All language subtitles for 6474734

Western France.

Two months after D-Day.

Trapped on the wrong side
of a burning tank,

an allied tank commander goes on a rampage

to clear the approach to Fort Montbarey.

Out of ammo and defenseless...

he turns back
but slides into a crater.

And lands at the doorstep of German bunker
occupied by enemy soldiers.

It defies any kind of
rational explanation

that 39 guys were going to surrender
to a guy with a pistol.

They will put his bluff
to the ultimate test.

On June 6th, 1944,

allied forces finally
land troops in Normandy

to open the western front.

But Nazi fanatics
and diehards

continue to fight
ruthlessly for survival.

D-day was a battle.

The allies still need to win the war.

September 13th, 1944...

Brest, France.

Members of the American 121st
engineers battalion

work to find a route through an area
occupied by Nazi forces since 1940.

Captain Sidney Smith and
his men must clear

two paths across the minefield...

to allow allied tanks
access to Fort Montbarey,

which guards the Port of Brest.

The allies' siege of
Brest began on August 7th.

As allied forces head north east,

supreme allied commander,
General Dwight D. Eisenhower,

judges the capture of Brest to be of
the highest priority.

There's this
spectacular breakout

from the Normandy beachhead.

They're pursuing the German army

and they're running out of supplies
very quickly.

The port situation became critical.

The goal, to seize
the Port of Brest

and the U-Boat bunkers
back from the Nazis.

Hitler told the German troops

that were in the ports
to hold at all costs.

There was a, "To the last
bullet, to the last round,

to the last life."

These guys were going
to hold out until the end.

Capture of the
deep-water port would allow

men and materials to be
unloaded directly

to feed the growing allied war effort.

Fort Montbarey is one of the last German
strongholds outside Brest.

But it is protected by Nazi minefields.

For the Americans to clear the mines in
daylight could be fatal.

The big advantage of
clearing mines at night is

you're not going to be as
visible to the Germans,

uh, so you will have
that kind of, you know,

concealment under darkness.

But the darkness makes their
mine sweeping more dangerous.

It also makes for a
more confusing situation,

it's easier to get lost.

They're using these metal
detectors and of course

the ground is just inundated with
all this stuff so at night,

how are you really going
to tell the difference?

Metal is metal is metal
down there and you,

you're going by feel and
touch rather than sight.

Outside the Fort's walls

Smith's men crawl forward in the dark.

Some fan out into no man's land

to ensure their work is not disrupted
by German raiders.

The others work in groups of three,

armed only with metal detectors,
engineer's tape,

explosives and digging tools.

While one sweeps, another
marks off the safe path.

The unlucky third probes.

The true work of mine
clearing is done on your hands

and knees usually with a bayonet.

Not straight down.

But a sloped angle and very gently
prodding and probing ahead.

As they work they
uncover 300 pound naval shells,

buried as improvised mines by the Nazis.

Each capable of destroying
a tank and killing its crew.

Yeah the engineers are
not going to try and diffuse

these mines at night because
it's just way too dangerous.

You have to be able to see
what you're doing

in order to be able to diffuse them.

They rig each
one with a pound of

plastic explosive to detonate later.

That way there's no
chance that you are going to

be trying to diffuse it
under cover of darkness

and it blows up in your face.

The cleared paths
will allow the tanks to

advance on the walls of the fort.

The engineers creep back to their lines.

Their night's work has
already proved costly.

German snipers located one
man despite the darkness.

And another is gravely wounded.

Allied command believed German
troop strength at Brest

to be 10,000 to 20,000 men

and that the city would fall in a week.

But the allies have under
estimated the Nazi defenses.

They do not account for the
German soldiers who retreated

from the American advance and provided
thousands of reinforcements.

The troops assigned to Brest
were also among the elite.

Nazi propaganda
often portrays and calls

the Fallschirmjäger as the youngest
sons of the God of war.

German paratroopers are
generally well-trained

and well-equipped and have
got a high motivation.

