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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:02,042 --> 00:00:03,125 - [Rudy] The following program contains footage 2 00:00:03,125 --> 00:00:04,250 of military operations. 3 00:00:04,250 --> 00:00:06,125 Viewer discretion is advised. 4 00:00:07,125 --> 00:00:10,583 Tonight, on The Proof Is Out There: Military Mysteries. 5 00:00:11,708 --> 00:00:13,917 Film of a top secret base. 6 00:00:13,917 --> 00:00:16,458 What was it hiding and should we be worried? 7 00:00:16,458 --> 00:00:20,125 - The vision for Camp Century was enormous. 8 00:00:20,125 --> 00:00:22,708 - [Rudy] Video of a decimated plane. 9 00:00:22,708 --> 00:00:26,958 Were its passengers sacrificed in a mission to target Saddam? 10 00:00:26,958 --> 00:00:28,708 - The government deliberately landed them 11 00:00:28,708 --> 00:00:31,583 in a war zone to get the secret team on the ground. 12 00:00:32,542 --> 00:00:34,083 - [Rudy] Who were the mystery pilots 13 00:00:34,083 --> 00:00:36,500 who terrified the Nazis in World War II? 14 00:00:37,542 --> 00:00:39,292 - You wouldn't know where they were 15 00:00:39,292 --> 00:00:42,125 or what they were targeting until you heard the explosion. 16 00:00:43,500 --> 00:00:45,458 - [Rudy] And if this photo doesn't show 17 00:00:45,458 --> 00:00:47,708 the world's strangest secret weapon, 18 00:00:47,708 --> 00:00:49,625 somebody tell us what is. 19 00:00:49,625 --> 00:00:51,500 - Historians are really struggling to figure out 20 00:00:51,500 --> 00:00:54,042 how and why the Nazis would've even tried 21 00:00:54,042 --> 00:00:55,292 to build this thing in the first place. 22 00:00:55,292 --> 00:00:59,000 [dramatic music] [artillery booming] 23 00:01:00,125 --> 00:01:02,500 - [Rudy] In the modern history of war, there are films. 24 00:01:02,500 --> 00:01:03,875 - Shazam. 25 00:01:03,875 --> 00:01:05,292 - [Rudy] Photos, 26 00:01:06,083 --> 00:01:07,542 recordings, 27 00:01:07,542 --> 00:01:10,708 and documents that raise questions. 28 00:01:10,708 --> 00:01:13,500 - So everything about this story is one big mystery. 29 00:01:14,708 --> 00:01:18,500 - This particular footage has caused a lot of controversy. 30 00:01:18,500 --> 00:01:20,667 - [Rudy] What's really happening? 31 00:01:20,667 --> 00:01:22,375 - [Expert] There's so little information. 32 00:01:22,375 --> 00:01:24,625 - Nothing like this has been attempted before. 33 00:01:26,833 --> 00:01:28,042 - [Rudy] That's where we come in. 34 00:01:28,042 --> 00:01:29,375 Our mission: 35 00:01:29,375 --> 00:01:32,208 Investigate the battlefield's strangest images, 36 00:01:32,208 --> 00:01:34,417 sounds, and more. 37 00:01:34,417 --> 00:01:36,542 - [Expert] This photo blows my mind. 38 00:01:36,542 --> 00:01:40,375 - [Amy] You can imagine how terrifying it would be. 39 00:01:40,375 --> 00:01:43,000 - [Rudy] We'll analyze each with military experts 40 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:44,917 and try to come up with answers. 41 00:01:44,917 --> 00:01:48,375 - I'm Ronnie Adkins, former U.S. Army intelligence analyst. 42 00:01:48,375 --> 00:01:51,333 - I'm Rudy Reyes, recon Marine war veteran. 43 00:01:52,750 --> 00:01:54,542 The proof starts now. 44 00:01:54,542 --> 00:01:56,750 [dramatic music] 45 00:01:59,875 --> 00:02:01,708 Hello everyone, I'm Rudy. 46 00:02:01,708 --> 00:02:02,458 He's Ronnie. 47 00:02:02,458 --> 00:02:04,417 And we are locked and loaded 48 00:02:04,417 --> 00:02:06,583 to take on some of the wildest stories 49 00:02:06,583 --> 00:02:09,333 ever to come out of the world of warfare. 50 00:02:09,333 --> 00:02:11,583 - Let's get to it. Picture this. 51 00:02:11,583 --> 00:02:14,875 In 1995 in a remote area of Greenland, 52 00:02:14,875 --> 00:02:18,750 a Danish team comes across a huge abandoned ice base. 53 00:02:18,750 --> 00:02:20,458 - You had me at ice base. 54 00:02:20,458 --> 00:02:21,375 The mystery. 55 00:02:21,375 --> 00:02:23,583 What was the base used for? 56 00:02:23,583 --> 00:02:25,875 And today, is it a ticking time bomb? 57 00:02:25,875 --> 00:02:27,500 [tense music] 58 00:02:27,500 --> 00:02:29,292 It's 1960. 59 00:02:29,292 --> 00:02:32,750 This is footage of a U.S. military facility being built 60 00:02:32,750 --> 00:02:35,375 in Greenland into a glacier. 61 00:02:35,375 --> 00:02:37,750 The U.S. had made a deal with Denmark, 62 00:02:37,750 --> 00:02:39,458 which administers Greenland. 63 00:02:39,458 --> 00:02:42,250 The facility's 150 miles inland 64 00:02:42,250 --> 00:02:44,750 and just 800 miles from the North Pole. 65 00:02:45,875 --> 00:02:47,458 It's called Camp Century 66 00:02:47,458 --> 00:02:50,292 and built as a nuclear-powered research center, 67 00:02:50,292 --> 00:02:53,458 supposedly to study the Earth's climate. 68 00:02:53,458 --> 00:02:57,208 The trenches average 26 feet in height and width 69 00:02:57,208 --> 00:02:59,292 and are topped with a steel arch, 70 00:02:59,292 --> 00:03:02,083 using the cut and cover technique. 71 00:03:02,083 --> 00:03:05,375 - The vision for Camp Century was enormous. 72 00:03:05,375 --> 00:03:09,917 53,000 square miles planned for this base. 73 00:03:09,917 --> 00:03:14,958 11,000 troops planned to be stationed and working there. 74 00:03:14,958 --> 00:03:19,292 2,500 miles of tunnel. 75 00:03:19,292 --> 00:03:22,250 - [Rudy] For an ice base, there are plenty of amenities. 76 00:03:22,250 --> 00:03:25,208 The Army Corps of Engineers chiseled out a chapel, 77 00:03:25,208 --> 00:03:27,542 a library, and even a movie theater. 78 00:03:27,542 --> 00:03:29,458 - I think the best way to probably describe it 79 00:03:29,458 --> 00:03:33,625 is building a complete city in ice. 80 00:03:33,625 --> 00:03:36,458 - [Rudy] But within six years of the initial groundbreaking, 81 00:03:36,458 --> 00:03:38,917 the massive camp is abandoned. 82 00:03:38,917 --> 00:03:40,375 The soldiers are gone, 83 00:03:40,375 --> 00:03:42,542 but plenty of diesel fuel and construction materials 84 00:03:42,542 --> 00:03:45,375 of wood and iron are left behind. 85 00:03:45,375 --> 00:03:48,667 So when the Danish team arrived in 1995, 86 00:03:48,667 --> 00:03:51,667 they could see that something went seriously wrong here. 87 00:03:52,667 --> 00:03:55,000 As you can see from this government footage, 88 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:57,708 the American soldiers who built the base worked 89 00:03:57,708 --> 00:03:59,417 in extreme cold. 90 00:03:59,417 --> 00:04:01,375 Is that why the base was abandoned? 91 00:04:01,375 --> 00:04:04,583 Or did it have to do with something the base was hiding? 92 00:04:05,625 --> 00:04:07,417 If you're not properly protected, 93 00:04:07,417 --> 00:04:09,417 your core temperature can go down. 94 00:04:09,417 --> 00:04:11,250 You start to become delirious. 95 00:04:11,250 --> 00:04:13,667 You actually feel like you're getting hot. 96 00:04:13,667 --> 00:04:17,583 You can rip off your clothes and now you've got hypothermia. 97 00:04:17,583 --> 00:04:20,708 Once you've got hypothermia, death follows. 98 00:04:20,708 --> 00:04:23,208 - That's right, man. It's also hell on the gear. 99 00:04:23,208 --> 00:04:25,708 When temps hit 20 below, engine oil freezes 100 00:04:25,708 --> 00:04:28,417 and your whole logistics train can be derailed. 101 00:04:28,417 --> 00:04:30,792 - So what the hell happened at Camp Century? 102 00:04:30,792 --> 00:04:33,250 [tense music] 103 00:04:35,500 --> 00:04:39,417 First things first, Camp Century was just a cover, a lie, 104 00:04:39,417 --> 00:04:43,125 to conceal something called Project Iceworm. 105 00:04:43,125 --> 00:04:44,583 - The purpose of Iceworm was 106 00:04:44,583 --> 00:04:47,750 to build a strategic nuclear missile facility and site 107 00:04:47,750 --> 00:04:50,375 that could launch over the Arctic Circle 108 00:04:50,375 --> 00:04:53,250 and strike targets in mainland Russia. 109 00:04:54,333 --> 00:04:56,042 - [Rudy] Those miles of deep tunnels 110 00:04:56,042 --> 00:04:57,375 were really designed to shuttle 111 00:04:57,375 --> 00:05:01,167 and protect 600 Iceman nuclear missiles, 112 00:05:01,167 --> 00:05:04,083 modified versions of the Minuteman ICBM. 113 00:05:04,083 --> 00:05:07,917 Designed as a two-stage rocket with a range of 3,300 miles, 114 00:05:07,917 --> 00:05:11,000 Iceman had the ability to hit most targets 115 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:12,458 in the Soviet Union. 116 00:05:12,458 --> 00:05:14,750 - This seemed like a perfect plan for us 117 00:05:14,750 --> 00:05:17,375 where we could have this hidden in plain sight 118 00:05:17,375 --> 00:05:19,292 and only using the medium-range missiles, 119 00:05:19,292 --> 00:05:21,708 as compared to the long-range. 