the road to Kaufbeuren,

and wonder when
the time would return

when I would
ride in a car again.

The first thing I did on leaving
the prison in Landsberg,

on December 20, 1924,

was to buy
my supercharged Mercedes.

It cost me 26,000 marks --

a lot of money then!

Powell: Such was his passion

that he claimed to have
submitted numerous sketches

to Daimler-Benz,
suggesting how

the manufacturer could improve
the line and shape

of its Mercedes cars.

Although Hitler could drive --

some say he had learned
in the army --

he liked to employ a chauffeur.

He wanted to project the image

of someone who would be very
important in the future.

It was customary at this
pioneering time of motoring

to wear a flying helmet,

and Hitler is shown with one
in early newsreels.

He first realized the need
for a skillful driver

when he accompanied a friend,
Adolf Muller,

on a journey from Munich
to Wurzburg --

Man: I must confess that
my journey with Muller

was a revelation.

His car was a 16-horse Benz,

and it was in
beautiful condition.

Man: "I saw at once

"all the faults of my own car.

"Muller drove wonderfully well.

"He took his curves smoothly,

"without making
his rear wheels skid,

"and without sudden spurts
of acceleration.

"It made me feel ashamed of
my own driving.

"During that journey

"I took two decisions --

"I'd buy a Benz,

and I'd teach my chauffeurs
to really drive."

Powell: Hitler's Benz was
bought with Nazi party funds,

and he had to justify
the expenditure

to the German
internal revenue service.

He declared it was a tool
that enabled him

to carry out
his daily work

as a political organizer
and speaker.

Despite loving cars

and appreciating good driving,

Hitler was a reluctant driver.

He blamed it on
the political situation

in the 1920s.

He said the slightest accident
in his car

would give the authorities
the opportunity

to put him back in prison.

Hitler's chauffeurs were
therefore very important to him.

They acted both as driver
and bodyguard.

Unless he was accompanying

an important quest,

he would invariably sit in front
next to his driver.

But not all of Hitler's
early drivers

were a safe pair of hands.

Hermann Göring was a hazard
even when,

as first head of the SA,

he was responsible for
Hitler's personal security.

Like Hitler, the future head of
the Luftwaffe loved fast cars,

but his leader
swiftly recognized that

the former World War I air ace

would never have much of
a future as a chauffeur.

Man: "Göring made a point of

"always driving on
the wrong side of the road.

"In moments of danger,

he used to just blast his horn."

Powell: Bruno Gesche was another
of Hitler's closest bodyguards,

but he was slightly cross-eyed.

Hitler would joke
that it was a good thing

Gesche did not sit directly
behind him in his car,

because he might shoot Hitler
in the back by mistake.

Emil Maurice was one of Hitler's
first regular drivers,

but by 1926
he had been succeeded

as the Fuhrer's number one
chauffeur by Julius Schreck.

Schreck was a key figure

in the early
Hitler protection squads

that eventually
turned into the SS,

and took part in
the Munich Putsch attempt.

When the Nazi Party
was re-formed in 1925,

he briefly headed
the Strosstrupp,

or "Shock Troop," before it
became the Schutzstaffel or SS,

Hitler's elite protection squad.

Schreck was SS member number 5,

and it emphasized
how importantly

the chauffeur's job
was regarded

when Schreck stood down from his
position as Reichsfuhrer-SS

to take it on.

He grew a little
Hitler-style moustache,

and at a distance was
sometimes mistaken for

his more famous passenger.

But it was his qualities
as a bodyguard,

rather than as a driver,
that most impressed Hitler.

Man: Schreck was as strong as
a buffalo and fearless.

He used his car as a weapon
for charging Communists.

Powell: On one occasion,
Hitler was being driven

back from political campaigning
in Mainz to Munich.

Schreck was driving behind him

in a car equipped with a siren.

Suddenly on the road,

Hitler's Mercedes was surrounded
by a group of cyclists

who turned out to be communists.

They shouted at Hitler
and mobbed his car.

Schreck immediately turned on
his siren and intervened.