Including Major
General Herman-Bernhard Ramcke,

commandant of fortress Brest.

Ramcke has served in all three branches
of the German armed forces

and is himself a
qualified paratrooper

in the 2nd Fallschirmjäger division.

PETER He was also someone
who was particularly dedicated to Nazism.

Someone who firmly believed
in the Fuhrer Adolf Hitler.

Ramcke issues an order
saying that every single

US soldier that is fighting
against us here in Brest

will not fight in Germany
against our home country.

By the morning
of September 14th,

the 121st engineers have
uncovered four naval shells

and rigged them for
simultaneous detonation.

But the explosions reveal a fifth naval
shell in the tanks' path,

still intact.

Private John Nelson races forward

to place an explosive charge on the shell.

Though struck by enemy fire,

Nelson succeeds in setting the charge...

then scrambles back to safety.

With a route cleared through
the minefield,

the craters will be filled
in to create two paths,

50 yards apart and eight yards wide.

Major Tom Dallas of the
116th infantry regiments,

prepares to storm Fort Montbarey.

Major Tom Dallas he was a soldier
with a soldier's fighting heart.

He had kind of ferocity about
him and a single mindedness

in terms of destroying the Germans.

He had an axe to grind against
them because of the many soldiers

under his command
they had killed on D-Day.

It won't be easy.

An 18th century French fort
provides German forces

with a formidable defensive position.

Strong masonry walls are backed by

a massive earthen embankment
40 feet thick.

A moat 15 feet deep and 40
feet wide surrounds the fort.

You basically have
these forts that are,

that are created to withstand
almost any weapon

that would have existed
in the 18th Century

and were still pretty applicable
to the 20th Century.

In addition to
the existing structures,

German troops have dug an
anti-tank ditch

and placed bunkers and pillboxes
occupied by machine gun crews.

It is just one of a series
of forts that ring Brest

to protect its port.

Plus, the forts are sighted

along every reasonable
route of advance.

The allies had already ruled out
attack from the sea.

This is supposed to be the easy way in.

Fort Montbarey is just a nut that
you are going to have to crack.

In addition to
Sidney Smith's engineers,

Major Dallas also commands artillery...

Fire!

...Along with
American and British tanks.

Major Dallas orders a smokescreen...

...to protect US troops
as they mobilize.

Then sends the 116th's "C" company

to attack German positions on
the Fort's right flank.

Dallas must neutralize
the German's forward defenses.

If he fails, his advance will stall.

September 14th, 1944.

For two days American forces
have attacked Fort Montbarey,

which guards the port city of Brest,

without breaking through.

Yes Sir!

Get those troops moving!
Let's Go!

Major tom Dallas orders C
Company of the 116th infantry regiment

to clear the pillboxes and trenches
on the right flank of the fort.

You've got to take these positions first

as a kind of stepping stone to get
physically near the fort.

In the smoky haze,

the cratered landscape proves dangerous.

The infantry moves
in with grenades and bayonets.

C Company is in some
very intense fighting.

Grenade to grenade kind of fighting.

Uh, rifle to rifle.

Bayonet fighting, which
is exceedingly rare.

When you see that in
the reports of the time, uh,

it tells you that it's an
extraordinarily traumatic kind of combat.

What it meant was really intimate killing.

While C Company has this
close with the enemy

and destroy them at that close range.

But by late afternoon C Company
achieves its objective...

...and the Americans occupy
the west side of the fort.

Dallas can begin to move in his tanks.

British Churchill Mk VII tanks are
known as "crocodiles".

They are armed with a 75mm gun,

and turret-mounted machine guns.

Each crocodile tows an armored trailer,

which contains 400 gallons
of petroleum fuel

that enables the tank to
shoot flames 80 yards,

in 120, one second blasts.

Crocodile Tank is a
fearsome psychological weapon.

Nobody wants to be burned to death.

There are a lot of
different kinds of death.

That's probably the worst.

Major Dallas orders
three crocodiles

to cross the minefields
and approach the fort.

