All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S07E08.Ruins.of.the.Rust.Belt.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-DoGSO_track3_[eng]

Narrator: a lost city
In america's heartland,

A real concrete jungle.

It's a series of tall vertical
Tubes, completely dark,

Made of concrete, no windows.

Narrator:
An enclave where hundreds

Of people
Live beside a buried formation.

Perhaps this site was chosen
Exactly because

Perhaps this site was chosen
Exactly because

The force makes it difficult

To detect
What's really going on.

Narrator:
And a mountainside riddled
With tunnels dug

To defend an empire,

Nusbacher:
They're going to throw those
Grenades down into the trench,

Wait for the bang,

And then dive in themselves
Using their sword bayonets.

Narrator: decaying relics...

Narrator: decaying relics...

...Ruins of lost worlds...

...Sites haunted by the past...

...Their secrets
Waiting to be revealed.

*

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

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

Narrator:
In northeastern united states,
On the edge of lake erie

Narrator:
In northeastern united states,
On the edge of lake erie

Is a city of stone.

*

Meigs: people sometimes use the
Word "Concrete jungle"

To describe a city.

Well, this really looks like
A concrete jungle.

All you can see is concrete.

Bell: these structures are like
Mini skyscrapers,

But they don't have any windows.

Narrator:
Inside these structures
Is a vertical maze.

Narrator:
Inside these structures
Is a vertical maze.

Selwood:
These buildings are deserted.
They've been entirely stripped.

There's nothing left,
At least on the lower levels.

Everything's been taken away.

Bell: whatever work or activity
Was going on here,

It's clear
That it stopped a long time ago.

Narrator:
Located in buffalo, new york,
This set of buildings

Is intertwined
With the city's past.

Selwood:these are well removed
From the city center,

They're right on the edge
Of the city limits

They're right on the edge
Of the city limits

Clustered around a bend
In the buffalo river.

Meigs: buffalo is a city
That's almost forgotten today,

But in its heyday,

It was one of the most
Important cities in the u.S.

*

Mruk: I keep coming back
To this site

Because this is a magical place,
I feel spirits here.

Narrator: local resident
Larry mruk has run

Narrator: local resident
Larry mruk has run

Almost 200 volunteer tours
Of this historic site.

Mruk: the first time
I came to this place,

I just remembered, you know,
Like, how abandoned it was,

How desolate it was.

Meigs: inside, you see
A series of these tall tubes --

Some are made of concrete,
Some are made of steel.

It's very eerie, dark.
Your voice echoes.

There's nothing else
Quite like this.

Selwood: we come across this
Almighty shaft

That seems to go up
For hundreds of feet.

That seems to go up
For hundreds of feet.

Whatever was happening here,
It was a very large operation.

Narrator: most of the building
Is an empty shell,

But on the highest level
Is a clue to its purpose.

Mruk: right now we're at the top
Of the american complex.

What we're seeing over here
Is all the conveyor belts,

As if time stood still.

There, basically,
The transportation system,

Meigs:
There's this long open space
With a conveyor belt

That stretches about 200 feet
From one end to the other.

That stretches about 200 feet
From one end to the other.

So we're 150 feet up
In the air here.

The product that was
Brought up here

Needed to be not
Only transported up here,

But then had to be moved back
And forth

For some reason
Using these conveyor belts.

Narrator: the product they were
Moving was grain.

It's a commodity that turned
The frontier town of buffalo

Into a powerful metropolis.

Selwood: in the 19th century,
The united states really emerged

Selwood: in the 19th century,
The united states really emerged

As a major player
In the export market,

And they were sending more goods
Than ever back to europe,

The old world and beyond.

Narrator: and buffalo would be
A major player

Because of a problem
Faced by grain farmers.

Meigs:
Most of the commodities were
Being grown in the heartland,

And there was no easy way
To get those products to market.

You have a range of mountains
Blocking access

To the east coast.

To the east coast.

The roads were mostly
Just muddy tracks in those days,

And the railroads
Were developing,

But they really
Didn't have the capacity

To handle large
Quantities of goods.

Narrator: to get produce to the
East coast,

The u.S. Invested
In a new trade superhighway.

Selwood:
The solution to the problem
Was the erie canal,

Which was a 363-mile
Artificial waterway.

It was a huge manmade project,
And it allowed goods

It was a huge manmade project,
And it allowed goods

To be transferred
From the central united states

Farming area
All the way to new york

And then out to europe
And beyond.

And the beginning
Of that journey

On the erie canal was buffalo.

Suddenly, buffalo became
America's gateway

To the rest of the world.