[Siren wailing ]

Man: "When they heard
Schreck's siren,

"they left their bicycles
on the road and scattered.

"Schreck proceeded to calmly
drive over the bicycles,

"crushing them.

"With Schreck beside me,

"it was the old war-time comrade
who sat at the wheel.

"When I have been driven
for years by the same men,

I no longer see them as drivers,
but as party comrades."

Powell: In 1936, Schreck caught
meningitis and died.

It was a great blow to Hitler,
and he ordered a state funeral.

It reflected the high status

he accorded the men
who operated so close to him.

He knew they stood just a body
away from him being killed.

If anyone was going to
take a bullet for him,

it would be his chauffeur.

It was fortunate for Hitler

that after Schreck died in 1936,

he had a more reliable character

available to be
his principal chauffeur --

Erich Kempka

Kempka was just 22 years old

when he first started
working for Hitler in 1932.

He soon proved himself in one of

the most dangerous situations

Hitler got himself into.

On the Night of the Long Knives
in 1934,

it was Kempka
who drove Hitler

to the hotel
at Bad Wiessee

for his confrontation
with Röhm.

And it was Kempka's decision

to return to Munich
by the back roads

that avoided an ambush set up
by vengeful SA men.

Before taking up this key post,

Kempka had been
an electrician's apprentice.

He then worked as a mechanic
and a professional driver.

It was these qualities
that recommended him to Hitler

as his next principal chauffeur.

Between 1929 and 1942,

Hitler ordered at least
44 Mercedes

for the use of himself
and his escort.

His preferred type
was a soft-top tourer.

From 1933, he ordered
four armored saloons,

but these were not
frequently deployed.

Hitler's attitude to his
security while traveling by car

changed dramatically as he moved

from being arising politician
to supreme leader of Germany.

In the years up to 1933,

he preferred to
keep matters simple.

Except on public occasions,
he did not like his car to be

festooned with flags
or special identifying insignia.

He didn't want the police
informed of his travel plans,

and liked to change his mind
at the last moment.

All this was designed to

wrong-foot anyone tracking
his route.

All he needed was his
chauffeur-bodyguard beside him,

and perhaps a few more SS men
in the back.

But after 1933,
he was head of state

and could no longer be
so relaxed.

Security agencies
crowded around him.

In an official convoy,

Hitler's car was always followed
by two cars full of

SS Begleitkommando bodyguards.

To this was added, in 1934,

a third car full of RSD agents.

There was a strict choreography
for Hitler's cars

and his bodyguards arriving
and departing at public events.

As Hitler's Mercedes
approached the location,

one of the cars with armed
SS-Begleitkommando officers

moved into stop ahead.

A third car with SS bodyguards
parked behind him.

And a fourth car,
full of SS officers,

parked opposite
Hitler's Mercedes.

Uniformed SS men lined
the streets

while plainclothes RSD or
Gestapo mingled with the crowd.

On leaving,
Hitler's convoy swooped off

in a similar tight formation.

Plans for moving slowly
along a cordoned off street

were equally tight.

A pilot car would drive

50 meters ahead of
Hitler's Mercedes,

so as to clear the route

and alert the guards that
the Fuhrer was coming.

Hitler's car followed

with three cars with
SS Begleitkommando

and RSD bodyguards
close behind.

Then after a 100-meter gap

came the cars of guests
and senior Nazi officials.

These elaborate security rituals
were reflected

in the increasing sophistication
of the vehicles

in which the Fuhrer traveled.

The 1938 Grosser Mercedes

Tourer Cabriolet F

is a good example of the kind of
protection available

on one of Hitler's favorite
parade cars...

At first glance, it seemed to
have been designed

primarily for comfort and power.

Seating up to eight
on plush leather seats,

this magnificent car
came complete with

footrests, floor carpeting,

and an exquisite
walnut dashboard.

The three central jump seats

could be folded back against
the front partition,

so as to give massive legroom

when extra bodyguards
were not needed.

It had a 394-horsepower
eight-cylinder

7.6-liter supercharged engine,

making it capable of hitting
112 miles an hour

in an emergency.