Because the Crocodile Tanks are heavy,

it's uh, you know, about 40 ton tank,

they are fairly well suited to
this sort of jagged, cratered terrain.

The lead crocodile
is under the command of

British Lieutenant Hubert Anthony Ward.

But as the second crocodile
cuts across the minefield...

...it sets off another
undetected naval shell.

The tank is immobilized.

The explosion kills one man

and badly wounds
the four other tankers.

Major Tom Dallas' troops rush
in to deal with the wreckage.

Worse still, it holds up the other tanks.

They stand by to cross the minefield to
provide covering fire.

But their path is now blocked.

The remaining
tanks are bottle necked.

Ward is basically up there, cut off,

on his own and those five tanks are of
really no use to him.

So American Captain
Sidney Smith's Combat Engineers

spring into action, to clear a new
path around the dead crocodile.

These aren't just
guys that build stuff.

They're fighting engineers.

These men have to
maneuver, position charges,

blow things up and then
continue to fight

and then in some cases hold things
against all odds.

His men must now locate
the mines in broad daylight,

making them easy targets
for German snipers.

This setback is yet more proof
that German troops

intend to fight for every inch of ground.

Now nearly three weeks into their siege,

the Americans still have not reached
the city walls of Brest.

Nazi propaganda
minister, Joseph Goebbels,

makes a big story out
of the defense of Brest.

He portrays the German
Fallschirmjäger and General Ramcke

as heroes fighting against all odds
against the Americans.

So, Brest is seen as something
like the peak

of the fighting in the fortresses
in the West.

Fort Montbarey itself is held
by a unit of Fallschirmjägers,

commanded by Oberleutnant Floter.

German paratroopers
or Fallschirmjägers

were an elite unit, battle hardened.

They had all the mental toughness.

They had the best weapons
and they were going to fight to the death.

NARRATOR
Near the Fort's walls,

Ward's Crocodile Tank
remains a sitting duck

alone on the battlefield.

Vulnerable to one of the
most feared Nazi weapons,

the Panzerfaust.

The, the Panzerfaust
is the leading individual

soldiers' anti-tank weapon of that time.

In that kind of cratered
landscape around Montbarey

these guys could be hiding anywhere.

If he's within 30 or 40 yards,

he's got this thing at his side
and he can fire it.

A one shot deal and there's a very good
chance that thing is

going to penetrate your armor and possibly
lead to a catastrophic explosion.

Lieutenant Ward
decides to take action.

He targets the German defensive positions
on the left flank.

Dallas sends the 116th's
B Company forward

to support the tank's charge.

The Panzerfaust is just
one example of why

combined arms become so important.

The tankers don't often have
the visibility

to deal with them and they're looking
for the heavier weapons.

With clear lines
of sight and maneuverability,

the infantry are the best weapon against
a Panzerfaust gunner.

With bursts of flame
Ward starts to clear

the German forces from
the outlying pillboxes.

Left Stick!

Then adds both his guns
to the hail of fire.

The flames do much of the work.

The defenders quickly surrender.

B Company rounds up more
than 70 German soldiers.

Ward presses onward with guns and flames.

He clears the treeline to the north and
then east of Fort Montbarey.

Ward attacks so aggressively
he runs out of fuel

for his flame thrower and shells
and bullets, for his guns.

He has also outrun his support.

It's just Ward and his crew.

Uh, he has no infantry men with him.

It's this lone tank,

basically behind the German fort,

deep in enemy country.

Now defenseless,

Ward turns back towards his lines.

He navigates the bomb blasted,
cratered area, around the fort.

But stops suddenly when his
40 ton tank

slips sideways
into a deep depression.

His timing couldn't be worse.

The tank comes to rest facing
a bunker of German soldiers.

As the American
29th Infantry Division

tries to seize Fort Montbarey...

...Lieutenant Tony Ward's
British Crocodile Tank

crashes into a bunker...

containing 39 German soldiers.

Ward has been roaming
around there firing off,

every, all these weapons
he's definitely has an effect.