Meigs:
Buffalo was the transfer point,
You had to unload the freighter,

Store that grain somehow

Store that grain somehow

Until you're ready to load it
Into a canal boat.

Narrator:
Trade through the erie canal
Turned buffalo into a powerhouse

With more millionaires
Per capita

Than any other city in the u.S.

But for the little guy,
The work was dangerous.

Selwood: when the ships
Docked in buffalo,

The only way to get the grain
Out was by hand.

Mruk:
Men would go into the boats,

Scoop it into bushels,
Each push away 60 pounds.

Scoop it into bushels,
Each push away 60 pounds.

There were two bushes
On each back.

They would carry it up
About 65 feet

To the top of the grain
Elevator, and then dump it in.

It would take sometimes
A week to unload a ship,

And these are smaller ships.

Meigs:
They got paid by the barrel,

So they had an incentive
To move as fast as possible.

It must have been
Backbreaking labor.

Mruk: this device here
Is a bosuns chair,

A fellow young man, usually 18,
19, would be put on the swing

A fellow young man, usually 18,
19, would be put on the swing

And then they would hit the side
Of the silo

With a broom or an oar

And loosen up the dust.
One of the men

Who was on one of my tours
Said that

While he was working here
For a two-year period,

Three young men fell off of this
And drowned in the silo.

And there were no employee's
Rights back then,

But that was it.

Take it or leave it.
If you didn't want it,

There are 100 others who would.

Narrator: trading in grain
Was slow and dangerous,

But in 1843,
A businessman in buffalo

Had a unique proposition.

Selwood:
Around the same time that the
Erie canal was being built,

An entrepreneur called
Joseph dart came to buffalo,

And he took a great interest
In the grain industry.

He looked at the processes
In place

And he thought
He could do it better.

Narrator:
Joseph dart was an inventor
And entrepreneur.

Narrator:
Joseph dart was an inventor
And entrepreneur.

His idea was a grain elevator.

This here is the actual
Grain elevator.

This is the part that would
Swing out and into the boat,

Go into the bottom of the boat,

And bring the grain up to
The top of the grain elevator.

Narrator:
Inside the swinging leg
Was a belt equipped

With dozens of buckets.

The leg would be lowered
Into the boat's cargo hold,

And a steam engine would turn
The belt carrying up grain

And a steam engine would turn
The belt carrying up grain

By the bucket load.

It was an innovation that
Transformed the grain business.

What would take a week
To unload could be done

In a matter of maybe
10 hours, 12 hours a boat.

Narrator: dart's elevator meant
More grain

Was moving through buffalo
Than ever before.

Soon, a dozen new
Concrete silos were built,

Giving this place its name --

Silo city.

Silo city.

These buildings were built
In the early 1900s.

This one here was
One of the first,

If not the first, in
the world to be of its
sort.

Selwood:
Silo city started to expand.

They had these vast,
Windowless skyscrapers

That were used
For storing the grain.

They also had facilities for
Processing and milling the grain

And even ovens the size
Of swimming pools

Where they would rest vast
Amounts of grain.

Where they would rest vast
Amounts of grain.

The grain would come from up
In these holes,

Pile up on these plates,
And then down at the end,

A leveler would come across
And smooth it out.

After it was done,

These switches that are down
By my feet would be pulled.

And what would happen is these
Plates would turn 90 degrees

And the grain would drop down
To another oven below.

And the grain would drop down
To another oven below.

Narrator:
In its heyday, the city was
Processing around

200-million bushels
Of grain every year.

Selwood: buffalo went from being

One of the most important
Grain ports in the world

to the most important
grain port in the world.

This was buffalo
At its economic height,

But it wasn't going to last.

*

*

Narrator:
In the 19th century,

The erie canal
Had turned buffalo

Into an economic powerhouse,
But the city was about to learn

The hard way
That business is business.

In 1959, a new waterway opened.

A new version of the erie canal,
In a way,

The st. Lawrence seaway.

The st. Lawrence seaway.

This was a system of canals
And locks

That allowed ocean-going ships
To come from the atlantic

And sail directly
Into the great lakes.

Selwood: when the st. Lawrence
Waterway opened,

It made
The erie canal irrelevant.

Narrator:
The new seaway took all
The trade from the old canal

And from silo city.

Buffalo was no longer
The terminal to the world.

It was completely
Cut out of the deal.

Narrator:
Over the next 40 years,

Production at silo city ground
To a halt.

Mruk: nature is going to
Take these over someday.

It might be 400 years from now,
But nature will.

The examples of fern,

Trees growing on the roofs,
Moss growing.

And one time when I came up
Here, I was up 12 stories --

My friend,
The fox was waiting for me.

So it's going to happen.

