All language subtitles for World War II Secrets from Above - S01E02 (2022) WEB.eng

Nazi Germany, 1942.

In this top-secret facility,

Hitler's scientists are developing
wonder weapons

that he hopes will win him the war.

Allied spy planes race
to uncover the Nazis' secrets.

It's a high stakes cat and mouse game,

played out across
these secret military sites.

Now the Allies must stop Hitler

before he rains down terror from above.

In this series,

we investigate the most
extraordinary events of World War II

from a brand-new perspective.

Matching rarely seen archive film,

photography from the frontline,

and remarkable
aerial reconnaissance images

to their original locations,
we reconstruct the crucial battles,

daring bombing raids,

and deadly terror weapons
that changed the course of history.

Soaring over the battlefields,

we reveal the secrets
of World War II from above.

15th of May, 1942.

A lone Allied reconnaissance Spitfire,
flying a top-secret mission,

approaches the northern coast of Germany.

From above,
the pilot takes this photograph.

It shows three strange-looking
circular emplacements

on the ground
near the village of Peenemünde.

The Allies have no idea what they're for.

But it's a mystery
they're desperate to solve.

In 1942, the Nazis occupy
most of mainland Europe.

But the tide of World War II
is beginning to turn against Hitler.

The Soviets have stopped
the Nazi advance in the east,

forcing the ill-clad troops
to suffer a sub-zero Russian winter.

In the west,
the failed invasion of Britain

has decimated the German Air Force.

The Allies have been exploiting
their dominance in the skies

by flying hundreds of missions
over Germany,

and relentlessly bombing cities,
towns and industry.

Hitler wants revenge.

The place that will deliver it
is Peenemünde.

In 1942, Peenemünde is a pioneering
top-secret science facility.

It's spread across
a vast 25-square-kilometer site.

Nazi investment here is unprecedented.

An enormous coal crusher
and loading bridge

feeds the site's own power plant,
the largest in Europe.

It also has its own harbor,

an airport, railway station,

as well as laboratories, offices

and accommodation for the 12,000 personnel
that work here.

This huge workforce is developing the
world's first weapons of mass destruction,

called Vergeltungswaffen
or "vengeance weapons."

Hitler believes that
if the top-secret research is successful,

it could win the war.

Historian Guy Walters explores
the site to uncover its deadly secrets.

The scale of this place is
absolutely vast. It lacks for nothing.

And the reason why
is that Hitler was just pumping

so much cash into this project
because he knew that if it was gonna work,

it could turn the tide of war
in his favor.

One of these trailblazing weapons

soars 14 meters tall
and weighs almost 14 tons.

It's a liquid-fueled rocket
packed with high explosives.

These weapons look like nothing
anybody has ever seen before.

They're like something
out of a science fiction magazine.

These are completely radical,
completely modern.

They could be absolutely devastating
if they're unleashed.

Hitler demands these vengeance weapons
should be capable of striking London

from mainland Europe,
about 250 kilometers away.

For this reason, his rocket
is packed with pioneering technology.

If we start from the bottom,
you've got the fins.

That's obviously gonna help
keep it stable when it's in flight.

And then you've got the engine,
which is kinda like the bottom third.

And above that, you've got two tanks.
You've got a liquid oxygen tank,

and then you've got
an alcohol and water tank.

In fact, it's only the very top
which you've got the warhead.

Two turbo pumps will force
58 kilograms of alcohol

to mix with 72 kilograms of liquid oxygen

in the combustion chamber
every single second.

The reaction unleashed
should be powerful enough to launch

the one-ton warhead into the sky
and onto its target.

But this is highly complicated,
cutting-edge research.

It is rocket science.

The Germans meticulously
film their progress.

The pressure is now on the scientists

to master this futuristic
and terrifying new technology.

Their first tests prove disastrous.

At least eight rockets
explode on the launchpad.

But eventually,
their hard work starts to pay off.

The Nazi commanders are desperate
to keep their progress a secret.

But Peenemünde has an Achilles heel.

The billowing plumes of smoke
from its power plant

are a telltale giveaway
to Allied spy planes.

It would be belching out fumes
24 hours a day,

and it would be producing all the energy
that was powering those factories

making vital components
for the rocket program.

German scientists devise

an innovative solution
to conceal its secrets.

They equip the chimneys with special
electrostatically-charged metal plates

that remove 90% of
the coal particles it creates,

significantly reducing the visible smoke.

Of the enormous 30 megawatts
the power plant produces,

almost three-quarters
is consumed by this factory.