He has demonstrated the exact
right personality you want

in someone who,
who has that kind of weapon,

that kind of tank in
that kind of situation.

He's done precisely what you should do.

Initially surprised,
the Germans may have been

ready to surrender, but they quickly
realize the tank is helpless.

The tank's steep angle causes gasoline
fumes to fill its interior.

And worse, a fire extinguisher discharges
and fills the tank with toxic gas.

Ward's crew starts to suffocate.

He seizes his pistol and pops the hatch.

Lieutenant Ward does
not plan to surrender.

He begins a bold bluff
and orders the Germans

"Hande hoch!" Or "Hands up."

Not convinced by his pistol;
the Germans don't move.

The Germans look at him
and are kind of sizing it up.

Thinking of surrendering.

But thinking, wait a minute,
these guys look a little wobbly.

This guy only has a pistol.

One of the tank crew
passes Ward a loaded Bren gun.

And he blasts out a
series of warning shots.

Remarkably, the Germans surrender.

It defies any kind of
rational explanation that 39 guys

were going to surrender
to a guy with a pistol.

If the flames or these other weapons

are not some kind of factor in that.

Despite Ward's success

the day's fighting has cost
Major Tom Dallas two tanks.

And his troops have yet to directly attack
the walls of Fort Montbarey.

I suggest...

Dallas hopes
he can get some help

from the 115th Infantry Regiment.

They will maneuver to sever
the Fort's last lifeline,

by capturing the road from
Fort Montbarey back to Brest.

If the 115th succeeds,
Oberleutnant Floter will be

cut off from supplies,
reinforcement and escape.

Meanwhile, Dallas prepares
for another assault on the Fort itself.

To do so, he must use
the Crocodile tanks

to full tactical
and psychological advantage.

Dallas still thinks
he's going to need the tanks.

The engineers then have to make sure to,

to create some sort of smooth surface.

Captain Sidney Smith
and his 121st engineers

venture back onto the battlefield,

to fill in the moat and level out
the approach to Fort Montbarey.

They use everything at their disposal...

...from bulldozers to explosives

...to picks and shovels
to accomplish the task.

Captain Smith, he is
the brains of this operation.

If this were a, uh, peacetime civilian job

he would be the architect,
he would be the uh, foreman,

the supervisor all in one.

You've got a clear path over here!

As they perform this work,

Smith and his men must also detect mines

and avoid enemy fire.

Smith himself directs a
bulldozer operator's work.

So, here he is lying
on the ground,

you know, under some level of cover,
but certainly in danger.

I think Captain Smith is a major,

major player and character
in this whole push toward Fort Montbarey.

Without him I don't know it's
going to proceed the same way.

US Riflemen provide coverage
throughout the operation.

Their protection is so complete,

only one member of the engineers is struck
by German counter fire.

On September 16th,

Major Dallas launches yet another
assault on Fort Montbarey.

Smith's engineers have
done their job well.

Three Crocodile Tanks
advance across the approach.

And open
up at point blank range.

Each creates a wall of fire,
on the Fort's north side.

But with their fuel trailers empty
the flames burn out.

The blaze has no impact on the stone.

The thick walls continue to
protect the defenders inside.

Dallas will need another
plan to deliver the flames

right into Fort Montbarey.

September 1944.

American forces continue their siege

to liberate the French
port city of Brest.

Three flame throwing Crocodile Tanks
fail to break through

the walls of Fort Montbarey.

American Major Tom Dallas

must find a way to deliver the fire
into the fort directly...

...to force the Nazis
holdout to surrender.

He realizes the easiest way through
might be the main gate.

Dallas orders an M-10 tank destroyer...

...to fire 50 rounds at the entrance.

While surely shaking the walls
to their foundations...

...the gate holds.

Six more Crocodile Tanks
expend their fuel,

sending fire up the walls on the north
and east sides of the fort.

Though they push the Nazi
troops back from the walls...

the flames still have no
effect on the structure.

Flame tanks at this
point are not effective.

