Original subtitles

NARRATOR: 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.

JOHN: It defies any kind of rational explanation that 39

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

NARRATOR: 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.

(speaking in German).

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.

PATRICK: 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.

NARRATOR: The goal, to seize the Port of Brest and the

U-Boat bunkers back from the Nazis.

PATRICK: 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 hold out until the end.

NARRATOR: 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.

JOHN: 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.

NARRATOR: But the darkness makes their mine sweeping more dangerous.

JOHN: 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.

NARRATOR: 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.

JOHN: 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.

NARRATOR: 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.

JOHN: 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.

NARRATOR: They rig each one with a pound of plastic

explosive to detonate later.

JOHN: 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.

NARRATOR: 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.

PETER: Nazi propaganda often portrays and calls the

Fallschirmjager as the youngest sons of the god of war.

German paratroopers are generally well-trained and

well-equipped and have got a high motivation.

NARRATOR: 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 Fallschirmjager division.

(speaking in German).

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 U.S.

soldier that is fighting against us here in Brest will

not fight in Germany against our home country.

NARRATOR: 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.

NARRATOR: 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.

JOHN: You basically have these forts that are,

that are created to withstand almost any weapon that would

have existed in the 18th Century and uh,

still pretty applicable to the 20th Century.

NARRATOR: 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.

JOHN: Plus, the forts are sighted along every reasonable route of advance.

NARRATOR: The allies had already ruled out attack from the sea.

This is supposed to be the easy way in.

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

NARRATOR: In addition to Sidney Smith's engineers,

Major Dallas also commands artillery...

-Fire!

NARRATOR: 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.

NARRATOR: September 14th, 1944.

For two days American forces have attacked Fort Montbarey,

which guards the port city of Brest,

without breaking through.

-Yes Sir!

DALLAS: Get those troops moving! Let's Go!

NARRATOR: 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.

NARRATOR: In the smoky haze,

the cratered landscape proves dangerous.

(gunfire)

(gunfire and explosions)

NARRATOR: The infantry moves in with grenades and bayonets.

JOHN: 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 mission: close with the enemy

and destroy them at that close range.

NARRATOR: 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.

JOHN: 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.

NARRATOR: Major Dallas orders three crocodiles to cross the

minefields and approach the fort.

JOHN: 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.

NARRATOR: 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.

(gunfire)

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.

JOHN: 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.

NARRATOR: So American Captain Sidney Smith's Combat

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

PATRICK: 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.

NARRATOR: 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.

PETER: Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels,

makes a big story out of the defense of Brest.

He portrays the German Fallschirmjager 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.

NARRATOR: Fort Montbarey itself is held by a unit of Fallschirmjagers,

commanded by Oberleutnant Floter.

PATRICK: German paratroopers or Falschirmjagers 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.

(speaking in German).

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.

JOHN: 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.

NARRATOR: 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.

JOHN: 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.

NARRATOR: With clear lines of sight and maneuverability,

the infantry are the best weapon against a Panzerfaust gunner.

(gunfire)

With bursts of flame Ward starts to clear the German

forces from the outlying pillboxes.

♪ ♪

WARD: Left Stick!

NARRATOR: Then adds both his guns to the hail of fire.

(gunfire)

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.

JOHN: It's just Ward and his crew.

Uh, he has no infantry men with him.

It's this lone tank, basically behind the fort,

deep in enemy country.

NARRATOR: 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.

OR: 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.

JOHN: 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.

NARRATOR: Initially surprised, the Germans may have been

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

(coughing).

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.

(coughing).

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.

JOHN: 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.

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

(gunfire)

And he blasts out a series of warning shots.

Remarkably, the Germans surrender.

JOHN: 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.

NARRATOR: 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.

DALLAS: I suggest.

NARRATOR: Dallas hopes he can get some help from the 115th Infantry Regiment.

They will manoeuver 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.

JOHN: 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.

NARRATOR: 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.

(gunfire)

They use everything at their disposal,

from bulldozers to explosives to picks and shovels to

accomplish the task.

JOHN: 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.

SMITH: You've got a clear path over here!

NARRATOR: 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.

JOHN: 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.

NARRATOR: 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.

(speaking in German).

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.

NARRATOR: 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.

(explosions)

(explosions)

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.

JOHN: 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.

NARRATOR: 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.

JOHN: 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.

NARRATOR: The barrage devastates the inside of the fort,

but Oberleutnant Floter and his paratroopers remain entrenched.

(speaking in German).

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.

NARRATOR: 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.

JOHN: So when the Americans find the passageway it now

creates a new option for Dallas beyond just standing

there and battering the gate.

NARRATOR: 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.

PETER: 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.

NARRATOR: 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.

JOHN: Dallas demands Floter's surrender by saying,

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

a lot worse than this."

NARRATOR: Minutes later,

Dallas receives Floter's reply.

PETER: 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."

NARRATOR: The siege of Fort Montbarey will continue.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: 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.

NARRATOR: 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.

JOHN: 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.

NARRATOR: 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.

JOHN: 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.

NARRATOR: 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.

JOHN: 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.

NARRATOR: Lieutenant Kelton braves enemy fire to cross the moat.

(gunfire)

He retrieves the body,

and carries it out himself.

(gunfire)

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.

NARRATOR: 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.

(explosion)

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.

SMITH: Let's move out!

NARRATOR: And climbs over the rubble.

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

(gunfire and explosions)

♪ ♪

(gunfire and explosions)

The onslaught is so intense that Smith's men do not

realize the Germans are finally surrendering.

(gunfire and explosions)

(gunfire and explosions)

-Hey!

NARRATOR: 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.

NARRATOR: 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.

(speaking in German).

The engineers fire their tommy guns down the tunnel to

announce their presence.

Two men surrender.

The engineers have captured the garrison commander:

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.

(speaking in German).

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 Cotter Captioning Services.