All language subtitles for World War II Secrets from Above - S01E01 (2022) WEB.eng

April, 1944.

The Allies prepare for D-Day
here in Dorset, England.

In France,
the Nazis bolster their fortifications

along the Normandy coastline.

More than 7,000 vessels
and 150,000 Allied troops

approach the beaches.

They're met by a terrifying wall
of Nazi defenses,

in the largest amphibious invasion
in history.

In this series,

we investigate the most
extraordinary events of World War II

from a brand-new perspective.

Matching rarely seen archive film,

photography from the frontline,

and remarkable
aerial reconnaissance images

to their original locations,
we reconstruct the crucial battles,

daring bombing raids,

and deadly terror weapons
that changed the course of history.

Soaring over the battlefields,

we reveal the secrets
of World War II from above.

The 30th of June, 1943.

An Allied reconnaissance plane
approaches Normandy in Northern France.

It's flying a top-secret mission
to photograph Nazi defenses

along this 80-kilometer
stretch of coastline.

The Allied forces
are planning a vast invasion here

to open a new front on mainland Europe.

The road to D-Day has begun.

As they fly along the Normandy coast,
the reconnaissance plane takes this photo.

It shows the exact locations of
German gun positions under construction.

They will form part of
a line of coastal defenses

known as the Atlantic Wall.

In June, 1943,

the Nazis and Axis powers
occupy the majority of mainland Europe.

Hitler knows a counter-offensive
is inevitable.

So he instructs his commanders to build
an impenetrable wall of defenses

from the French border with Spain,
over 5,000 kilometers long,

all the way to the northern tip of Norway.

The Allies fly thousands of reconnaissance
sorties along the Atlantic Wall

to map out the German positions
and try to locate any weak spots.

Near the town of Merville
in Northern France,

they take this photo in early 1944,
which shows an area of intense activity.

From above, it looks innocuous.

Four mounds of earth covered in grass.

But a closer look reveals a secret
German gun complex known as a battery.

The battery is home
to four 100-millimeter howitzer guns.

To protect each gun,

German engineers build a huge
steel-reinforced concrete cover over them,

called a casemate, and bury them
beneath hundreds of tons of soil.

The howitzers have a range
of almost eight and a half kilometers.

They provide a formidable defense
for a long stretch of the Normandy coast

and the nearby port.

Local historian Geert Van den Bogaert

investigates the battery
to unlock the secrets of its construction.

With the intensification
of the Atlantic Wall construction,

Merville saw work increase here
to try and protect the guns.

130 soldiers man the battery,
which is designed to be impenetrable,

both from aerial bombardment
and ground assault.

So we're inside the personnel bunker here.

You can clearly see where they slept.
There's still parts of the bunk beds.

Definitely not an ideal place
if you were claustrophobic.

Like here, they would peek out
and see the entrance,

and could spot anyone coming in.

The only other way to get out was
right through there. The escape hatch.

You could try and get an idea of what was
going on outside through the periscope,

especially if the enemy
was up on top of the bunker.

Hitler has recently appointed
Field Marshal Rommel

as the inspector general
of Nazi defenses in the west.

On the 6th of March, 1944,
he visits Merville for the first time

and finds that only two
of the main casemates have been completed.

In March, Rommel was quite unpleased

with the progress
that had been made here at Merville,

and he wanted to speed up the work

and really, really pushed
his local commanders.

Young men were actually requisitioned
to come and work here

around the clock
to try and get things ready.

These young men are made to pour
concrete day and night under floodlights

to complete the remaining casemates.

Along with the four main howitzers,

the Germans install an anti-aircraft gun
and a machine gun,

and dig trenches
to connect the main buildings.

They also dig a 100-meter-long
anti-tank ditch to the northeast,

and surround the battery with two rings
of barbed wire and sprawling minefields.

The Germans have two more machine gun
positions to the east and to the south.

Right along the Atlantic Wall, there's
a vast array of heavy-duty weaponry.

It's bolstered by the latest
military technology, like radar,

and protected by vast quantities
of reinforced concrete.

Combined, they form
a formidable defensive front.

But it is one the Allies must penetrate.

On the other side of the Channel,

the Allied forces are preparing for
the D-Day invasion right across Britain.

The generals are meticulously
planning every minute detail.

Military equipment and tens of thousands
of troops are arriving from the US.

And paratroopers practice
large-scale drops

under the watchful eyes of
Winston Churchill and General Eisenhower.

