All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S07E07.The.Doom.of.El.Dorado.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-DoGSO_track3_[eng]

[narrator] A desert canyon
where fortunes were made

and fates were sealed.

[Auerbach]
There's not much here
besides desert and rock.

What would draw people here?

Well, in these remote,
inhospitable locations,

the answer is
usually the same, money.

[narrator] A rural area
in Poland that
connected the world.

[Meigs]
A lot of the electronics
are still here.

This two-megawatt transmitter,
which is just unheard of.

This two-megawatt transmitter,
which is just unheard of.

That's enough to power
a small town.

[narrator]
And an Island fortress
with an Achilles heel.

[Bell]
It was armed to the teeth

with guns, cannon
and anti-air defense,

but all these
guns were useless

against the main threat
of that time.

[narrator] Decaying relics.

Ruins of lost worlds.

Sites haunted by the past.

Their secrets waiting
to be revealed.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator]
The wilds of Nevada.

In an inhospitable desert

In an inhospitable desert

are the haunting remains
of a settlement.

[Bell] This'll places only
a 45-minute drive
from Las Vegas,

but it feels like
a million miles away
from the casinos,

the bright lights
and the glamour.

[Jerram] When you can see
that there are

a number of man made
structures around this

and large tanks,
there's bits of machinery.

[narrator]
Old wooden buildings harken
back to the 19th century,

[narrator]
Old wooden buildings harken
back to the 19th century,

but scattered on the site

are the remnants of the 20th.

There's this rusting
old abandoned truck,

a crashed plane.

This place looks like

it's trapped in
some type of time warp.

[Bell] This is a wild place.

If the climate doesn't
get you, then nature will.

Humans were never designed
to live in a place like this.

Humans were never designed
to live in a place like this.

[narrator] The site is filled
with decaying machinery,

but its purpose is obscured.

[Jerram] If you're gonna go
to somewhere so extreme,

you have to be
drawn by something.

And usually
in places like this,

it's something to do with
what's in the ground.

[Werly] This entrance had been
covered up for 80 years,

but when we
popped into this thing,

there's a half a mile
of tunnel in here

that nobody that had been in
for years and years.

that nobody that had been in
for years and years.

[narrator] People came here
seeking their fortune,

but for some, this would be
the end of the line.

[Werly] There's nine
different levels in here.

There's three miles
of tunnels and it goes
600 feet deep.

[narrator] Tony Werly
first came to these tunnels
25 years ago.

They were dug in search
of a precious mineral.

This is an extremely
hard rock.

This is like number seven hard
from one to ten.

This is the seven
which is stronger than cement.

[Bell] To come here,
you need a pretty good reason.

And in the most extreme
locations like this,

that's usually to make money.

[narrator]
Thing they were looking for
was glistening white

and hardest stone.

[Werly] This is a vein.

You can see it runs from here
all the way over into here.

You can see it runs from here
all the way over into here.

You can just see,
it's running up the mountain.

[narrator] This white rock
was the source
of untold fortune.

The first person
to recognize its value

was a man
called John Moss.

John Moss was
your classic frontiersmen.

They really should be
making movies about this guy.

[Bell]
He was the first non-native

to descend the Colorado River
rapids by raft.

He spent three and a half days
being drenched,

He spent three and a half days
being drenched,

ducked and pounded
by the river

as he traveled through
the Grand Canyon.

[narrator] Moss,
originally from
Utica, New York,

was on an expedition
into Western America.

[Auerbach] He apparently had
a real gift for languages,

and he spent a lot of time
traveling around

with almost
two dozen different
Native American tribes,

which allowed him
to immerse himself
in their culture.

[narrator]
He was drawn to Nevada
by rumors

[narrator]
He was drawn to Nevada
by rumors

of that strange white rock
in the mountains.

He suspected it was Quartz,

a mineral that forms in veins

when hot magma
interacts with groundwater.

Quartz is SiO2.
It's Silica.

It's one of the most
abundant minerals
on the planet

It can occur
in certain different ways

as these veins rich in Silica,
they're rich in other minerals

like lead, zinc, silver,
and sometimes gold.

like lead, zinc, silver,
and sometimes gold.

[narrator] Moss analyzed
the mineral and confirmed
his suspicions.

This is Eldorado Canyon,

home to
the richest gold deposit
in southern Nevada.

