All language subtitles for Dark.Marvels.S01E06.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

Narrator:
From the outset of war,
weapons have been designed

to deliver death,
destruction, and terror.

Whether it's a trebuchet
launching more

than basic projectiles...

He comes up with
the great idea to catapult
the dead into the city.

Shane Adams:
The boils had popped.

It was blood,
it was puss, it was vile.

This was the first known
example of biological warfare.

Narrator:
...or rockets designed
to sow fire and fear...

The Congreve rockets were fired.
It was terrifying.

This is what Francis Scott Key
was describing

when he wrote
"the bombs bursting in air."

Narrator:
...to 20th century missiles

whose sound alone
creates horror.

Michael Shelden: You can hear
just this sort of screech
as it reached the target.

It made it difficult
to stand your ground.

Narrator:
These are just a few
of the dark superweapons

fired in anger,
no matter the cost.

It was a way of
advertising to the world,
"Don't ( bleep ) with us."

Narrator:
Not all inventions are made
with good intentions.

Unlock the twisted history

behind the world's
darkest marvels.

Across more than
12,000 battles fought
in human history,

massive weapons of terror
have been used to spread
destruction and fear.

Among the earliest
is the trebuchet.

Shane Adams: A trebuchet
is an actual catapult

that would be used
to hurl an object.

Narrator: The earliest, now
known as traction trebuchets,

still require the oldest
energy source in warfare.

A traction trebuchet uses
humans to provide the power
to actuate the trebuchet.

So, to fire the implement,
people grab the ropes

and pull it in unison.

So the amount of men
in a traction trebuchet

determine how much
it can fire and how far
it can fire.

The earliest examples
of this kind of catapult
come from China,

probably around
the 4th or 5th century
before the common era.

Michael Livingston: These
early traction trebuchets

were essentially
anti-personnel.

They weren't what
we imagine today as a trebuchet
that's knocking down walls.

This is really about clearing
people off of fortifications

so that you can then act.

With the Islamic expansion all
through north Africa into Spain,

we start to see
the development of new
methods of artillery.

And one of these is
ultimately going to be

a groundbreaking invention
of adding the counterweight.

Narrator: The first
counterweight trebuchets

could launch projectiles
weighing up to 100 pounds

to much greater distances.

We first start seeing
counterweight trebuchets

in Europe around
the 12th century.

The idea then is you're using
engineering to replace men
so you need less men,

but you can also now begin
to up that amount of energy
that is being stored.

So you're going to
have fewer men,
much better firepower.

Originally, when traction
trebuchets were only throwing

10 and 20-pound rocks,

these counterweight trebuchets
hurling those 100-pound rocks

could easily do damage
to a castle wall,

or of course buildings
on the inside.

It's wonderful
for breaking down the walls
of a fortified city

or for flinging things
into a fortified city
over those walls.

We have examples of trebuchets

flinging dead cattle
over the walls and into a city,

which had great benefits
for siege warfare.

It was a wonderful way to spread
panic and stench and disease.

Narrator:
Engineers of the day

continued to develop
these machines over time,

leading to the most fearsome
trebuchet ever built.

1304.

The armies of King Edward I
of England

have spread over Scotland
on a quest to subdue
a rebellion.

King Edward I goes to Scotland
to set the Scottish straight,

as far as he's concerned,
that he's in charge.

Shane Adams: The fact
that William Wallace's army

was able to take
Stirling Castle

really pissed the king off.

Christine Axen:
So as Edward I is approaching
Stirling Castle,

about 30 to 40 Scots
are inside.

Narrator:
They're under the command
of Sir William Oliphant,

who is confident the thick
fortress walls will stand
against Edward's forces.

Now Stirling Castle
is a fantastic fortification.

It's up on rock,
the walls are strong.

Christine Axen:
Edward I, he's throwing
incendiary devices.

He's using smaller trebuchets.
Nothing is happening.

Michael Livingston:
For Edward, this is a problem.

You can't have this castle
not fall to you.

It's a significant
base of operations.

You need it, and if you
have brought this all to bare

and it doesn't fall,
you look weak as a result.

