All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S03E03.Tower.of.Death.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-DoGSO_track3_[eng]

Narrator: a devastated ruin
In a pockmarked landscape

That turned the tide
Of the second world war.

Many believe
This was a suicide mission.

Narrator:
An impossibly high monolith

Stretching to infinity,
Which became the tower of death.

Dickrell: ever since man has
Been building things,

There's always been a contest

To see who could build
The highest.

Narrator:
And a concrete structure

Stranded at sea
That had a gruesome ending.

Stranded at sea
That had a gruesome ending.

It's creepy.
There was really no escape.

This is a tomb.

*

Narrator: once, they were some
Of the most advanced structures

And facilities on the planet,

At the cutting edge
Of design and construction.

Today, they stand abandoned,
Contaminated,

And sometimes deadly.

But who built them?
And how?

And why were they abandoned?

And why were they abandoned?

-- captions by vitac --
Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

*

*

On a headland
In normandy, northwest france,

There's a strange
And unexpected sight

At the top of
Dangerously high cliffs.

At the top of
Dangerously high cliffs.

*

Selwood: through the mist,

A large concrete
Structure emerges,

Set on the point
Of the peninsula.

And on top of
The building is a vast,

Phallic-like structure
Reaching up into the heavens

And entirely
Dominating the region.

Narrator:
Beneath the concrete,

Corridors lead to empty rooms.

Corridors lead to empty rooms.

Nusbacher: there's no feeling
Of humanity about them.

These could almost be chambers

Designed by machines
For machines.

Narrator:
And the pockmarked fields

That surround it
Only deepen the mystery.

Selwood: around it, there are
Ominous-looking craters

In the ground as far
As the eye can see.

The landscape is almost lunar.

This is a place where something
Has gone dreadfully wrong.

This is a place where something
Has gone dreadfully wrong.

Narrator: but what has caused
Such devastation?

*

The answer lies in a single day

That would change
The course of history,

When the allies invaded france

To liberate europe
From the nazi scourge --

D-day.

Nusbacher: germany knew that it
Could not win a war

On two fronts.

On two fronts.

It could not face
Both the onslaught

Of the soviet union
From the east

And an attack in the west.

Narrator: so the germans,

As a matter
Of strategic necessity,

Had to fortify france
At all costs.

The nazis started to build
An extended defensive wall,

As tour guide
Anthony lewis explains.

As tour guide
Anthony lewis explains.

Lewis: the atlantic wall, which
Is a system of defense measures,

Started in north norway
And went along a coastline

Of france for some 1,670 miles,

All the way down
To the spanish coastline.

Narrator:
But how did the germans decide

Where to concentrate
Those defenses?

And how successful would they be
At repelling an allied invasion?

Selwood:
German high command was split

As to where
The attack would come.

As to where
The attack would come.

Hitler was personally convinced

It would come across
The shortest route,

From dover to calais.

But more experienced minds knew

That actually there
Were better attack sites

That would also have
The element of surprise.

Narrator:
The most important fortification

Along this critical stretch
Of the normandy coast

Was here at pointe du hoc.

It had an unobstructed
View of the english channel

And a clear line of fire
Onto the beaches below.

And a clear line of fire
Onto the beaches below.

Perched at the top
Of an impossibly high cliff,

It was the perfect position
For a coastal battery.

Lewis: this was one of two
German covered casements

Which housed one of the
Six 155-millimeter cannons.

And each one averaged
Some 660 tons of concrete,

And at the same time
Strengthening it

With some 50 tons of metal bars.

If incoming shells
Impacted on the building,

If incoming shells
Impacted on the building,

Then only a small part
Of it would be destroyed.

Narrator: these six guns

Were a serious threat to
Allied invasion plans.

They were sandwiched
Between utah and omaha,

Two of the five beaches on
Which allied troops would land.

Gough: utah beach was
Eight miles to the west.

Omaha beach,
Five miles to the east.

Now, these 155-millimeter guns
Had a range of 12 miles.

Now, these 155-millimeter guns
Had a range of 12 miles.

So imagine the carnage

That they would have
Wreaked on those beaches.

The allies had no choice
But to take them out.