[dramatic music playing]

Once the miners found
this white coarse vein,
they never left track of it.

They'd just keep it in sight,
and so they'll chase it
wherever it goes.

[Jerram] As you go
into the mountain,
the geology changes.

[Jerram] As you go
into the mountain,
the geology changes.

Maybe your vein suddenly
goes off on a different angle,

so you follow that,
if that's where the where
the potential resource was.

[narrator] Following the trail
of quartz, however,

was only the first part
of a complicated process.

It's important to note here
they're not finding
big gold nuggets.

In this situation
a lot of the gold is
small particles in the veins.

[narrator] Carts filled
with quartz were pulled
out of the tunnels.

But extracting gold from
Quartz was expensive
and potentially deadly.

[Werly] You have to crush
this rock up
as fine as you can,

all the way down
to the texture of flour.

[narrator] They then mixed
crushed quartz with
an unfriendly chemical.

It would mix it in these big
Cyanide tanks here,

and the Cyanide would pull

the microscopic pieces of gold
and silver out of the ore.

[narrator] But with high risk
came high rewards.

[narrator] But with high risk
came high rewards.

El Dorado was making money
hand over fist.

The gold mining that
took place in Eldorado Canyon
is phenomenal.

About $200 million dollars
worth of gold and silver
came out of that mine.

[narrator] For every ton of
quartz rock, they extracted
one ounce of gold.

but the greater challenge
was getting that gold
out of El Dorado.

but the greater challenge
was getting that gold
out of El Dorado.

Everything has to be
shipped in by water

trucked up the canyon
through the Colorado River.

[narrator] In the mid-1800s,
there was only one port
in and out of the canyon,

a small dock on the river
called Nelson's Landing,

[Auerbach] But despite
the harshness
of the conditions,

despite the difficulty in
getting the supplies there,

what's being produced
is so valuable

what's being produced
is so valuable

that you actually get
pretty heavy traffic
in and out of the canyon.

And Nelson's Landing
turns out to be one of the
busiest transition points

for supplies
in the whole region.

[narrator] Cut off from
the rest of civilization,

El Dorado became a hotbed
for criminal activity.

while most of the U.S. was
under prohibition,

here, a black market thrived.

It's said that the alcohol
produced there for pennies

It's said that the alcohol
produced there for pennies

was actually sold for up to
one dollar a gallon
just across state lines.

[narrator] Nelson's Landing
had turned into
a Pirate's bay.

It's a shift that would
transform El Dorado

into one of the most
dangerous towns in America.

[narrator] In the
19th century, a desert
gold mine had become

a cesspool for smugglers,
claim jumpers and murderers.

Back in the late 1800s,
Eldorado Canyon

was one of the
most violent and lawless
places in America.

[Werly] Yeah, it's a bad place
to be. In the 1880s, not even
killing is a good reason

[Werly] Yeah, it's a bad place
to be. In the 1880s, not even
killing is a good reason

to bring the sheriff
out here 200 miles away,

He tells them they have
to fend for themselves
out here.

[Auerbach] A local miner,
John Riggs, later wrote,

"I never think there
was another place

in proportion to the
population where so many
murders were committed

and the perpetrators
never brought to justice
or even apprehended."

[narrator] Greed, vice and
murder made El Dorado
Nevada's first sin city.

[narrator] Greed, vice and
murder made El Dorado
Nevada's first sin city.

But it wasn't the long arm
of the law that finally
brought it down.

When World War II started,
All the miners that worked
at the mine went to war.

It's been right here,
is where they were
when they left.

when they came back
from World War II, they never
opened this mine again.

[narrator] It said that
there is still

a million dollars' worth of
gold in the Eldorado mine,

a million dollars' worth of
gold in the Eldorado mine,

but now it would cost
two million to dig it out.

The mine has been
silent for 80 years,

but on the surface are the
wrecks of military vehicles

that suggest
the drama continued.

Hollywood came to Eldorado
to film
3,000 miles to Graceland.

Big names,
a big budget car chases
and a crashed plane.

Big names,
a big budget car chases
and a crashed plane.

But it was a bomb
but good film or bad film,

the legacy remains,
and we see it before us now.

[narrator] Hidden in
plain sight on the
southeast coast of Malta,

is a facility standing
guard over the shore.

[Wawro] You've got azure seas.
Rocky, sandy beaches.

You've got these tall cliffs
rising out of the sea.