Narrator:
After months of siege, King
Edward is growing frustrated.

The longer it holds out,
the weaker he gets

because he's losing men
to food,

to disease, to desertion.

Edward Longshanks tried to get
the Scots inside to give up.

But they thought,
why give up?

"We're in
the strongest built keep.

You've been trying
to get us out for months.

We're not going anywhere."

Michael Livingston: And so,
the Scots had to be feeling

mighty good about themselves.

Until they had to
sit there and watch

while he started building,
effectively, a superweapon.

Narrator: It will become
the world's biggest
counterweight trebuchet,

aptly named the Warwolf.

Christine Axen: It takes
five master architects
and maybe up to 50 workers

about four months
to build him this monstrosity
of a trebuchet.

We know that it took 30 carts
just to move the parts

that went into this thing.
It was absolutely massive.

To do this,
Edward must have simply
been really mad.

I mean, we could sort of project
psychology to this, right?

He's going to build
the biggest weapon.
He's making up for something.

In this case,
he's making up for the fact

that he couldn't get
this thing down.

He's going to get it down now.

Narrator: During the months
it takes to build,

the Scots grow
increasingly intimidated.

Michael Livingston:
They see the English
cutting down trees.

They're probably
taking apart some of the
trebuchets that they have.

They're doing that for parts.

And then they would start
to see them constructing

what would ultimately be
recognizable as a trebuchet,

but one that is larger
than any trebuchet they've ever
seen or even heard of.

It had to be the most
frightening thing they'd ever
seen in their lives.

The Scots send out
a parlay party.
They want to make peace.

They want to end
that battle before
their castle is destroyed.

But Edward I has just spent
the last four months waiting
for this creation to be built.

Michael Livingston:
Edward said, "No, no.

You wanted to be in there,
you stay in there.

I'm gonna shoot this thing."

Narrator: By the time
the Warwolf is complete,

it stands over 60 feet tall,

larger than
a six-story building,

and its arm can hurl
300-pound stones
up to 700 feet.

The stones, they could go up
to 100 miles per hour,

and this is shooting over
the span of two football fields
in a matter of seconds.

It was really,
really impressive,

and I'm sure that
that's why Edward
wanted to make sure

that it actually was used
at least once.

Narrator: King Edward
also wants an audience.

By the time Edward
is getting ready to actually
fire this thing,

he wants to show it off, too.

This is now something that's

going to display his power

for the people back home.

The stage was set,
and royalty was set in place

to be able to watch the Warwolf
unleash its projectiles.

For the Scots inside
watching this, waiting for it,

it's finally built,
and they can see people
gathering to watch this.

Truly, imagine you're
watching your own doom,

and they're
selling tickets for it.

And when it hits,
it doesn't just break the wall
of Stirling Castle,

it breaks the will
of the Scots.

After the first projectile
hit the wall, it collapsed,

and building after building,
throw after throw,

collapsed within it
to the extent that
Edward Longshanks,

King of England, knew that
he just hammered the Scots.

Oliphant and the Scots inside
are now allowed to surrender.

Oliphant is sent
to the Tower of London.

He later goes on to escape,

and in the spirit
of William Wallace,

goes back to Scotland
to carry on the fight.

Narrator: A fight
they will ultimately lose

after William Wallace
is captured

and publicly executed
in gruesome fashion.

William Wallace is publicly
hanged, drawn, and quartered.

He is strangled,
he is disemboweled,

he is castrated,
he is beheaded,

and his corpse is cut
into four different pieces.

Michael Livingston:
And at this point,

a lot of the Scottish
begin to submit

because they're worried about

what's going to happen to them.

Narrator: Including
Sir William Oliphant,

who switches sides,
becoming a servant
to the English king.

As for the Warwolf,

its intimidating size

turns out to be
its ultimate downfall.

Michael Livingston:
One of the crazy things
about all this,

is this is the only time
the Warwolf is used.

This thing is so big,
so difficult to build,

to transport, to run,

this is an enormous
amount of expense

just monetarily to use this.

And in the end, it's too much.