One of the biggest
and most important training exercises

will take place
on the south coast of Dorset.

Its beaches are very similar
to those in Normandy,

making it the ideal arena
for trial runs for D-Day.

The surrounding area
is also largely unpopulated,

so the land can be cleared
for live ammunition training,

and to ensure
the exercises remain top secret.

In 1944, one of the key innovations
that needs to be tested here

is the Duplex Drive, or DD tank.

For the landings, tanks will be
a vital part of the Allied arsenal.

But getting them onto the beaches
will be no mean feat.

Pioneering British engineers
have spent months

designing and building this
ingenious hybrid war machine.

It's a tank that floats in water.

John Pearson is the owner of this DD tank.

It's the last of its kind in the world.

I, personally, can't imagine
how the inventor of the DD

ever managed to convince people that
you could put a canvas bag round a tank

and put it in the sea and it would float.

The most important part
of it being amphibious is the propeller,

which goes into and out of here like that,
and steers like an outboard motor.

The other major part
of the flotation equipment is the skirt,

which is inflated with compressed air.

And when these become rigid,
it lifts the top frame up,

and it floats with the tank
completely below the water surface.

And so, when it's afloat,
it looks just like a rubber boat.

It is surprising that the crews
could be persuaded to be launched at sea,

to be honest.

It's not something I would do.
I don't mind restoring it.

I don't mind driving it.
I don't mind playing with it.

But the idea of consigning it to the sea
with me inside it, forget it.

I wouldn't do it. They're braver than me.

The plan is for amphibious tanks like this

to be the first to land
on the Normandy beaches.

They have to be tested.

Exercise Smash
is a full-scale rehearsal for D-Day,

right here in Studland Bay,

complete with destroyers firing shells
and infantry arriving on landing craft.

Trooper Albert Price is 18 years old
and is on board one of the DD tanks.

Up to this point, his only training
has been on inland lakes.

We knew we were being
trained for D-Day as a special force,

but it was all very hush-hush.

The one thing they didn't tell us
was that floating around on a lake

and floating around on the sea
are two entirely different things.

A landing craft transports Albert's tank,

along with 18 others,
to the mouth of the bay.

They launch the DD tanks
four and a half kilometers from the beach.

You always feel vulnerable
in that sort of conveyance.

It doesn't look very sturdy
at the best of times.

When you're just in a canvas box

and you're seeing every wave
lifting you up, it's a bit frightening.

During Exercise Smash,
the weather continues to deteriorate.

The crews fight to keep control
of their unsteady vessels.

In my case,
there was suddenly a loud crash

and we ended up on top of a rock
protruding out from the seabed.

Albert's tank is one of six
that are overwhelmed by the waves

and sink during the exercise.

Six men drown.

It's a massive setback
for the Allied commanders.

High above the bay at Fort Henry,
Supreme Commander General Eisenhower,

Prime Minister Winston Churchill
and King George VI

visit to witness the training firsthand.

They've learned costly
but valuable lessons during this exercise.

It won't be long before these troops are
coming ashore under fire from German guns.

D-Day is less than two months away.

For the invasion, the Allied commanders
have split the target landing sites

into five individually named beaches.

The American divisions
will lead the landings

on the beaches to the west,
codenamed Utah and Omaha.

The British and Canadians
will attack on Gold,

Juno and Sword beaches to the east.

The planners are most
worried about Omaha Beach.

Viewing from above reveals why.

Steep bluffs surround Omaha Beach.

They give the German guns
a formidable vantage point.

Local resident Magali Desquesne

explores one of the Nazi fortifications
high above the eastern end of the beach.

What's absolutely impressive from here

is that you are able to understand
the topography of Omaha Beach.

The Germans could definitely
take advantage of the high ground.

Those bluffs are about 100 feet high.

From here, you can see all the way
to the west end of Omaha Beach.

You kind of feel in an amphitheater.

This German complex
includes a maze of zigzagging trenches.

Some of the trenches lead into
concealed gun positions called tobruks.

They're encased in concrete

and are designed to house
mortars or machine guns.

You can see them
almost like a concrete foxhole,

because it's gonna give
some protection to the soldiers

and to the machine gun itself.

And it gives them a complete rotation,
a 360-degree rotation.

The only way
for this position to be captured

will be either a bomb
being dropped just here

or being captured by the infantry.

But to get here,

approaching Allied infantry
must first survive the beaches below.