Here, they produce liquid oxygen,

the key ingredient needed
to generate enough thrust

to launch the rocket straight into
the stratosphere and onto its target.

London.

This weapon is not
just a vengeance weapon,

it's also a kind of wonder weapon.
It's like something out of the future.

It travels at five times
the speed of sound.

What does that mean?

It means that it's gonna blow up
before we've even heard it coming.

The ambition of this weapons program

is extraordinary, and progress is rapid.

Hitler is thrilled.

They want a fight.
They shall have it!

They want to destroy Germany
in the war in the air!

I will show them who shall be destroyed!

If everything stays on track,
in a matter of months,

Hitler's terror rockets
will be raining down on London.

While the Nazis pioneer rocket science,

the Allies race to decode
their mysterious findings from May, 1942.

Desperate to uncover
Hitler's secrets from above,

they redouble their efforts
to spy on Peenemünde.

Flying so far into enemy territory
is dangerous.

But they have their own special weapon
that's perfect for the job.

The Spitfire,
the most iconic aircraft of World War II.

Its thin elliptical-shaped wings

and powerful Rolls-Royce Merlin engine

make the Spitfire the fastest
and most nimble plane in the sky.

Pilot Barry Hughes
has been flying for 30 years,

but the Spitfire
has a special place in his heart.

I've flown a multitude of aircraft,

but I think this has to come in
as the top dog.

It's got everything
that you would want as a pilot.

You know, performance, maneuverability,

ability to produce lift
over the elliptical wing surface.

Everything about the aircraft,
there's something that you love.

The Spitfire was designed
as a fighter plane.

But in 1942,

the RAF has stripped out all the weapons
and radios from a small fleet of aircraft.

They've removed every
gram of excess weight

so the planes can hold more fuel
and extend their range.

Instead of guns, they arm each Spitfire
with two cameras

to photograph Peenemünde and the growing
Nazi war machine across Europe.

Taking these vital images
is fraught with peril.

The pilots have to navigate on their own

and position the Spitfire
directly above the target.

The framing of each photograph
has to be precise.

They must fly straight and level
to ensure the images aren't distorted.

The Spitfire's a very
high-performance, dynamic aircraft.

To hold the aircraft level, you are just
consistently making minor adjustments

all the time to keep the aircraft stable.

Without any armaments,

the pilots must rely on the Spitfire's
incredible maneuverability and speed,

combined with their own skill,
to evade enemy fighters.

What the Spitfire had
is that ability to evade.

The reconnaissance aircraft,

you needed to get to where
you wanted to go to take the pictures

and then turn round and get home quickly.

The moment the plane
lands back in England,

it's a race to retrieve the evidence
captured by its cameras.

The reels of film
are quickly collected, developed

and sent for detailed analysis
at RAF Medmenham.

50 kilometers west of London,
the Allied commanders have requisitioned

the splendid stately home
of Danesfield House.

In 1943, this is the headquarters
for Allied photographic intelligence.

The grounds around the house have
been transformed into a makeshift town,

covered with temporary military buildings.

It is here that
a crack team of investigators

work round the clock in absolute secrecy.

Their mission is to create a new science
of photographic interpretation

to hunt down Hitler's vengeance weapons.

Allan Williams is the director

of the National Collection
of Aerial Photography.

He studies thousands of
wartime reconnaissance images.

The aerial photography

that was analyzed here
at RAF Medmenham was irrefutable.

The photograph doesn't lie.

By taking a sequence
of aerial photographs over time,

that chronological analysis
allowed the Allies to understand

the threat the vengeance weapons
represented.

Inside this stately home,

the Allied intelligence teams perfect
an innovative and top-secret technique.

The first step is to lay out the photos

as they were captured
during the reconnaissance flight.

Next, they use a simple piece of kit
called a stereoscope

to reveal previously hidden secrets
in these photos from above.

Everything has to be perfectly configured.

I'm taking two overlapping
aerial photographs.

Taking the one on the left, I'm viewing
the location through the left eyepiece.

And in the right eyepiece
on the successive frame,

I'm looking at the same location.

The stereoscope works by
exploiting a quirk of the human brain,

where viewing exactly the same location
in each eye

from a slightly different perspective

turns the landscape 3D,

bringing to life every bulge
and bump on the site.

The interpreters at RAF Medmenham

use their ingenious technique
on this photograph,

taken on the 23rd of June, 1943.

It reveals a shocking
and undeniable image in 3D.