Shane Adams: The Warwolf,

with all the money
spent upon it,

was disassembled, taken down,
and never seen again.

Michael Livingston:
In the end, this was
really just a huge flex

on Edward's part.

It frightened people,
and for a time

they weren't willing
to go against him

because he had shown
this determination,

this willingness
to go that extra mile,

to create something
that magnificent

simply to make his point.

Narrator:
The Warwolf of 1304

marks a new advance
in superweapons of terror,

but the darkest twist
on siege machines
is yet to come.

Narrator:
By the early 14th century,

soldiers are using an arsenal
of creative trebuchet ammo

to intimidate enemies
into submission.

Michael Livingston:
The idea in warfare is you do
what you must do,

and if that means
I'm going to throw a dead cow
over the wall,

or a dead chicken,
or a dead person, or a rock,
it doesn't matter.

You're just throwing things
that you think

are going to be effective
for your ends.

Narrator: A notable example
is in 1345,

when a simmering conflict
between the Italian Genoese

and a Mongol horde
comes to a boil

in the walled city of Kaffa
in modern day Ukraine.

Joyce Salisbury:
Italy during the 14th century

was made up of
a bunch of city-states,

and the Genoese from Genoa
were one of them.

They actually produced
Christopher Columbus.

Christine Axen:
Kaffa is a port city
on the Black Sea,

and this means that
a lot of the commerce

that's happening around
the Black Sea

is coming through Kaffa.

The Genoese were so
dominant in the sea trade

that they got the rights
from the Mongol empire
to a port in Kaffa.

Narrator:
But the agreement between the
Genoese and the local Mongols

is not exactly
a friendly one.

Joyce Salisbury:
The Genoese lease the land,

and you would think that would
be a reasonable arrangement,

but there was always tension
between the Genoese

and the Mongol hordes
who surround.

Almost anything
could trigger a battle.

In 1345, the Mongols decide
to take back Kaffa.

The Genoese decide
they're gonna stay,

and a war breaks out between
the Genoese and the Mongols.

Jani Beg,
who is the khan of a group
called the Golden Horde,

encircled the city of Kaffa
and tried to besiege it.

They were called
the Golden Horde because
they were so rich,

and a "horde" because
they were so violent.

Narrator:
Making matters worse,

an outbreak
of a deadly disease

is swiftly decimating
the Mongol ranks.

While the siege is going on,
the Mongols are getting sick,

and nobody knows why.

People were hearing rumors
of a terrible plague

that was in the east in China.

They didn't know
where it was coming from.

Narrator: This mysterious
disease comes to be known
as the bubonic plague.

The plague
is a zoonotic carrier.

Rats would actually get
the bacteria in their bodies,

the flea would then
bite a rat,

and then it would
bite a human.

Once that bacteria
gets into the body,

it goes right into
the lymphatic system.

You would develop
black blisters under your neck
at your lymph nodes,

under your arms
and your groin.

Jordan Wagner:
They'd get anywhere between

two to ten centimeters
in size,

and then these big lymph nodes
can open up, bleed,

puss comes out, blood,
nastiness, all over the place.

It took everybody out.
It was indiscriminate.

Narrator:
But behind Kaffa's walls,

the Genoese appear
to be safe.

Because the protective walls

seem so great
surrounding the Genoese,

the Mongols are imagining
that the Genoese inside

are living the high life.

They're supplied, they're
not getting sick. No problem.

Christine Axen:
Jani Beg, noticing that his
own men are starting to die

from this mysterious disease,
he comes up with the great idea

to use trebuchets to catapult
the dead into the city.

Shane Adams: The Genoese
behind that protected wall
thought they were safe,

until they saw
the first few bodies
start flying over that wall.

Just imagine seeing these
bodies fall from the sky.

The boils had popped.
It was blood, it was puss.

It was human excrement.
It was vile.

It was a very disgusting
and gruesome scene.

Narrator:
The Genoese dump the diseased
bodies into the sea,

but it's too late.

The plague spreads quickly
throughout the city of Kaffa.

Shane Adams:
As soon as the first Genoese
started to get sick,

fear started to set in,
because they were
no longer protected.