120 00:05:21,708 --> 00:05:23,667 - [Rudy] Okay, so that answers the question 121 00:05:23,667 --> 00:05:26,167 of what the base was really for. 122 00:05:26,167 --> 00:05:27,625 How about what happened to it? 123 00:05:28,542 --> 00:05:30,167 The first thing we found out 124 00:05:30,167 --> 00:05:32,333 was that all was going according to plan 125 00:05:32,333 --> 00:05:34,583 until the middle of 1962, 126 00:05:34,583 --> 00:05:37,208 when a frightening discovery was made. 127 00:05:37,208 --> 00:05:38,875 The ceiling of this chamber, 128 00:05:38,875 --> 00:05:42,083 housing the research facility's nuclear reactor, 129 00:05:42,083 --> 00:05:44,958 had lowered by five full feet. 130 00:05:44,958 --> 00:05:47,333 Journalist MJ Banias explains 131 00:05:47,333 --> 00:05:49,500 that repairs were ordered immediately. 132 00:05:49,500 --> 00:05:52,208 - All of a sudden, they're in serious jeopardy. 133 00:05:52,208 --> 00:05:53,875 You have a nuclear reactor. 134 00:05:53,875 --> 00:05:55,208 You could have meltdowns. 135 00:05:55,208 --> 00:05:57,375 You could have a catastrophic event occur 136 00:05:57,375 --> 00:06:00,042 if this reactor suddenly shuts down or breaks down. 137 00:06:01,208 --> 00:06:03,208 - [Rudy] Why did the ceiling collapse? 138 00:06:03,208 --> 00:06:05,542 Turns out it was due to a big mistake. 139 00:06:06,500 --> 00:06:08,542 The Defense Department miscalculated 140 00:06:08,542 --> 00:06:10,458 how fast the glaciers were moving. 141 00:06:11,750 --> 00:06:14,583 It was only when scientists took ice core samples, 142 00:06:14,583 --> 00:06:17,708 lo and behold, they realized within two years, 143 00:06:17,708 --> 00:06:20,583 all the tunnels would be destroyed by the ice's movement, 144 00:06:20,583 --> 00:06:22,333 nuclear missiles and all. 145 00:06:24,042 --> 00:06:26,625 The U.S. carted off its nuclear reactor 146 00:06:26,625 --> 00:06:28,333 and the missiles, of course, 147 00:06:29,417 --> 00:06:31,292 but it left behind the nuclear waste 148 00:06:31,292 --> 00:06:32,875 produced by the reactor. 149 00:06:32,875 --> 00:06:36,708 The thinking was the ice would keep the material safe. 150 00:06:36,708 --> 00:06:39,708 - There's some some ego there that kinda says, 151 00:06:39,708 --> 00:06:43,708 well, nobody's gonna find this stuff this far underground. 152 00:06:43,708 --> 00:06:45,167 It's gonna be buried in ice. 153 00:06:45,167 --> 00:06:47,708 It's not going to hurt anyone. 154 00:06:47,708 --> 00:06:49,500 - [Rudy] Unfortunately, global warming 155 00:06:49,500 --> 00:06:50,875 messed up their plans. 156 00:06:50,875 --> 00:06:52,917 - What no one was predicting in the 1960s 157 00:06:52,917 --> 00:06:55,958 was that the temperature of the planet is increasing 158 00:06:55,958 --> 00:07:00,167 and Greenland itself is becoming much more green. 159 00:07:00,167 --> 00:07:02,708 - [Rudy] That leaves us with a two-sided problem. 160 00:07:02,708 --> 00:07:04,583 - First part is the scientific 161 00:07:04,583 --> 00:07:06,667 and technology part of the problem 162 00:07:06,667 --> 00:07:10,417 in terms of how to clean this stuff up effectively 163 00:07:10,417 --> 00:07:14,708 before it becomes a larger issue in 2090. 164 00:07:14,708 --> 00:07:15,875 - [Rudy] Climate predictions 165 00:07:15,875 --> 00:07:17,458 from the American Geophysical Union 166 00:07:17,458 --> 00:07:21,542 suggest that by 2090, there will be enough ice melt 167 00:07:21,542 --> 00:07:24,917 to unleash the toxic chemicals buried within. 168 00:07:24,917 --> 00:07:28,083 - The second part of the problem is kind of a diplomatic problem 169 00:07:28,083 --> 00:07:31,958 because this is a mess that the United States left 170 00:07:31,958 --> 00:07:36,208 in a ally's backyard, essentially. 171 00:07:36,208 --> 00:07:40,542 - For now, both the nuclear mess and the diplomatic mess remain. 172 00:07:44,375 --> 00:07:45,833 Unbelievable! 173 00:07:45,833 --> 00:07:47,708 We have a word for that, buddy. 174 00:07:47,708 --> 00:07:48,833 SNAFU. 175 00:07:48,833 --> 00:07:52,125 Situation normal, all fouled up. 176 00:07:52,125 --> 00:07:53,583 - SNAFU 2090. 177 00:07:53,583 --> 00:07:54,625 Mark your calendar. 178 00:07:58,375 --> 00:07:59,417 - The next story is about one 179 00:07:59,833 --> 00:08:01,917 of the biggest military controversies in recent years. 180 00:08:01,917 --> 00:08:04,458 It happened during the opening shots of the first Gulf War. 181 00:08:04,458 --> 00:08:05,958 - The big question. 182 00:08:05,958 --> 00:08:09,042 Did the British government sacrifice a plane full of people 183 00:08:09,042 --> 00:08:11,583 to smuggle special operators into Kuwait? 184 00:08:12,458 --> 00:08:14,708 It's 1991. 185 00:08:14,708 --> 00:08:18,542 A Boeing 747 has been reduced to rubble 186 00:08:18,542 --> 00:08:21,708 on the ground at Kuwait International Airport. 187 00:08:21,708 --> 00:08:24,208 - The body of the plane is definitely destroyed, 188 00:08:24,208 --> 00:08:25,542 twisted metal, 189 00:08:25,542 --> 00:08:28,292 parts thrown all over the airfield. 190 00:08:28,292 --> 00:08:32,875 - [Ronnie] This was no crash and it's not just any plane. 191 00:08:32,875 --> 00:08:35,542 - Everything about this story is one big mystery. 192 00:08:35,542 --> 00:08:36,875 - [Ronnie] Let's rewind. 193 00:08:36,875 --> 00:08:38,250 [tape rewinding] 194 00:08:38,250 --> 00:08:40,500 On August 1st, 1990, 195 00:08:40,500 --> 00:08:43,542 the plane, British Airways Flight 149, 196 00:08:43,542 --> 00:08:44,833 takes off from London. 197 00:08:44,833 --> 00:08:47,458 Its first stop is Kuwait City. 198 00:08:47,458 --> 00:08:49,667 Deborah Saloom and her husband George 199 00:08:49,667 --> 00:08:52,667 are among the 367 passengers on board. 200 00:08:52,667 --> 00:08:54,750 - We were in first class 201 00:08:54,750 --> 00:08:58,792 and it's quite separated on the British Airways flights 202 00:08:58,792 --> 00:09:01,292 from the regular passengers. 203 00:09:01,292 --> 00:09:04,958 We got our seats and everything was really nice. 204 00:09:06,042 --> 00:09:08,583 - [Ronnie] But when Flight 149 lands in Kuwait, 205 00:09:08,583 --> 00:09:10,500 all hell breaks loose. 206 00:09:10,500 --> 00:09:12,042 While it's refueling, 207 00:09:12,042 --> 00:09:15,125 the cabin door opens to let in an unexpected visitor 208 00:09:15,125 --> 00:09:18,167 who reportedly speaks with a British accent. 209 00:09:18,167 --> 00:09:19,542 - He was not in uniform. 210 00:09:19,542 --> 00:09:21,750 He had on very nondescript clothes, 211 00:09:21,750 --> 00:09:26,250 like a khaki colored light blazer, khaki pants. 212 00:09:26,250 --> 00:09:29,625 No insignias, no anything. 213 00:09:29,625 --> 00:09:32,083 - [Ronnie] Suddenly, a group of nine men 214 00:09:32,083 --> 00:09:33,625 who'd been passengers 215 00:09:33,625 --> 00:09:36,458 and have a military look stand up to meet the guy. 216 00:09:36,458 --> 00:09:37,542 - They were young men. 217 00:09:37,542 --> 00:09:39,083 They were fit and muscular. 218 00:09:39,083 --> 00:09:40,625 They had crew cuts. 219 00:09:40,625 --> 00:09:43,583 The officer said, "You're late, you're really late." 220 00:09:43,583 --> 00:09:47,583 And while all the passengers waited, 221 00:09:47,583 --> 00:09:51,708 this group of young men went to the front 222 00:09:51,708 --> 00:09:53,167 and got off the plane. 223 00:09:54,208 --> 00:09:56,333 - [Ronnie] While the passengers don't know it yet, 224 00:09:56,333 --> 00:09:58,375 Iraqi strongman, Saddam Hussein, 225 00:09:58,375 --> 00:10:01,833 and his forces have begun their invasion of Kuwait. 226 00:10:03,708 --> 00:10:06,625 As Flight 149 sits on the tarmac, 227 00:10:06,625 --> 00:10:08,833 Iraqi forces seize the airport. 228 00:10:08,833 --> 00:10:10,083 The passengers and crew 229 00:10:10,083 --> 00:10:12,625 are taken hostage by Saddam's troops. 230 00:10:12,625 --> 00:10:17,333 - They became human shields of Saddam Hussein. 231 00:10:17,333 --> 00:10:20,708 - [Ronnie] Saddam moves the hostages to strategic locations, 232 00:10:20,708 --> 00:10:22,875 making them human shields. 233 00:10:22,875 --> 00:10:26,667 - He somehow thought that if he put allied prisoners 234 00:10:26,667 --> 00:10:31,542 in these locations, the allies wouldn't bomb there. 235 00:10:31,542 --> 00:10:33,125 - [Ronnie] The prisoners were then transferred 236 00:10:33,125 --> 00:10:36,750 to detention centers in cities like Basra and Baghdad. 237 00:10:36,750 --> 00:10:39,375 There they were subjected to starvation, 238 00:10:39,375 --> 00:10:41,750 mock executions, and more. 239 00:10:43,333 --> 00:10:46,375 Luckily, the Salooms survived. 240 00:10:46,375 --> 00:10:47,833 Nine months later, 241 00:10:47,833 --> 00:10:50,125 after the allies have driven Saddam out of Kuwait, 242 00:10:50,125 --> 00:10:52,875 their family is reunited back in America. 