*

*

Narrator:
Many of the silos have been
Repurposed as centers

For art and history,
Living fossils of a golden age.

*

On the western edge of belarus,

Hidden in the forest
Is a restricted area.

Auerbach:
There's really no reason to be
This far out in the wilderness.

Auerbach:
There's really no reason to be
This far out in the wilderness.

You know,
This deep in the woods,

This is a remote area.

You would not want to be
Out here alone late at night.

Narrator: beyond the barriers
And warning signs,

Are buildings long deserted.

You see the floors have been
Taken out for the lumber.

Everything's falling apart.

Paint's chipped and peeling
And gone.

Narrator:
A short distance away

Is a formation of concrete
Structures buried in the earth.

Is a formation of concrete
Structures buried in the earth.

Janulis:
The layout of these structures
Looks to be very important.

They're laid out in a very
Precise arrangement of four,

And there's a central structure
Connecting them all.

Wawro:
One of them still has the cover,
The concrete

Blast shield over it.
The other has been removed.

You look down,
It's filled with muddy water.

Auerbach: this is belarus,

A country with close ties
To the former soviet union.

Whatever was going on out here
Was dangerous,

Whatever was going on out here
Was dangerous,

It was shady,
And it was top secret.

*

Narrator: a 10-mile drive
From the nearest big town

Is a dirt road on the edge
Of an unnamed forest.

Translator: no trespassing,
Danger ahead.

This facility was one of
The most classified

Of the soviet union.
Its secrets

Of the soviet union.
Its secrets

Were well kept
By eight levels of security.

Narrator:
Colonel leonid spatke served
In the belarusian air force.

He was drawn here

By an unsettling rumor
About this site.

Translator: I've heard many
Stories about this place

During my times
In the soviet army.

However, I learned more about it
From my comrades

From the border guards.

From the border guards.

Unfortunately,
They can't say much

Due to their obligations.

Narrator:
At the end of the dirt road
Is a neighborhood

Adorned with soviet propaganda.

The symbology continues
Inside --

Reminders that the state

Was constantly watching.

Translator:
On the left hand side,

There is lenin's room,
That's for sure.

There is lenin's room,
That's for sure.

Only the leader's
Portrait is lacking.

Look, someone even
Left their shoes.

Auerbach: inside, the stairs
Are crumbling,

The ceiling is caving
In in places,

Just walking around inside here
Is dangerous.

Translator: in this barrack,

Soldiers had a room dedicated
To rest.

On the left hand side,

It must have had something
Resembling a gym

Judging by bits of equipment
Left.

Judging by bits of equipment
Left.

Janulis: there was a large
Military base here,

But it wasn't your typical
Military installation.

Their barracks
And their living quarters

All had to be kept out
Of the view

Of the wandering eye
Of a spy plane or even a hiker.

Auerbach:
But what were the soldiers
Preparing for out here?

You're 1,000 miles
From america's closest allies

In western europe.

In western europe.

It must have been something
Pretty dangerous.

Narrator: a story is told
About what happened here.

It's said that 60 years ago,
The grass began to shrivel,

The trees changed color,
And the mosquitoes disappeared.

Translator: the warrant officers
Responsible for that

Were telling me
How in a span of a few hours,

Everything around the station
Turned yellow

Because of
The poisonous evaporations.

Because of
The poisonous evaporations.

Everything went dry
Because of the toxins.

Something was happening here
That even the soldiers

Were afraid to talk about.

And we're lucky to have found
Someone willing to do just that.

*

*

Narrator:
Deep in the belarusian forest

Is a place where hundreds
Of soldiers lived in secret.

A safe distance
From the barracks

Is a formation of concrete slabs
Evenly spaced in the ground.

Janulis: what you see here
Is a very classic signature,

The sort of thing spy satellites
And spy planes

Would look for --

Would look for --

A very large, clean, symmetrical
Hole in the ground --

The opening to a missile silo.

Narrator:
In the cold war era,

Silos like these were built
Across the soviet union.

They housed missiles
With deadly new payloads...

Nuclear warheads.

Janulis: in the beginning
Of the nuclear era,

Bombs were dropped from planes,

Which required a plane
Getting into enemy territory,

And planes aren't that fast
Either,

And they've got
Humans inside them.

Both sides figured out that
If you put that bomb

Both sides figured out that
If you put that bomb

On the end of a big missile,

You've got a really effective
Killing machine.

That was the r-12 missile --

The heart of the soviet
Nuclear arsenal.

Wawro:
So the r-12 known to nato
As the ss-4 sandal.

It was the iconic soviet missile
Of the period.

They were mounted
On trailers

And paraded in every
May day parade in moscow.