Narrator:
The task of destroying the guns

Fell on an elite combat unit --
The u.S. Army rangers.

Nusbacher: the rangers were
Young, immensely physically fit,

And very bright,
Motivated people

Who could be given
An immensely difficult task

Who could be given
An immensely difficult task

And could be counted on
To perform it

Against overwhelming odds.

The rangers' mission was
Very specifically to land,

Scale the cliffs,

And take out the german position
On pointe du hoc.

Narrator: but these cliffs

Were 100 feet high
And almost vertical.

And the rangers would be facing
Over 200 german troops.

And the rangers would be facing
Over 200 german troops.

What were their
Chances of success?

Many believed this
Was a suicide mission.

Narrator:
Early on june 6, 1944,

160,000 allied troops set off
Towards nazi-occupied france.

D-day had begun.

Gough: this was an armada
Of 7,000 ships,

The largest amphibious
Invasion in history,

The largest amphibious
Invasion in history,

And it was coming their way.

Nusbacher: as those ships
Started to get closer,

The germans were being
Bombarded from the air,

Bombarded from the sea.

The flashes from all those guns
Lit up the june morning.

Narrator:
The rangers' original plan

Was to land at pointe du hoc...

But there was a problem.

But there was a problem.

Lewis: unfortunately, because of
The very high tides that day,

The very strong tide which
Was running from west to east,

From left to right,
It dragged the boats down

Beyond the pointe du hoc.

Narrator: by the time the
Rangers reached pointe du hoc,

They were 40 minutes late,

And the u.S. Bombing
Of the battery had stopped.

Nusbacher: they've stopped
Bombarding pointe du hoc

To let the americans land
Without being blown up,

To let the americans land
Without being blown up,

But there's so much
Delay in landing

That the germans are able
To come out of hiding,

Get out of their bunkers, and
Man their defensive positions.

Narrator: will the u.S. Rangers
Succeed in taking out the guns,

Or is their mission
Doomed to failure

Before it's even started?

*

Narrator: perched on a cliff top
In northern france

Are german guns firing
On allied troops.

For the d-day landings
To succeed,

It's vital that
The u.S. Rangers take them out.

Selwood: the rangers had to
Shoot ropes and rope ladders,

Heavy and drenched with
Water, into the cliffs,

Climb those ropes, themselves
Wearing sopping clothing.

Climb those ropes, themselves
Wearing sopping clothing.

They were under constant fire
As they climbed the cliff.

It must have been
A terrifying prospect.

Nusbacher: the germans were
Throwing down

Potato-masher grenades,
And those are shock grenades.

They're designed to
Deafen and stun people.

And the americans
Are climbing up,

Holding on with
Their fingertips and toes

To tiny rock outcroppings.

To tiny rock outcroppings.

Narrator: when one ranger fell,
Another took his place.

When his rope was cut,
He found another.

They even used daggers
To claw their way up.

Selwood:
It's hard to envisage now.

The scene is so calm,

Looking out over the gentle
Waters of the channel.

But then the scene would
Have been unimaginable.

Climbing up a wet cliff face
With all of the noise

And the incredible chaos
Of warfare.

And the incredible chaos
Of warfare.

It was one of the most dangerous

And spectacular missions
Of world war ii.

Narrator:
When they reached the top,

The rangers fought fiercely
With the germans,

But they were totally
Unprepared for what they found

When they finally made it
Into the bunkers.

Nusbacher: do they see
155-millimeter french guns

With german sights
Ready to shoot down?

No.

They see trees,
Phone poles painted black.

They see trees,
Phone poles painted black.

And they must instantly
Have been concerned

That the entire mission,
All of the death and effort

That they put in
To get onto pointe du hoc,

Had all been for nothing.

Narrator: it was a huge blow.

Why were the guns not there?

Selwood: the allies' aerial
Bombardment of the region

Had been so intense
In preparation for d-day

Had been so intense
In preparation for d-day

That the germans had moved
The guns out of harm's way.

Narrator: in fact, the guns were
Hidden down a dirt track nearby.

The rangers hunted them down
And they were destroyed.

Selwood:
The mission didn't end cleanly.

Reinforcements were supposed to
Arrive, but they never came.

