Original subtitles

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 when Hitler was relaxing at home,

his bodyguard was on full alert.

For Hitler, the Berghof,

near the town of Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps,

was a very special place.

It stood on the Obersalzberg

and reminded him of the mountain landscape

of his childhood in Austria.

It was here that he conceived

his most Wagnerian, world-conquering ideas.

Man: "When I go to Obersalzberg,

"I'm not drawn just by the beauty of the landscape.

"My imagination is stimulated.

"When I study a problem elsewhere,

"I see it less clearly -- I'm overwhelmed by the details.

"But by night, at the Berghof,

"I lie in bed for hours,

"staring at the mountains lit up by the moon.

"It's at such moments

that brightness enters my mind."

Powell: It was not brightness that entered his mind --

instead, murderous plans on a scale that would injure

and kill millions of people across Europe.

Man: "All my great decisions were taken

"at the Obersalzberg.

"That's where I conceived my attack on the West

and the invasion of Russia."

Powell: At first, the Berghof was just a picturesque cottage.

But as Hitler gained power, it grew and expanded

until it became a massive fortified compound

surrounded by fences of barbed wire

and patrolled by 20,000 troops.

The Berghof became Hitler's

alternative power base, his other main residence

after the Reich Chancellery,

a second seat of government for the Third Reich.

Here, he discussed

his secret, demonic plans with top Nazis --

plans that involved ethnic cleansing and genocide.

He negotiated with foreign leaders

and bullied them into decisions they would regret.

He entertained his friends

and mistress.

When war came, it became his headquarters,

constantly visited by his top commanders.

It was also a place where assassins

knew he could be found --

plotters within his own ranks,

and foreign agents tasked with his murder.

The Berghof became the home where Hitler felt safest --

but also a target for anyone who wanted him dead.

Hitler first discovered the Obersalzberg area

in 1922,

when his Nazi colleague, Dietrich Eckart,

was on the run from the police.

He joined him there

at a little guesthouse, the "Pension Mauritz,"

staying under the false name of Herr Wolf.

He immediately fell in love with the dramatic landscape.

In 1928, Hitler rented a small country-style chalet

on the Obersalzberg, called Haus Wachenfeld.

Five years later, with the considerable royalties

from the sales of his book "Mein Kampf," he bought it.

Over the next few years, he acquired

more and more land around the house.

In 1935, two years after he became Chancellor of Germany,

the original house was extensively rebuilt,

the plans drawn up by Hitler himself --

the frustrated architect

had found an outlet for his interest.

Finished a year later, it was then officially

renamed the Berghof -- literally,

"mountain house" or "farmstead."

The ground floor was mainly used for entertainment and meetings,

with a spacious sitting area, dining room,

and a room for screening movies.

If there were not enough Nazi-made films to watch,

Hitler would sit back and see

the latest Hollywood blockbuster.

"The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" was a particular favorite.

But the central feature on the ground floor

was a large conference room with a huge picture window

that overlooked the mountains.

It could be raised and lowered electronically

to give a completely open panorama.

Next to it was a terrace

where Hitler and his friends relaxed in the sun

and posed for home movies.

On the first floor were Hitler's study, bedroom, and bathroom.

His mistress, Eva Braun,

had a separate bedroom and bathroom.

There were several guest bedrooms.

His closest bodyguards -- the SS-Begleitkommando --

had four bedrooms on the same floor

at either end of the rear of the house.

Security in the early days at Haus Wachenfeld was very lax.

Up until 1936, Hitler would wander

with his friends through the unguarded, forested slopes.

At any point he could have been ambushed.

This wasn't the only security problem faced by the bodyguard.

Despite the impression often given that the Berghof stood

in splendid isolation on the side of a mountain,

it was surprisingly close to other buildings.

There was a small guest house, the "Zum Turken,"

just down the road from it.

The Pension Moritz stood behind the trees above it.

And several other houses were close by.

But from 1936, when the new Berghof became effectively

the alternative seat of the Nazi government,

security was steadily increased.