Narrator:
This new missile ran on fuel
That was easy to store.

Narrator:
This new missile ran on fuel
That was easy to store.

It meant it could be ready
To fire within minutes,

But there was a trade off.

Auerbach: for all their
Terrifying power, the r-12s

Only had a range
Of about 1,300 miles.

That may sound like far,

But it was barely enough range
To reach the targets

That the soviets
Wanted to take out,

In the instance
The nuclear war happened,

Narrator: the r-12 was
A medium range missile.

Narrator: the r-12 was
A medium range missile.

The soviet union was forced
To mount them on the very edge

Of its territory, here
At the davina missile silo.

So still not within range
Of washington or new york,

But there at the edge
Of belarus territory.

If they were aimed at, say,
Rome or paris or london,

That's the target
That they can hit.

Narrator:
In the event of an attack,
The soldiers at davina

Would prepare
The missiles for retaliation.

Translator:
Here we can see the remains
Of the camp, 36 tons heavy.

During the launch
Of the missile,

It was lifted by a big jack
And pushed aside on the rails.

Janulis:
Most people probably think
Of nuclear missiles

The way
They're portrayed in movies,

The classic sort of doors
Over the ground sliding open

And a giant rocket coming out.

And a giant rocket coming out.

But the r-12 did
Not work that way.

Translator:
The missile launching process
Was almost primitive,

One could say.

The missile
Was positioned vertically

In order to set a target for it.

There was no software
Back in the day,

So the only way
To change its direction

Was to change the positioning
Of the stabilizers

Before it flies off.

Janulis:
It wasn't exactly a rapid
Response, but no doubt about it,

Janulis:
It wasn't exactly a rapid
Response, but no doubt about it,

The r-12
Was a very dangerous weapon.

Narrator: but the r-12 wasn't
Only dangerous

To its enemies.

In davina, one missile nearly
Caused a catastrophe.

Janulis:
The thing about being in charge
Of maintenance

For a nuclear missile

Is that it's an incredibly
Dangerous piece of equipment.

It's essentially a bomb
On another bomb.

The missile launches itself into
The air with explosive fuel,

And that fuel is incredibly
Toxic and dangerous.

And that fuel is incredibly
Toxic and dangerous.

Translator:
The rocket fuel itself
Is highly toxic,

Hence the remote tanking

And higher security
Measures for the personnel.

You know what it's like
In belarus,

We like to rush things.

That fuel was poured
Into tank wagons

And everything went yellow,
And the birds stopped flying,

As we say.
The evaporation was tremendous.

Thank god all those were taken
Out of belarus territory.

Currently we don't have
Any of those elements left.

Auerbach:
And that's scary stuff.
And that fear,

Not understanding
What these missiles could do,

How they worked,
Their potential for destruction,

None of it was really
Understood well,

Even by the people
Who are working most closely

With these objects
Of mass destruction themselves.

Narrator: for 20 years,
The r-12 rocket

Was the jewel
Of the soviet arsenal,

But by 1978,
It was obsolete.

But by 1978,
It was obsolete.

Translator: r-12 missiles
Were taken out of service

When the focus was shifted
Towards mobile missiles,

Which were cheaper and could
Be launched from any point.

Janulis:
It was a good thing that it was
Decommissioned when it was.

When they analyzed the site
After the decommissioning,

They discovered that
The ground was so unstable

That if any rockets
Had launched out of there,

It would have caused
Everything to collapse inward,

It would have caused
Everything to collapse inward,

Detonating all
The other rockets.

*

Narrator: the surviving people
Who were stationed at davina

Still refuse to talk
About what happened here.

Colonel spatke
Is one of the few

Who keep the story
Of this place alive.

Translator:
The fact that the missiles
Never left their starting points

Translator:
The fact that the missiles
Never left their starting points

And never flied off
To their targets,

That's a massive relief
Because otherwise,

If the cold war had turned
Into a nuclear war,

I don't think we would have been
Sitting here right now.

Probably this place would have
Been a burnt-off desert.

*

Narrator:
In the east of asia,

The chinese territory
Of hong kong

Is one of the most densely
Populated places on earth.

Is one of the most densely
Populated places on earth.

It's a city buzzing with life
And almost every inch of land

That could have been
Built on has been.

Narrator:
But the steep surrounding hills

Are cloaked
By thick subtropical forest.

Bell: you start up these steep,
Rickety stairs

That take you deeper
Into the forest.

That take you deeper
Into the forest.

Gradually, more
And more structures

Can be seen in the undergrowth.

We can see vents,
We can see tunnels,

We can see channels
Cut into the ground

And reinforced with concrete.