The rangers were left to
Defend the position for days.

Narrator: in the end,
There was a high cost to life.

Narrator: in the end,
There was a high cost to life.

Out of 225 men,
Only 90 survived.

*

This battle-scarred area
Has barely changed

Since the rangers
Took pointe du hoc.

And the statue of
A dagger pays tribute

To the men who clawed their way
Up the cliffs against all odds.

Selwood: the site is deeply
Impressive for its vastness,

Selwood: the site is deeply
Impressive for its vastness,

But underneath that,
There's a very simple story,

And it's a very
Common story in war,

About one person
Facing another person,

And the sheer courage
And determination

To see the mission through.

*

Narrator: in england,

In the northeast
Of the country,

Just outside leeds,

Is a completely unexpected
Industrial site.

Is a completely unexpected
Industrial site.

*

Meigs: if you come on this thing
Through the morning mist,

It looks like some kind
Of a giant factory

Sitting on these two platforms
With a huge crane out front.

Dougal: all of a sudden
There's metal everywhere.

This huge, gigantic
Bit of engineering.

What's it doing there?

What's it doing there?

Meigs: it's got an almost
Primitive, animalistic quality,

Like some kind of
Extinct dinosaur.

Narrator: out in a remote field
Is a tangled confusion

Of heavy-duty metal,
Pulleys, and rusting wheels.

Agrawal: it's got this big long
Arm at the front of it,

Triangle bits of steel
All composed together,

And it's got these slightly

Strange-looking features
On either side.

And it sort of
Leaves you wondering

What was that machine
Actually used for?

What was that machine
Actually used for?

Narrator: what's even stranger

Is that this machine
Was made for america,

And it ended up
In the north of england.

Was it used in the u.S.
Before it was shipped here?

Or sold to britain cheaply?

But most importantly,
How is it connected

To an environmental disaster
Here in northern england

That changed
The landscape forever?

*

The answer lies in the dark days
Following the second world war.

The answer lies in the dark days
Following the second world war.

When britain was
Struggling to recover

From a devastating
Global conflict,

Its ally, the united states,
Came to its aid.

After world war ii,
The economies of europe

Were really in shambles.

And the u.S. Did something
Really quite visionary.

We recognized that
These countries

Had to get back
On their feet economically,

So a lot of the investment
In helping build roads

And bridges and railroads
Came from the u.S.,

And bridges and railroads
Came from the u.S.,

And so did a lot
Of the equipment.

Narrator: this leviathan was
An essential part

Of the rescue plan.

It became known as "Oddball."

This colossal machine arrived
From the u.S. In 1953.

At 1,200 tons,
It was the second-largest

Machine of its kind
Anywhere in the world,

But would it help to kick start

One of britain's most
Important industries?

Agrawal: oddball is a piece of
Machinery that's used in mining,

And what it does is that
It drags the layers of soil

Off the top of coal reserves.

So it exposes
The seams of the coal.

Dougal: when you have coal
Near the surface,

It's usually
Covered by some soil

And some rock that's uneconomic.

It's stuff you don't want
Actually in your ore.

So in order to get rid of that,
You use this drag-line system.

While it might look like
Quite a complex

While it might look like
Quite a complex

Piece of machinery,

What it's doing is
Actually really simple.

'cause in simple terms,

It's using a bucket
To drag material up,

And then using ropes and chains

To then dump that material
In a different place.

Narrator:
But could this u.S.-built

Mining leviathan
Put britain back on its feet?

*

Narrator:
The u.S.-manufactured oddball

Was sent to britain after
The second world war

To help its struggling
Coal industry.

For the next 19 years,

It heaved itself from
One mining area to another.

Roy lee is oddball's
Only surviving driver.

While it might look cumbersome,

Oddball was a very effective
Piece of machinery.

It took 30 seconds
To scoop up and dump

Each bucket of soil and rock.

And it could move the equivalent
Of its own weight

In just half an hour.

Dougal: it's a very efficient
Way of mining,

Dougal: it's a very efficient
Way of mining,

Because you can drag
Away the material,

Mine it, and then dump it
Behind as you go along.

So you can fill up
The gap that you're leaving

As you excavate the coal
In your open-cast mine.