A guard house was placed across the main approach road.

And visitors now had to pass through

two new security zones --

a Fuhrer Prohibited Area -- the Fuhrersperrgebiet --

about 5 square miles enclosing the whole Obersalzberg,

which was steadily surrounded by a 7-foot fence...

and the Sovereign Area -- the Hoheitsgebiet --

which contained the Berghof and nearby buildings.

The outer perimeter was patrolled by the RSD --

the Reich Security Service -- while the inner was guarded

by Leibstandarte troops.

Special passes, updated every week,

were needed to enter each area.

It was not enough to wear a military uniform

to pass through.

To house these bodyguards,

the Zum Turken was taken over for the RSD.

And then the nearby houses were compulsorily purchased,

and a massive new barracks built for the Leibstandarte.

Henceforth, only a few favorites --

like Albert Speer, Hitler's favorite architect,

or Martin Bormann, who had overall control

of the complex -- would be allowed houses

within the outer zone.

Nevertheless, until war began,

hundreds of Hitler fans would be allowed to climb

the slopes of the Obersalzberg and walk past the new Berghof.

Sometimes Hitler would come out and pose with them

on the steps of the house.

It all seemed remarkably relaxed --

but the bodyguard were only too aware of the potential risk...

and that other weak points also existed,

which could easily allow a determined assassin

to get to the Führer.

One of the chinks in the defensive perimeter

which increasingly surrounded Hitler at the Berghof

was a small tea-house built in 1937.

It stood on a slope

across the valley from his house,

just inside the outer perimeter fence.

Hitler would take a regular daily walk to it.

The stroll was mainly downhill,

and when he reached the tea-house he would be picked up by car

and taken back up to the Berghof.

The regularity and openness of this walk,

which could be overlooked from woods

outside the perimeter fence, made it an excellent point

for any assassination attempt --

a fact which did not escape foreign agents.

Another tea-house was constructed by Martin Bormann

as a 50th birthday present for the Fuhrer

in 1939.

Bormann was Hitler's private secretary

and was in charge of purchasing land in the area

and overseeing the construction of all its buildings.

The Kehlsteinhaus was perched on top of a rocky outcrop

and was called the Eagle's Nest.

To reach it,

a 10-foot high, marble-lined tunnel was dug

450 feet into the mountain rock.

At the end of the tunnel, a gilded elevator

carried visitors up a shaft over 400 feet high to the house.

It was built in just 10 months,

but at a cost of 30 million Reichsmarks

and the lives of 10 laborers.

Despite its dramatic location,

Hitler was never very fond of the Eagle's Nest

and only visited it a dozen times.

The reason was that he didn't trust the elevator,

fearing he might get stuck halfway up.

The final stage of construction at the Berghof

began in 1943 -- an elaborate system

of connecting tunnels and underground air raid shelters.

Some of these still survive.

Despite the constant updating of security

and thousands of bodyguards dedicated to his protection,

the Berghof was never the most secure place

in the Third Reich for Hitler.

For Hitler loved the outdoor life.

His one main regret about becoming leader of Germany

was that he could no longer go hiking.

It was because Hitler loved the alpine landscape

that the Berghof became his favorite residence.

In his early years there, he would set off into the forest

with a few friends -- frequently bumping into hikers or skiers

curious to see the man who claimed

that he would be Germany's savior.

In those days, he was notorious

as the leader of a failed putsch,

but as he came closer to power in the early 1930s,

more and more people were drawn to his Bavarian retreat --

until crowds became a security problem.

In 1933, the year Hitler became Chancellor,

an SA Brown Shirt was found in the grounds of his house

acting suspiciously.

He was carrying a gun and was arrested by SS guards.

Little more is known about the incident,

but it underlined the fact that even Hitler's own supporters

might turn against him.

At one time, the SA had provided Hitler with staunch bodyguards,

but some of them believed that now he was in power,

he was betraying their socialist beliefs.