243 00:10:52,875 --> 00:10:56,042 - We just made it out because of the grace of God. 244 00:10:56,042 --> 00:10:58,750 It was not our time to leave this earth, 245 00:10:58,750 --> 00:11:01,708 and we were very blessed 246 00:11:01,708 --> 00:11:05,125 that we were able to get back to our family. 247 00:11:07,208 --> 00:11:10,542 - [Ronnie] And while the other passengers made it home too, 248 00:11:10,542 --> 00:11:14,000 the plane, as we've seen, was destroyed. 249 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:17,792 A detail some believe is no coincidence. 250 00:11:17,792 --> 00:11:19,542 - With a spectacular victory 251 00:11:19,542 --> 00:11:21,375 and the safe return of the hostages, 252 00:11:21,375 --> 00:11:23,208 it looks like case closed. 253 00:11:23,208 --> 00:11:24,875 But not exactly. 254 00:11:24,875 --> 00:11:27,000 - As the dust settles, people start wondering, 255 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:28,875 who were those guys that got off the plane 256 00:11:28,875 --> 00:11:30,583 when it first landed? 257 00:11:30,583 --> 00:11:32,042 And how'd the plane end up like this? 258 00:11:32,042 --> 00:11:33,708 It doesn't look like this thing went up 259 00:11:33,708 --> 00:11:35,083 in an explosion to me. 260 00:11:35,083 --> 00:11:37,750 It looks a whole lot like fire and the reason is, 261 00:11:37,750 --> 00:11:39,958 we can see almost an entire fuselage. 262 00:11:39,958 --> 00:11:41,875 The parts to this plane look contained, 263 00:11:41,875 --> 00:11:43,292 rather than spread out. 264 00:11:43,292 --> 00:11:46,167 We don't see any evidence of a blast crater. 265 00:11:46,167 --> 00:11:48,500 - For our answers, we'll go to our experts. 266 00:11:48,500 --> 00:11:50,917 [tense music] 267 00:11:52,417 --> 00:11:54,542 - [Ronnie] Author Stephen Davis claims the wreckage 268 00:11:54,542 --> 00:11:59,375 is a clue that Flight 149 was a pawn in a secret operation. 269 00:11:59,375 --> 00:12:00,667 In Davis's opinion, 270 00:12:00,667 --> 00:12:02,292 it's suspicious the British government 271 00:12:02,292 --> 00:12:05,458 didn't warn the aircraft that the Iraqis were invading, 272 00:12:05,458 --> 00:12:08,833 since other countries did contact their planes. 273 00:12:08,833 --> 00:12:11,458 - What we now know is that 274 00:12:11,458 --> 00:12:17,958 approximately three hours flying time from Kuwait City, 275 00:12:18,917 --> 00:12:22,708 Iraqi troops crossed the border 276 00:12:22,708 --> 00:12:25,542 and began the invasion of Kuwait. 277 00:12:25,542 --> 00:12:29,125 I have a defense intelligence agency flash message 278 00:12:30,208 --> 00:12:33,958 distributed to all agencies, including NATO. 279 00:12:33,958 --> 00:12:37,000 So all the allies got it straightaway. 280 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:39,875 - [Ronnie] The DIA flash was sent hours earlier. 281 00:12:39,875 --> 00:12:43,000 - The Kuwaiti air traffic control 282 00:12:44,042 --> 00:12:46,042 were turning away other aircraft, 283 00:12:46,042 --> 00:12:49,875 so it could have been alerted at any time. 284 00:12:50,667 --> 00:12:52,000 But it wasn't. 285 00:12:53,042 --> 00:12:55,167 The government has lied about this constantly 286 00:12:55,167 --> 00:12:59,083 and the government deliberately landed them in a war zone 287 00:12:59,083 --> 00:13:01,625 to get the secret team on the ground. 288 00:13:01,625 --> 00:13:03,917 - [Ronnie] A secret team? Yes. 289 00:13:03,917 --> 00:13:06,875 That's what Davis believes those nine mystery men were. 290 00:13:06,875 --> 00:13:08,875 - They were part of a group which is known 291 00:13:08,875 --> 00:13:11,750 in the British special forces community 292 00:13:11,750 --> 00:13:14,583 and intelligence services as the Increment. 293 00:13:14,583 --> 00:13:17,542 - [Ronnie] The Increment, aka the Inc, 294 00:13:17,542 --> 00:13:19,625 have a literal license to kill. 295 00:13:19,625 --> 00:13:20,958 They're rumored to have been involved 296 00:13:20,958 --> 00:13:22,958 with many top-secret operations 297 00:13:22,958 --> 00:13:25,042 on behalf of the British government, 298 00:13:25,042 --> 00:13:27,958 including secretly monitoring Gaddafi's inner circle 299 00:13:27,958 --> 00:13:30,333 ahead of the 2011 Libyan uprising, 300 00:13:30,333 --> 00:13:32,375 working undercover in Northern Ireland 301 00:13:32,375 --> 00:13:34,167 during the height of the Troubles, 302 00:13:34,167 --> 00:13:36,708 and carrying out high-value assassinations 303 00:13:36,708 --> 00:13:38,917 during the Bosnian War. 304 00:13:38,917 --> 00:13:41,958 Former Army Ranger sniper Nick Irving agrees 305 00:13:41,958 --> 00:13:43,208 with the Trojan Horse theory. 306 00:13:43,208 --> 00:13:45,333 He believes the original plan was 307 00:13:45,333 --> 00:13:48,875 to get the Increment team in before the invasion started. 308 00:13:48,875 --> 00:13:50,750 But once Saddam moved early, 309 00:13:50,750 --> 00:13:53,333 the British decided to proceed regardless. 310 00:13:53,333 --> 00:13:56,083 - Having been in this special operations community, 311 00:13:56,083 --> 00:13:59,458 flying in on a commercial jet, having special privileges, 312 00:13:59,458 --> 00:14:01,000 deboarding the aircraft, 313 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:03,500 all the key traits of what a clandestine operation 314 00:14:03,500 --> 00:14:04,875 would look like. 315 00:14:04,875 --> 00:14:06,292 And I think they were there to gather intel, 316 00:14:06,292 --> 00:14:08,417 maybe to scout out enemy locations 317 00:14:08,417 --> 00:14:11,083 to be bombed or targeted. 318 00:14:11,083 --> 00:14:13,208 Key individuals, high-ranking individuals 319 00:14:13,208 --> 00:14:17,125 within Saddam Hussein's army, government. 320 00:14:17,125 --> 00:14:20,750 - [Ronnie] Ex-CIA officer, Joseph Assad, isn't so sure. 321 00:14:20,750 --> 00:14:22,958 He's worked extensively in the Middle East. 322 00:14:22,958 --> 00:14:25,958 And Assad thinks Flight 149 landed in Kuwait due 323 00:14:25,958 --> 00:14:28,542 to old-fashioned bureaucratic bungling. 324 00:14:28,542 --> 00:14:30,333 - There were no obligations 325 00:14:30,333 --> 00:14:32,917 for the British Front Home Office 326 00:14:32,917 --> 00:14:36,208 or the embassy to warn them of a pending invasion, 327 00:14:36,208 --> 00:14:38,583 particularly when nobody knew what was happening. 328 00:14:38,583 --> 00:14:41,000 It was utter chaos. 329 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:43,208 - [Ronnie] As for those nine mystery men, 330 00:14:43,208 --> 00:14:46,208 Assad says when it comes to eyewitness testimony, 331 00:14:46,208 --> 00:14:48,792 the facts can get muddled over time. 332 00:14:48,792 --> 00:14:50,917 - It's not plausible. 333 00:14:50,917 --> 00:14:53,500 People under trauma, they see things, 334 00:14:53,500 --> 00:14:54,875 they conclude things. 335 00:14:55,958 --> 00:14:59,000 How did you know he is British or otherwise? 336 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:02,208 And particularly if that was part of a covert mission, 337 00:15:02,208 --> 00:15:06,417 you probably don't want to reveal your own identity. 338 00:15:06,417 --> 00:15:07,500 - [Ronnie] Wait up. 339 00:15:07,500 --> 00:15:09,708 What about the destruction of the airplane? 340 00:15:09,708 --> 00:15:12,292 - Saddam set Kuwait ablaze. 341 00:15:13,792 --> 00:15:16,417 So it was not uncommon at the time 342 00:15:16,417 --> 00:15:21,542 for the Iraqis to destroy property. 343 00:15:21,542 --> 00:15:23,167 We're gonna destroy this. 344 00:15:23,167 --> 00:15:24,958 We're not gonna allow them to leave. 345 00:15:24,958 --> 00:15:27,333 We're not gonna allow this aircraft to leave. 346 00:15:27,333 --> 00:15:29,542 - [Ronnie] But advocates of the Trojan Horse theory 347 00:15:29,542 --> 00:15:33,167 believe the plane was actually targeted by the allies 348 00:15:33,167 --> 00:15:36,250 trying to cover up evidence of the secret operation. 349 00:15:36,250 --> 00:15:38,917 That lack of a blast crater, for instance. 350 00:15:38,917 --> 00:15:41,208 To me, it suggests a fire from a source 351 00:15:41,208 --> 00:15:43,667 other than a bomb planted inside. 352 00:15:43,667 --> 00:15:45,708 And Davis believes that source 353 00:15:45,708 --> 00:15:48,250 was an explosive dropped from above. 354 00:15:48,250 --> 00:15:50,875 - The plane was destroyed by the U.S. Air Force 355 00:15:50,875 --> 00:15:53,000 on a request from the British government. 356 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:56,333 A pilot zipped in, bombed it, and destroyed it. 357 00:15:57,542 --> 00:16:03,042 Of course, they did not want the plane examined closely. 358 00:16:03,042 --> 00:16:05,375 [tense music] 359 00:16:05,375 --> 00:16:07,292 - [Ronnie] Due to that lack of physical evidence, 360 00:16:07,292 --> 00:16:10,042 we may never know the whole story. 