It was thirsty,
doing only 6.6 miles per gallon,

but the massive 66-gallon
armored petrol tank

gave it a substantial range.

But it was the purpose-built
security features

that distinguished Hitler's car.

Each tire had 20 separate cells,

making it virtually
bullet-proof.

The spare wheels
had armor plating

to protect the engine,

and the engine side panels
were also armored.

The body was armored throughout

with 18mm steel plating,

but aluminum parts
were used elsewhere

to lighten the overall weight
of the car.

Hitler's rear seat
could be raised

13cm higher
than his other passengers,

so he looked the most important
person in the car.

A raised armor shield
protected his back from bullets.

Further armor plating
under the seats

and over the wheel arches

protected him
from a bomb explosion.

The windows were made of
40mm thick bullet-proof glass.

An electromagnetic circuit
could lock the doors instantly.

The designer of the Grosser

was the Czech-born
Dr. Ferdinand Porsche,

who had been chief designer
at Daimler

when it merged in 1926
with Benz,

to form Mercedes-Benz.

It was in 1933,
when the new Chancellor

went to the Berlin Auto Show,

that he enlisted Porsche

for one of
the three major projects

which he announced there

to revive
Germany's oar industry.

The heavy tax on cars
was removed,

so as to stimulate
sales and growth.

Then, to take advantage of this,

Hitler announced that
a new small car

that all Germans
could afford to buy

was to be developed --

the Volkswagen,
or People's Car.

Dr. Porsche
would be its designer.

Finally,
a great road-building scheme

was announced,
to create jobs

and promote road travel.

Seven thousand miles
of four-lane Autobahns

would stretch across Germany.

It was an immensely
popular project,

providing a massive boost
to employment,

but it also had
a sinister dimension.

The upgrade of Germany's roads
meant that military vehicles

could travel more easily
and more quickly

to its borders
with other countries.

Hitler was building up
the German economy

not just for the benefit
of his citizens,

but because he was preparing it
for war.

By 1939,
about 1,500 miles

of the autobahn network
had been completed,

and the new Volkswagen factory

at Fallersleben had produced
a handful of cars --

the prototype of which

had been presented to Hitler.

But both projects
were now overtaken

by a much greater

and more sinister one --
Hitler's move to dominate

first Europe,
and then the world.

And as this set the world aflame
in 1939,

Hitler became
even more of a marked man.

But despite this,

and knowing that a horde of
foreign and even German plotters

wanted him dead,
Hitler still insisted on

touring his new conquests
in open-topped Mercedes cars.

It was a nightmare
for his security officers.

A Mercedes might be Hitler's
favorite way of traveling,

but it might also become
his coffin on wheels.

For during
the early years of conquest,

the Fuhrer drove
hundreds of miles by car

to watch his troops in action,

or to tour
recently occupied territories.

[Artillery fire]

These journeys exposed him
not only to

the normal perils of war,
such as bombing,

shelling, or snipers --

but to ambush by guerrillas

or deliberate
assassination attempts

by a hostile population.

[Crowd chanting
"Sieg heil!"]

But it is a remarkable fact,

that the Fuhrer was never
directly threatened

during these car journeys.

The sort of incident

which gave his bodyguard
sleepless nights

only happened after the Fuhrer
had abandoned

long-distance car journeys

for other forms of transport.

And it happened to one of his
most bloodthirsty Chieftains,

not to him directly.

In May 1942,

the Czech Reichsfuhrer
Reinhard Heydrich

was killed by a bomb thrown at
his open Mercedes

by British-trained Czech agents.

[ Explosion ]

He had made the error
of never changing his routine,

and his assassins knew
exactly where to catch him.

Not only would Hitler never have
been so predictable --

his frequent changes of mind

were designed to make targeting
him almost impossible...

But on the occasions when
he did have to be predictable,

he was now surrounded by

substantially
increased security.

As the German empire
began to expand,

and Hitler visited
Czechoslovakia and then Poland,

his convoys took on
a more military appearance.

His favorite Grosser Mercedes

was replaced by the three-axle,
six-wheel G-4 Tourer.