In the following year, Hitler was forced

to move against the SA and murder its leaders,

including Ernst Röhm.

After this Night of the Long Knives,

he would only trust the SS with his personal security

at the Berghof.

After these tensions,

the mid-1930s were relatively tranquil.

Hitler consolidated his regime

and concentrated on restoring the German economy

through massive programs of rearmament and public works.

He was frequently at the Berghof --

and there was grumbling from ministers

such as propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels

that he was spending too much time down in Bavaria.

Visiting the Fuhrer became a chore --

but one which an ambitious minister

in the snake pit of the Nazi court

could not avoid doing.

In his Alpine retreat, Hitler was able

to relax as much as he ever could,

and for his bodyguard it was a relatively quiet time.

The Begleitkommando under Bruno Gesche

had their Fuhrer in a secure place,

and the protective rings around him

were continually being improved.

Nazi Chieftains such as Foreign Minister

Joachim von Ribbentrop were regular visitors.

And Hitler's mistress Eva Braun and members of her family

spent much of their time at the house.

As these home movies show, the atmosphere

was noticeably more relaxed when the Fuhrer was not around.

But even he could be persuaded to play with the children

and dogs.

For Bruno Gesche and the Begleitkommando,

the most immediate threat would come

from a completely different direction.

SS Chief Heinrich Himmler had always resented the direct link

which Hitler's most intimate bodyguards had

with their Fuhrer, and was desperate

to assert his control over them.

In autumn 1932, even before Hitler became Chancellor,

Himmler had attempted to have Gesche removed

from the Begleitkommando because he had publicly

criticized security arrangements organized by the SS.

Hitler refused to listen to Himmler,

and Gesche was merely reprimanded.

Humiliation followed for the SS chief.

In May 1934, the Fuhrer selected Gesche

to command the Begleitkommando.

Himmler's resentment festered

as he was forced to sign the contract confirming this.

In the autumn of 1938, he tried again,

using Gesche's major weakness -- his love of alcohol --

as the lever.

The SS, of which the Begleitkommando

was technically a part, had a strict rule.

Any member guilty of abusing alcohol

must either abstain from drink or resign.

Gesche was frequently

the worse for wear, and on September 26, 1938,

Himmler ordered him to sign a written statement

swearing not to touch spirits for three years --

or face expulsion from the SS.

Gesche was forced to do so --

but it was a short-lived victory for Himmler.

Within a few months, discreet pressure from the Fuhrer

forced the SS chief to lift the ban.

Although virtually teetotal, Hitler was ready to protect

his most intimate companions.

This eruption of the long-running feud

between the head of the SS and his unruly subordinate

came just at a time when Hitler's bodyguard

was being tested in a much more deadly way --

although neither man was immediately aware of this.

In 1938, a Swiss student named Maurice Bavaud

began to stalk Hitler across Germany.

But he was no fan -- he wanted to assassinate the Führer.

The Berghof was famous as a place where devoted followers

could sometimes get close to Hitler.

And Bavaud posed as just such an enthusiastic Nazi.

He took a room at a hotel

in the nearby town of Berchtesgaden,

and RSD agents secretly checked him out

but found nothing suspicious.

Bavaud went for walks in the forest around the Berghof

and practiced shooting at the trunks of trees.

He didn't bother using a silencer for his gun,

but just blasted away.

[Gunshots]

If they heard the shots, Hitler's guards must have

assumed it was a hunter -- Göring,

who had a house in the area, was notoriously keen.

Bavaud asked at the gatehouse

whether he could go up to the Berghof

but was told it was impossible

to get through the checkpoints without a pass.

At Bischofswiesen, a security officer

at the new Chancery building told Bavaud

that he'd be better off trying to see Hitler in Munich.

Bavaud took the advice

and traveled there for the annual parade

celebrating Hitler's failed beer-hall putsch.

But there, the weight of bodyguards around Hitler

prevented Bavaud from getting close enough

to get a shot at the Führer.

Bavaud took a train back to Berchtesgaden in November 1938

and went straight up to the Berghof.