Narrator:
Someone has gone to great
Lengths to disguise this place.

Nusbacher: a lot of the maps
Of these constructions

Nusbacher: a lot of the maps
Of these constructions

Are outright wrong.

This is not
An easy place to find.

Narrator:
There's evidence that this site
Was attacked.

And below ground,
Things get more baffling.

The deeper you go
Into the tunnels,

The spookier it becomes.

And then you see the street
Names carved into the concrete.

It's bizarre.

Nusbacher: we are right on the
Edge of hong kong

Nusbacher: we are right on the
Edge of hong kong

And yet, the words written

In the side of these tunnels
Are not chinese.

Narrator:
So what is this mysterious
Complex lurking in the woods

Above hong kong?
And why was it bombarded?

*

Narrator:
In hong kong, local historian
Jason wordie searches for traces

Of a curious system
Of overgrown structures.

The first indication
As to who built them

Are the place names
Carved in the concrete.

Wordie:
They have some rather curious
Incisions at the entrances

To a number of the entrances

To a number of the entrances

And at other corridors
Going along.

Now these have incisions
Which mark out picadilly,

Charing cross,
Oxford street, haymarket,

Bell: on top of a hill,
On the edge of china,

You've got these tunnels
Named after english streets.

In fact, more specifically,
London street names.

More specifically than
That even,

Street names from soho
And london's west end.

Street names from soho
And london's west end.

Narrator:
This facility was built
By the british

Who'd had a foothold
In the region

Since the mid-19th century.

Wawro:
The british had gotten fat
On hong kong,

Taking it during the opium wars
In the 1840s

And keeping it
As a principle naval base

And also as a trading center
Ever since.

Narrator:
The british took control
Of hong kong in 1841,

But this site is much
More recent,

We can date it more
Or less accurately

We can date it more
Or less accurately

Because the fortifications look
So similar to fortifications

On the german border
With france built in the 1930s.

Narrator:
This british defense system
Protected hong kong.

It became known
As the gin drinkers line.

*

Further down below,
Off in the distance,

What was gin drinkers bay from
Which this takes its name.

What was gin drinkers bay from
Which this takes its name.

Nusbacher: the gin drinkers line
Has prepared emplacement,

It has bastiens,
It has tunnels

So that you can move
From position to position

Without being exposed
To artillery fire.

Narrator: but why the london
Street names?

It wasn't just a quaint colonial
Affectation naming it like this,

There was logic to it.

There was logic to it.

Wordie:
The unit, which extensively
Trained on this

When it was laid out
Was the 1st battalion,

The middlesex regiment.

Now the recruiting area
For the middlesex regiment

Was central london.

So the internal logic
Of the tunnel system

Follows an internal logic
In london.

On this side,
You can just see regent street.

Regent street, again,
Will lead up to oxford street,

So for someone familiar
With a london street pattern,

As the 1st battalion,
The middlesex were,

As the 1st battalion,
The middlesex were,

This has an interior logic to
It, which makes sense.

Narrator: the idea is that
In the panic of war,

The soldiers would navigate
Their way

Through the complex tunnel
System without hesitation.

And one name keeps coming up --
The strand palace hotel.

*

And here we are
In the observation post

Of the shing mun redoubt

Codenamed
The strand palace hotel.

Codenamed
The strand palace hotel.

This slit opening
Looks out

Or would have looked out
Over gin drinkers bay.

What I'm standing on with these
Bits of broken concrete

Were the mountings
For the distance binoculars,

Wawro:the shing mun redoubt
Is the command post

Where the commander
Of this defense line

Will keep in close coordination

With the surrounding
Fortifications,

Knitting together
This defense line.

Narrator:
The shing mun redoubt was
Codenamed strand palace hotel.

Narrator:
The shing mun redoubt was
Codenamed strand palace hotel.

Bell: now, the infantrymen
Would have known

That the strand palace hotel

Was the place to go to look
For information as this

Is the place they went
In the 1930s to peek

In through the windows

And see what the rich
And famous were up to.

Narrator: the cleverly devised
Gin drinkers line

Took two years to build.

Bell: they used a technique
Called cut and cover,

And that's the technique
Used in the early london

And that's the technique
Used in the early london

Underground tunnels.

They cut a trench deep
Down into the rock,

And then built a ceiling
Over the top.

Narrator: just like the
London underground,

It's punctuated
By ventilation shafts.

Wordie:
Ventilation shafts are dotted
Along the entire length

Of the tunnel system.

Now, the kinds of explosive
That were still in use

In the mid-1930s

When this was laid out
Generated a lot of smoke.

When this was laid out
Generated a lot of smoke.