Two of Hitler's deadly rockets.

As soon as news of the rockets
reaches London,

Churchill orders Peenemünde to be bombed.

The RAF prepares
for the largest bombing raid of the war

against a single target so far.

On the night of the 17th of August, 1943,
596 aircraft depart.

Their aim is to obliterate Peenemünde

and kill as many of the key personnel
working there as possible.

Accuracy is vital to this mission.

So the bombers fly at below half
the normal altitude, at 2,500 meters.

This makes the crews far more vulnerable

to the anti-aircraft guns
that protect the site.

Cameras on the planes capture
the RAF dropping over 1,800 tons of bombs.

The next morning,

the reconnaissance images
reveal Peenemünde littered with craters.

But despite the site
looking like a moonscape,

the Nazis manage
to save the key technology

and start production on other sites.

Only one notable German scientist
dies in the bombing, far fewer than hoped.

On top of that, the raid has cost
the Allies 215 aircrew and 40 bombers.

Another discovery soon makes matters
even more challenging for the Allies.

Aerial reconnaissance pilots
spy a new German facility,

tantalizingly close to London,
near the French village of Watten.

The Germans are concealing it
deep in the woods.

They are even building
a dedicated railway line

to and around the construction site.

In 1943, this complex is a building site
and buzzes with activity.

A huge web of scaffolding
has been erected by an army of laborers.

4,000 workers arrive here every day

to build this huge concrete edifice
in the forest of Éperlecques.

A smaller railway hauls materials
around the site,

including concrete, timber and steel.

They use heavy machinery so they can
build at unprecedented size and speed.

Only one weapon could command construction
on this complexity and scale.

Hitler's vengeance rocket from Peenemünde.

Structural engineer Zainab Adigun

examines the site to investigate
how the Nazis used concrete and steel

to protect their vengeance weapons.

Look at that. Look at that.

These are, like, H40 diameter bars.

Really thick.

It makes sense,
because the minimum area of steel

you need to concrete
is dictated by the depth.

So obviously, you'd need these kind of
big bars because the walls were so thick.

The engineers plan to reinforce
the launch facility

with walls three meters wide
and a roof five meters thick.

To build it, the Germans use

200,000 tons of concrete
and 20,000 tons of steel.

You can just tell, in terms of the volume
of concrete and the amount of steel,

that what the Germans
were trying to protect here

was something
really, really important to them.

The Germans plan to launch

up to 36 explosive-filled rockets
every day from this site.

This is how it will work.

The railway will transport the rockets
into the facility.

A heavily-reinforced hall will store up to
108 rockets at one end of the building.

Technicians will move the rockets
to a servicing hall

and fill them with fuel and liquid oxygen
from the site's own production plant.

From the control tower,

scientists will then observe the rockets
being moved out to the firing pads,

where they will take deadly aim
onto their target.

The Germans are constructing this enormous
edifice to be literally bombproof.

Having a look at the structure
and how thick the walls are

and the amount of concrete they've used,

it will be virtually impossible
to penetrate them.

So, how can the Allies
break the unbreakable?

The Allies desperately search
for a chink in the Nazis' armor.

Leading British civil engineers
have a flash of inspiration.

They realize that an attack might work

if they hit just after the concrete
has been poured but before it's hardened.

They continue flying aerial reconnaissance
missions to spot this key moment.

On the 21st of August, 1943, the Allies
receive the news they are hoping for.

Workers have erected wooden molds,
ready for the concrete walls to be poured.

Now is the time to strike.

Allied Bomber Command
orders an urgent raid.

B-17 Flying Fortresses
drop 366 one-ton bombs on the site.

Where the bombs hit the freshly-poured
concrete, there is total devastation.

The concrete hardens,

freezing in time the chaos and destruction
of the daring bombing raid.

Having the idea of bombing the structure
just after the concrete had been poured

is very clever,
because it was your Achilles heel.

It's your last opportunity to really cause

as much damage to the structure
as you can.

One, you had the impacts that the bomb
has on the structure,

it starts to weaken the structure.

But on top of that,
you left behind a concrete chaos,

because once the concrete has hardened,

it's very difficult because
you cannot move it, you can't salvage it.

It's a waste of material.

The bombs turn the launch facility

into a pile of shattered steel and timber,
solidified in concrete.

Crucially, they destroy the railway,
cutting off access to the site.

For now, the threat of
Hitler's terror rockets is neutralized.

His dream of vengeance
looks more remote than ever.

But for the Nazis, all is not lost.