361 00:16:10,042 --> 00:16:11,333 And to this day, 362 00:16:11,333 --> 00:16:13,833 many passengers from Flight 149 say 363 00:16:13,833 --> 00:16:15,375 they're still suffering. 364 00:16:15,375 --> 00:16:18,542 And not only because of what Saddam did. 365 00:16:18,542 --> 00:16:22,125 - We had not received any apologies 366 00:16:22,125 --> 00:16:23,958 from the British government. 367 00:16:23,958 --> 00:16:26,208 Deborah and myself and my son 368 00:16:26,208 --> 00:16:29,875 and the other passengers were expendable. 369 00:16:29,875 --> 00:16:33,542 And we were basically on a Trojan Horse. 370 00:16:33,542 --> 00:16:36,083 [tense music] 371 00:16:37,375 --> 00:16:39,500 - Since the incident, some people have come forward 372 00:16:39,500 --> 00:16:41,833 to say that they were involved in the op, 373 00:16:41,833 --> 00:16:43,083 but the British government 374 00:16:43,083 --> 00:16:44,708 has always denied it ever happened. 375 00:16:45,167 --> 00:16:46,375 - But just last year, 376 00:16:46,375 --> 00:16:49,375 the Brits admitted they did make a mistake. 377 00:16:49,375 --> 00:16:52,333 They now say they knew about the invasion, 378 00:16:52,333 --> 00:16:54,125 but failed to tell British Airways. 379 00:16:58,000 --> 00:16:59,458 Warning, the imagery may be disturbing. 380 00:16:59,458 --> 00:17:01,333 - It shows the death of an American hero 381 00:17:01,333 --> 00:17:03,917 in the U.S. Navy SEALAB program. 382 00:17:03,917 --> 00:17:07,667 The big mystery: was it an accident or murder? 383 00:17:11,042 --> 00:17:13,667 February 17, 1969. 384 00:17:13,667 --> 00:17:15,542 We're in the Pacific Ocean off the coast 385 00:17:15,542 --> 00:17:17,542 of San Clemente Island, California. 386 00:17:17,542 --> 00:17:20,792 It's zero dark 30, and US Navy aquanauts, 387 00:17:20,792 --> 00:17:22,542 Bob Barth and Berry Cannon, 388 00:17:22,542 --> 00:17:24,375 are tasked with a critical mission. 389 00:17:24,375 --> 00:17:27,625 Fix a helium gas leak on SEALAB III, 390 00:17:27,625 --> 00:17:31,875 an incredible research facility 600 feet underwater. 391 00:17:31,875 --> 00:17:35,292 - Everybody was a little agitated 392 00:17:35,292 --> 00:17:37,667 and there'd been a lot of delays so far already. 393 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:41,125 A couple of the aquanauts volunteered 394 00:17:41,125 --> 00:17:44,250 to resolve the issue underwater. 395 00:17:44,250 --> 00:17:45,708 - [Rudy] Like much of SEALAB's work, 396 00:17:45,708 --> 00:17:49,250 the tragic incident that follows is captured on film. 397 00:17:49,250 --> 00:17:51,958 You can see that, suddenly, Cannon's mouthpiece, 398 00:17:51,958 --> 00:17:54,375 also called a regulator, comes loose 399 00:17:54,375 --> 00:17:56,708 and he's left convulsing on the ocean floor. 400 00:17:56,708 --> 00:17:59,792 Barth tries desperately to save Cannon's life, 401 00:17:59,792 --> 00:18:01,417 but he's too late. 402 00:18:01,417 --> 00:18:03,500 Our country loses a great aquanaut 403 00:18:03,500 --> 00:18:05,542 when Berry Cannon is pronounced dead. 404 00:18:05,542 --> 00:18:07,750 [melancholy music] 405 00:18:07,750 --> 00:18:10,375 - Shortly after Cannon's death, 406 00:18:10,375 --> 00:18:13,333 the whole SEALAB program was shut down. 407 00:18:13,333 --> 00:18:15,042 - [Rudy] Hang on now. Really? 408 00:18:15,042 --> 00:18:17,208 Cannon's death is a devastating loss, 409 00:18:17,208 --> 00:18:20,292 but the reality of experimental military programs 410 00:18:20,292 --> 00:18:22,625 is that fatal accidents do happen. 411 00:18:22,625 --> 00:18:24,125 Just two years earlier, 412 00:18:24,125 --> 00:18:27,208 three NASA astronauts died during a pre-launch test 413 00:18:27,208 --> 00:18:28,792 for the Apollo 1 mission. 414 00:18:28,792 --> 00:18:32,417 Nobody suggested shutting down the space program. 415 00:18:32,417 --> 00:18:34,708 Rumors swirl that maybe SEALAB was scrapped 416 00:18:34,708 --> 00:18:37,625 because Cannon's death wasn't an accident. 417 00:18:39,208 --> 00:18:42,333 - Rudy, you've got some experience diving, right? 418 00:18:42,333 --> 00:18:44,542 Does this death seem suspicious to you? 419 00:18:44,542 --> 00:18:46,708 - I've been diving over 20 years. 420 00:18:46,708 --> 00:18:48,000 And at these depths, 421 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:49,875 there's many things that can go wrong. 422 00:18:49,875 --> 00:18:53,083 First and foremost is decompression sickness. 423 00:18:53,083 --> 00:18:54,792 We call it the bends. 424 00:18:54,792 --> 00:18:56,375 As you see here, 425 00:18:56,375 --> 00:19:00,208 as the diver ascends the water column, the gas expands. 426 00:19:00,208 --> 00:19:03,458 If you don't do a safety stop or you ascend too fast, 427 00:19:03,458 --> 00:19:06,958 it comes out of your joints and into your nervous system, 428 00:19:06,958 --> 00:19:09,417 bends you over in pain. 429 00:19:09,417 --> 00:19:11,625 Now, how do you take care of that? 430 00:19:11,625 --> 00:19:14,500 First, you do some personal maintenance on your regulator. 431 00:19:14,500 --> 00:19:18,167 The regulator brings compressed air through the tube 432 00:19:18,167 --> 00:19:20,625 in your mouth so that you can breathe. 433 00:19:20,625 --> 00:19:21,917 For that reason, 434 00:19:21,917 --> 00:19:24,958 something about this story seems a bit odd to me. 435 00:19:24,958 --> 00:19:27,292 [tense music] 436 00:19:29,542 --> 00:19:32,667 Was Cannon's regulator not properly checked? 437 00:19:32,667 --> 00:19:36,208 Retired U.S. Navy submariner and author, Ken Sewell, 438 00:19:36,208 --> 00:19:38,292 admits it's possible this 439 00:19:38,292 --> 00:19:41,375 or other human errors could have been the blame. 440 00:19:41,375 --> 00:19:43,583 - There are always gonna be problems 441 00:19:43,583 --> 00:19:46,583 whenever you're developing a new system. 442 00:19:46,583 --> 00:19:50,125 Some of the conditions from breathing these compressed gases 443 00:19:50,125 --> 00:19:53,458 could cause some cognitive impairment. 444 00:19:53,458 --> 00:19:55,375 And so it could have been the fact 445 00:19:55,375 --> 00:19:57,042 that these men made mistakes. 446 00:19:57,042 --> 00:19:59,542 This was really dangerous. 447 00:19:59,542 --> 00:20:01,667 - [Rudy] But another theory soon emerged 448 00:20:01,667 --> 00:20:04,708 after an investigation into Cannon's death. 449 00:20:04,708 --> 00:20:09,292 - What they found was that his system was missing a chemical 450 00:20:09,292 --> 00:20:13,625 that pulled the carbon monoxide out of his air supply. 451 00:20:13,625 --> 00:20:16,375 And it wasn't that it was short or that it was damaged, 452 00:20:16,375 --> 00:20:18,083 it just wasn't there at all. 453 00:20:18,083 --> 00:20:20,083 So that led some to believe 454 00:20:20,083 --> 00:20:22,125 that it could have been sabotage. 455 00:20:22,125 --> 00:20:23,958 Somebody tried to kill these divers 456 00:20:23,958 --> 00:20:25,292 when they were below water. 457 00:20:25,292 --> 00:20:27,292 - [Rudy] U.S. Army vet and military journalist, 458 00:20:27,292 --> 00:20:29,708 Chris Capelluto, says Cannon's death 459 00:20:29,708 --> 00:20:32,625 was part of a pattern of suspicious events. 460 00:20:32,625 --> 00:20:36,458 - There was no shortage of sketchy problems happening. 461 00:20:36,458 --> 00:20:38,958 The transport capsule that brings the divers all the way 462 00:20:38,958 --> 00:20:42,292 down to the bottom of the ocean was tampered with, 463 00:20:42,292 --> 00:20:44,042 mysteriously flooded. 464 00:20:44,042 --> 00:20:45,958 And that caused a two-month delay. 465 00:20:45,958 --> 00:20:48,250 There was accusations that the oxygen valves 466 00:20:48,250 --> 00:20:49,750 in the decompression chamber 467 00:20:49,750 --> 00:20:52,375 had been tampered with multiple times. 468 00:20:52,375 --> 00:20:53,833 All the evidence suggested 469 00:20:53,833 --> 00:20:56,208 that there was a saboteur working behind the scenes. 470 00:20:56,208 --> 00:20:59,083 - [Rudy] Not much info on the investigation's been released. 471 00:20:59,083 --> 00:21:02,208 But what has is chilling. 472 00:21:02,208 --> 00:21:05,042 - A potentially unstable suspect was identified 473 00:21:05,042 --> 00:21:07,542 by the Navy mental health officials. 474 00:21:07,542 --> 00:21:09,292 - [Rudy] But oddly, that suspect 475 00:21:09,292 --> 00:21:12,208 was never publicly named or charged. 476 00:21:12,208 --> 00:21:14,375 Maybe the Navy didn't think he was guilty, 477 00:21:14,375 --> 00:21:16,500 despite the fact that life in SEALAB 478 00:21:16,500 --> 00:21:19,250 could be triggering for a troubled person. 479 00:21:19,250 --> 00:21:20,917 - They're in this cramped environment. 