This monster was not fast,

but could be used for
cross-country travel

as well as military parades --

when Hitler's seat could be
raised for easier standing.

The armor was lighter
than on the Grosser,

and concentrated in
a few essential areas.

Windshields and rear windows

had 30mm thick
bullet-proof glass,

while the roll-up side windows
had 20mm thick glass.

8mm thick steel plates
were used in the car doors.

Ordinary tires
with extremely low pressure

were used because any bumps

irritated Hitler's
frequent stomach upsets.

The stream of cars
was now preceded by

the motorcycles
and armored cars

of the army's
Fuhrer Begleit Battalion.

Hitler's G-4 followed.

In addition to his driver,

four SS adjutants
and Begleitkommando bodyguards

rode with him.

And behind Hitler's Mercedes

came three more G-4s
filled with bodyguards --

and fitted with machine guns.

It was in France in 1940,

the scene of Hitler's greatest
military triumph,

that this "Grey Column,"
as it became nicknamed,

was most widely used.

In the middle of the afternoon

of May 9th, Hitler boarded
his armored train in Berlin

and traveled overnight
to his secret HQ

on Germany's western border,
the Felsennest near Euskirschen.

He was met at Euskirchen station
by Begleit Battalion troops,

and escorted by car
to his fortified HQ.

As they drove,

the Fuhrer had
one special new fear --

attack from above.

He had good reason to.

That same morning,

German airborne troops

used gliders to hurtle silently
over the Belgian border,

and land without warning

on top of the vital fortress
of Eben-Emael.

It was a brilliant success

for a startling
new kind of warfare.

The Belgian garrison
was overwhelmed

by the sudden aerial assault.

The skill of his airborne forces

both delighted
and worried Hitler.

If he could do this
to his enemies,

then they could do it to him.

Throughout the war,

he feared such
an airborne assault

on his own HQ.

To disguise the Felsennest
from the air,

camouflage nets and straw mats

were draped over the bunkers
and barracks.

A guard unit
of machine-gun equipped troops

was given special instructions
to look out for air attacks.

Anti-aircraft batteries
scoured the skies

and fired on fighters
or bombers

entering the airspace
around the Felsennest.

As the gliders
were landing on Eben-Emael,

other airborne units
were seizing key bridges

in the Netherlands.

Then German assault troops

pushed through
the frontier barriers

and raced towards Rotterdam.

Thinking this was
the main attack,

the British and French armies
swung forward into Belgium --

confident that their
right flank was covered

by the hills and forest

of the Ardennes,

which were supposedly
impassable to tanks.

But unfortunately,
no one had told

the German planners
about this --

and unobserved by the Allies,

the bulk of the German Panzers

started moving through
the narrow valleys

towards the French border.

On May 13th,
they burst into France.

The river Meuse
was soon forced under fire.

And then a headlong race began
to reach the Channel coast

and outflank
the main Allied armies.

While the full force
of Blitzkrieg

was being demonstrated
in this spectacular way,

Hitler made his first trip
to the Western Front.

On the 17th, the bodyguard
went on full alert

as he flew from the Felsennest
to Bastogne airport.

The "Grey Column"
had already been sent there.

Then the Fuhrer
and his staff and bodyguard

visited several units before
returning to the Felsennest.

By May 20th, the German tanks

had reached the English Channel
at Noyelles.

One of the first divisions
to get there

was led by General Erwin Rommel,

the former commander of Hitler's
Begleit Battalion bodyguard.

The Allies were now
in grave danger

of being trapped and cut off,

and fell back in disarray,

unable to mount any effective
counterattacks.

Rommel wasn't the only one of
Hitler's bodyguard commanders

to take an active role
in the fighting.

Sepp Dietrich

and the Leibstandarte
palace guard

had now grown to be
a mechanized regiment,

and they were made part of

the 9th Panzer Division for
the invasion of the Netherlands.

Once Rotterdam had surrendered

after being severely bombed
on the 14th,

the Dutch capitulated
the following day.