You're asking them to do
something they're not really

designed to do which is
shoot jets of flame

at very well fortified masonry.

I don't think flames are
going to overcome that.

Dallas tries his luck

with a bigger gun
against the main entrance.

They position a 105mm howitzer,

armed with white phosphorus shells

just 20 meters from the gate.

While white phosphorus
was used for smokescreens,

Dallas now uses it as an incendiary
to set the fort on fire.

They shoot off 150 rounds.

The shells are too small,

the explosive charges
are not strong enough.

You don't have the kind of penetration
factor that you need.

I mean they're just going
to bounce off those walls.

So, the shells are not at all effective.

The barrage devastates
the inside of the fort,

but Oberleutnant Floter
and his paratroopers remain entrenched.

JOHN Though the weapons are
not always that effective

for doing exactly what Dallas would hope,

it is I think contributing
to the kind of lowering

of a morale of the German Garrison.

Meanwhile, Smith and his men
locate a passageway

which runs to a tunnel on
the outside of the moat.

The engineers determine that if the
main gate cannot be breached,

they might use the passage
to bring down the walls

to capture Fort Montbarey.

So when the Americans
find the passageway

it now creates a new option for
Dallas beyond

just standing there
and battering the gate.

An M-10 tank
destroyer is positioned.

The impact blows a hole at the top

of the passageway's masonry wall.

Just big enough for a
man to crawl through.

Before anyone could be sent in...

three wounded German soldiers
emerge carrying a white flag.

Through a translator they
explain the constant shelling

and flames were taking a
toll on the defenders inside.

That the constant
bombing has driven them crazy.

So they are psychologically, totally down.

The artillery fire,
the air bombardment

have heavily impacted on their psyche.

Armed with this information,

Major Dallas decides to
offer Oberleutnant Floter

a chance to surrender.

He uses an English-speaking
German prisoner-of-war

to deliver his message.

Dallas demands
Floter's surrender by saying,

"If you don't surrender
you're going to get

a lot worse than this."

Minutes later,

Dallas receives Floter's reply.

Floter's response
to Major Dallas' message is rather cheeky.

Floter says, "If this is all you've got,

we'll hold out for a little while."

The siege of
Fort Montbarey will continue.

The 29th Infantry
Division has attacked

the German stronghold of Fort Montbarey
for five consecutive days.

Despite walls of flames and
countless rounds of ordnance...

the obstinate German Lieutenant

rejects the opportunity to surrender.

So, it's kind of a taunt
to the Americans and Dallas is

not the kind of guy you mess around with.

Major Dallas
decides on a new approach.

He orders five tons of TNT explosive.

That much explosive is not available.

But Dallas hopes two tons
will bring down the wall,

like a medieval castle siege.

Dallas also has ladders at
the ready to scale the wall,

should the TNT's effects prove inadequate.

But getting hundreds of pounds of dynamite
into position proves difficult.

Once again, Dallas calls
on the 121st engineers, Company B,

led by Captain Sidney Smith.

With the Crocodile Tanks and infantry
providing covering fire,

Smith's men move into the moat and unload
the crates of dynamite.

It would've been
enormously stressful and tense,

because you don't
necessarily know what's going

to happen from one minute to the next.

For all you know the Germans
may be massing their people.

So, before
they begin work inside,

they must secure their location.

Smith's men enter the passageway...

fire their guns down its length...

...and lob in hand grenades.

Satisfied it is clear...

Company B works quickly

to bring in the crates of explosives.

When the last man emerges,

Smith sends him back for a final sweep.

With the all clear and the
dynamite rigged for detonation...

another German POW approaches Dallas,

and asks him to offer Floter one more
chance to surrender.

Dallas brushes the POW's request aside.

Dallas hears these sort
of vague illusions to the fact

that perhaps, ah, the Germans
may want to surrender

and he is in no mood to hear that

and so the explosion
is going to go forward.

I won't tell you what he actually said,

but it was colorful.

Dallas orders
his men to blow the TNT.