At the main checkpoint, Bavaud claimed he was carrying

an urgent message for Hitler

from an important French politician -- direct from Paris.

The guard phoned the main residence

but was told Hitler had just left.

Once more, Bavaud went back to Munich

and tried Hitler's Brown House headquarters.

But he was told to return again to Berchtesgaden

and visit the Bischofswiesen offices.

Running short of money,

the student had to give up his hunt.

His tortuous pursuit of Hitler was only finally revealed

when he was arrested for not having a ticket

on a train heading to France.

His gun was found, and the Gestapo prised

his plot to assassinate Hitler out of him.

Bavaud was imprisoned and later guillotined.

In this instance,

the security measures at the Berghof

had worked relatively very well.

After initial failures to identify him as a threat,

Bavaud had been unable to break through the perimeter fencing

or con his way past the checkpoints.

He got nowhere near his target.

The circumstances would be a lot different

with the next assassination attempts on Hitler

at the Berghof.

This time they would come from within his own circle.

It was Hitler's drive to war that provoked these incidents,

and it is no surprise that they should take place

at the Berghof.

His alpine retreat was very much

a key location on the path to war.

It was here that Hitler began the process

of fooling the British prime minister,

Neville Chamberlain, into allowing him

to occupy the Sudetenland areas of Czechoslovakia

in 1938.

Having got away with this,

Hitler then used the Berghof

as his military headquarters to plan his next assaults.

It was there that he pored over maps with his generals

and planned the assault on Poland

which began World War II.

And it was there -- after the devastating power

of Blitzkrieg had been so dramatically shown in Poland --

that he worked with his commanders on the brilliant plan

which was to occupy France, Belgium, and the Netherlands

and drive the British out of continental Europe

in a few short weeks in 1940.

While still considering an invasion of Britain,

it was in August 1940 at the Berghof --

as he viewed the towering peaks of the mountains around him --

that Hitler gained the confidence

to take on the Soviet Union.

In January 1941, he had a two-day meeting

at the Berghof in which he informed his generals

of this momentous decision.

The Berghof's manager, Herbert Dohring,

discovered the secret.

[Man speaking German]

Powell: Nicolaus von Below was one of Hitler's adjutants

and remembered the shared sense of shock.

Man: "We were all dumbfounded when we heard this.

"Everyone had very stern looks on their faces.

"No one opposed the idea at the time,

"but when we left the room, all the questions started.

No one wanted a war with Russia."

Powell: But their Fuhrer did.

And on June 22, 1941,

Operation Barbarossa burst upon the unsuspecting Soviet Union.

[ Explosion ]

It would be this war --

conceived at the Berghof --

that would make him most vulnerable

to the opposition of his generals,

that would lead to conspiracy

and eventually attempts to kill him.

For Bruno Gesche too,

the war against the Soviet Union almost proved fatal --

for Heinrich Himmler, his nominal boss,

had still not abandoned his feud.

But at first all seemed to go well, and despite setbacks

which prevented the capture of Moscow at the end of 1941,

Hitler was confident that 1942 would bring victory.

He planned Operation Blue -- a mighty offensive

to seize the oil fields of the Caucasus.

[ Explosions ]

It was while this second great German assault

on the Eastern Front was being prepared

that Gesche gave Himmler the opportunity

to renew his attacks.

During a binge drinking session,

he pulled out his pistol

and threatened another SS officer.

He was swiftly calmed down,

but within days a report was on Himmler's desk.

It was just the moment that the malevolent head of the SS

had been waiting for -- and this time

even the friendship of his Fuhrer

could not save Gesche.

He was dismissed from command of the Begleitkommando

and banned from drinking for three years.

But, far worse, Himmler ordained that he should be sent to fight

on the Eastern Front.

At the age of 37, Gesche would go

for basic training before facing the full fury

of fighting the Red Army.

It must have seemed like a death sentence.

The unit which the disgraced commander

of the Begleitkommando bodyguard

was sent to join was the Waffen-SS

"Wiking" panzer division serving in southern Russia.