Narrator:
But who did the british
Expect to attack?

The japanese had
Invaded china in 1937.

By the outbreak
Of the second world war,

They had their sights on
Hong kong.

And they knew just how to flush
The british out.

Wordie: the city has grown

On the back of artificially
Created water supplies,

So the issue of water is a great
Vulnerability for hong kong.

So the issue of water is a great
Vulnerability for hong kong.

Narrator:
Below the gin drinkers line

Sits one of hong kong's
Main water supplies.

Wordie:
Now, this system here was built
Entirely

Because further up that way
Was a pill box.

The pillbox is
A machine-gun position,

Which overlooked
The reservoir system.

Narrator:
The newly built reservoir
Was britain's weakest link.

Wordie:
So the main japanese strategy

Was to capture
The reservoir here.

If you capture that,
You'd turn off the taps.

If you capture that,
You'd turn off the taps.

Narrator:
The british angled their guns
To protect their water supply.

But with the japanese moving
Ever closer,

Would the gin drinkers
Defense line hold?

*

Narrator: at the outbreak of the
Second world war

On a hillside above hong kong,

The british were hoping
Their extensive defense system

Would hold back
A japanese attack

On their prized
East asian colony.

The gin drinkers line
Was designed as a speed bump

To bog down an enemy attack
While larger numbers of troops

To bog down an enemy attack
While larger numbers of troops

Could be rallied to hong kong.

At this time. There weren't many
British troops stationed there.

Narrator:
The british knew the attack
Was coming,

They just didn't know when.

Wordie:
Hong kong was on a war footing
For some months,

The office buildings, government
Buildings were all sandbagged.

Everyone was waiting
For something to happen.

It was that dreadful
Sense of anticipation.

Narrator:
All hope lay in their top
Secret defense system,

Narrator:
All hope lay in their top
Secret defense system,

But this was soon compromised.

The british crown colony
Of hong kong

Has got a thriving population
Of japanese business people,

Japanese merchants.

Wawro:
These were japanese civilians
Working in hong kong as agents,

Merchants, whatever.

But were really spying
For the japanese government,

Passing information back
To the japanese government.

Narrator: in december 1941,
The japanese attack.

Narrator: in december 1941,
The japanese attack.

Wawro: the japanese decide to go
All the way and try to evict

All of the european powers
From their east asian colonies.

Narrator:
Within the space of three hours,

They attacked allied bases
Across asia and the pacific,

Including hong kong.

The japanese air force attacks
Kai tak,

The r.A.F. Base in hong kong.

And they destroy the meager
R.A.F. Assets on the ground.

And they destroy the meager
R.A.F. Assets on the ground.

Wawro:
And they wipe out all the -- all
The outdated british aircraft,

You know, leaving this hong kong
Garrison without any air cover.

Narrator: one day later,
The japanese know

Where to find
The gin drinkers line

Thanks
To their network of spies.

Nusbacher: the japanese assault
On the gin drinkers line

Nusbacher: the japanese assault
On the gin drinkers line

Uses german first world war
Stormtroop tactics.

And that means they're not even
Going to bother with a rifle.

They're going to get
Their soldiers

To get loads of grenades,

And they're going to
Throw those grenades

Down into the trench
And tunnel system,

Wait for the bang,

And then dive in themselves
Using their sword bayonets,

Their swords, and just
Chop up anybody left inside.

Their swords, and just
Chop up anybody left inside.

It was chaos.

Narrator:
Inside the tunnel system,

The london code names
Meant nothing to the soldiers

Who had been brought in
From scotland and canada

And were now defending the line.

Wawro: they weren't familiar
With the layout.

They weren't familiar
With the tunnel names.

They were completely confused.

And this only added to the
Japanese advantage of surprise

When they breached the line.

This is completely surrounded
By an enemy, it's pitch black,

There are people upstairs
Who don't want you

To survive.
Here, we have blast damage

Which was caused after a charge
Had been laid here,

Blast boom in.

Original war damage in the top,
Likewise, shrapnel

On the sides where
Something clearly had detonated,

And the damage
Is done on the wall.

There's damage done by boat,

By small arms fire to clear
The corridor going in.

By small arms fire to clear
The corridor going in.

Narrator:
Not all the damage at this site
Tells the same story.

Bell:
The whole place should have
Been blown apart with debris

Scattered everywhere
From the japanese attack,

But they're not.

They're punches
In the concrete,

And that's because these holes
Weren't from the japanese.

Narrator:
The british still had control
Of their artillery

Narrator:
The british still had control
Of their artillery

On stonecutters island.

We've got shell holes.
This came in afterwards,

And this was after this had been
Captured by the japanese.