So they ran to their ships
and evacuated the city,

and ultimately took
that bubonic plague,

the black plague,
with them on that journey...

...to the extent
that when the first ship

started to dock
in southern Italy,

people were met with horror
as half of these ships

were filled with dead bodies.

Christine Axen:
When the Genoese sail home,

they bring the black death
to western Europe,

where it immediately spreads
far and wide,

and the entire world
is suddenly immersed

in this deadly pandemic.

It's estimated that some

35 million people
were killed.

That's the entire population
of Canada essentially.

And this would've
resulted in the loss

of 30 to 60%
of the population.

Intentionally or not,

when the Mongols put
the plague-ridden bodies

onto the trebuchet
and launched them over
the walls into Kaffa,

this was the first known
example of biological warfare
in human history,

and the results
were absolutely catastrophic.

Narrator: But it's far
from the last time

gruesome intimidation tactics
will be used in combat.

Narrator: No weapon of fear is
more frightening than fire,

and throughout history,

arms have been created
to deliver just that.

Martin Morgan:
When the Chinese developed
gunpowder first,

they quickly recognized
that there was an application
that could relate to archery.

And they simply
created an attachment
for the standard arrow

that would encapsulate
some gunpowder.

So it would give the arrow
a little bit greater velocity,

and therefore gave it
a little bit greater range.

And this marks a transition
from missile technology

being missiles that are
accelerated by human force,

contracting a bow for example,
to missiles that are being

propelled by
scientific force.

It's a chemical reaction.

In an age where it was mostly
just swords and spears

and a few bow and arrows,
these fire-powered arrows

were pretty intimidating.

Martin Morgan:
In this early stage,

the rocketry
is taking baby steps.

The baby steps
will then eventually lead
to the recognition

that individual
rocket-assisted arrows

are lacking in accuracy.

What is desired is a battery
of rocket propelled arrows

capable of saturating a target.

Narrator:
By 1400, the Chinese believe

they have the perfect
sinister solution.

Martin Morgan: A document
from the Ming dynasty

describes this thing
called a huo che.

It was simply a battery.

In other words,
rocket-assisted arrows

that were massed together
and mounted on a cart

that could be wheeled
onto the battlefield

and could be then used
effectively as an area weapon

in opposition
against an armed enemy.

Greg Jackson: Frankly, it was
a pretty impressive weapon.

It fired over 300
of these fire arrows,
these early rockets,

and you could go about
it one of two ways.

You could either light
all of them at once

and have a massive barrage
hit your enemy,

or you could do them
more sequentially.

Field artillery today functions
just like the huo che did.

In other words,
very, very smart people

from hundreds of years ago
developed battery firing systems

that have inspired
and influenced

the types of
battery firing systems
that we're using today.

Narrator: Following
the invention of the huo che,

the use of rockets
spreads shock and terror
throughout Asia.

But in the 1700s,

one South Indian ruler
adds a menacing twist.

Martin Morgan:
The Kingdom of Mysore

is centrally located
in south India.

It was under Tipu Sultan

that rocket technology
had been taken to a level

that Europeans had not
even begun to imagine.

Narrator: Differing
from its predecessors,

the Mysorean rocket
is encased in iron,

allowing it to hold
more gunpowder

and travel upwards
of a thousand yards.

So that was a massive advance
over just using the gunpowder

in conjunction with arrows.

You got greater range
and you got greater impact.

Narrator:
Their chilling power

can be seen
during a stand-off

against the English in 1799.

In resistance
to this economic empire

that was created in India under
the British East Indies Company,

the Mysoreans were
ultimately locked in combat
against the English,

leading ultimately
and climatically to a 1799
siege engagement.

Narrator: Tipu's troops
are outnumbered four to one.

So in a Hail Mary,
they fire a barrage

of Mysorean rockets
at the British,

causing them
to flee in terror.

Michael Sheldon:
The firepower lit up the sky

and also did a lot of damage
on the battlefield.

But it's a great
terroristic weapon

because it was more frightening

than it was actual
physical destruction.

Greg Jackson: It isn't
long after the British

are being attacked by
Mysorean rockets

that they decide we need
to look at these things.