The 9th Panzer Division

and the Leibstandarte
then swung south

as part of the pincers

pressing the tattered British
and French forces

back on Dunkirk.

When Hitler ordered a pause
in the advance,

Dietrich ignored the order

and continued pushing forward

until his superior,
General Guderian,

had to reprimand him.

Like Rommel, Dietrich had had
his fill of desktop command

and wanted to demonstrate

how tough his elite troops
really were.

But these were SS bodyguards,
not regular army troops,

and their fanatical belief
in their savage views

was soon revealed
in a notorious incident.

80 to 90 British prisoners were
captured by a Leibstandarte unit

and then massacred in this barn
near Wormhoudt.

Remarkably, four survived,

and later testified to
the war crime.

After the war, Dietrich denied
any direct involvement,

claiming that
he personally treated

captured British officers
very well.

But he was ultimately in charge
of the Leibstandarte,

and the cold-blooded massacre

underlined what a ruthless
Nazi Killing machine

Hitler's palace guard
really was.

As his armies raced forward,

Hitler was eager to
continue following them.

On the 1st and 2nd
of June, 1940,

he made a longer visit
to the front.

This started with a flight from
the Felsennest to Brussels,

where he received
an enthusiastic welcome

from the Luftwaffe personnel
manning the airstrip.

The Grey Column

and the troops of
the Begleit Battalion

had been sent on ahead,
and were waiting.

The convoy drove to Ghent,

Courtrai, and then to
the World War I battlefield

near Ypres, where Hitler
had served in the trenches.

And the German cemetery
at Langemarck,

where several of his comrades
were buried.

A briefing was given by
General von Reichenau,

commander of the troops
in the area.

Lunch was eaten at
a field kitchen.

The Fuhrer and his entourage
spent the night

at the Chateau de Brigode

in the village of
Villeneuve d'Ascq.

The next day, the tour continued

with visits to Vimy
and Cambrai.

From there,
Hitler went to Charleville

for a briefing with
Army Group Commander

Gerd von Rundstedt,

before returning to
the Felsennest.

It was now decided that his HQ
must move nearer the action.

Part of the Maginot Line

was considered as a site,
but rejected.

And it was not until June 6th

that Hitler moved his
headquarters onto conquered soil

at the Belgian village

Bruly-de-Pesche,
near the French border.

The new HQ was code named
"Wolfschlucht" -- Wolf's Gorge.

It was the first of several
Fuhrer Headquarters

to use the prefix "Wolf,"

a reference to the alias
Hitler had chosen

in his early political career,
"Herr Wolf,"

a reflection of his image of
himself as a predatory creature.

The Headquarters
was barely finished --

the concrete of the bunkers
still wet --

and the smell of varnish
meant that

Hitler spent
as much time as possible

outside the buildings
in the surrounding woods.

He did not feel safe there,

and declined to use
his personal bunker.

An RAF air raid dropped
incendiary bombs

on the nearby village,

and hit the barracks containing
his SS and RSD bodyguards.

By the time Hitler moved into
the Wolfschlucht,

a crucial German pause

had allowed over
338,000 Allied troops --

including 120,000 French --

to be rescued off
the beaches of Dunkirk.

And the German armies
had begun to drive south

to complete
the defeat of France.

The second stage of the campaign

began on June 5th.

And by the 10th,

the German troops were pouring
across the Seine,

having breached the last serious
French defensive line.

And the next day Paris was
declared an open city

to save it from bombardment
and destruction.

German troops occupied it
on the 14th.

Two days later,
at the Wolfschlucht,

Hitler received the news

that the French government
had sent emissaries

to ask for an armistice.

And on June 22nd, his bodyguard
was put on high alert

as he was driven to
the forest of Compiégne

where the surrender terms
were to be presented

to a French delegation.

This took place
in the same railway carriage

in which the Germans
had surrendered in 1918.

It was sweet revenge for Hitler,

and this newsreel shows
his delight

that a great
national humiliation

had been revenged.

Shortly after
the surrender ceremony,

Hitler took
a spur of the moment decision.

He instructed his Bodyguard

that he wished to visit Paris.