480 00:21:20,917 --> 00:21:22,500 It's not crazy to think 481 00:21:22,500 --> 00:21:24,833 that it may have altered their mindset. 482 00:21:24,833 --> 00:21:26,500 I don't know that it would alter somebody 483 00:21:26,500 --> 00:21:29,583 to the point of sabotaging one of their crewmates, 484 00:21:29,583 --> 00:21:31,750 but it's entirely possible. 485 00:21:31,750 --> 00:21:34,292 - [Rudy] Another theory is that the Navy didn't wanna 486 00:21:34,292 --> 00:21:35,708 draw attention to SEALAB 487 00:21:35,708 --> 00:21:39,042 because of the types of experiments they were doing. 488 00:21:39,042 --> 00:21:41,708 - It was a military program from the very beginning. 489 00:21:41,708 --> 00:21:45,042 SEALAB was strictly to develop the technology 490 00:21:45,042 --> 00:21:47,042 to tap the Soviet cables. 491 00:21:47,042 --> 00:21:49,458 The Soviet Union sent most 492 00:21:49,458 --> 00:21:52,208 of their military messages via cable. 493 00:21:52,208 --> 00:21:54,083 It was heavy, it was armor plated, 494 00:21:54,083 --> 00:21:55,625 it was buried in the sand, 495 00:21:55,625 --> 00:21:58,375 and it was well within their territorial waters. 496 00:21:58,375 --> 00:22:02,333 The cables were at depths where the technology derived 497 00:22:02,333 --> 00:22:06,000 from the SEALAB project could be utilized. 498 00:22:07,542 --> 00:22:08,750 - [Rudy] In other words, 499 00:22:08,750 --> 00:22:10,875 SEALAB may have been a deep-sea proving ground 500 00:22:10,875 --> 00:22:15,292 for testing tools to sabotage Russian communications. 501 00:22:15,292 --> 00:22:19,000 So could this unnamed suspect have been a spy? 502 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:20,500 Consider this: 503 00:22:20,500 --> 00:22:23,083 at the exact time of the SEALAB disaster, 504 00:22:23,083 --> 00:22:27,542 the KGB had infiltrated the Navy thanks to this man, 505 00:22:27,542 --> 00:22:30,375 Chief Warrant Officer John Walker, 506 00:22:30,375 --> 00:22:33,000 a traitor who fed the Soviets intelligence 507 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:35,958 for a whopping 18 years. 508 00:22:35,958 --> 00:22:37,542 - Ironically, at this time, 509 00:22:37,542 --> 00:22:40,375 the Soviet Union was also listening to us. 510 00:22:40,375 --> 00:22:42,458 So we were listening to each other. 511 00:22:42,458 --> 00:22:45,000 - [Rudy] Did the Soviets penetrate SEALAB? 512 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:46,500 There's no hard evidence. 513 00:22:46,500 --> 00:22:50,042 But there's one final theory about how SEALAB ended. 514 00:22:50,042 --> 00:22:51,542 It didn't. 515 00:22:51,542 --> 00:22:53,250 - It never really did go away. 516 00:22:53,250 --> 00:22:54,708 It kinda went to the next level 517 00:22:54,708 --> 00:22:57,667 into a world of covert operations. 518 00:22:57,667 --> 00:23:00,542 So what better way to just kinda pull the plug? 519 00:23:00,542 --> 00:23:03,750 I think it was a convenient point 520 00:23:03,750 --> 00:23:07,708 to transfer that program from the light of day 521 00:23:07,708 --> 00:23:10,333 into the shadows of a covert operation. 522 00:23:10,333 --> 00:23:12,792 [tense music] 523 00:23:16,125 --> 00:23:18,375 - Okay, so Rudy, where do you come out on this, 524 00:23:18,375 --> 00:23:20,500 accident or murder? 525 00:23:20,875 --> 00:23:23,792 - The circumstances seem suspicious to me, 526 00:23:23,792 --> 00:23:26,667 but there are a million things that can go wrong underwater. 527 00:23:26,875 --> 00:23:28,500 And I doubt there was a spy involved 528 00:23:28,500 --> 00:23:30,750 given the high security in the program. 529 00:23:34,625 --> 00:23:36,000 - Operation Barbarossa was the code name 530 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:38,375 for Adolf Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union. 531 00:23:38,375 --> 00:23:39,833 He assumed it would be another win 532 00:23:39,833 --> 00:23:42,375 for his Blitzkrieg machine, but he was dead wrong. 533 00:23:42,375 --> 00:23:43,875 - One of the ways the Russians fought back 534 00:23:43,875 --> 00:23:46,833 was with a squadron of mystery pilots. 535 00:23:46,833 --> 00:23:49,208 Now at the time, the Nazis were wondering 536 00:23:49,208 --> 00:23:50,792 who were the mystery pilots 537 00:23:50,792 --> 00:23:52,875 and why were they so deadly? 538 00:23:53,958 --> 00:23:56,875 June 28th, 1942. 539 00:23:56,875 --> 00:23:58,708 After its initial invasion of Russia 540 00:23:58,708 --> 00:24:01,000 has bogged down in a war of attrition, 541 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:03,750 the Nazis are launching a summer offensive 542 00:24:03,750 --> 00:24:06,833 and making some significant advances in the south. 543 00:24:06,833 --> 00:24:10,042 But on this evening, outside the city of Stavropol, 544 00:24:10,042 --> 00:24:13,125 a brand new threat is preparing to strike. 545 00:24:13,125 --> 00:24:17,083 Silent, deadly, and unlike anything the Nazis 546 00:24:17,083 --> 00:24:18,542 have ever faced before. 547 00:24:18,542 --> 00:24:21,500 - It's nighttime, the Germans are resting. 548 00:24:21,500 --> 00:24:24,833 Suddenly they hear this very unique sound, 549 00:24:24,833 --> 00:24:29,042 like branches whistling in the wind. 550 00:24:29,042 --> 00:24:30,250 [wind whooshing] 551 00:24:30,250 --> 00:24:32,167 And before they know it, 552 00:24:32,167 --> 00:24:37,042 their base just lights up in a series of explosions. 553 00:24:37,042 --> 00:24:38,708 [explosions booming] 554 00:24:38,708 --> 00:24:40,667 - [Ronnie] It's an air raid by the Russians, 555 00:24:40,667 --> 00:24:42,583 and it's not just one. 556 00:24:42,583 --> 00:24:43,833 Night after night, 557 00:24:43,833 --> 00:24:45,708 the Germans are attacked from above 558 00:24:45,708 --> 00:24:48,375 by pilots who seem to have incredible aim 559 00:24:48,375 --> 00:24:50,750 and whose planes make this weird sound. 560 00:24:50,750 --> 00:24:53,042 To the Germans, it's a mystery. 561 00:24:53,042 --> 00:24:54,958 Who are these guys? 562 00:24:54,958 --> 00:24:57,792 - You can imagine how terrifying it would be 563 00:24:57,792 --> 00:25:00,708 to be out at night minding your business, doing your job, 564 00:25:00,708 --> 00:25:03,042 and you hear this whistling in the distance. 565 00:25:03,042 --> 00:25:04,250 You can't see it. 566 00:25:04,250 --> 00:25:05,542 You can't protect yourself. 567 00:25:05,542 --> 00:25:07,625 You have no idea if you're safe. 568 00:25:08,583 --> 00:25:09,958 - Many soldiers will tell you 569 00:25:09,958 --> 00:25:12,417 they can identify different aircraft from afar 570 00:25:12,417 --> 00:25:13,667 just by the sounds they make. 571 00:25:13,667 --> 00:25:14,875 - That's right. 572 00:25:14,875 --> 00:25:16,167 You can easily tell the difference 573 00:25:16,167 --> 00:25:17,292 between a Little Bird 574 00:25:17,292 --> 00:25:19,458 [helicopter whirring] 575 00:25:19,458 --> 00:25:20,333 and a Chinook. 576 00:25:20,333 --> 00:25:22,625 [helicopter whirring] 577 00:25:22,625 --> 00:25:23,917 - But in this case, 578 00:25:23,917 --> 00:25:26,083 the Germans couldn't hear much of anything. 579 00:25:26,083 --> 00:25:28,417 It slowed down their reaction speed. 580 00:25:28,417 --> 00:25:30,875 They had no time to duck and cover. 581 00:25:30,875 --> 00:25:33,292 - We asked our experts what's behind all this. 582 00:25:33,292 --> 00:25:35,708 [tense music] 583 00:25:37,875 --> 00:25:40,125 Former naval aviator, Ward Carroll, 584 00:25:40,125 --> 00:25:42,542 says the Germans figured out the identity 585 00:25:42,542 --> 00:25:44,917 of the pilots when they shot a few down. 586 00:25:44,917 --> 00:25:47,625 - The Germans were shocked to realize 587 00:25:47,625 --> 00:25:50,292 that all of the pilots were female. 588 00:25:51,250 --> 00:25:54,708 - [Ronnie] Here's some photos of these mystery pilots. 589 00:25:54,708 --> 00:25:56,792 Dictator Joseph Stalin had formed 590 00:25:56,792 --> 00:25:59,542 this all-female combat air squadron, 591 00:25:59,542 --> 00:26:01,917 officially known as the 588th Regiment, 592 00:26:01,917 --> 00:26:05,958 at the behest of female aviator Marina Raskova. 593 00:26:05,958 --> 00:26:09,750 - 400 women were put through an accelerated flight program. 594 00:26:09,750 --> 00:26:12,375 - [Ronnie] But why were they so deadly? 595 00:26:12,375 --> 00:26:15,750 That tied back to the strange sound their planes made. 596 00:26:15,750 --> 00:26:17,708 Turns out these top-notch women 597 00:26:17,708 --> 00:26:19,750 were given bargain-basement gear, 598 00:26:19,750 --> 00:26:21,625 outdated wooden planes better suited 599 00:26:21,625 --> 00:26:24,083 for crop dusting than bombing raids. 600 00:26:25,458 --> 00:26:28,208 - [Ward] So the Po-2, the Mule, 601 00:26:28,208 --> 00:26:32,792 was a early 20th-century technology biplane. 