Narrator:
Such an unwieldy machine

Took a deft pair
Of hands to move it safely.

*

Oddball's bucket
Was a lethal weapon,

Particularly when it was full.

Meigs: the challenge with
These massive cranes

Is once they've dug
All the coal that's in reach

Of their boom
Or their bucket, then what?

You've got to be able
To move them.

Every few hours
Or every few days,

This thing's got to
Move to a new location.

Dougal:
You can see it's got these,

It looks like a couple
Of feet, really.

And actually these are
The key to how it moves around.

And actually these are
The key to how it moves around.

It actually lifts
The whole of the unit up

On these flat feet and
Then sort of shuffles back,

A little bit like you were
Trying to move yourself back

On the ground
If you were lying down.

Narrator: even though
It moved only backwards,

Six feet at a time,

At a speed of
0.2 miles per hour,

Its driver struggled
To see what was going on.

Dougal: it's totally like
Nothing you've seen before.

It's like star wars and
Thunderbirds meets coal mining.

That's how I would describe it.

But it's a very,
Very elegant thing.

It just lifts it up
On these little legs

It just lifts it up
On these little legs

And shuffles around.

Very, very ingenious way

Of being able to do
Open-cast mining.

Narrator:
By 1988, oddball had moved here,

To st. Aidan's in
The northeast of england.

But it wasn't a lake then.

It was the biggest
Open-cast mine in yorkshire,

Producing in total
Six million tons of coal.

What catastrophic event happened
To flood such a huge site?

And how did oddball
Escape a watery grave?

And how did oddball
Escape a watery grave?

Meigs: the mine was very close,
Probably too close,

To a river.

So they were digging this
Mine in a lowland area,

A wet area, and then
As they dig out the coal,

Of course they're
Making this massive pit.

Narrator:
They had protected the riverbank

With a wall of
Interlocking steel.

But was it enough?

As they were mining, water
Started coming out of cracks

As they were mining, water
Started coming out of cracks

In the side of
One of the coal seams.

And a river
They'd actually diverted

Then started to also contribute
To the water coming in.

Narrator: it took just hours

For the steel wall
To collapse completely.

Four billion gallons
Of water flooded the site.

Oddball survived.

But it was 10 years
Before they were able

To mine the area again.

To mine the area again.

Agrawal: by the time
The flood had subsided

And the mine was actually
Ready to be excavated again,

Technology had moved
On pretty quickly,

And so modern technology
Basically replaced

The drag line, and the drag line
Became redundant.

Narrator: on a misty morning
In january 1999,

Oddball took its final walk.

Today it sits here,

Today it sits here,

On the site of the former
St. Aidan's mine,

One of only a handful of
Machines of its kind ever built.

Meigs: I'm a big fan
Of preserving the legacy

Of our industrial
Technological history,

Especially these
Massive pieces of equipment,

Because I think so many of us,

We don't think about
All the hard work,

All the ingenuity,

The technology it took
To build this modern world.

The technology it took
To build this modern world.

*

Narrator:
Out at sea, in southeast asia,

At the mouth of manila bay
In the philippines,

Is an extraordinary
Warship-shaped structure.

*

Dickrell: this military behemoth
Is impressive,

Immense, and completely
Mind-blowing.

Immense, and completely
Mind-blowing.

Gough:
This huge concrete structure

Is pierced with slits
And openings

That reveal
Incredibly thick walls.

And you can see it's all
Reinforced with steel bars.

Nusbacher:
Why is this ancient warship

That looks like
It's carved from stone

Sitting in the water
At the entrance to manila bay?

Narrator:
Once inside this huge structure,

Narrator:
Once inside this huge structure,

The mystery deepens.

Its dark interior is littered

With crumbling concrete
And rusted steel,

And its charred walls hint

That something
Catastrophic happened here.

You can see where the
Wall's beginning to buckle.

And then over here you can see

Where the entire floor
Has just given way.

And the sea is just
Starting to pour in.

Gough: there's twisted metal
And rubble everywhere.

Gough: there's twisted metal
And rubble everywhere.

Whatever happened here,
You can't imagine

That much could have survived.

Narrator: what is the purpose
Of this concrete warship?

