Nazi Mega Weapons: Season 3

Örnnästet

The Eagle's Nest

44min - Once Hitler seizes power in 1933 he transforms his Alpine retreat in the sleepy district of Obersalzberg in Bavaria into a vast mansion called the Berghof. The area becomes a magnet for the most powerful Nazis and Hitler's Berghof a showpiece for the Reich. Aided by his most trusted assistant Martin Bormann, Obersalzberg is quickly transformed into Hitler's own fortified fiefdom. It becomes home to 2,000 SS troops and is protected by a high-level security system. High above the Berghof, on top of the 6000ft Kehlstein Mountain, Bormann builds the Eagles Nest; a lavish tea house designed for Hitler to entertain guests and dignitaries. Within the safety of Obersalzberg Hitler's self-belief grows out of proportion and he becomes increasingly detached from reality. It is in his beloved Berghof, surrounded by breath-taking scenery, that he masterminds the ugliest plans in history. But as Hitler's war collapses and the Allied bombers increase their range, Obersalzberg comes under threat. Bormann increases defenses around Obersalzberg but also goes deep underground. Anti-aircraft guns are placed on the surrounding peaks and a five-mile labyrinth of bunkers and tunnels are dug out beneath Obersalzberg, linking the Berghof and the houses of Hitler's elite inner circle. They are fully equipped to allow Hitler to run the country even if under attack. But for the last six months of the war, Hitler is far from the safe refuge of Obersalzberg. As the Red Army closes in on Berlin he is holed up in his bunker there. He chooses not to run for the safety of his Alpine retreat. On April 25, 1945, the RAF bombard Obersalzberg obliterating it but those in the bunkers mostly survive unscathed. The Eagles Nest remains intact and still stands today as a reminder of the power Obersalzberg once held.

Hitler's Killer Subs

44min - In the first three years of World War II, the German U-boat is the scourge of Allied shipping crossing the Atlantic. Faster on the surface than merchant ships and able to submerge, the U-boat can easily outmaneuver a convoy and spring a surprise attack. After the First World War, the Versailles Treaty banned Germany from building U-boats but when Hitler comes to power, he renegotiates the deal and starts a building program. By the outbreak of the war in September 1939, Germany has 57 U-boats. Commander of Submarines Rear Admiral Karl Doenitz presses the case for more. Hitler readily agrees, seeing the U-boat as key to destroying the shipping convoys delivering supplies to Britain, thereby starving the country into surrender.

Lightning War Machine

44min - In the first years of World War II, Hitler's Germany crushes its enemies in a series of lightning offensives. A new word is coined to describe this incredible string of successes -"Blitzkrieg" or "Lightning War." Extraordinary ruins scattered across Europe tell the story of a revolution in tactics and weapons which almost gives Hitler the chance to create his Thousand Year Reich.

Hitler's Island Megastructures

44min - In June 1940, the Nazis set foot on British soil. The Channel Islands, a British territory since the eleventh century is now under German occupation. Hitler becomes obsessed with keeping control of this small corner of Britain and orders the construction of some of the most fortified structures in the Third Reich.

Pacific Megaships

44min - In 1934 the Japanese begin designing The Yamato, the most powerful battleship in history. Japan is determined to retain control in the Pacific so it builds a ship 30% larger than anything their enemies have. Constructed in absolute secrecy, the Japanese go to extraordinary lengths to ensure no detail is revealed. At a remote island facility, the 70ft long guns are put through their paces. They’re capable of firing 3000lb shells over 25 miles, outgunning all Allied shipping. As the threat to shipping changes, the Yamoto is retrofitted with one hundred anti-aircraft guns as she sets off to battle at Okinawa in what ultimately becomes a suicide mission. This is the story of a floating fortress, the Yamato, the Axis powers’ and the world’s biggest-ever battleship.

Japanese Superfortress

44min - April 1945. The tide of war in the Pacific has now fully turned against the Imperial Japanese forces. In a fierce and brutal island-hopping campaign, the Americans are winning battle after battle, rapidly gaining ground in their ultimate goal of invading mainland Japan. But the Japanese decide that the island of Okinawa will be their last bastion of defense. It is a key strategic location for the Americans, but as Japanese territory, the Japanese will defend it at all costs. Learning their lessons from their previous disastrous island defenses, the Japanese generals formulate a radical plan. Rather than take the American troops head-on on the island’s beaches, they decide to construct a network of inland defenses and tunnels creating a devastating killing ground for American troops. What ensues is the bloodiest battle of the Pacific campaign, with some of the most brutal fighting of the 20th Century undertaken by both sides. Over 77,000 Japanese soldiers and 150,000 Okinawan civilians are killed as a result. It takes over ten weeks of fighting, but finally, the Americans take the island. However the battle of Okinawa leaves one more grizzly legacy – the dogged determination with which the Japanese conduct their defense convinces President Harry S. Truman that an invasion of the Japanese homeland will be even bloodier – so he decides to drop not one, but two atom bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Only then do the Japanese surrender.