The Germans really focused their
defense strategy on defending the beach.

That's where they are
concentrating most of their troops

to really make their defenses
as efficient as possible.

Field Marshal Rommel
has instructed his troops

to cover all the beaches
with deadly obstacles.

These include vertical log posts
with explosive mines mounted on top,

nicknamed Rommel's asparagus,
log wraps rising over two meters tall,

and anti-tank steel frames
called Belgian Gates.

Lines of crossed steel beams,
known as hedgehogs,

stretch as far as the eye can see.

Picture the beach
with a couple of thousand obstacles.

And all over the Normandy coast,
it's more than 10,000 of them,

stopping the tanks right here on the beach
as a way to stop any infantry.

Without the support of the tanks,
without the support of the artillery,

the progression won't be possible inland.

Hitler himself is confident
that Rommel's ferocious defenses

will ward off Churchill and the Allies,
and prevent them opening a new front.

Despite his bravado,

Hitler has no idea
when or where the Allies will strike.

The Nazi commanders
continue to reinforce the defenses

right along the Atlantic Wall.

In Normandy, one of the most
fearsome fortifications is Pointe du Hoc.

From above, it's clear why the peninsular
is such a crucial strategic position.

Near-vertical cliffs, 30 meters tall,

make it a daunting target
for any military units

trying to launch an attack
from the sea below.

The Germans have excavated
six open concrete pits.

Each pit houses
a 155-millimeter-caliber gun.

They captured these huge cannons from
the French when they invaded the region.

Now the weapons
have been turned against the Allies

to help ward off
the inevitable counterattack.

The site superintendent, Scott Desjardins,

investigates what makes Pointe du Hoc
such a potent defensive position.

Pointe du Hoc is a perfect position
to put large-caliber guns

because they have free range
on both their left and right.

There's no obstructions at all.

So it's easy to understand why the Germans
would have picked these firing positions

here at the Pointe.

This is one of the actual
gun emplacements.

The piece of steel there
would have been where

the pinion of the cannon would have been.

And from there, it's turned left and right

to whatever deflection
they need to hit a target.

Their weaponry here was unique.

They have an incredible range,
they're incredibly accurate,

which makes them incredibly dangerous.

They are really going to
threaten our invasion

if we don't make sure
these guns are out of commission.

The six 155-millimeter guns
have a range of almost 20 kilometers.

They can fire across the entirety
of both Utah and Omaha Beach.

They also pose a serious threat
to any approaching Allied warships.

So, on the 5th of April, 1944,

a group of A-20 Havoc bombers
from the Ninth Air Force Division

target the clifftop guns at Pointe du Hoc.

The bombing continues for weeks,

turning the peninsular into a moonscape.

This one was done
by aerial bombardment, and it's a big one.

This is one of
the biggest craters on the site.

You could easily fit a home here.

You can imagine that
with the destruction that was caused here

that any German soldier
within 300 meters of here

becomes quickly non-combat ineffective.

His insides are rattled.

There's absolutely no doubt that it took

physical and mental deterioration
on the German soldier himself.

It was terrible for morale.

I would not have wanted to have been
a German soldier here in April or May.

I imagine that life was pretty miserable.

The relentless bombing
severely damages three of the guns,

forcing the Germans to move the others
to a less vulnerable position inland.

50 kilometers along the coast,
the Allies also carry out 18 bombing raids

on the Merville Battery
during April and May,

leaving huge craters in the aftermath.

But the bombs have failed to cause any
major damage to the four howitzer guns.

The concrete casemates
have done their job.

This battery remains a serious threat
to the Allied invasion.

As D-Day approaches,
tens of thousands of Allied troops

make their way to ports
along the south coast of England.

In the harbors and along the quays,
nearly half a million troops

and 144,000 vehicles
are loading onto ships bound for Normandy.

Infantry arrive from nearby camps.

They board ships and landing craft.

Some of the troops embarking here
are bound for Omaha Beach.

They will cross the Channel
to France overnight.

So most of the first wave
set off on the 5th of June.

Late on the same day,
at airfields across England,

over 18,000 paratroopers
and glider-borne infantry

prepare to depart to join the invasion.

Along with their rifles, they load up with
extra rations, ammunition and grenades.

Some even pack carrier pigeons

so they can send progress reports
back across the Channel.

Troops load heavy artillery,
including anti-tank guns, into gliders.

These will be towed
by aircraft across the Channel

and released near the coast of Normandy.