[Nusbacher] And as your eye
follows these rocky cliffs,

your eye suddenly realizes
that you're not looking
at a cliff anymore.

Look at those bars
on the windows.

If I didn't know any better,
I'd think this is
a place designed

to lock up the most
desperate criminals.

to lock up the most
desperate criminals.

It has an almost prison
like quality and yet
given its placement

right on this important
coastline, that argues that
this is probably a fort.

[narrator] Viewed from above,
distinctive features

confirmed this complex
was all about defense.

Here we can see elements
of a fortress that date
back years,

but we also see
elements better,
clearly modern.

but we also see
elements better,
clearly modern.

That are clearly meant
to withstand
20th century weapons.

[Wawro] I mean, think about
all the Greek, Italian,
Spanish islands

that are fortified.

Why is this island fortified?

It must have some real
strategic importance.

[narrator] This site was
once ready to face
a colossal naval assault.

But who was the enemy
and did those inside
live to tell the tale?

But who was the enemy
and did those inside
live to tell the tale?

The story of this site

dates back to 19th century,
with Malta under British rule.

Matthew Balzan is
a local historian

who has explored every inch
of the complex.

[Balzan] Here we are
in tunnels below
the main site,

which run all the way across.

From outside,
one would not realize
what lies beneath here.

[narrator] While most of what
remains above ground
was built later,

the original defensive
capabilities of this site
were hidden from view.

Here, we're seeing an example
of a 12.5-inch,

38-ton rifle
muzzle loading gun.

The time when it was put
in place here in 1880,

was the largest example
of rifle muzzle
loading technology

the British Army had
at its disposal.

Comparing it to the size
of a human being

Comparing it to the size
of a human being

one can immediately realize
the sheer size
of such artillery.

What's more interesting
about these examples is
that these are the last

remaining examples in
the whole world, where we
still see the original gun

on its original carriage
on platform
in their original locations.

[Wawro] This represents
the acme of gun technology
of the time.

It's rifled, meaning it can
fire accurately
at a much longer range.

More penetrating power,
fires a bigger shell
with far greater accuracy.

More penetrating power,
fires a bigger shell
with far greater accuracy.

Its purpose is to kind
of spar and jab with
assaulting fleets.

[narrator] One of these
guns alone, however,
would not have been enough.

As the multiple openings
in the cliff suggest,

half a dozen of these
beasts were once trained
upon the horizon.

One can just imagine
the sound which would
be created

when a gun of this size
would be fired.

But to give just
a small example,

a gun powder cartridge
when fired inside the
chamber of this gun

with expanding volume
20,000 times...

and all of that has to go out
and smoke and noise.

[narrator] Located just
a few miles south of the
capital city of Valetta.

This is Fort Delimara.

So, with the guns
at the ready,

who would dare to invade?

who would dare to invade?

[narrator] In the late 19th
century, Fort Delimara

was built to plug a gap
in the main island's defenses.

The British. They learned
some valuable lessons
from Malta's past.

They learned, for example,
that is not enough to fortify

the Grand Harbor
around Valetta.

You have to always fortify
this secondary harbor.

Marsaxlokk is at
the end of the island.

But what had happened
previously is everybody
had fortified

But what had happened
previously is everybody
had fortified

the Grand Harbor and left
Marsaxlokk undefended
and powers like the French

had just sailed in there,
offloaded their
amphibious forces

and taken the island
essentially through
the back door.

So what, you see,
the British during
the 19th century,

is pouring millions
into these new fortifications

in this secondary harbor,
the Marsaxlokk harbor.

[narrator] Once again,
it was the French who
threatened to invade.

But now this fort lay in wait.

These massive guns
were put here

These massive guns
were put here

because this was
a desperately sensitive

spot for the Royal Navy
to defend.

[narrator] Moats on
the landward side,
protected it from behind.

But the key to this
structure to feeding
an invasion force

was in gifting it
the element of surprise.

Fortifications are
deliberately small

and almost invisible
from the sea,
They're low profile,

and almost invisible
from the sea,
They're low profile,

they're pushed up,
they're built out of
the bedrock,

so they blend into
the actual hill itself
into the cliffs.

In the olden days,
you'd build tall walls
to keep people out.

But in the gunpowder age,
you've got to build low walls

that are hard to see
and that are thick and
backed up with Earth.

This is a fortress designed
to be effective against
modern assault.