He had already seen
other great French treasures

like Strasbourg Cathedral,

now the opportunity had arrived
to fulfill a dream he had had

since being an art student
in Vienna.

It would be a tremendous gamble,

and his Bodyguard
wondered at the wisdom of

driving around
the recently conquered capital

in full view of a defeated
and embittered enemy population.

Early on the morning of
June 28, 1940,

Hitler left the Wolfschlucht

and flew to Le Bourget airport,

where five G-4s
were waiting.

With him were the colleagues

he felt would most enjoy
the trip,

including Albert Speer,
his favorite architect,

and the sculptor Arno Brecker.

Only about ten members of
the Begleitkommando and RSD

would be escorting
the small party.

As Hitler later said,

he was largely relying on
surprise to protect him.

Man: "I paid my visit
very early in the morning,

"between 6:00 and 9:00.

"I wanted to refrain from
exciting the population

by my presence."

Powell: First stop was
the Paris Opera House.

Its ornate interior was not to
Hitler's taste --

Man: "I've long studied

"the plans of the Opera,
since I was a young man.

"Finally being confronted
with it in reality

"made me reflect that
the opera houses

"of Vienna and Dresden
were built with more taste.

"The Paris Opera has an interior

decorated in
an overloaded style."

Powell: Next, they drove along
the Champs-Elysées

and admired the sculpture
on the Arc de Triomphe.

From there
the convoy headed southwest

to the Palais de Chaillot.

There they stopped,

and Hitler and his party

walked out onto the terrace
to view the Eiffel Tower.

With the iconic monument
as a background,

Hitler posed for
a famous photograph --

the art student become warlord.

Beside him stood Speer
and Arno Brecker.

From there,
they crossed the Seine

to visit the French
military school

and Les Invalides.

Hitler went in to see
the tomb of Napoleon,

and meditated on the life
of the French dictator --

a man so similar in ambition

to himself --
but who was also finally undone

by an invasion of Russia.

The tour continued
to the Pantheon,

followed by a brief detour
to Montparnasse,

and then onto
the Sainte-Chapelle

and Notre Dame Cathedral.

Hans Baur,
Hitler's favorite pilot,

took part in the tour,

and noted the emptiness
of the French streets.

Man: "A few workers

"were returning home
in the early hours of dawn.

"Street sweepers
were starting their work.

"The first porters appeared
in front of houses.

Sometimes,
Hitler was recognized."

Powell:
But no one shouted at him.

No one threatened the convoy.

Hitler passed by

without anyone attacking
his Mercedes.

Again, surprise
was his best bodyguard.

The convoy then crossed
the river again

to drive through the medieval
quarter of the Marais,

before heading back past
the Louvre,

and up the hill to Montmartre.

Man: "Finally we went up to
the Sacre-Coeur.

"It was terrible!

"But, on the whole,

Paris, remains one of
the jewels of Europe."

Powell:
The tour was over by 9:00 am.,

and Hitler slipped away --

his gamble had paid off,

and his Bodyguard
could breathe again.

On June 28, 1940,

Hitler moved to his final
Western Front headquarters.

Deep in the Black Forest
near Freudenstadt,

it was code named Tannenberg,

after the decisive
German victory

over the Russians
in World War I.

Tannenberg was lavishly equipped
with bunkers and barracks,

and surrounded by barbed wire,

but Hitler spent
just a week there.

During that time
he took a short visit

to see the mighty fortifications
of the French Maginot Line.

These impressive
concrete and steel forts

had been the backbone
of France's defenses,

but the Germans had simply

driven round the line.

It became synonymous with
a failure to understand

the nature of
modern mobile warfare.

It was at the Tannenberg HQ

that Hitler began to consider
his future options.

One of these was
the invasion of Britain.

His commanders brought him plans

for Operation Sea Lion --

an assault by sea and air
across the English Channel.

He also worked on
a peace-with-Britain-speech

he hoped to deliver soon.

With the catastrophic collapse
of France,

he could not imagine Britain
holding out much longer.

There would be no need

for an invasion.