At RAF Greenham Common,

Supreme Commander of the Allied forces
on D-Day, General Eisenhower,

arrives to give his orders of the day.

Soldiers, sailors and airmen

of the Allied Expeditionary Force,

you are about to embark
upon the great crusade

toward which we have striven
these many months.

The eyes of the world are upon you.

We will accept nothing less
than full victory. Good luck.

Many of these paratroopers

will cross the Channel
to the Normandy beaches on C-47 Dakotas.

On board one of the planes
is Lieutenant Colonel Terence Otway,

British Commander
of the Ninth Parachute Battalion.

We took off at about 10:30 p.m.
and I walked down the aircraft.

I spoke to all the aircrew.

I had taken a bottle of whiskey on board,

so we all had a drink there
and I passed it round.

Otway's view from above gives him

a unique glimpse of the scale of D-Day.

I actually stood
in the door of my aircraft.

It was a most fantastic sight.

I could see all the ships,

and they seemed to be already
streaming towards the French coast.

The Ninth Battalion's primary objective

is to destroy
the Nazi-controlled Merville Battery,

which threatens the troops
landing on Sword Beach.

Each group of paratroopers
has a carefully planned drop zone.

Otway's battalion
is aiming for drop zone V,

a few kilometers southeast of Merville.

Field Marshal Rommel
has ordered many of the surrounding fields

to be flooded as an extra deterrent,

so it's essential
that the paratroopers hit their targets.

But navigating at night
is extremely challenging,

and as Otway's Dakota
approaches the French coast,

they are spotted by the German defenses.

Quite suddenly, anti-aircraft fire,
large and small, opened up on us,

and I was waiting to jump
and there was an explosion.

Otway is propelled out of his plane

as thousands of other paratroopers
also make their descent near Merville.

It was completely chaotic.

Aircraft going in all directions
except the right ones,

and all levels except for the right ones.

Amidst the chaos, most of
the paratroopers miss their targets.

Many land in Rommel's flooded fields
and drown,

unable to escape under the weight
of all their soaking wet kit.

Of the 750 men in Otway's battalion,
only 150 make it to the rendezvous point.

The decision was,
"Do I go on with 150 or do I pack it in?"

But I didn't hesitate.
I said, "We must go on."

A pathfinder group sent in
advance has cut a couple of openings

in the battery's outer ring of barbed wire

and cleared two routes
through the minefield.

A diversionary attack
heads to the entrance of the battery.

At 4:30 a.m.,
Otway sends the primary attack groups

through the two gaps
created by the pathfinders.

The attack went in,

and there was a lot of machine gun fire
coming from the Germans from both flanks.

The foreparties attacked the casemates.

There was some fairly severe
hand-to-hand fighting.

By 5:00 a.m. on the sixth of June,

the Ninth Battalion
has completely occupied the battery.

Out of 150 men
that we went in with, all ranks,

there were only 75 of us
left standing on our feet.

The others had been killed or wounded.
It was rather horrible.

Despite the losses,
Otway is able to send a success signal.

My signal officer
had got a carrier pigeon,

and he tied a victory message
round its leg and sent it off,

and it arrived back
at Whitehall that morning.

Shortly after the Ninth
Battalion take the Merville Battery,

the Allied navies begin their bombardment
on the German defenses.

Almost 7,000 vessels
approach the north coast of France,

including over 1,200 warships.

Ahead of the landings,
minesweepers have cleared channels

to allow the warships
to safely move into position.

The larger ships have specific targets
that each threaten the landing beaches.

At 5:23 a.m., the Allied navies open fire.

One of the flagships in the British fleet
is HMS Belfast.

Viewing from above gives a unique
perspective of this mighty warship.

The vessel is almost 200 meters long.

Its primary weapons are two triple turrets
positioned at either end

that have a range of over 22 kilometers.

It's also armed with a variety
of anti-aircraft guns for defense,

and additional double gun turrets
along each deck.

They combine to create a formidable
and lethal assault weapon.

Lead curator Robert Rumble studies
the ferocious arsenal of HMS Belfast.

The firepower offered by large warships
to smash German gun emplacements,

bunkers, concrete positions was key
to softening up the enemy positions.

The shells
raining down on the beaches

are stored in the heart of HMS Belfast.

A fortified steel cylinder

protects a cavernous
munitions room beneath each turret.

Each room can hold up to 1,000 shells,

but every one has to be loaded by hand.