602 00:26:33,917 --> 00:26:36,208 It would've been more at home in World War I 603 00:26:36,208 --> 00:26:37,250 than World War II. 604 00:26:37,250 --> 00:26:41,042 Canvas, wooden, very basic, very rudimentary. 605 00:26:41,042 --> 00:26:43,500 - [Ronnie] Even so, these women figured out a way 606 00:26:43,500 --> 00:26:44,833 to use these planes 607 00:26:44,833 --> 00:26:47,125 that would provide that element of surprise. 608 00:26:48,250 --> 00:26:50,542 - And once they got close to their bombing area, 609 00:26:50,542 --> 00:26:51,792 they'd idle their engines 610 00:26:51,792 --> 00:26:54,250 and glide down towards their target. 611 00:26:54,250 --> 00:26:56,833 This meant that they were effectively silent. 612 00:26:56,833 --> 00:26:58,458 All anyone could hear 613 00:26:58,458 --> 00:27:02,042 was the sound of the wind going over and under their wings. 614 00:27:02,042 --> 00:27:05,000 So it would've created this really eerie, 615 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:07,750 almost otherworldly sounding sound. 616 00:27:09,542 --> 00:27:11,083 You wouldn't know where they were 617 00:27:11,083 --> 00:27:14,292 or what they were targeting until you heard the explosion. 618 00:27:14,292 --> 00:27:16,292 [tense music] 619 00:27:17,708 --> 00:27:19,250 - [Ronnie] The Germans would create a name 620 00:27:19,250 --> 00:27:20,875 for these unique attackers, 621 00:27:20,875 --> 00:27:24,917 Die Nachthexen, AKA the Night Witches. 622 00:27:24,917 --> 00:27:27,833 - The type of plane actually plays into the nickname 623 00:27:27,833 --> 00:27:29,167 that these pilots had. 624 00:27:30,208 --> 00:27:32,917 These wooden planes were akin to broomsticks. 625 00:27:32,917 --> 00:27:35,083 And the fact that you couldn't hear the plane coming, 626 00:27:35,083 --> 00:27:37,042 you just heard this whistling sound, 627 00:27:37,042 --> 00:27:40,333 was like a witch flying a broom through the night sky. 628 00:27:42,958 --> 00:27:44,667 - [Ronnie] So, why haven't we heard more 629 00:27:44,667 --> 00:27:47,042 about these deadly pilots? 630 00:27:47,042 --> 00:27:49,125 Sadly, although the Night Witches 631 00:27:49,125 --> 00:27:52,125 were the most highly-decorated unit in the Soviet Air Force, 632 00:27:52,125 --> 00:27:53,958 they were disbanded after the war 633 00:27:53,958 --> 00:27:57,583 and excluded from the big victory day parade in Moscow, 634 00:27:57,583 --> 00:28:00,292 leaving history the same way they arrived, 635 00:28:00,292 --> 00:28:02,625 as a shadowy, secret legend. 636 00:28:02,625 --> 00:28:04,917 [tense music] 637 00:28:06,583 --> 00:28:08,250 By the end of World War II, 638 00:28:08,250 --> 00:28:11,708 the Soviet Night Witches had flown 30,000 combat missions. 639 00:28:11,708 --> 00:28:13,708 That's a huge number. 640 00:28:13,708 --> 00:28:15,417 - You know, over here in the U.S., 641 00:28:15,417 --> 00:28:19,042 we had an all-female air group called the WASPs, 642 00:28:19,042 --> 00:28:21,250 the Women Airforce Service Pilots. 643 00:28:21,250 --> 00:28:22,667 They tested planes 644 00:28:22,667 --> 00:28:25,250 and they helped train male fighter pilots. 645 00:28:25,250 --> 00:28:27,417 But unlike their Russian counterparts, 646 00:28:27,417 --> 00:28:28,958 they never saw a day of combat. 647 00:28:32,833 --> 00:28:34,042 It's time for this week's secret weapon piece. 648 00:28:34,042 --> 00:28:36,750 And in this case, the weapon is so secret, 649 00:28:36,750 --> 00:28:38,875 there are hardly any photos of it. 650 00:28:38,875 --> 00:28:40,625 - Yeah, this was over 80 years ago 651 00:28:40,625 --> 00:28:42,917 and we think it might be a tank, 652 00:28:42,917 --> 00:28:44,375 but it doesn't look like anything I've ever seen. 653 00:28:44,375 --> 00:28:46,667 It actually looks a little bit dorky looking. 654 00:28:46,667 --> 00:28:50,125 The question is, what was the Kugelpanzer? 655 00:28:50,125 --> 00:28:51,708 [tense music] 656 00:28:51,708 --> 00:28:54,292 - [Rudy] Manchuria, 1945. 657 00:28:54,292 --> 00:28:56,792 It's the tail end of the Second World War 658 00:28:56,792 --> 00:28:58,833 and the Russian Red Army is on the march 659 00:28:58,833 --> 00:29:02,167 for the largest campaign of the Soviet-Japanese War. 660 00:29:02,167 --> 00:29:05,833 In just over one week, the Red Army is victorious. 661 00:29:05,833 --> 00:29:07,833 But when the smoke clears, 662 00:29:07,833 --> 00:29:10,542 Russian soldiers are left standing perplexed 663 00:29:10,542 --> 00:29:13,667 over a small, strange alien-like piece of machinery 664 00:29:13,667 --> 00:29:15,542 that's been left behind, 665 00:29:15,542 --> 00:29:18,208 wondering what the heck is this? 666 00:29:18,208 --> 00:29:20,042 - Compared to a lot of the weapons 667 00:29:20,042 --> 00:29:22,958 that we saw being developed during the Second World War, 668 00:29:22,958 --> 00:29:25,125 this is definitely one of the stranger ones. 669 00:29:26,083 --> 00:29:28,292 - [Rudy] We can see it's a sphere made of metal, 670 00:29:28,292 --> 00:29:32,542 just under five feet tall and weighing over 4,000 pounds. 671 00:29:32,542 --> 00:29:34,458 The only clue to this oddity's origin 672 00:29:34,458 --> 00:29:37,375 is the Iron Cross painted on its sides. 673 00:29:37,375 --> 00:29:40,000 That means it's Nazi tech. 674 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:43,583 While it may not have a known purpose, it does have a name. 675 00:29:43,583 --> 00:29:45,042 - So what we have here 676 00:29:45,042 --> 00:29:50,542 in this picture is a mysterious Second World War vehicle 677 00:29:50,542 --> 00:29:52,167 known as the Kugelpanzer. 678 00:29:53,542 --> 00:29:56,292 - [Rudy] The Nazis used nearly 100 different types 679 00:29:56,292 --> 00:29:57,667 of combat vehicles. 680 00:29:57,667 --> 00:29:59,208 And while some of them, 681 00:29:59,208 --> 00:30:02,542 like the Panzer V Panther or the Panzer VI Tiger, 682 00:30:02,542 --> 00:30:04,500 became infamous legends, 683 00:30:04,500 --> 00:30:08,000 the Kugelpanzer barely left the development stage 684 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:10,500 and remained a strange curiosity. 685 00:30:10,500 --> 00:30:12,875 - They never made it to the assembly line. 686 00:30:12,875 --> 00:30:16,167 So it was just one thing and one thing only. 687 00:30:16,167 --> 00:30:22,625 So, even if it was useful in actual battlefield situation, 688 00:30:22,625 --> 00:30:24,125 with only one thing, 689 00:30:24,125 --> 00:30:27,000 there's only so much you can accomplish. 690 00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:29,750 - [Rudy] With barely any historical records to go on, 691 00:30:29,750 --> 00:30:31,125 we have to look deeper 692 00:30:31,125 --> 00:30:33,958 to determine more about this mystery machine. 693 00:30:33,958 --> 00:30:36,708 What was the Kugelpanzer's actual purpose 694 00:30:36,708 --> 00:30:39,333 and how did it end up in Japan? 695 00:30:39,333 --> 00:30:41,750 - The Kugelpanzer actually joins a long list 696 00:30:41,750 --> 00:30:44,208 of other bizarre combat contraptions 697 00:30:44,208 --> 00:30:47,208 that never quite made it to the assembly line. 698 00:30:47,208 --> 00:30:49,250 - Right here's the Big Bob from New Zealand. 699 00:30:50,375 --> 00:30:53,542 This is the Treffas-Wagen from Germany. 700 00:30:53,542 --> 00:30:56,708 And last but not least, from the bad idea factory, 701 00:30:56,708 --> 00:30:59,000 the Praying Mantis from the UK. 702 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:00,500 - Yeah, I don't know what's weirder, 703 00:31:00,500 --> 00:31:02,042 the Kugelpanzer itself 704 00:31:02,042 --> 00:31:04,667 or the fact that other people had this same strange idea. 705 00:31:04,667 --> 00:31:06,167 Let's check in with our experts 706 00:31:06,167 --> 00:31:07,792 and see what they have to say about this odd bit of tech. 707 00:31:07,792 --> 00:31:10,375 [intense music] 708 00:31:12,250 --> 00:31:13,792 - Obviously, it's much smaller 709 00:31:13,792 --> 00:31:16,667 than a full-sized World War II tank. 710 00:31:16,667 --> 00:31:18,208 It can get into a lot of places 711 00:31:18,208 --> 00:31:20,500 that a full-size battle tank's not gonna get into. 712 00:31:20,500 --> 00:31:22,500 - A few characteristics here is the exterior 713 00:31:22,500 --> 00:31:26,083 was made up of a thick kind of metal construction, 714 00:31:26,083 --> 00:31:29,208 designed to keep out bullets and other small arms fire. 715 00:31:29,208 --> 00:31:31,000 On the back side of the ball 716 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:33,500 was an entryway for the operator to be able to crawl in 717 00:31:33,500 --> 00:31:36,750 and access the driving mechanism inside. 