In Peenemünde, in secret, a second
vengeance weapon is taking shape.

It's smaller than the rocket but packs in
almost the same explosive power

and is another world first.

The flying bomb.

The flying bomb is essentially
the world's earliest cruise missile.

It really appeals to the Nazis.

Why? Because they're beginning
to lack the manpower.

Pilots need to be trained. It costs
a lot of time and money to do that.

So if you've got a weapon that doesn't
require human beings on board,

that's a massive advantage.

At the front, you have the compass.
That's obviously gonna help guide it.

Then you've got the wings,
which are made out of plywood,

so that's really cheap
and easy to manufacture.

And then at the back, you've got
the telltale shape of the pulse jet engine

that's gonna whoosh the bomb along
at 350 miles an hour.

Instead of a pilot, the flying
bomb has a simple guidance system.

Two spherical tanks
that contain compressed air

drive gyroscopes
and operate pneumatic motors.

These control the rudder and elevator,

regulating the flying bomb's
altitude and bearing.

In the nose, a magnetic compass
floats inside a wooden bowl.

It keeps the warhead on track
to hit its target.

For it to fly,

the bomb needs a strong airflow
through the engine and over its wings.

So the Germans build
a huge catapult to launch it.

Once in the air,

this groundbreaking weapon
can reach 560 kilometers per hour.

The first models
have a range of 240 kilometers,

far enough to strike London,

if launched from here, in France.

The Nazis begin constructing
multiple catapult ramps.

Viewing from above reveals how each ramp
is part of a network of buildings,

including a command bunker,
steam generator station,

assembly halls
and strange structures shaped like skis.

The concrete ski-shaped buildings
are used to store the flying bombs.

Their curved entrances
are designed to deflect the blast

from any Allied bombs exploding outside.

Two parallel walls filled with gravel
offer extra protection.

German soldiers transport the flying bombs

from the ski-shaped buildings
to the launch catapults.

The 48-meter-long metal rails
sit between two concrete walls.

Steam pressure shoots
the flying bomb up the ramp.

By the time it reaches
the end of the rails,

the bomb hits takeoff speed.

As the Nazis build
more of these structures,

a French resistance agent
called Michel Hollard

disguises himself as a construction worker

and infiltrates one of the sites
to investigate what they're for.

He reports back to the British

that he suspects the ramps
are for launching secret weapons.

But the Allied intelligence services
are completely puzzled.

They have no idea how these structures
could pose a threat to Britain.

The Allies finally find an answer
at Peenemünde.

On the 28th of November, 1943,

a reconnaissance pilot flying over
Hitler's weapons research facility

takes this photo.

Back at RAF Medmenham,

the photographic interpreters get to work
deciphering the detail in the image.

This one photograph was arguably

one of the most important photographs
of the Second World War.

And that is literally what was spotted,

that tiny cruciform shape
at the end of my finger.

A flying bomb on a ramp at Peenemünde.
That was the final piece in the jigsaw.

Here was the evidence
of why these ramps were being built.

At last, the Allies make
the crucial connection

between the flying bomb,
Peenemünde and the ski sites in France,

around 900 kilometers away.

The more the Allies look,
the more they find,

plotting their orientation as they go,

and discovering new ski sites
on an almost daily basis.

By the end of the month, the Allies
uncover a total of 96 ski sites.

And almost all point at London.

On the 13th of June, 1944,

in revenge for the D-Day landings
one week earlier,

the first flying bomb
that hit the launches

tears through the skies above London.

It maneuvers into a steep dive,

and hits this railway bridge
crossing Grove Road in East London.

The explosion kills six people, injures 42
and makes hundreds homeless.

Hitler gets his first taste of vengeance.

The flying bomb is named the V-1.

The distinctive sound
of the V-1's pulse jet engine

as it roars over London earns it
the nickname doodlebug, or buzz bomb.

For Londoner Eddie Moss,
the noise incites fascination and fear.

Like motorbikes coming in the sky,

with that one engine
popping away at the back.

But it was a bomb.

The sound of the V-1

becomes an almost daily occurrence
for Nancy Zentile.

I was always terrified of that noise.

You'd hear this throb, throb, throb.

It fills you.
You can't think of anything else.

Mostly we were terrified it would stop.

The moment it stopped,
we knew somebody was gonna be for it.

Bomb after bomb
rained down on London

and across the South of England.

They raze entire streets to the ground
in a single strike.

One man comes home from walking his dog
to find his house hit,

with his wife killed inside it.