And what connection does it have

To one of the grisliest events
Of the second world war?

*

Narrator: guarding the mouth
Of manila bay is

A concrete warship,
Built into the tiny island

Of el fraile.

But who constructed it
And why?

The answer lies in
The united states'

Imperial expansion
In the early 20th century.

In 1898, spain and
The u.S. Fought a brief war,

In 1898, spain and
The u.S. Fought a brief war,

And the u.S. Won.

Spain was forced to surrender
Most of its empire,

Including the philippines.

It was the jewel
In america's crown

And had to be protected
At all costs.

And this concrete warship
Was key to its protection.

Albert labrador
Is a local historian.

Labrador: when the americans
Took over the philippines

In 1898,
They basically sailed

Right in and sank
The spanish fleet.

Right in and sank
The spanish fleet.

And so they realized that
They needed a defense system

To prevent the same thing
That they did to the spanish.

Narrator:
A major part of the system

Was this concrete structure

Placed on the tiny island
Of el fraile.

Corum:
At the mouth of manila bay
Are a cluster of islands,

Some of them fairly
Large, like corregidor,

And some of them actually
Quite small, like el fraile.

And some of them actually
Quite small, like el fraile.

And these make,
At the entrance of the bay,

Actually almost perfect
Locations for this new art,

New development
Of coast artillery.

Narrator: the plan was to
Construct fortifications

On each of these five islands.

And this one was the toughest --

The heavily fortified
Island of el fraile,

Known as fort drum.

But would it work?

But would it work?

Corum: they took an island,

And they essentially
Just leveled the island

Down to the bedrock.

And they built a massive
Concrete structure

With two what looked like,
Essentially, battleship turrets,

Which are ship-killing guns.

You can see the huge
Wire-wound 14-inch batteries.

You can imagine
The diameter of the shell.

Each shell weighed
More than a ton,

And it could be
Lobbed five miles out.

And it could be
Lobbed five miles out.

So you can imagine the reach

And cover of these guns
Across the entire bay.

Narrator:
Fort drum was formidable.

It was packed with searchlights,

Anti-aircraft batteries,
And a fire control tower.

And hidden beneath
The concrete exterior

Were another three
Levels to house equipment

And up to 240 troops.

Labrador:
We're looking right now
At the third and fourth level.

This is where the living spaces
And the mess would be.

This is where the living spaces
And the mess would be.

Beneath this,
Would be a further level

With generators and water.

Narrator: these corridors were
Stocked with everything

That they would need
In the event of an attack.

But who did the u.S. Consider
To be their enemy?

And why is the fort in such
An appalling condition?

Gough: there was this
Perception in america

In the early 20th century

That the japanese
Were going to invade.

That the japanese
Were going to invade.

It was driven by a belief
That the peoples of east asia

Were a threat
To the western world.

It's inevitable that at some
Point they're gonna collide.

Narrator: they did collide,

Cataclysmically.

*

On the same day the japanese
Attacked pearl harbor,

They also invaded
The philippines.

And all the fortifications
Around manila bay

Came under attack,
Including fort drum.

Came under attack,
Including fort drum.

But would it hold
Out against the might

Of the japanese navy?

Corum:
For drum begins to play a part

At the very first day
Of the war.

And so for the next five months,
Until the 5th of may,

Fort drum will be
Both a target of air

And gun attacks
From the japanese.

Dickrell: I'm sure if you were
Inside the garrison

At fort drum, the shelling
And other bombardment

Would have been intense,

But perhaps you
Would have felt safe

But perhaps you
Would have felt safe

In the fact that the walls
Were so thick and strong

That you knew that
You weren't gonna die.

Narrator:
Despite being under siege,

The troops on fort drum
Were still able

To inflict heavy casualties
On the japanese invasion fleet.

Nothing they did could
Destroy the fort's guns.

Labrador: the turrets are made
Of armored steel,

Basically the same
Material that you would

Make battleships out of, since
They're battleship turrets.

And over here the roof is
Steel-reinforced concrete,

And over here the roof is
Steel-reinforced concrete,

So nothing the japanese threw
At this was able to penetrate.