They're stronger. They're
better than what we've got.

They're taken back to Britain,
where they can essentially

be studied
and reverse-engineered.

Narrator: Inspired
by this new technology,

in 1801, Britain creates
a rocket research program.

Greg Jackson:
So by the time we get
into the early 1800s,

Sir William Congreve has
more or less given Britain

its own Mysorean rocket,
and it bears his name.

This is the Congreve rocket.

Now, these aren't the most
powerful rockets out there,

but their psychological effect
is absolutely on point.

When a Congreve rocket explodes,
it fires a massive red flare,

and frankly,
it had to be terrifying.

These things can go
4,500 feet in range,

and they were quickly put to use
in the Napoleonic Wars,

and more notably to Americans,
in the War of 1812.

Narrator:
Close to 15,000 Americans die
during the War of 1812,

and another 20,000
are taken as prisoners.

One of them is lawyer
and poet Francis Scott Key.

Martin Morgan:
During the siege and
bombardment of Fort McHenry

in Baltimore Harbor,
the Congreve rockets were fired
toward Fort McHenry.

It was terrifying,

but it led observers
to take note

of "rockets' red glare."

This is what Francis Scott Key
was describing

when he wrote those lyrics,

saying,
"and the rockets' red glare,

the bombs bursting in air,"

in America's national anthem.

As the glare of one
of these rockets passed

and it briefly illuminated
the flying American flag,

it was of great inspiration

not just
to Francis Scott Key,

but every American that
was around Baltimore Harbor.

Not even the rockets' red glare

could knock down the flagpole
and bring down the American flag

that stood there defiantly over
the course of this bombardment.

And it led them
to feel bolstered,

to feel reassured
that we can stand up

to even the rocket bombardment
of the Royal Navy.

Narrator: But even
the rockets' red glare

pales in comparison
to a Soviet superweapon

unleashed during
World War II.

Narrator: June, 1941.

Germany launches an invasion
of the Soviet Union,

an offensive dubbed
Operation Barbarossa.

The Soviet Union and
national socialist Third Reich

signed a non-aggression pact
before the war began,

but it ceased
to be convenient very quickly
for Nazi Germany.

The Soviet Union
sat upon the world's greatest

oil resources
for that time period.

Nazi Germany
had by that point realized,
"You know what?

We're going to need that oil
for ourselves, and we don't
want to have to buy it.

We're going to take it."
What could possibly go wrong?

Michael Shelden: The invasion
is a huge success at first.

The Germans
in the summer weather

ride across the plains
in relative ease.

But as they reach
the end of the year

and the weather
begins to turn nasty,

they have a harder time
making progress.

Yet they do reach the gates
of Moscow by December of 1941.

Martin Morgan:
And at about that same time,

the enemy has marshaled
his strength,

and the Soviet Union
begins to fight back

with ever increasing strength.

Narrator: Caught in
an impossible stalemate

and running low on supplies,

the invading Nazis
are about to find themselves

in the crosshairs of a
terrifying new Soviet weapon
of shock and awe,

the Katyusha.

The Soviets roll out
this new secret weapon,

this battery firing
rocket launcher

that takes great effect
against German fighting forces.

You would just hope that
you were a lottery winner
during that attack

and that you wouldn't
experience a direct hit.

Because if you did,
your chances of survival
were almost zero.

Martin Morgan:
The Katyusha system
is called the BM-13.

That's the official designation
of the rail launching system

that was then mounted
on a vehicle.

The system itself
was a launching platform

that had 16 separate rails,
and it would therefore

have a battery
firing capability

of 16 rockets simultaneously.

Narrator: Each M-13 rocket
is 2 1/2 feet long

and weighs 93 pounds.

These weren't massive rockets
by any means.

It was the number of them
that made the difference.

It was more a question
of quantity over quality.

Martin Morgan:
The Katyusha system

is recognized
as being an area weapon.

You're not sniping with it.

You're firing
a barrage of Katyushas

at a certain beaten zone.

Within that beaten zone,
you are going to tear
everything up.