A sailor
would have taken a shell...

It's worth remembering
that these weigh over 50 kilos,

so they're incredibly heavy.

Would have loaded them by hand
into these hoists,

and then the shell
would have gone up the hoist,

all the way to the turret itself,

where the turret crew would
have been ready to take them

and load them into the guns.

Four decks above,
inside the turret towers,

the crews can load and launch
eight shells a minute from each gun.

To load it, the gun would be
brought to the horizontal,

breech opened,
the loading tray brought over,

shell rammed up,
powder bag dropped in behind it,

30 pounds of cordite,
and that would be rammed up as well.

Breech closed,

vent tube into the small breech
at the back here, and that closed as well.

And then the gun would be brought up to
the correct elevation, ready for firing.

At 5:27 a.m. on the sixth of June,

HMS Belfast fires all its main guns
on the Normandy coast,

launching 96 shells a minute.

These guns were what
Belfast was all about.

The whole ship shook through the energy
of all 12 guns firing at the same time.

The sounds and the flash of the explosion
out through the barrels was tremendous.

After two hours of the Allied
warships battering their German targets,

the amphibious landings begin.

On the British and Canadian beaches,

each brigade launches
the Duplex Drive tanks first.

Behind them, landing craft
packed with specialized assault vehicles,

then the infantry, traveling on board
multiple waves of smaller landing craft.

Almost 25,000 British soldiers
target Gold Beach.

More than 21,000 Canadians approach Juno.

And a further 28,000
British troops zone in on Sword.

Combined with the US forces
landing on Utah and Omaha,

over 130,000 Allied soldiers
prepare to disembark,

with the warships
continuing to provide support.

They enter a maelstrom
of German shells and bullets.

Chaos ensues.

Despite the carnage,

wave upon wave of infantry
arrive on the shoreline behind the tanks.

On Gold Beach,

the British commanders have learned
their lessons from Exercise Smash.

Given the rough seas, they only launch
the DD tanks just off the beaches.

Most successfully land,

and provide destructive and
heavily-armored support for the infantry.

20 kilometers down the coast,
it's a different story on Omaha.

The Americans have launched their DD tanks

over four and a half kilometers
off the coast.

And in the rough seas, most have sunk.

This leaves the infantry exposed
as they land on the beach

in the most vulnerable position.

The water line.

As they disembark the landing craft,

they are sitting ducks for the German guns
embedded high on the bluffs.

On the 6th of June, 1944,

most of the German guns are not aiming
at the Allied navies out at sea.

They are pointing directly
along the Normandy beaches.

Here at Omaha,

the gunners have easy prey.

More than 34,000 American soldiers

are disembarking
on this short stretch of sand.

With more German guns
at the other end of Omaha,

the Allied troops are charging
into a deadly web of defensive crossfire.

One US soldier, who makes it
onto the beach in the first wave,

is Harley Reynolds.

The main message
from his training is clear.

You've gotta get off the beach to be safe.

You're gonna be killed on that beach.
Get the hell off of it.

When our boat hit land,

we had approximately 300 yards
yet to go to the shingle bank.

It was the only protection that you had
at all on that beach, behind that shingle.

I had 80 pounds of equipment on me.
I ran, and I didn't miss a step.

Never moved so fast in my life.

I had bullets come so close to me,
I could feel the wind from it.

You could hear the bullets zipping by.

You could hear them
hit the men alongside of you.

It's a terrible sound,
to hear a bullet hit a man.

I can remember thinking on that beach,
no one was gonna survive.

My feeling was that we were

being sacrificed.

Wave after wave of infantry
arrive in Omaha's killing zone.

The Americans suffer 2,500 casualties.

Eventually, enough survivors
make it off the beaches and up the bluffs.

They outflank the German positions.

The improving morning light allows
Allied warships to approach the beach

and target the bunkers
housing the big guns.

Ultimately, the sheer scale
of the Allied invasion

is too much for the German defenses.

D-Day is a huge success.

Over the coming days,

tens of thousands of Allied soldiers
begin to progress inland.

In most of the coastal villages,
they are welcomed as liberators.

Many Germans surrender.

Some do not.

D-Day is a major turning point in the war.

Once more, the Allies
have a foothold in mainland Europe.

But this victory has come at a heavy cost.

There are at least
10,000 Allied casualties,

with more than 4,000 confirmed dead.

Thousands of civilians
and Germans have also lost their lives.

And a long road to Berlin lies ahead.