This is the very
model of modern
military architecture.

[narrator] The feared
French invasion, however,
never came,

and the guns never fired
at enemy vessels.

But the threat remained.

In time, a new adversary
would appear in the horizon.

[Wawro] From the 1870s,
when the British
start building

this fort
and start adding artillery.

They are continually
upgrading the artillery

They are continually
upgrading the artillery

as there's changes
in casting techniques,

metallurgy,
shell construction.

Here, it was the final upgrade
to the forts artillery,

The six-inch breech
loading gun which was
installed here in 1938

in preparation for what
would become
the second World War.

[narrator] After decades
lying in wait,

an invasion of Malta was
being planned and this harbor
was the target.

an invasion of Malta was
being planned and this harbor
was the target.

[Balzan] The British military
had to be prepared
in case of enemy action.

In fact, this gun would
go on to be fired in anger
during the same conflict

In June 1940,
Italy enters the war
on the side of the Nazis,

and quickly their ambition
spreads beyond Europe.

Malta emerges early on
in World War II as a place of
great strategic importance.

Why? Because Italy and
then Germany are trying to
conquer North Africa.

Why? Because Italy and
then Germany are trying to
conquer North Africa.

[narrator] Under the
leadership of Erwin Rommel,
known as the Desert Fox,

the Axis powers spread their
dominance across North Africa.

with a plan to head east
towards the valuable
oil fields.

It was while fighting
on this front,

that the allied bases on Malta
proved their worth.

If Rommel, the great
German Tank general,
had been able to blast through

If Rommel, the great
German Tank general,
had been able to blast through

from North Africa to take
the caucuses to meet up

with German forces
in the caucuses,

then the Nazis would
have had the oil,

the resources they needed
to keep on fighting

and maybe to keep the war
going a long time,

maybe even to win
the Second World War.

But for the Italians and the
Germans to communicate
with North Africa,

to resupply their armies,

they have to be able
to freely cross
the Mediterranean.

they have to be able
to freely cross
the Mediterranean.

And they're attacked
in this by the RAF

and by the Royal Navy,
which are based in Malta.

One of the most
damaging raids by the British
on Axis' communications

happens in September 1941,

when the British,
using their code breaking
at Bletchley Park,

they learn of this convoy.

They put submarines
right out of his path.

They sink two of these
big luxury liners

and German troops
are drowned at sea.

Stopping the Nazis at Malta
was a way

to stop the Nazis
winning the war.

[Wawro] So this is just
one small example
of the utility of Malta

and why the Germans felt
they had to
basically crush it out

in order to control
North Africa, in order to
control the Middle East.

[narrator] The threat posed
by Malta was just too much
for the Nazis to ignore.

An invasion plan was
quickly drawn up,

and Fort Delimara was
in the firing line.

and Fort Delimara was
in the firing line.

Hitler sees that Malta is
really a burr under the saddle
needs to be removed,

so, he actually puts together
this thing

for 1942,
called Operation Hercules.

[Balzan] Marsaxlokk Harbor
would have offered
a good place to land

because it is a very
wide harbor there
for accommodating several

hundreds of vessels
at the same time.

So, it would allow an easy
landing of the enemy force.

[narrator] The Axis plan to
combined arial
and amphibious attack,

30,000 paratroopers
were descended from above
inland

while 70,000 more troops
would arrive on naval vessels
from the south.

Once the forces had
overpowered defenses here,

they would continue
north towards Valetta.

The Fort here sits at the tip
at the entrance of
Marsaxlokk Harbor.

Therefore, any attempted
enemy invasion

Therefore, any attempted
enemy invasion

would have to bypass
this location
in order to gain access.

Therefore, the Fort was
paramount of the defenses
of this side of Malta.

[narrator] The invasion
was scheduled
for the summer of 1942.

The troops stationed
here waited
with bated breath.

The British forces on Malta
were always expecting that
German invasion to arrive.

Then at one point
they saw a vessel
on the horizon.

Then at one point
they saw a vessel
on the horizon.

Everybody was bracing
themselves for
the bombardment

that would surely proceed
this German fleet.

[narrator] In 1942,
Port Delimara
was braced for battle.

An invasion of Malta
was planned,

and the enemy was soon
spotted in the distance.

In August, 1942,
searchlights of the Fort

capture the target
just outside the harbor

and immediately
guns in place here
were fired against it.