Narrator:
This diabolical weapon has
one more chilling feature.

Martin Morgan:
The Katyusha had a powerful
psychological effect

because the sound moved
faster than the weapon.

And so the people
on the receiving end

would hear this screeching,
whirring sound,

and they would know what
they were about to be in for.

Michael Shelden:
You can hear just
this sort of whoosh,

but then a screech
as it reaches the target.

It really was so frightening

that it made it difficult
to stand your ground.

Martin Morgan:
If you heard the screeching
sound of a Katyusha,

the hardened veterans would
disappear very quickly

because they would all
flee for cover,

and that had a powerful
intimidating effect

against the people who were
new to that battlefield.

Michael Shelden: The Russians
were giving the Germans

a bit of their own medicine,
because in the Blitzkrieg,

the Germans had understood
the terror that comes

with screeching sounds
from their Stuka dive bombers.

What the Russians did was use
that practice against them.

Narrator: But it's
the weapon's appearance

that lends itself
to a twisted new nickname.

Many people thought when they
looked at the configuration

of these tubes
on the back of these trucks,

that it looked like
a collection of organ pipes.

In a kind of battlefield
gallows humor,

they gave it this nickname--
Stalin's organ.

Narrator:
Stalin's organ stops the
Nazis dead in their tracks,

contributing to the loss
of over 250,000

of Hitler's soldiers
during the Battle of Moscow.

The Germans are getting
pummeled over and over again

by the M-13 rockets
that are fired by the Katyusha.

The Germans don't like it
because it sucks.

Michael Shelden:
Katyusha rockets
truly worried the Germans,

because they didn't
have a defense against them

and they had nothing like it
to fire back.

When you were in an assault
by these Katyusha rockets,

there was no place to go.

They would cover a large area
of the battlefield at once

and leave a lot of dead bodies.

Narrator: The lethal rocket
is so effective,

the Soviets ramp up
production,

ordering 10,000 more
during the course of the war.

Michael Shelden:
Russia just won't let up.

They keep coming
and coming and coming.

And they sow such fear,

that almost all
the Nazi leadership
run to the west,

right back to the borders
of Germany,

rather than face the Russians

with their Katyushas
on the east.

Narrator: But back
in the western theater,

the Nazis have their own
top secret mega-weapon
in the works.

Narrator:
By 1941, Adolf Hitler
is ready to fire back

at the Soviets
with a truly horrifying
piece of artillery,

one that's been in the works
for almost a decade.

The Schwerer Gustav.

Michael Shelden:
The Schwerer Gustav
was an enormous weapon.

It was the kind of gun that
you would be frightened
just to see at a distance.

It's so enormous that
it's going to have to be mounted

on railway tracks especially
built for it to work.

Narrator:
This gigantic Nazi cannon

will become the most notorious
railway gun in history.

But its inspiration comes from
an earlier deadly conflict,

the American Civil War.

Barton Myers:
The Brooke naval rifle
was originally designed

by John Mercer Brooke
for the Confederate navy.

It was the first armored
rail cannon

used in combat
in world history.

The Brooke naval rifle
weighs roughly ten tons.

It could fire a 64-pound
projectile nearly five miles.

The basic problem, however,

was that it can only fire
in one direction.

In 1864,
at the siege of Petersburg,

the Union army deploys
its own railway gun,
the Dictator,

which fires a shell
weighing 225 pounds.

But the recoil is so powerful,

it destroys the railway car
that it's sitting on.

Even the impractical nature
of these early rail guns

didn't deter later inventors

from attempting to invent
larger guns on rail.

Narrator: Including German
engineer Gustav Krupp,

first tasked
by Hitler in 1936

to develop their own version
of a railway gun

capable of obliterating
the French Maginot Line.

Michael Shelden:
The Maginot Line
was a defensive line

that stretched
pretty much across

the French border
with Germany.

The Germans thought to get
through the Maginot Line

they would need guns
big enough to destroy

those deeply
emplaced fortifications.

And so the Krupp
arms manufacturers

are able to deliver to Hitler

the most massive gun
that's ever been built.