But he greatly underestimated

the fighting spirit
of the British people.

Led now by Prime Minister
Winston Churchill,

they refused to accept defeat
so easily.

On July 6th, Hitler left
the Tannenberg HQ for Berlin.

He was greeted by
a rapturous welcome,

with millions lining the streets
to greet the conquering hero.

Anticipating Operation Sea Lion,

Hitler's bodyguard battalion

moved onto another
Fuhrer Headquarters

at Adlerhorst --
the Eagle's Nest --

at Castle Ziegenberg,
near Bad Nauheim.

This was equipped with

the latest cipher
and radio equipment,

and was relatively luxurious

compared with the other

bunker-based
forward headquarters.

But Hitler
would never stay there.

On July 19th,
he addressed the Reichstag.

Having righted the wrongs
of the Versailles Treaty

by defeating France,

he felt confident enough
to offer peace to Britain

on his terms.

The offer was rejected.

Germany would have to
defeat Britain in battle

before she would submit.

Despite this rebuff,
it was decided to hold

a spectacular victory parade
in Paris on July 27th.

Thousands of German troops

would march though
the Arc de Triomphe,

and along the Champs-Elysées.

Their triumphant Fuhrer
would take the parade.

It would be the ultimate
humiliation of the French,

but some people were delighted

to hear that Hitler
would be there --

and none of them had
his best interests at heart.

Among those
who welcomed the news

were Fritz-Dietlof
von der Schulenburg,

the former deputy chief
of the Berlin police,

who had been involved in
the abortive "Generals Plot"

to arrest Hitler in 1938,

and was now serving in Paris --

and his colleague,
Dr. Eugen Gerstenmaier,

who worked for
the German Foreign Ministry.

For them it seemed

a perfect opportunity
to complete unfinished business.

The Fuhrer would be shot
on the reviewing stand.

But fate intervened yet again.

In another of Hitler's
unexpected changes of mind,

he decided to cancel
the victory parade.

Schulenburg and Gerstenmaier's
opportunity was gone.

And they were not the only
potential assassins

to be frustrated by
the cancellation

of the Paris victory parade --

in England, DF Stevenson,

Director of Home Operations
in the Air Ministry,

had suggested a low-level
air raid

to drop bombs
on the reviewing stand.

And ironically,
it was Luftwaffe chief Göring's

inability to guarantee
that such an attack

could not take place
that made Hitler

decide to change his mind.

The gloves were now off,

as far as the British government
was concerned,

but Hitler's irregular habits

remained his best defense
against attack.

On August 12th, the Luftwaffe
launched its attempt

to establish air supremacy
over England --

the essential prerequisite
for the invasion.

The Battle of Britain

raged over the towns and fields
of southern England.

Fighter pilots
dueled in the air...

but as the desperate
struggle continued,

it seemed less and less likely

that Hitler would enjoy
a secret tour of London,

as he recently had
of his latest conquest.

Two months later,

with the RAF still
fighting back,

Hitler secretly decided that
Operation Sea Lion

would have to be postponed
until 1941.

In reality,
it was abandoned,

for Hitler had decided that
Britain was now so isolated,

he could safely
shift his attention

to a far greater adventure.

Since the 1920s,
Hitler had had a seething hatred

of the Bolshevik regime
in Russia.

Unexpectedly, he had concluded
a non-aggression pact

with the Soviets in 1939,

but that was just
a means to an end --

keeping Russia out of
a European war.

But now he felt secure enough
to turn and face

his ultimate enemy --
the Soviet Union.

Here were
the vast tracts of land

he could colonize with Nazis.

Here were the endless supplies

of oil, raw materials and food
to supply his German empire.

But these distances
were measured in thousands,

not hundreds, of miles.

Hitler could no longer
drive to the front

from a headquarters in Germany.

He would have to use aircraft
to cover the long distances.

And this would present
new dangers to him.

A crash in a plane
was so much more deadly

than a crash in a car.

Hitler would now depend on

a whole new range of bodyguards.

Men who could
protect his aircraft

both on the ground
and in the air.

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