He arrived just in time for Operation Blue.

By the end of July, the Germans had sliced through the Red Army

and were closing in on their objective --

the oil fields of the Caucasus.

But the speed of the panzers' advance

overstretched their supply lines.

They shuddered to a halt just outside the city of Stalingrad.

Gesche fought well during the opening stages

of the offensive, but was then wounded

and brought back to Germany.

This probably saved his life --

for in November, while he was recuperating,

the Soviets launched a ferocious counterattack

which trapped the German Sixth Army

in Stalingrad.

[Gunfire]

In December,

while many of his fellow SS officers

were fighting desperately to avoid annihilation,

Gesche was ordered

to return to Hitler's side

and resume command of the Begleitkommando.

The Fuhrer had been pleased to see

that years of easy living as his bodyguard

had not made Gesche too soft for battle,

and once again Himmler's plan to destroy his enemy was thwarted...

but he would bide his time until Gesche gave him

another opportunity to strike.

Defeat at Stalingrad in January 1943

acted as a spur to officers who had become convinced

that only by getting rid of Hitler

could Germany be saved from catastrophic defeat.

During March 1943, two attempts to kill Hitler failed --

both times due to Hitler's uncanny luck,

rather than the defenses of his bodyguard.

But while the threat from his generals was growing,

Hitler and his bodyguard were looking

in a very different direction -- the threat

of an assault from the air.

In May 1943, the RAF raid on the Ruhr dams

showed that Britain's new long-range heavy bombers

could achieve pinpoint accuracy.

Just two months later, horrific firestorms

devastated Hamburg, showing how ruthless

the Allies were ready to be.

Almost immediately, a massive new program began at the Berghof

to build more than 1.5 miles

of bomb-proof tunnels and shelters.

Hundreds of foreign slave workers were brought in --

bringing another risk to Hitler's security.

But what Hitler feared above all

was an aerial attack by Allied paratroops.

He had good reason to.

In September 1943, he had launched his own

daring aerial raid to rescue

Italian dictator Benito Mussolini,

ousted as Italy tried to pull out of the war.

Mussolini was imprisoned in a hotel

in the Abruzzo mountains, which was only approachable

by a heavily guarded cable car.

So German special forces used gliders to land

by the hotel and overwhelm the Italian guards.

The deposed dictator was bundled into a tiny

two-seat Fieseler Storch liaison aircraft

and flown to freedom.

At the Wolf's Lair he was greeted by a delighted Hitler.

But his delight was tinged with a concern

that if his special forces

could carry out such a spectacular coup,

so could his enemies.

So 20,000 bodyguard troops were kept

in barracks close to the Berghof --

even though they were desperately needed

on the Eastern Front.

But for the moment,

the real danger came from a totally different direction.

The German High Command plotters who had already

tried to assassinate Hitler during visits

to the Eastern Front were still active.

Captain Eberhard von Breitenbuch,

aide-de-camp to Field Marshal Ernst Busch,

commander of Army Group Center,

had volunteered to make another attempt.

On March 11, 1944, he accompanied Busch

to the Berghof for a conference.

Breitenbuch had been offered a bomb,

but decided to use a pistol.

But his willingness to sacrifice himself

was thwarted.

At the last moment, SS bodyguards blocked his way

into the conference room.

No aides were to be allowed in.

The Allied landings on Normandy on June 6, 1944

increased the pressure on the conspirators.

Time was now running out

before Germany was militarily annihilated.

Leadership of the plotters now passed to the charismatic

Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg.

A month after D-Day, Stauffenberg arrived

at the Berghof for a military conference.

In his briefcase were the explosives

kept after the unsuccessful attempts

to kill Hitler the year before.

It is uncertain whether Stauffenberg

was unfamiliar with how to set the bomb

or whether he simply intended this visit as a dry run.

Either way, he didn't plant the bomb in the Berghof.