Narrator:
The weapon weighs 1,350 tons,

about the same
as six Boeing 747 jets.

It fires 15,000-pound shells

at a range of 29 miles.

Martin Morgan:
Schwerer Gustav was not
just a powerful weapon.

It was a way of
advertising to the world,

"Don't ( bleep ) with us."

Narrator:
But by the time the weapon

is finally completed in 1941,
it's too late.

The entire reason
that Krupp designs this weapon

is so that Germany
will have something

that can defeat
the French Maginot Line.

And in the end,

it's not firepower
that does that,

because German units
simply maneuver around
the Maginot Line

from its less heavily defended
northern frontier.

Narrator: As a result,
the Schwerer Gustav
is put on the backburner.

But the time and resources
spent constructing

this colossal weapon
will not go to waste.

Martin Morgan:
By the autumn of 1941,

Soviet forces held out
at the city of Sevastopol.

This leads to an eight-month
long siege operation

during which all manner
of German firepower

was brought to bear against
Soviet forces in the city.

And that firepower
eventually would
include Schwerer Gustav.

Michael Shelden: Sevastopol,
if you think about it,

is quite a long way
to take that gun.

It's well over a thousand miles.

Martin Morgan:
It took 25 freight cars

to transport the various
component assets
of Schwerer Gustav.

So it was its own train
just to get there,

only to then be assembled so
that it could fire some shots.

Narrator: Once in place,
the Gustav fires 47 rounds,

laying waste to various
targets throughout the city.

Hardened underground
ammunition storage facilities,

troop concentrations
at railroad marshaling yards,

completely destroyed.

Ships that are riding
in the harbor are destroyed

by the concussive force
of AP rounds that are going off.

Michael Shelden: Even though
it was very difficult to fire
and to put into place,

the Germans decided it was
worth it for its fear factor,

for the ability
to strike terror.

This seemed like
the most superweapon of all.

Narrator: But as evidenced
by the Warwolf trebuchet

over six centuries ago,
bigger is not always better.

Martin Morgan: Schwerer Gustav
was extremely effective

in use during
the siege of Sevastopol.

The only problem
is that the accuracy
is falling off dramatically

and much faster
than expected,

to such an extent that after
they had fired 47 rounds,

they realize
that we might as well
not even continue.

Michael Shelden: The gun
is so labor-intensive,

requiring thousands
to move it and maintain it,

but the really
glaring problem with it

was that such a big gun can be
seen from the air for miles.

So the gun was a sitting duck
to any kind of air attack.

In the end, it's not
a very useful weapon at all.

It looks impressive,
but because it wasn't practical,

it was never going
to be effective.

Narrator: Despite
the Nazi cannon's flaws,

by the end of the battle,
the Soviet army is annihilated,

suffering over
115,000 casualties.

Martin Morgan:
After the siege
of Sevastopol,

Schwerer Gustav never fires
another shot in anger.

Narrator:
To prevent the technology

from falling
into Allied hands,

the Germans ultimately
destroy the weapon in 1945.

It's interesting
that the Germans felt

they needed to be destroyed.

It was one of the darkest

of all the superweapons
of the Nazi regime

because at a distance
it would frighten
the hell out of you.

But it still begs the question
of who would want to copy

such an impractical weapon?

Narrator:
But a giant superweapon
like the Schwerer Gustav

isn't the only Nazi idea
for spreading devastation

and fear in the hearts
of Germany's enemies.

Narrator: 1943.

The Nazis are
secretly developing

a terrifying new weapon
to destroy London--

the V-3 Supergun.

The Germans always believed that
Britain would be a pushover.

They thought that
after they stormed their way

through the low countries
in France

that turning to England
would be a fairly easy job.

Narrator:
One of the earliest assaults
against the Brits

happens on
September 7th, 1940.

The Germans launch a surprise
bombing attack on London,

setting off a relentless
siege known as the Blitz.

Martin Morgan:
Over the course of the eight
months of the Blitz,

43,000 British subjects
lose their lives.

Civilians.

Over one million homes
are destroyed.

So for the United Kingdom,
this is a massive loss.

Narrator:
But the Brits fire back.