[narrator] But the target they
had cited was nothing like
the feared invasion fleet.

Turned out it was an E-boat,
the equivalent of a PT boat

that was outlaying minds
in the sea off of Malta.

And that gives you an idea
of how worried everyone was

that any minute on Malta
would be the minute
before Malta fell.

But of course,
Malta never fell.

[narrator] While Malta had
been in the crosshairs,

a change of events
on a different front

meant this quarry
would never be caught.

Because Hitler gets
bogged down in December 1941

at the gates of Moscow,

decides he's going to make
a turn in to the Caucasus
in 1942

to try to take the oil fields.

He simply doesn't have
enough force

to deal with Malta,
so he just has to let it go.

[narrator]
With the invasion canceled,

Port Delimara continued
guarding the southern shores
of Malta

until the end of the war.

Twice in its lifetime,

it had faced the threat
of invasion

and lived to tell the tale.

In 1964, British handed over
Malta to the local government,

and this fort went with it.

Now, it sits silently
on the southern cliff tops,

Now, it sits silently
on the southern cliff tops,

looking out across
the Mediterranean.

In the Polish countryside
is the remains of a structure

that history
has largely forgotten.

[Wawro]
We're in a place called Gawin,

pretty much
in the geographical center
of Poland.

[narrator]
Hidden amongst the trees

is a central building
and a lattice tower.

[Meigs] You get the feeling
when all this was built,
this was open land.

Now the trees have grown up.

A young forest has covered,

a lot of it is hidden
some of that.

[narrator] In the tall grass
are the footprints
of an engineering giant.

[Meigs]
You can see other buildings,

you can see concrete pads
at some distance away.

you can see concrete pads
at some distance away.

Clearly, this was a big
operation at one time.

[Bell] It's hard to believe
now, but back in the 1970s,

this was
a high security location.

[Wawro] Was pretty
heavily-trafficked,
pretty big site.

And beside it all
this wreckage of this,

steel trusses and girders
lying in a heap.

[narrator]
These scattered elements
add up to a greater whole,

[narrator]
These scattered elements
add up to a greater whole,

but one major piece
of the puzzle is missing.

Tomasz Mis is part of a group
that protects this site.

We're in central Poland,
in a restricted area

of high national
and military importance.

We were allowed to get in.

We were allowed to get in.

Nevertheless, very few people
are able to do so.

[narrator]
Today the building is empty.

All that remains is mold
and rust

and solemn reminders
of the Cold War.

[Mis laughs] Yes.

Political documents.

[narrator] But there are signs

that this facility required
an enormous amount of energy.

So, the site
we're currently in

So, the site
we're currently in

was extremely powerful,
even for today's standard.

[Meigs] One thing
that's fascinating at
this site, and unusual,

is that a lot
of the electronics
are still here.

All this stuff
looks kind of old
and decrepit today,

But it was state-of-the-art
back in the '80s.

[Mis] It consumed
so much electrical power

that a small city
could be powered

using the thing
which came in here.

[narrator]
Outside the main building

is a clue to what needed
that much power.

A concrete anchor designed
for industrial cables.

It's a common sight
at the bottom
of very tall structures.

So, this is the foundation
of one of the first
level guy ropes,

which held the mast stem
in vertical position.

[narrator]
Fifteen of these anchor points

[narrator]
Fifteen of these anchor points

are scattered evenly
across the countryside.

They were used to hold up
the Warsaw Radio Mast.

[Meigs]
What we're looking at here

is the site of what was once

the most ambitious
radio transmitting tower
in the world.

It's hard
to wrap your mind around
how tall this thing was.

2,100 feet,

this was once
the tallest man-made structure
in the world.

this was once
the tallest man-made structure
in the world.

[narrator] This tower
was designed at a time

when Poles were leaving Poland
in their thousands.

One thing that's fascinating
about Poland

is how many Polish people
don't live there.

They live in all these
other places in the world.

By one estimate,
there are 20 million people

of Polish descent
around the world.

of Polish descent
around the world.

[Mis]
So after the Second World War,

when the borders
of Poland changed

and many Poles
actually immigrated
also to the United States,

a way of communicating
with of them
was desperately needed.

[Bell] With such
a wide spread community

before the advent
of the Internet,

reaching Poles
around the world

was a massive challenge.