They're from the british firing
From stonecutters battery.

They wanted to destroy the
Command center and the tunnels

So the japanese
Couldn't have them.

Narrator:
But they couldn't stop
The japanese taking hong kong.

Wawro: the gin drinkers line
Failed for the same reason

Wawro: the gin drinkers line
Failed for the same reason

The british failed to hang on
To singapore or hong kong.

They're just overextended.

The japanese had been building
Strength, power, authority,

Influence in china.

Narrator:
On christmas day, 1941,
The british surrendered.

The japanese took this prized
British possession

Much more easily
Than they had anticipated.

Narrator:
The japanese held hong kong

Until the end
Of the second world war,

Until the end
Of the second world war,

When the british regained
Control until 1999,

When it was handed
Over to china.

*

The british defense
Of hong kong

Has attracted criticism.

Nusbacher: to this day,
There are a lot of people

Who feel that the indian
And canadian soldiers

Sent to hong kong were abandoned
By the british army,

Sent to hong kong were abandoned
By the british army,

Abandoned by the british empire,

And used as cannon fodder
In a hopeless defense of a city

That the japanese
Were certain to take.

*

Narrator:
In the dead center of tasmania,

An island state cut adrift
From mainland australia

Lies a strange mix
Of industrial infrastructure.

Lies a strange mix
Of industrial infrastructure.

Scott:
Tasmania's interior is rugged
And sparsely populated.

Apart from these buildings,

There is nothing
For miles and miles.

Tassel:
You hear from visitors, they're
Surprised about coming across

Such a large, sophisticated
Engineering project

Literally in the middle
Of nowhere.

Narrator: huge pipes extend
Out of the main building,

Narrator: huge pipes extend
Out of the main building,

Climbing up
And over a nearby hill.

These pipelines, they're almost
Like manmade tentacles

Reaching out to who knows where.

Meigs: inside, you see rows
Of heavy equipment.

Clearly, this was a massive
Engineering undertaking.

You have these big lumps
Of machinery from yesteryear.

Narrator:
Other rooms show a different and
More intricate side to the site.

Narrator:
Other rooms show a different and
More intricate side to the site.

There's something beautiful
About the engineering here.

There's a certain care
That went into it.

It's like stepping in to an
Early 20th century tesla --

Lots of buttons and cool
Dials to play with.

Whatever went on here needed
Constant monitoring

And tweaking.

Narrator: the product from this
Isolated facility

Changed tasmania forever.
Producing it, though,

Was a herculean effort
That defied the odds.

Was a herculean effort
That defied the odds.

At the turn of the 20th century,

Tasmania desperately wanted
Something the rest

Of the developed world
Already had.

Most of tasmania was still
Practically a wilderness.

It was very thinly populated,
But they wanted to modernize.

Tasmania needed to catch up
With the industrial age,

But how?

The history of building
Modern civilization

The history of building
Modern civilization

Is the history
Of harnessing energy.

Scott:
Tasmania is a remote island
That's cut adrift

From the bottom of australia.

If it's to find its own reliable
Energy source,

Then it has few other options

Than to look deeper
Inside its own territory.

Narrator:
The island's unique geography
Sparked an idea.

Meigs:
In the push to modernize,

Tasmania had a great natural
Advantage --

The interior is high elevation

The interior is high elevation

And filled with lakes and
Rivers.

Ha: steep highlands,
Heavy rainfall,

All they needed were the right
Tools to convert

That water stream
Into electricity.

Narrator: this is waddamana
Hydroelectric power station --

Tasmania's timely answer
To an energy crisis.

With no water source in sight.
Though,

The scheme needed
A visionary professor

Called alexander mcauley
To bring it to life.

Called alexander mcauley
To bring it to life.

Tassel: mcauley's vision was to
Realize the potential

Of the great lake -- the largest
Naturally occurring body

Of fresh water in tasmania.

He could see by moving the water
From the great lake

To the edge of the plateau

And then dropping it down the
300 meters to the ouse river,

He could generate
An enormous amount of power.

Narrator: chris tassel has been
Sharing the story

Of tasmania's hydro electric
Beginnings for six years,

Of tasmania's hydro electric
Beginnings for six years,

And is still in awe of
Waddamana's originality.

Tassel:
Most power stations till then
Had been built

Where the water was,

He conceived of the notion
Of shifting the water,

If I can put it that way,
Some 30, 40 kilometers.

What an amazing notion.

Narrator: tasmania's dreams
Of industrialization

And self-sufficiency were pinned
To this single bold project,

And self-sufficiency were pinned
To this single bold project,

Yet the plan was so ambitious
That more than once,

It would come
Perilously close to collapse.