Five days later, on July 11, 1944,

Stauffenberg returned to the Berghof

with the bomb in his case.

But the conspirators had agreed that they must try

to kill Heinrich Himmler, as well as Hitler.

The SS chief was not there,

so Stauffenberg did not leave the bomb.

It was a grave error.

By the time the conspirators decided the next attempt

to kill Hitler at the Berghof must go ahead regardless,

it was too late.

Three days later, Hitler, as unpredictable as ever,

flew to the Wolf's Lair, his command post

on the Eastern Front.

It is an amazing insight into how lax security was

at the Berghof when dealing with senior officers,

that no one bothered to search Stauffenberg

or check his bulging briefcase before he got close to Hitler.

And that laxity seems to have been

just as great at Rastenburg.

For on July 20th, Stauffenberg did manage to plant his bomb

during a conference being held in a temporary hut.

It exploded.

But miraculously, Hitler survived the blast.

With hindsight, the golden opportunity to kill Hitler

had been at the Berghof.

It was the flimsy nature of the wooden conference hut

at the Wolf's Lair that had lessened

the impact of the bomb -- and saved Hitler.

At the Berghof, the solidly built walls

of the conference room would have contained the explosion

to devastating effect.

Although it had failed, the July bomb plot

contributed to a fundamental change in Allied thinking

which could have been deadly for Hitler.

Although many Allied commanders

felt that Hitler's military incompetence

now meant that he was worth more to them alive than dead,

it was decided at the highest level

that an assassination attempt should be investigated.

For the first time in almost five years of war,

British Intelligence began to work specifically

on the feasibility of a plot to kill Hitler.

And the project was given

to the Special Operations Executive -- SOE --

the organization set up by Winston Churchill

to "set Europe ablaze"

by supporting resistance movements

all over Nazi-occupied Europe.

[Screeching]

Inside information on Hitler's security services

came from interrogating German prisoners of war.

SOE began by considering a range

of options -- should Hitler be killed whilst traveling

or would it be better to target him

at one of his main residences?

Getting to Hitler while he was traveling was rejected

as too difficult because of his notorious unpredictability.

Then the Reich Chancellery,

the Wolf's Lair,

and his apartment in Munich were eliminated from the plot.

Soon SOE's plotters had decided

on the best place for an attempt.

It was to be the Berghof.

When Hitler stayed at the Berghof,

it was usually for several weeks,

so the SOE planners reckoned there should be time

to execute a pre-planned assassination

once his presence was confirmed.

Most of the Obersalzberg was heavily wooded and mountainous,

making it difficult for Hitler's bodyguard

to monitor every approach.

It also offered good cover

for any operations against the Berghof.

The Kehlstein tea-house perched on the Eagle's Nest

was judged to be too difficult to reach,

and was rarely used by Hitler.

But it was noted that Hitler's favorite daily walk

was to the Mooslahnerkopf tea-house in the valley.

The layout of the Berghof was also studied.

And it was noted that members

of Hitler's SS Begleitkommando bodyguard

slept in bedrooms on the same floor as he did.

The location and structure of the nearby barracks

containing the main SS bodyguard was studied closely --

with detailed floor plans of its quarters drawn up

from the testimony of soldiers who had been based there.

Nearby buildings used by top Nazis,

such as Hermann Göring's house

and Albert Speer's studio, were also included

in the exhaustive analysis of the area.

SOE began a search for local Austrians or Bavarians

with a grudge against Hitler,

who might be potential assassins.

It was also noted that large numbers of foreign workers --

especially French, Czechs, and Poles -- were brought in

each day by bus, and that security arrangements

at the checkpoints were fairly lax.

Details of the uniforms worn by the RSD and Begleitkommando

were studied so that agents

could be infiltrated in disguise.

One SOE contact claimed

that he had seen a double of Hitler

at the Berghof, but this could not be verified.

With all this information to hand, SOE planners considered

three main options for killing Hitler at the Berghof.

Mission one involved one or two snipers,

dressed in SS bodyguard uniforms.