The British
had an enormous advantage

in their early adoption of radar

that allowed them
to know exactly when

these Luftwaffe planes
were coming over to attack.

And so they would meet
them head-on

with Spitfires
and other fighter planes.

Martin Morgan:
It becomes this grind
over and over again

of the Germans
send in a big attack

and the RAF comes up
to fight them.

And eventually,
over 2,000 German aircraft

are lost in combat.

Narrator:
Their tenacity pays off

when Hitler abandons
the siege on May 11, 1941.

But the fight
is far from over.

Martin Morgan:
By late 1942,

the RAF and the United States
Army air forces

were conducting
precision bombing raids
against German cities

and killing German civilians
by the thousands,

and Adolf Hitler
wanted revenge for it.

And that speeds up
the development

of the so-called V-weapons.

The V-1, the V-2,
and the V-3.

The V is significant

because the V
was roughly translated

in our language as vengeance.

These were vengeance weapons.

Narrator:
For the next two years,
the Germans continue

to develop the weapons
in secret.

But after the Allied
invasion of Normandy

on June 6th, 1944,
or D-Day,

Hitler's desire for vengeance
reaches a fever pitch.

One week later,
the V-weapons are unleashed,

first on London
and later Belgium.

Martin Morgan: It would start
with the V-1 buzz bomb.

This was a pulse jet
powered flying bomb

that would be used
to strike targets

like the city of London.

Michael Shelden: The V-2
was much more sophisticated.

That was a real rocket.

Martin Morgan:
This was the world's
first ballistic missile.

That was
one engineering solution

for getting a projectile
on a target at great range.

Michael Shelden:
The combination
of these weapons

should have had greater
impact than they did.

They certainly frightened
a lot of English people,

but none of them proved
to be decisive at all.

Narrator: And so Hitler
imagines an even greater
vengeance weapon,

one that can
spread destruction, terror,

and most importantly,
payback,

throughout
the city of London.

The Germans
begin the construction
of a V-3 Supergun site

at a place called Mimoyecques
in Northern France.

And it was here where
there would be 25 barrels

divided into five groups.

And once that facility
had been completed,

these 25 Supergun barrels
would deliver 600 projectiles

against the city of London
each and every day.

Narrator:
While the Nazis raced
to complete the Superguns,

it's nearly impossible to
keep their plans under wraps.

Michael Shelden: In 1944,
their fortifications

were spotted by
aerial surveillance.

We knew it was bad news,
and so we began a process
of bombarding it.

And one of
the most famous attempts

to destroy those fortifications

was mounted by
a young lieutenant

in the American Navy

who agreed to volunteer
to fly a bomber

jammed with explosives
over that site of the V-3,

and then bail out
after aiming his plane
with these explosives

straight at that
fortification.

That young lieutenant
was named Joseph Kennedy.

He was president Kennedy's
older brother.

And it didn't work.

The electronics on the bomber
went off prematurely,

blowing poor Joe Kennedy up
in the process.

So the man who
the Kennedy family thought

would be the president
of the United States,

older brother Joe,

was blown up trying
to take out the V-3 guns.

Narrator:
Despite the tragic accident,
the Allies remain determined

to eliminate the Nazi's
supersized death cannon.

The RAF dam-busters ultimately
contribute significantly

to the destruction
of the site at Mimoyecques

by using this weapon
that's called the Tallboy.

It's a 12-ton bomb,

and it absolutely
destroys the site

to such an extent that the
project has to be abandoned.

But that system
from the start was doomed

because Germany
couldn't do any of it

without invading
other countries

and enslaving the populations
of those countries.

And when you do that,
you're going to get war.

And when you get war,
you might get

a multi-national
coalition of 14 countries

that come and kick the living
( bleep ) out of you,

and that's what happened.

Narrator:
The Warwolf trebuchet,

the Katyusha rocket system,

the Schwerer Gustav,

and the V-3 cannon,

though they had their flaws,

these terrifying weapons
of shock and awe

combined the modern
technology of the day
with sinister intent,

and have left scars
on both the battlefield

and the psyches
of those who faced them.