Narrator:
But on may 6, 1942,

When the battle
For the philippines was lost,

The american troops
Inside fort drum were

Finally forced to surrender.

Labrador:
It was able to withstand
Constant japanese bombardment

Without a single major casualty.

There were no deaths,
But this thing was

There were no deaths,
But this thing was

So sturdy that japanese forces,

On either side,
Lobbing heavy artillery

Onto it for months,
Did no real damage to it.

*

Narrator:
But if the japanese weren't able

To damage it, why is
Its interior so destroyed?

*

Narrator: out in the mouth
Of manila bay,

In the philippines,

Is a bizarre concrete
Warship-like structure.

It was called fort drum,

An american military
Fortification designed

To protect the area.

But under heavy bombardment
From the japanese,

It fell on may 6, 1942.

The island's fighting days,
However, were far from over.

The island's fighting days,
However, were far from over.

For the next three years,
Fort drum was

Under japanese control,
Until april 13, 1945,

When two u.S. Landing craft
Pulled up alongside

To take it back.

Nusbacher:
American combat engineers

Very bravely approached
This structure,

Which is bristling with guns,

And they pipe a
Mixture of diesel fuel

And they pipe a
Mixture of diesel fuel

And gasoline into it,

And they then fired
Tracer rounds into the fort.

Gough: down below were
Japanese soldiers

Who refused to surrender.

They must have known
What was coming.

[booming]

Labrador:
The explosion was so powerful

That one of the hatches
Over here

That weighed about a ton
Was thrown 300 feet in the air.

Narrator:
Deep within the fort,

The charred walls are testament

The charred walls are testament

To the japanese soldiers'
Horrific fate.

So we've now entered
The third level down.

When the americans
Poured gasoline

Down the hatches,
On the surface,

Most of it would have
Settled down here,

And that is the reason
Why most of the dead japanese,

60 of the 68 bodies, were found
Charred, in this area.

There was really no escape.

They couldn't have
Fought their way out,

And so this is a tomb.

It's creepy,
Knowing that 60 people burned

To their deaths, in here,
With no chance of getting out.

It was four days before
The americans could get in,

Because the heat was unbearable.

Narrator:
Fort drum was abandoned.

Narrator:
Fort drum was abandoned.

Now this concrete battleship,
Stained by war,

Sits in these waters
Off the coast

Of the philippines.

It has been stripped bare
By looters,

And few people today
Even know if its existence.

A sad end to a piece
Of military history.

Labrador: defense of fort drum,
As impressive

As it was, has basically
Been forgotten

In the annals
Of military history.

In the annals
Of military history.

This is a story
That really should be told.

*

Narrator: in the heart of russia
Is yekaterinburg,

The country's
Fourth biggest city,

And at its center
Is an astonishing sight.

Agrawal: you see this very tall,
Gray, concrete structure,

Towering over
The rest of the city,

And it's very, very distinct,
Because of its immense height.

And it's very, very distinct,
Because of its immense height.

Meigs:
What strikes you about it, it's
Just impossibly thin and tall.

It's hard to believe
That something

That seems that delicate
Could actually stand up,

And not be at risk
Of falling down.

Narrator: at 720 feet tall,
It dominates the skyline.

Dickrell: giant towers appeal
To the wonder in all of us.

Dickrell: giant towers appeal
To the wonder in all of us.

Ever since man has
Been building things,

It has always been a contest

To see who can
Build the highest.

Meigs: it's hard to believe
It didn't have some kind

Of symbolic intent behind it.

Narrator:
Now, graffiti scars its walls.

The concrete is crumbling,
And a gaping black hole hints

That something very
Terrible once happened here.

And to the locals,
It has a sinister reputation.

[ man speaking russian ]

[ man speaking russian ]

Interpreter: most of the people
In the city refer to the tower

As being a kind of
Abandoned ghost site.

Narrator:
But what has happened here

To make this tower so infamous,

And why is it known
To the people

Who live here
As the tower of death?

*

The answer lies
In the cold war battle

Between the west and what was

Between the west and what was

Then the soviet union
During the last century.

Going back to the early days
Of the soviet union,

Meigs: supremacy in science
And technology was

Vitally important to them.