[Wawro] So, in fact,
the polls were looking
to set up a radio station

[Wawro] So, in fact,
the polls were looking
to set up a radio station

in the geographical center
of Poland

that could reach Poles
all around Poland equally.

But it was also big enough
to transmit

to these Polish communities
around the globe.

[Mis] Poland had once
very powerful radio stations,

which could make
contact with them.

But it was not enough,

especially that
electrical equipment,

industrial equipment
was being built up everywhere.

[narrator] In 1970,
they began construction
of a new transmission tower.

[narrator] In 1970,
they began construction
of a new transmission tower.

Switchboards, transformers
and guard houses

were all necessary
to run the facility.

And in 1974, Polish radio
was heard around the globe

through one of the world's
most powerful transmitters.

[Meigs] The engineer
who designed it
was named Jan Polak.

He must have been brilliant.

It was designed
in 86 sections,

all joined together

and then anchored to the earth

and then anchored to the earth

with 15 steel,
they call them ropes, cables

that would anchor it in
any kind of wind conditions.

So when the wind blew,

they would correct
for each other,
they would stabilize it.

[narrator] The tower stood
precisely 2,120 feet tall,

a number that was
not chosen by accident.

They were long wave
radio signals.

And when I say long,
each wave,

And when I say long,
each wave,

I mean, a literal wave
in the atmosphere

of electromagnetic radiation
was over thousand meters.

So why would someone
want to use
those very long wavelengths?

Because they tend to follow
the curvature of the earth,

and they can travel
very, very long distance
and still be received.

So in the right conditions,
signals from this tower

could reach Africa,
North America,

could reach Africa,
North America,

really just about anywhere.

[narrator] The broadcasts were
produced in a studio
60 miles away at Warsaw

before being sent
via an intermediary tower

to this
radio transmitter station.

They would transmit locally
to a radio receiving tower

here near the base
of the transmitter,

and that's
the big metal structure
we see that's still standing.

I mean, it looks big,
but it's puny
compared to the transmitter.

This tower is approximately
nine times smaller

than the mast that was
located on the antenna here.

On the top, there's a dish
which received
and transmitted signals

between the intermediate
relay tower and Warsaw.

The main purpose of this tower

was to collect the signal
from the Polish radio studios.

So anything, music and speech
and all of it.

So that it could be later
encoded and broadcast.

So that it could be later
encoded and broadcast.

[Meigs] Then they would
take that signal
and then amplify dramatically

change the wavelength
to this long wave system,

and then that's the signal
that would
go around the world.

[narrator]
This engineering giant
was Poland's crown jewel.

But today all that remains
is twisted metal.

It's a tale of pride
coming before a fall.

[narrator] August 8th, 1991,

deep in the Polish
countryside,

the tallest structure
in the world
came crashing down.

The mast broke down, twisted
and collapsed

on to the antenna field,

including the exact place
where we are standing.

This tower would have been
the tallest structure
in the world

This tower would have been
the tallest structure
in the world

until the construction
of the Burj Khalifa in 2009.

[Mis] It was 17 years old,

so it wasn't that old
actually.

But in fact it needed
a desperate renovation

after these 15, 16, 17 years
of constant operation.

[Meigs] There's something
both impressive
and kind of heartbreaking

about this story.

These brilliant
Polish engineers
built this amazing structure.

These brilliant
Polish engineers
built this amazing structure.

They put so much love
and engineering brilliance
into it.

But they were not a country
that was able to sustain it.

[Wawro]
Building the tallest structure

in the Communist Bloc
in Eastern Europe was
a pretty dodgy proposition,

considering how just poorly
things were maintained.

They were just known
for their shoddy architecture,
shoddy maintenance.

So in 1991,
an attempt was made

So in 1991,
an attempt was made

to renovate the mast
as it was getting older.

However, the entire process
was done

with a couple of
major mistakes.

[narrator]
A technician was hired
to carry out repairs,

but he wasn't qualified
for the job.

He detached a major guy rope
without adequate support.

[creaking]

The lowest part
of the mast fell
towards the Helix house,

destroying it,
as we can see it here.

destroying it,
as we can see it here.

[narrator] Gaslights, designed
to warn of air traffic,

had smashed onto the ground,
setting off a raging fire.

Some of the bottles
with gases exploded
as the mast fall on them,

and a couple of
fire brigades needed to
extinguish all of this.

[narrator]
All that was left of the tower

was a medley of twisted steel
and broken glass.

was a medley of twisted steel
and broken glass.