*

Narrator:
The journey from dream
To reality was a bumpy road

For the waddamana
Hydroelectric power station,

And the initial hurdle
Was one of the toughest.

Meigs: the challenge was
It was located

Right in the middle
Of the island

Where there were no roads,
Virtually no people.

Ha: so they essentially built
An 18-mile tramway

To haul all these supplies
Up to waddamana.

To haul all these supplies
Up to waddamana.

We're talking about generators,
Turbines, pipes,

Everything you'd need to build
This power station from scratch.

Narrator:
Even events on the other side

Of the world conspired
Against its construction.

Tassel: in 1914, the first world
War started,

All the equipment
Was coming from europe,

Some of it didn't get here
Because it was either seized

Or it was lost in ships at sea.

Narrator:
The combination of brutal
Weather and rugged terrain

Also took its toll.

Tassel:
This was a horrific job because
It's extraordinarily steep.

The rock is extremely hard
Dolerite and for much of winter,

The rock face is actually
In the shadow all the time.

So often the water which
Had frozen just didn't melt.

So they had to break away
The ice

Before they could get to the
Rock to break it,

To construct the pathway
For the pipes.

Meigs: tasmania had this vast
Source of potential energy,

Meigs: tasmania had this vast
Source of potential energy,

But it was going to take
A lot of ingenuity

And some very hard working
People to make it happen.

Narrator:
With no locals to call upon,
Workers had to be brought in

From far and wide.

Meigs: in order to build
And run the power plant,

It wouldn't be possible
For workers

To just commute in and out.
They needed a community here,

One where people
Could live year round,

Bring their wives and children,
Raise their families.

Bring their wives and children,
Raise their families.

Narrator:
Peter hardstaff was raised
Here and remembers

How central to daily life
The power station was.

Hardstaff:
There were rules.

The village was run by a siren
At a station

When the siren sounded
At 8:00 in the morning,

It meant
We could go to the pool.

And when it sounded
At 5:00 at night,

That was knock-off time,

It meant that we had to be home
For tea.

Industrialization is about
More than just new machines.

Industrialization is about
More than just new machines.

It's also about a new workforce,
A new outlook,

A new way of living.

Narrator:
Growing up next to a power plant

Came with its own unique
Dangers.

The rules were quite simple.
You play in the switchyard,

You're going to die.

Play in the tower rush,
You're going to drown.

Narrator: while hazardous,
This infrastructure

Was also extremely efficient
And influenced life

Was also extremely efficient
And influenced life

All across tasmania,

Meigs: when the waddamana
Power station opened,

It kind of became
The beating heart of the island.

Tassel:
You have to remember that
For many years,

The whole of the state grids
Was controlled from this room,

This control office.

Narrator:
Controlling this power station
Was not a responsibility

To be taken lightly.

Meigs: not much more than a
Decade ago,

There was a problem
In a structure very much

There was a problem
In a structure very much

Like this at a power plant
In russia that exploded,

Destroyed the whole power plant,
And killed several workers.

Even today, operating
A hydro power plant

Is not a trivial undertaking.

Waddamana, though, was expertly
Built, and at its peak

Was a sight to behold.

Tassel:
This is the turbine hall.

This is the heart
Of the power station,

The nine generating units are
Here.

This is where the mechanical
Energy from the water

Coming from the central plateau
Was converted to electricity.

Coming from the central plateau
Was converted to electricity.

Meigs:
The amount of sheer energy
Traveling through this building

When it was in operation
Would be something awesome.

The whole building
Would be trembling slightly.

Scott:
Sometimes the canals feeding
The pipelines would ice over,

And this would mean
That ice would be fed

Right into the turbines,

Creating a sound that was
Likened to using a sledge hammer

On a plate glass window.

Narrator:
The power plant's groundbreaking
Success was also its downfall.

Other stations sprung up nearby,

Taking waddamana's blueprints
And improving on them.

Meigs: after almost 50 years
Of operation,

This plant was not really
Cutting edge anymore,

Other plants had been built
That were more efficient.

Narrator: despite its age,
The power station

Was still operating
Remarkably well right up

Until it was shut down
For good in 1966.

Until it was shut down
For good in 1966.

It had ran its race
And ran it well.

*

While the turbines
No longer turn,

The station stands proudly
As an example of human triumph

Over nature and adversity.

Tassel:
I think waddamana is one of
Those very special places

Where you can actually feel
The excitement

Where you can actually feel
The excitement

Of an original vision,
An extraordinary achievement,

Despite everything,
Despite the weather,

Despite a location
That defied the odds,

Despite a world war,

They were able to come up
And use cutting edge technology.