At the peak of the offensive,

the Germans launch 200 flying bombs
at the capital every day.

The British desperately need to find a way
to counteract Hitler's new terror weapon.

East of London, they devise a plan
to re-engineer their air defense stations.

One of these stations
sits in the middle of the Thames Estuary.

A closer look at these murky waters
reveals seven steel towers.

They loom over 25 meters
above the surface of the water.

Their concrete legs splay into the seabed.

This is Redsand Sea Forts.

The forts were originally built
to protect London from the Luftwaffe.

Now they lie directly
below the flight path

of many of the incoming V-1 flying bombs.

Back-to-back light anti-aircraft guns
called Bofors stand on one of the towers.

A semi-circle of four additional
heavy anti-aircraft guns

surround a central control tower
equipped with radar.

Tubular steel walkways
connect the structures

and stretch all the way out
to a searchlight tower.

The searchlight tower
is positioned to the north

so it can spot the incoming threat
from the south.

The gun crews need quick access
to the ammunition,

so they store the shells
inside these special lockers

on the edge of the platforms,

directly above the living quarters
for the crew stationed here.

Military historian Alexandra Churchill
explores Redsand Sea Fort.

This is very exciting.

It really does look like something
from War of the Worlds.

Weird little aliens sat there,
just so out of place.

For the crew on the forts,
I'm guessing it was very boring.

Not only are you bored and isolated,

but you're under
a lot of pressure as well.

I can imagine
the longer you spent on them,

the more your mental health broke down.

It's a weird environment.

In 1944,
crews are brought in by boat

and stationed at the fort for six weeks.

Life in these towers is very cramped.

Beneath the platforms, 181 crew
must cram into tiny accommodation blocks.

This is gonna be the control tower here
and then you've got gun towers.

This here, this has got a different roof,

so this is the Bofors one,
I think, 'cause it's different.

The crew operate the gun towers
24 hours a day, seven days a week.

For much of the time,
they just wait and watch.

It's, like, nothing, nothing,
nothing, nothing.

You have nothing to do
for 90% of the time.

But when you are called upon,
you need to be amazing.

You know it's aimed at civilians.

Can you imagine the pressure?

You know where it's going.

If you hit one, utter jubilation.

If you missed one,
and it carried on flying,

utterly gut-wrenching.

You failed.

As a backup, the RAF dispatches
Spitfires to intercept the V-1s.

Striking a flying bomb speeding
through the air at 560 kilometers per hour

is no simple task for a Spitfire pilot.

They almost have to defy
the laws of physics.

If you were an RAF pilot,

the best way to catch up with it
was to get up really, really high

and then drop like a stone

and use gravity to get you up
to the kind of speed that you need.

As seen in this incredible photo,

once alongside,
the daring pilot uses their wing

to tip the wing of the V-1 flying bomb,
forcing it to nosedive.

You have to be really good
at precision flying.

You've got to have
some level of guts to do that.

But just as the Allies begin
to find ways to take out the V-1s,

Nazi scientists finally perfect
Hitler's futuristic terror rocket.

On the 18th of June, 1944,

it becomes the first manmade object
ever to enter space.

The rocket is named the V-2.

The Germans soon work out how to launch
the V-2 rocket from the back of a truck.

Now Hitler's terror rockets
can be launched from any road,

making them truly invulnerable
to all countermeasures.

On the eighth of September, 1944,
at 6:40 p.m.,

the first unstoppable V-2 rocket

hits West London
on Staveley Road in Chiswick.

Three people immediately die
from the blast.

Hitler gets his vengeance.

A campaign of terror has begun.

The Nazis launch
almost 7,000 V-1 flying bombs

and almost 1,400 V-2 rockets at Britain.

Over the coming months, the British refine
their countermeasures against the V-1.

In the southeast of England,

they position additional
anti-aircraft guns along the coast.

They float over 1,200 balloons
suspending steel cables,

which are close enough to collide
with the approaching V-1 flying bombs.

Eventually, they manage to shoot down
80% of the flying bombs

the Nazis launch across the Channel.

Mercifully for these Londoners,

the launch sites
for both of Hitler's vengeance weapons

are pushed further
and further out of range

after the success of the D-Day landings

and subsequent advances
of the Allied forces.

On the 27th of March, 1945,
the last V weapons strike British soil.

The Nazi wonder weapons have come
just too late to turn the tide of the war.

The Allies stop
Hitler's plot for vengeance,

and with it,
his hopes for victory lie in ruins.