It was nearly impossible
to walk through this area

because it was all covered
with the material
coming from their masts.

[Wawro] Nobody's hurt.

And yeah,
it is a national scandal.

A couple of engineers
are jailed for it.

[Mis] This place
where we're here now
was left largely intact

after the catastrophe
took place.

So yes, all around,
we can still find
many elements of the mast.

[narrator]
For Poles across the world,

Polish radio
had fallen silent.

Polish radio
had fallen silent.

An engineering masterpiece
gone before its time.

Today, the site
is closed to visitors.

It's probably the biggest
and tallest structure
on the planet

that most people
have never heard of.

[narrator]
The Warsaw Radio Mast,

a landmark in the truest sense
of the word,

a landmark in the truest sense
of the word,

now hidden from view
in an anonymous countryside.

[narrator] In Scotland,

near the ancient city
of Edinburgh

is a rock
that defended a nation.

[Wawro] We're in
northern claims here,

and it's an island
surrounded by

and it's an island
surrounded by

dark cold water at the
entrance of a great estuary.

[Bell] It's wet, it's cold.

It's not a place you want
to be spending
your summer vacation.

[narrator]
On this frigid island
are empty concrete buildings

and reminders
of its former residents.

[Bell] Clearly a lot of people
used to live here,

perhaps some kind of commune.

But now it's all overgrown.

But now it's all overgrown.

The only sign of civilization
are some chickens.

[narrator] Today,
this island is deserted,

but less than
a hundred years ago,

it was vital
to Scotland's survival.

[Barratt] It's heading
into Edinburgh.

Any place like that
has a defensive role to play.

[narrator] Two miles
out of Edinburgh,

a ferry will take you
to a place where
few people dare to tread.

The journey crosses a waterway
called the Firth of Forth.

It's an estuary that leads
into the heart of Scotland.

Gordon Barclay retells how
this island became embroiled
in a wartime tragedy.

[Barclay] This is the
northernmost 9.2-inch gun
emplacement.

[Barclay] This is the
northernmost 9.2-inch gun
emplacement.

There are three of them
down the spine of the island

and this is the one that
covers the North Channel.

[narrator] This is Inchkeith,

the gatekeeper
to Scotland's waters.

During the First World War,

the island was issued
with nine new cannon,

capable of firing 6-inch
and 9.2 in shells.

[Wawro]
Most of these fortifications
are built in the early 1900,

1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907

1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907

as they're responding to these
fears of German invasion.

[narrator] To defend
the Firth of Forth,

the island was made
into an impenetrable fortress.

But pure firepower wasn't
enough to prevent disaster.

[Barclay] On 4th September,
out near the May Island,

HMS Pathfinder was sunk,

went down in a few minutes

and only a handful
of men survived
out of over 200 crew.

and only a handful
of men survived
out of over 200 crew.

[Bell] When these guns
were put in place,

they were designed to fire
on surface vessels,

dreadnought and destroyers.

They weren't built to defend

against anything
beneath the waves.

[narrator] The Firth of Forth
was breached

Two days before the attack,
there was an opportunity
to prevent it.

But Inchkeith faltered.

The beginning of
the 20th century,

The beginning of
the 20th century,

so a new form of warfare.

Suddenly, U-boats
and submarines could
travel underwater,

could sneak into places
that no one had ever imagined.

[Barclay]
On 2nd September, 1914,
a U-boat, submerged,

managed to get all the way up
to the Forth Rail Bridge

by about 10:30 in the evening.

[Barratt] For ages,
it was undetected.

[Barratt] For ages,
it was undetected.

And then suddenly someone
spotted a periscope

sticking up out of the waves
and the U-boat left the area.

Two days later,
that same submarine surfaced

just outside
of the Firth of Forth

and took a shot and sunk
HMS Pathfinder.

It's the first sinking
by a submarine

in the First World War
of a ship.

The Germans then rely all
in World War I

The Germans then rely all
in World War I

on U-boats, submarines,

that can get past
the British blockade

and that can attack
British warships,
British shipping covertly.

[narrator] This island
fortress had failed.

In 1914, there was only
one piece of technology

that could detect
enemy submarines.

[Barclay] The way the only way
to detect a submarine
was the human eye.

Binoculars looking out
at the sea,

this gray, featureless surface
hour after hour.

this gray, featureless surface
hour after hour.