They wanted to prove that

Their system could
Produce better scientists,

Better engineering.

Narrator:
And that includes the race

To build the world's
Tallest structures.

By the early 1980s,
The west was winning,

By the early 1980s,
The west was winning,

And the soviet union
Wanted to show

They were still in the game.

And this was
Their answer,

Yekaterinburg's
Television tower.

Propaganda was essential to
Spreading the socialist message,

And television
Its most important medium.

Tv is an enormously
Effective way to communicate.

If you control
The three or four tv channels

If you control
The three or four tv channels

That are available
In your country,

You really dominate
The conversation.

Narrator:
At almost 1,200 feet high,

The television tower
Would be the tallest

In europe, according
To engineer danil krisky.

Interpreter: it was to consist
Of two main parts,

A 720-foot reinforced
Concrete column,

And above that,
A 460-foot metal antenna.

Narrator: this impressive tower
Would have television

Studios and
A revolving restaurant

At the top,
And be visible for miles.

But with the risks involved
In building such a high tower,

How did it finally fall?

*

Narrator: out in the heart
Of russia is

Yekaterinburg's
Television tower.

At 720 feet tall,
It is the tallest structure

For miles around,

And its construction
Faced many challenges.

Agrawal: you would need to build
Some scaffolding tower

Agrawal: you would need to build
Some scaffolding tower

In the right shape.

You would've had to build
What we call formwork,

Which is bits of timber
That are shaped,

And it's the mold within
Which the concrete is poured.

So you need to be agile
In thinking

About the design of the tower
In different portions of it

Because it was so very tall.

Narrator:
And for the men who helped

To build it,
There was always the potential

For danger and disaster.

Meigs: they poured rings
Of concrete,

Meigs: they poured rings
Of concrete,

One on top of each other,
Gradually working their way up.

Each tier would be about
Two and half meters high,

And they would have to
Let one begin to cure,

And then build
The next one on top of it,

And gradually work their way up,
As they went.

But you can imagine,
As they got high,

The challenge of moving
All that liquid concrete

Up to this
Enormously tall structure

Must have been formidable.

Narrator:
Even when there was a shortage

Narrator:
Even when there was a shortage

Of building materials
And extreme cold weather,

It didn't stop production.

Meigs:
It wasn't just a tower designed
To broadcast propaganda,

But the tower itself was
Intended to be

A form of propaganda,
An actual physical landmark

That represented the superiority
Of the soviet system.

Narrator: but when so much
Was invested in the tower,

What has happened
To cause such devastation?

Could there have been
A construction accident?

Could there have been
A construction accident?

Could it be connected to
The volatile political situation

In the soviet union
In the early 1990s?

Or could the tower
Have been the victim

Of a terrorist attack?

Meigs: so they worked on it
For eight years.

They still only got about
2/3 of it done,

And the money ran out, and
The society was no longer able

To function in a way to
Build this kind of project.

Narrator:
A symbol of soviet prestige was

Now a stark reminder
Of its failure,

But if the local authorities
Simply ran out of money,

Why was it known
As the tower of death?

Shortly after construction
Ground to a halt,

The tower took on
A completely unexpected role,

And one that would have
Fatal consequences.

And one that would have
Fatal consequences.

Meigs: the tower became this
Magnet for young people

To gather and
Express themselves.

People climbed it
Over and over again.

There was sort of a nonstop
Party up at the top,

And then some daredevils
Started climbing it blindfolded.

And of course,
There were accidents,

And one young man died.

Others climbed
The tower as a way

To commit suicide
In a very dramatic fashion.

To commit suicide
In a very dramatic fashion.

Narrator: the television tower
Had now become

The tower of death,

And it was barricaded up,
So that no one

Would ever die here again.

*

On march 24, 2018,
The local authority decided

To demolish yekaterinburg's
Most striking landmark.

*

*

*

*

Now, there is nothing
Left of the tower

That once dominated
The city skyline.

That once dominated
The city skyline.

In its place,
They are building an ice rink.

I can understand why
The tower was such a landmark,

And sort of beloved
By some people in the city.

On the other hand, I don't
Think anyone wants the symbol

Of their city to be something

That was a colossal failure,
A white elephant.

*