718 00:31:36,750 --> 00:31:41,167 - If it only has an engine the size of a motorcycle engine, 719 00:31:41,167 --> 00:31:43,208 it's not gonna be the fastest thing on the battlefield. 720 00:31:43,208 --> 00:31:46,667 It's gonna be limited in its speed. 721 00:31:46,667 --> 00:31:48,708 It's probably also gonna be limited 722 00:31:48,708 --> 00:31:50,458 in terms of how far you can go 723 00:31:50,458 --> 00:31:53,583 on a single tank of gas before it needs to refuel. 724 00:31:53,583 --> 00:31:56,875 - [Rudy] World War II historian, Sayuri Shimizu, 725 00:31:56,875 --> 00:31:58,208 adds another observation. 726 00:31:58,208 --> 00:32:01,250 - This can only be used for reconnaissance 727 00:32:01,250 --> 00:32:06,208 or some kind of a moving things over for long distance. 728 00:32:06,208 --> 00:32:09,333 That kind of transport or reconnaissance purpose. 729 00:32:10,292 --> 00:32:12,042 - [Rudy] Maybe the biggest mystery is 730 00:32:12,042 --> 00:32:14,708 how this one-of-a-kind Nazi weapon ended up 731 00:32:14,708 --> 00:32:16,417 in Japan to begin with. 732 00:32:17,417 --> 00:32:21,042 - Some experts believed that it was given by the Germans 733 00:32:21,042 --> 00:32:24,000 to Japan as a sort of a gift of good will. 734 00:32:24,958 --> 00:32:27,333 And then nobody was really expecting 735 00:32:27,333 --> 00:32:31,042 to really do any actual military purpose. 736 00:32:31,042 --> 00:32:32,958 - [Rudy] But by that point in the war, 737 00:32:32,958 --> 00:32:35,042 the Japanese were so desperate, 738 00:32:35,042 --> 00:32:37,000 they were willing to send this oddity 739 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:39,417 to the front lines to fight the Soviets. 740 00:32:39,417 --> 00:32:41,833 - This looks kind of very science fictiony. 741 00:32:41,833 --> 00:32:44,167 And maybe in the movies, like "Star Wars," 742 00:32:44,167 --> 00:32:47,333 it would play a valuable role in combat. 743 00:32:47,333 --> 00:32:50,000 But I think in the battlefield of Europe 744 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:51,458 in the Second World War, 745 00:32:51,458 --> 00:32:54,042 this is probably not your best choice of vehicle. 746 00:32:54,042 --> 00:32:55,792 - So some people might theorize 747 00:32:55,792 --> 00:33:00,000 that this was designed to work as a reconnaissance platform 748 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:02,000 or for use by scouts, 749 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:04,583 but all of the other drawbacks of it 750 00:33:04,583 --> 00:33:06,042 make that less likely 751 00:33:06,042 --> 00:33:08,875 just based on the problems with the scale, 752 00:33:08,875 --> 00:33:12,000 the problems with the visibility. 753 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:14,125 - [Rudy] The idea for a rolling ball tank 754 00:33:14,125 --> 00:33:15,708 first presented itself 755 00:33:15,708 --> 00:33:19,792 as a way to traverse no man's land in the First World War, 756 00:33:19,792 --> 00:33:23,750 where the Kugelpanzer could have possibly had some success 757 00:33:23,750 --> 00:33:25,917 as a one-man combat vehicle. 758 00:33:25,917 --> 00:33:28,333 But, as our experts have pointed out, 759 00:33:28,333 --> 00:33:30,833 this design would've been completely ineffective 760 00:33:30,833 --> 00:33:32,583 against the more advanced weapons 761 00:33:32,583 --> 00:33:35,833 and divergent landscapes of World War II. 762 00:33:35,833 --> 00:33:37,333 - Once you start trying 763 00:33:37,333 --> 00:33:39,750 to get this object through heavily forested areas 764 00:33:39,750 --> 00:33:41,000 or through cities 765 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:43,375 or through sort of real life battlefields, 766 00:33:43,375 --> 00:33:46,750 I think the theory of how successful this machine would be 767 00:33:46,750 --> 00:33:49,250 sort of quickly falls apart. 768 00:33:49,250 --> 00:33:51,292 - [Rudy] And while we all can make our best guesses 769 00:33:51,292 --> 00:33:52,875 about the Kugelpanzer, 770 00:33:52,875 --> 00:33:56,333 it remains to be seen if we will ever figure out the truth 771 00:33:56,333 --> 00:33:58,708 behind this strange, little vehicle. 772 00:33:58,708 --> 00:34:02,208 - We need to understand there's very few photos 773 00:34:02,208 --> 00:34:05,042 of this object, even today. 774 00:34:05,042 --> 00:34:07,542 We're ultimately just left to speculate. 775 00:34:07,542 --> 00:34:09,583 [tense music] 776 00:34:10,875 --> 00:34:12,333 - I still think it's dorky looking, 777 00:34:12,333 --> 00:34:14,750 but our best guess of what it was for 778 00:34:14,750 --> 00:34:17,875 is the Kugelpanzer's some sort of recon vehicle 779 00:34:17,875 --> 00:34:20,958 presented to the Japanese in the final days of the war. 780 00:34:20,958 --> 00:34:22,500 - But this we do know. 781 00:34:22,500 --> 00:34:25,375 You can see the artifact in all of its ridiculous glory 782 00:34:25,375 --> 00:34:27,708 at the Kubinka Tank Museum in Moscow, Russia. 783 00:34:31,958 --> 00:34:33,250 - The fog of war is a real thing. 784 00:34:33,375 --> 00:34:35,500 I've been lit up a couple of times by friendly forces. 785 00:34:35,500 --> 00:34:39,042 Now, that's people that you know are your friends, 786 00:34:39,042 --> 00:34:40,708 and then you know who the enemies are as well. 787 00:34:40,708 --> 00:34:44,375 But imagine fighting someone or some force 788 00:34:44,375 --> 00:34:46,292 that's completely anonymous. 789 00:34:46,292 --> 00:34:49,000 - And that's exactly what happened a few years back. 790 00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:51,375 A bunch of randos on the battlefield, 791 00:34:51,375 --> 00:34:53,833 nicknamed little green men. 792 00:34:53,833 --> 00:34:55,667 And the mystery, who were they? 793 00:34:55,667 --> 00:34:57,333 [suspenseful music] 794 00:34:57,333 --> 00:34:59,000 [citizens cheering] 795 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:02,542 Eight years prior to Russia's infamous invasion of Ukraine, 796 00:35:02,542 --> 00:35:05,375 a conflict erupted between loyal Ukrainians 797 00:35:05,375 --> 00:35:06,750 and Russian stalwarts, 798 00:35:08,167 --> 00:35:09,625 who intended to annex 799 00:35:09,625 --> 00:35:12,208 the strategically important peninsula of Crimea. 800 00:35:14,083 --> 00:35:16,208 [camera shutter clicking] 801 00:35:19,667 --> 00:35:23,292 You can see in this video some mysterious armed men. 802 00:35:23,292 --> 00:35:26,333 They're wearing face masks and plain green uniforms 803 00:35:26,333 --> 00:35:28,250 with no identifying insignia. 804 00:35:29,042 --> 00:35:31,542 Historian Martin KA Morgan 805 00:35:31,542 --> 00:35:34,208 says they immediately make their presence felt. 806 00:35:34,208 --> 00:35:36,458 - The fact that their clad from head to toe 807 00:35:36,458 --> 00:35:38,708 in this contemporary green camouflage 808 00:35:38,708 --> 00:35:41,292 leads to them being called the green men, 809 00:35:41,292 --> 00:35:44,292 the way that Americans referred to aliens back in the day. 810 00:35:44,292 --> 00:35:45,208 - Who were these guys? 811 00:35:45,208 --> 00:35:47,042 Were they Russian intelligence? 812 00:35:47,042 --> 00:35:48,417 Were they Russian special forces? 813 00:35:48,417 --> 00:35:50,417 Were they Russian military? 814 00:35:50,417 --> 00:35:52,083 Were they Ukrainian separatists? 815 00:35:52,083 --> 00:35:53,333 Were they contractors brought in? 816 00:35:53,333 --> 00:35:56,250 Were they warlords from another country? 817 00:35:56,250 --> 00:35:58,500 - [Ronnie] These mysterious little green men 818 00:35:58,500 --> 00:36:01,667 seized the local airports and military bases. 819 00:36:02,667 --> 00:36:05,875 President Vladimir Putin denies that they're Russian troops. 820 00:36:05,875 --> 00:36:09,958 Instead, he claims that they're local self-defense forces. 821 00:36:09,958 --> 00:36:11,542 - In other words, these are people 822 00:36:11,542 --> 00:36:13,583 living within the borders of Ukraine, 823 00:36:13,583 --> 00:36:15,542 who because of their fondness 824 00:36:15,542 --> 00:36:18,667 and their admiration for Russia and the Russian people, 825 00:36:18,667 --> 00:36:20,333 wish to secede 826 00:36:20,333 --> 00:36:23,083 and wish to become a part of the Russian Federation. 827 00:36:23,083 --> 00:36:25,208 - [Ronnie] Military historian Anand Toprani 828 00:36:25,208 --> 00:36:26,833 says under that pretext, 829 00:36:26,833 --> 00:36:29,750 Russia seizes Crimea from Ukraine weeks later. 830 00:36:29,750 --> 00:36:31,667 - People are sort of thinking to themselves, 831 00:36:31,667 --> 00:36:34,958 "Well, what if they actually are pro-Russian groups?" 832 00:36:34,958 --> 00:36:36,125 [citizens chanting] 833 00:36:36,125 --> 00:36:37,583 - [Anand] "What if actually people in Crimea 834 00:36:37,583 --> 00:36:38,917 want to stay part of Russia? 