And if one spotted
the wake of a periscope
going through the water,

you were lucky.

Other than that,
there was no technology
to detect a submarine

or, indeed, to prevent
a submarine
penetrating a base.

[narrator] Inchkeith
was defenseless
against the U-boat.

But a line of cables
on the rear side of the island

lead to a set of huts that
would become
Scotland Salvation.

lead to a set of huts that
would become
Scotland Salvation.

[narrator]
In the First World War,

Inchkeith's only defense
against submarines

was a soldier
looking out to sea,

but it had one major flaw.

[Bell] At that time,
there was a lot of hysteria

about new German weapons.

The public were reporting
sightings of U-boats

left, right and center.

99% of them ended up
being false reports.

99% of them ended up
being false reports.

[Wawro]
Everybody saw a periscope.
Everybody saw a submarine,

so they were just overwhelmed
with warnings

of German submarines.

So the British came
to disregard them.

So when the boy actually
saw clearly a submarine

and reported it, they ignored.

[narrator] Three months after
the first U-boat attack,

the Firth of Forth underwent
a major upgrade.

A network of new defenses
were built
between the islands.

A network of new defenses
were built
between the islands.

[Wawro]
Inchkeith is so important

in this anti-submarine war
for the British.

They begin, first of all,

by defending
the Firth of Forth
with anti-submarine nets

that will trap a German
submarine trying to come in.

Or it will attach a buoy
to the German submarine,

so it will drag this buoy
along the surface

and we'll be able
to know where it is.

[narrator] But cannon
and nets weren't the key
to defending Scotland.

The most powerful defenses

were a collection
of small huts
on the rear side of Inchkeith.

[Barclay] Places like this
were vital to the protection
of the Firth of Forth.

The men on the gun crews
at least were out
in the fresh air.

But here you were stuck.
hour in, hour out,

day in, day out,
watching the instruments.

[narrator] These huts
were built on the island

[narrator] These huts
were built on the island

as part of a powerful
new anti-submarine weapon.

The detector loop.

A submarine produces
magnetic field

from its large steel hull.

By laying three cables
on the riverbed in a loop,

they could detect
the magnetic signature

and send a signal
to the guards' huts.

[Barclay] The men listening
out for on enemy submarine

had to be somewhere quiet
where they could concentrate,

had to be somewhere quiet
where they could concentrate,

where there would be no noise
to drown out or distract them.

Here at my feet,
you see the outlet
of one bundle of cables

from detector loops
under the river.

Still there.

[narrator] For six years,
these huts were never empty.

An officer
was always on station,

waiting for a signal
that might never come.

[Barclay] There were
multiple layers of defense.

A submarine would
first be detected

passing the Isle of May

and again by the detector
loops just east of Inchkeith.

Parallel with Inchkeith
were the mine fields,

which, if a submarine
was detected entering them,

could be exploded.

It was pretty impregnable.

As far as we're aware,

no submarine ever penetrated
the defenses...

until the final hours
of the Second World War.

until the final hours
of the Second World War.

[narrator] On May 2nd, 1945,

the first German regiments
in Europe
laid down their weapons.

They agreed a total surrender
to take place six days later.

But on the morning of May 8th,

a U-boat snuck into the Forth.

[Barclay] Two hours
before the end of the war,

one U-boat captain
attacked a convoy

one U-boat captain
attacked a convoy

leaving the river
out towards the Isle of May

and sank two ships,

killing a number of men.

[narrator] Inchkeith
had failed again.

German U-boat gets in
mainly because
the British are napping.

They think the war's over.

It's the last day
of the war literally.

[Barclay] He claimed that
he had not received
the order to stand down.

He had, however,
been one of the officers

responsible for developing
the new type of submarine
that he was commanding.

responsible for developing
the new type of submarine
that he was commanding.

And to my mind,
he ignored his orders

and decided to try out
his new toy,

his murderous new toy.

[narrator] Fort Inchkeith
began with the first submarine
sinking in World War I.

It's watch ended with the
final sinking of World War II.

[Barratt] June 1st
in the Second World War.

The Firth of Forth really

was this incredible
series of fortifications,

most of which you are
completely unaware of

when you go and see
this beautiful area.

[narrator] Now, few people
cross the Firth
to visit the island.

What was once the frontline
in the defense of Scotland

has become a safe haven
for the wildlife
that reclaimed it.