They were to lie in wait for Hitler as he walked

to the Mooslahnerkopf tea-house

at the bottom of the Obersalzberg.

This had the advantage

that it was a regular route for Hitler.

He arrived at the tea-house

at a regular time, around 11:00 in the morning.

He liked to walk alone or with just a single quest.

He would shout at any SS bodyguards that followed him,

telling them that if they were frightened,

they should guard themselves.

An assassin disguised as an SS bodyguard

could approach the tea-house through the woods.

He would be armed with a sniper rifle

with a telescopic sight and firing explosive bullets.

If he failed to hit his target, a back-up team armed with

a British PIAT or U.S. bazooka anti-tank weapon,

was then to fire an explosive charge at the tea-house

and demolish it completely.

Mission two was to ambush Hitler's car

as it left the Berghof and drove to an SS base at Klessheim.

The route was heavily wooded either side of the road,

providing good cover for a team of assassins.

The assassins' chosen weapon was again the U.S. - designed bazooka.

It was deemed to be perfect for the job,

as it was light to carry but packed

an enormous punch -- being able to penetrate

through several inches of armor plate,

the sort built into Hitler's Mercedes cars.

Mission three was a far larger affair.

Inspired perhaps by Skorzeny's mountaintop rescue of Mussolini,

it was exactly what Hitler feared most --

a combined-arms aerial assault on the Berghof.

Fast, low-flying bombers -- probably British Mosquitoes --

would precision-attack the SS barracks and any guards

caught in the open.

It was anticipated that the remaining guards

would rush to the bomb shelters,

leaving the slopes around the Berghof empty.

The next wave would parachute in an SAS battalion.

Elite, battle-hardened warriors,

they were the perfect special forces

for the operation.

Surprise, combined with heavy firepower,

would overwhelm the remaining German guards.

But such an option would, in effect,

be a suicide mission for the SAS.

There was little opportunity for such a large group of men

to escape -- and they were considered too valuable

to be sacrificed, even to kill Hitler.

Attempts to bomb the Berghof were also rejected

by Allied air force commanders because they would take up

too much bombing manpower.

In the end, events overtook the plans.

The relentless advance of the Soviet Army

on the Eastern Front

demanded Hitler's constant attention.

After leaving the Berghof to go to the Wolf's Lair

on July 14, 1944,

Hitler never returned to the Obersalzberg.

He spent most of the last months of the war at Rastenburg

before the Soviet advance forced him to flee to Berlin.

There, he would spend the last weeks of the Third Reich

holed up in his concrete-and-steel bunker

beneath the Reich Chancellery

as the Red Army smashed into the city.

If he thought this might offer him

some protection from his enemies, he was wrong.

Assassination plots by groups within his own followers

would continue to threaten him even there.

But one danger had passed.

With the Berghof remaining unused,

the British attempt to kill Hitler there

was impossible to carry out.

However, this did not stop the building

from becoming a target.

On April 25, 1945, over 300 RAF Lancaster and Mosquito bombers,

escorted by Mustang long-range fighters

from the U.S. 8th Air Force, flew low over the Obersalzberg.

They dropped several 1,000-pound

and 4,000-pound bombs on the Berghof,

the SS barracks, and surrounding buildings.

It was not a pointless act of destruction.

The Allies had changed their minds about bombing the Berghof.

They had heard rumors that Hitler might be considering

a last-minute escape from Berlin

to set up a stronghold in the Bavarian mountains.

There, with other die-hard Nazis,

he could keep fighting for years to come.

The aerial demolition of the Berghof

sent a clear message to the bunker in Berlin.

The Allied victors would track him down wherever he was.

There would be no alpine hiding place for the Nazis.

In early May, American troops

reached the Obersalzberg and occupied the Berghof.

They stood in the ruins of the great conference room.

They peered out of the now shattered picture window,

contemplating the same landscape that had inspired Hitler

to inflict so much death and destruction on his fellow man.

It was the end of his evil dream.

Subtitling made possible by Acorn Media