835 00:36:38,917 --> 00:36:40,208 Who are we to say 836 00:36:40,208 --> 00:36:41,958 that they shouldn't remain part of Russia?" 837 00:36:41,958 --> 00:36:43,125 [citizens chanting] 838 00:36:43,125 --> 00:36:44,750 And by the time that whole process 839 00:36:44,750 --> 00:36:46,333 had worked its way out, 840 00:36:46,333 --> 00:36:48,042 the Russians have already taken over the whole thing 841 00:36:48,042 --> 00:36:49,917 and it's au fait accompli. 842 00:36:49,917 --> 00:36:51,500 - We know that historically, 843 00:36:51,500 --> 00:36:54,250 the Crimea has been of strategic importance to Russia. 844 00:36:54,250 --> 00:36:55,542 The Port of Sevastopol 845 00:36:55,542 --> 00:36:57,542 is one of the few deep-water ports 846 00:36:57,542 --> 00:36:59,708 available to Russia in the area. 847 00:36:59,708 --> 00:37:02,917 So the Crimea is a key hold for maritime routes 848 00:37:02,917 --> 00:37:04,083 from the Black Sea, 849 00:37:04,083 --> 00:37:05,708 to the Mediterranean Sea, 850 00:37:05,708 --> 00:37:07,542 and all the way out to the Atlantic Ocean. 851 00:37:07,542 --> 00:37:09,292 - We also know that the little green men 852 00:37:09,292 --> 00:37:11,417 caught the Pentagon by surprise, 853 00:37:11,417 --> 00:37:13,417 thanks to their cyber tactics, 854 00:37:13,417 --> 00:37:16,000 hacking, spoofing, and phishing, 855 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:20,000 to disable Ukrainian defenses and pinpoint targets. 856 00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:21,708 But who were they exactly? 857 00:37:21,708 --> 00:37:23,750 [tense music] 858 00:37:25,250 --> 00:37:26,708 - [Ronnie] Morgan believes the key 859 00:37:26,708 --> 00:37:28,792 to identifying the little green men 860 00:37:28,792 --> 00:37:30,333 is their gear. 861 00:37:30,333 --> 00:37:31,583 - You can clearly see they're armed 862 00:37:31,583 --> 00:37:34,458 with the AK-74M assault rifle. 863 00:37:34,458 --> 00:37:35,792 - [Ronnie] The AK-74 864 00:37:35,792 --> 00:37:38,958 is a gas-operated, selective fire weapon. 865 00:37:38,958 --> 00:37:42,375 Many militaries use it, including, guess who? 866 00:37:42,375 --> 00:37:43,750 The Russians. 867 00:37:43,750 --> 00:37:45,375 And that's not all. 868 00:37:45,375 --> 00:37:47,833 - They're carrying the PKM machine gun. 869 00:37:47,833 --> 00:37:50,875 They're carrying the GP-25 40-millimeter grenade launcher. 870 00:37:50,875 --> 00:37:55,042 They're carrying the SVD-63 sniper rifle. 871 00:37:55,042 --> 00:37:57,583 - [Ronnie] This weapon system is extremely effective, 872 00:37:57,583 --> 00:37:59,042 all the way out to 800 meters. 873 00:37:59,042 --> 00:38:02,292 It's seen action everywhere from Vietnam to Nicaragua. 874 00:38:02,292 --> 00:38:04,542 - They're carrying all of the small arms 875 00:38:04,542 --> 00:38:07,583 that arm the armed forces of the Russian Federation. 876 00:38:07,583 --> 00:38:09,458 - [Ronnie] Putin claimed that anyone 877 00:38:09,458 --> 00:38:11,208 could buy those weapons. 878 00:38:11,208 --> 00:38:13,375 And while that didn't pass the smell test, 879 00:38:13,375 --> 00:38:16,125 it did raise an interesting possibility, 880 00:38:16,125 --> 00:38:19,292 that these men were not just any regular Russian troops, 881 00:38:19,292 --> 00:38:21,708 but members of a shadowy organization. 882 00:38:21,708 --> 00:38:23,250 - There's also the possibility 883 00:38:23,250 --> 00:38:26,208 that these were Wagner Group mercenaries 884 00:38:26,208 --> 00:38:28,875 and that the Russian Federation was 885 00:38:28,875 --> 00:38:33,250 employing mercenaries through a private security firm. 886 00:38:33,250 --> 00:38:34,875 - [Ronnie] The Wagner Group was once called 887 00:38:34,875 --> 00:38:36,500 Putin's shadow army, 888 00:38:36,500 --> 00:38:38,458 regularly doing Putin's dirty work, 889 00:38:38,458 --> 00:38:41,542 while providing the Kremlin with plausible deniability. 890 00:38:42,500 --> 00:38:45,208 Since the Wagner Group's first appearance in 2014, 891 00:38:45,208 --> 00:38:47,583 two men have claimed founding it. 892 00:38:47,583 --> 00:38:50,292 The late Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Prigozhin, 893 00:38:50,292 --> 00:38:54,167 and Dmitry Utkin, a retired Russian special forces officer. 894 00:38:54,167 --> 00:38:57,000 They've gone on to operating conflicts all over the world, 895 00:38:57,000 --> 00:38:59,625 and they were blamed for taking part in a vicious massacre 896 00:38:59,625 --> 00:39:01,708 that killed over 200 people 897 00:39:01,708 --> 00:39:04,292 in the West African nation of Mali. 898 00:39:04,292 --> 00:39:06,417 - This firm, it works at the behest 899 00:39:06,417 --> 00:39:08,958 of whatever state is sort of paying its bills. 900 00:39:08,958 --> 00:39:11,000 But you have the plausible deniability 901 00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:14,250 because these are private, sort of contractors, 902 00:39:14,250 --> 00:39:16,750 they don't have sort of the rights 903 00:39:16,750 --> 00:39:19,792 or obligations of ordinary soldiers. 904 00:39:19,792 --> 00:39:20,917 - [Ronnie] Although once considered 905 00:39:20,917 --> 00:39:23,875 Putin's secret weapon, in June of 2023, 906 00:39:23,875 --> 00:39:25,708 Yevgeniy Prigozhin led the Wagner Group 907 00:39:25,708 --> 00:39:27,708 in an attempted rebellion against Putin 908 00:39:27,708 --> 00:39:29,500 and Russia's Ministry of Defense 909 00:39:29,500 --> 00:39:30,833 due to his increased frustration 910 00:39:30,833 --> 00:39:33,292 with Russia's top military brass. 911 00:39:33,292 --> 00:39:35,542 However, the attempted coup failed, 912 00:39:35,542 --> 00:39:37,542 and Prigozhin would die in a plane crash 913 00:39:37,542 --> 00:39:39,042 just two months later, 914 00:39:39,042 --> 00:39:41,917 leaving the current status of the Wagner Group unclear. 915 00:39:41,917 --> 00:39:43,542 While some believe members of the group 916 00:39:43,542 --> 00:39:46,250 have rejoined the war within different Russian units, 917 00:39:46,250 --> 00:39:48,042 there's never been any confirmation 918 00:39:48,042 --> 00:39:50,333 that they were the little green man of Crimea. 919 00:39:50,333 --> 00:39:54,208 - The whole idea was that no one really knew who to blame. 920 00:39:54,208 --> 00:39:57,875 And as long as there was a mystery about their identity, 921 00:39:57,875 --> 00:40:00,875 they could push forward with their goals bit by bit 922 00:40:00,875 --> 00:40:03,417 and destabilize the entire system. 923 00:40:03,417 --> 00:40:04,917 - [Ronnie] One other possibility, 924 00:40:04,917 --> 00:40:07,417 the little green men were Russian special forces, 925 00:40:07,417 --> 00:40:09,208 or Spetsnaz. 926 00:40:09,208 --> 00:40:11,042 But they typically wear camouflage 927 00:40:11,042 --> 00:40:14,750 or the uniforms of airborne troops, including berets, 928 00:40:14,750 --> 00:40:18,000 and they typically handle smaller commando operations, 929 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:19,750 like anti-terrorism. 930 00:40:19,750 --> 00:40:23,833 The mystery raged until the most unlikely person solved it, 931 00:40:23,833 --> 00:40:25,125 Putin. 932 00:40:25,125 --> 00:40:26,917 After Crimea was conquered, 933 00:40:26,917 --> 00:40:29,667 Putin, without a reason to lie anymore, 934 00:40:29,667 --> 00:40:33,042 admitted the little green men were plain old Russian soldiers. 935 00:40:33,042 --> 00:40:35,583 There's even a monument to them in Russia now. 936 00:40:35,583 --> 00:40:38,375 The soldier in this statue is not wearing a mask. 937 00:40:38,375 --> 00:40:40,833 Strangely though, he is saving a cat. 938 00:40:40,833 --> 00:40:42,833 You can't make this stuff up. 939 00:40:42,833 --> 00:40:44,917 [tense music] 940 00:40:46,750 --> 00:40:49,375 - In fact, in February of 2018, 941 00:40:49,375 --> 00:40:51,625 American Special Operations Forces 942 00:40:51,625 --> 00:40:53,625 engaged the Wagner Group in Syria, 943 00:40:53,625 --> 00:40:55,333 and they got spanked. 944 00:40:55,333 --> 00:40:56,708 - They absolutely did. 945 00:40:56,708 --> 00:40:58,375 And when it was all over, 946 00:40:58,375 --> 00:41:00,375 its estimated 100 of them were dead, 947 00:41:00,375 --> 00:41:01,625 and none of us. 948 00:41:01,625 --> 00:41:03,458 - And that's our show for tonight. 949 00:41:03,458 --> 00:41:04,625 I'm Rudy Reyes. 950 00:41:04,625 --> 00:41:05,875 - And I'm Ronnie Adkins. 951 00:41:05,875 --> 00:41:08,125 Until next time, keep your powder dry. 952 00:41:08,125 --> 00:41:10,375 - And your head on a swivel, good night. 953 00:41:10,375 --> 00:41:12,708 [dramatic music] 74461

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