But before the detonation,

Dallas reconsiders his position.

As the men worked near the
walls they realize the body

of Second Lieutenant
Durwood Settles lies nearby.

He had been killed in earlier fighting,

near the wall they hoped to bring down.

Dallas is reluctant
to blow the charges before

the body can be recovered.

The demolition would
likely crush his remains.

An idea which disturbs everyone.

A Lieutenant from
the graves registration unit,

volunteers to attempt
recovery of Settles' body.

Dallas agrees to the delay.

It's going to be better
for your fighting morale

because of course, inevitable,

you're going to
think what if it were me?

And no one wants to think about, you know,

their remains getting
exploded into atoms like that.

Lieutenant Kelton braves
enemy fire to cross the moat.

He retrieves the body...

...and carries it out himself.

At 5 PM on September 16th,

Dallas finally gives the order
to detonate the TNT.

He can only hope that it is enough

to finally conquer Fort Montbarey.

September 16th, 1944.

More than three months after D-Day,

American forces try to bring down
the walls of Fort Montbarey,

a Nazi holdout guarding
the deep-water Port of Brest.

Major Tom Dallas hopes two tons of TNT
will bring down the walls.

The explosion succeeds and
causes the collapse

of the central section
of the Fort's north wall.

Once more, the 121st Combat
Engineers enter the fray.

With British and American
tanks providing covering fire...

...Captain Sidney Smith's B-Company

attacks the breach in the Fort's wall.

Let's move out!

And climbs over the rubble.

It's a storm of artillery
and machine gun fire.

The onslaught is so intense
that Smith's men

do not realize the Germans are
finally surrendering.

Hey!

When they catch on,
they pound on the tanks' hulls

to stop the barrage.

It's a chaotic moment
the 29th Division soldiers

eventually have to take their, uh,

rifle butts and pound on the,
on the tanks to get

the attention of the tank crew men
so that they could

tell them to stop firing.

And it's not just a matter
of humanity to the Germans,

but also the fact that you got
American soldiers who are now

within that fort and
who might be in danger

from the tank fire.

Dazed German
soldiers pour out of the fort.

As the 29th Division starts rounding up
German prisoners above ground,

Smith's men realize

that some may be holding out
in tunnels beneath the fort.

As they creep down the passageway

they hear voices speaking German.

The engineers fire
their tommy guns down the tunnel

to announce their presence.

Two men surrender.

The engineers have captured

Oberleutnant Floter.

Floter is delivered to major Tom Dallas

and demands to be treated as an officer.

But after five days of intense fighting,

Dallas is not in a receptive mood.

He roars that Floter is a
prisoner of war

and to get his hands above his head.

Dallas insists that Floter
to return to the fort

and identify all of the mines
set by the Germans.

NARRATOR With Fort Montbarey
finally in allied hands,

the 29th division is ready for
the final assault on the city.

Two days later, on September 18th, 1944,

the 29th, along with two other divisions
of the US 8th army corps,

take Brest and its port.

Major General Ramcke is
captured a day later,

having fled across the harbor by boat.

Captain Sidney Smith's daring
leadership at Fort Montbarey

earns him a silver star.

A silver star would also be awarded
to Private John Nelson,

who single handedly wired
up one of the naval shells

in broad daylight.

British Lieutenant Tony Ward's
exceptional courage

in the lead Crocodile Tank
merited a silver star as well.

A significant tribute to a
member of a foreign army.

During the siege of Brest

the 29th division suffers
over 3,300 casualties,

including nearly 700 men killed.

The American eighth
army corps captures nearly

40,000 German POW's at Brest.

Twice the number of defenders
estimated by allied command.

But throughout the 27-day siege,

Ramcke's troops sabotage
the port so thoroughly

that no allied ships would dock there
for the remainder of the war.

By late September 1944,

the allies' push the western
front towards Germany,

to capture Berlin as soon as possible.

But in the coming weeks
Nazi resistance would stiffen

and the war in Europe will continue
for another eight months.

Captioned by Visual data Media Services