1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Surely Hitler must be expecting an Allied invasion. 2 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:16,760 These guys are going to get out of a boat, and they're going to climb up these sheer 3 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:18,400 cliffs. 4 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:25,400 But there's stuff coming to light every day, stuff that nobody really knew before. 5 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:29,720 Why did so few citizens perish? 6 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:31,680 There is a secret. 7 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:32,680 The secret's down there. 8 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:33,680 Yes. 9 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:35,680 Okay, here we go into the darkness. 10 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:39,840 Look at this place. 11 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:44,320 Historians and experts are telling me there's nothing there. 12 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:45,320 Jackpot. 13 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:46,320 Look at that! 14 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:47,320 It's a door! 15 00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:48,320 I'm in! 16 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:51,320 Wow, look at this! 17 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:56,520 It's an SS helmet. 18 00:00:56,520 --> 00:00:57,520 Nobody knows it's there. 19 00:00:57,520 --> 00:00:58,520 Nobody knows it's there. 20 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:05,520 It'll be the first to see that. 21 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:08,520 Don't touch that. 22 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:15,520 That's an unexploded bolt. 23 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:20,520 Back up! 24 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:24,080 Machines of mayhem and men of might. 25 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:29,080 It took both to launch the largest amphibious invasion in history. 26 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:31,080 D-Day. 27 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:39,080 In June of 1944, Allied forces invade Normandy to repel the Nazi menace that has conquered 28 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:40,600 most of Europe. 29 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:46,080 In the world's darkest hour, with civilization teetering on the brink, this is the Allies' 30 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:53,080 last, best chance to turn the tide. 31 00:01:55,080 --> 00:02:00,040 Yet despite being the most important battle in modern history, there are still shocking 32 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:05,600 secrets about the invasion that have never been revealed until now. 33 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:11,440 Just beyond iconic Omaha Beach, a map discovered by a World War II researcher has led to an 34 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:13,400 astonishing find. 35 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:20,080 Buried Nazi bunkers and deadly weapons that haven't seen the light of day since 1944. 36 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:26,600 Nearby, archaeologists have uncovered the stunning secret that saved the lives of thousands 37 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:32,880 of civilians during one of the most intense bombing campaigns in history. 38 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:39,080 While the battlefields may be long gone, just off the coast, the conflict is frozen in time. 39 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:45,080 In an eerie underwater graveyard, long-silenced shipwrecks are rewriting the story of the 40 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:46,080 invasion. 41 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:53,080 So, after 75 years, it's time to storm the beaches once again to unearth the forgotten 42 00:02:53,080 --> 00:03:03,080 mysteries and lingering secrets of D-Day. 43 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:07,080 My name is Josh Gates. 44 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:08,080 Explorer. 45 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:11,080 Adventure. 46 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:15,080 And a guy who ends up in some very strange situations. 47 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:17,080 That was exciting. 48 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:22,480 With a degree in archaeology and a passion for the unexplained, I travel to the ends 49 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:28,080 of the earth investigating the greatest legends in history. 50 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:37,680 This is Expedition Unknown. 51 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:39,080 Welcome to Normandy. 52 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:42,680 Today, France's northern coast is a peaceful place. 53 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:49,440 A green landscape dotted with quaint villages and tidy farms, complete with neatly spooled 54 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:50,440 bales of hay. 55 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:53,280 It's practically a Monet painting. 56 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:58,680 But this was once the site of the largest amphibious assault in history. 57 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:04,800 Today, the only evidence of that bloody invasion are the iconic monuments dedicated to the 58 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:11,400 men who fought here three quarters of a century ago, in a time when the very fate of the world 59 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:16,440 was at stake. 60 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:19,160 The year is 1944. 61 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:23,640 World War II has ravaged Europe for six gruesome years. 62 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:29,360 Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime has overrun the continent, occupying France, Belgium and the 63 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:33,320 Netherlands to the west and Poland to the east. 64 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:38,700 And it has been waging brutal campaigns over Britain and into Stalinist Russia. 65 00:04:38,700 --> 00:04:44,260 As the Nazis fight on two fronts, across the globe, the U.S. and Japan battle over the 66 00:04:44,260 --> 00:04:48,060 Pacific Theater. 67 00:04:48,060 --> 00:04:55,260 All told, 50 million people are dead in one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history. 68 00:04:55,260 --> 00:05:00,060 In a desperate bid to break the Nazi grip over Europe, the United States and its Western 69 00:05:00,060 --> 00:05:04,260 allies conceive a plan to get a foothold on the continent. 70 00:05:04,260 --> 00:05:08,140 The Allied operation is codenamed Overlord. 71 00:05:08,140 --> 00:05:12,100 And it will be the largest amphibious assault ever attempted. 72 00:05:12,100 --> 00:05:17,260 The date of the invasion is set for June 6, 1944. 73 00:05:17,260 --> 00:05:32,220 Now and forever more, known as D-Day. 74 00:05:32,220 --> 00:05:37,740 And this is where it happened. 75 00:05:38,100 --> 00:05:41,300 Imagine you're 20 years old, just out of basic training. 76 00:05:41,300 --> 00:05:46,060 You cross the English Channel in the dark and then spilled out with thousands of other 77 00:05:46,060 --> 00:05:51,460 men onto Omaha Beach at dawn. 78 00:05:51,460 --> 00:05:53,300 The water is freezing. 79 00:05:53,300 --> 00:05:59,180 You're carrying an 80-pound pack and all around you, the air is a hurricane of bullets 80 00:05:59,180 --> 00:06:01,060 and blood. 81 00:06:01,060 --> 00:06:03,740 Your friends are being shot. 82 00:06:03,740 --> 00:06:11,500 When you're dropping, grenades are exploding all around you. 83 00:06:11,500 --> 00:06:14,300 The truth is, I can't imagine it. 84 00:06:14,300 --> 00:06:15,420 Not really. 85 00:06:15,420 --> 00:06:17,780 Can anybody who wasn't there? 86 00:06:17,780 --> 00:06:23,140 What I can't imagine though is that the most terrifying thing wasn't actually on the beach. 87 00:06:23,140 --> 00:06:25,260 It was in the cliffs above. 88 00:06:25,260 --> 00:06:29,220 That's where the artillery and the machine guns are firing from. 89 00:06:29,220 --> 00:06:34,500 And the entire success of D-Day depends on neutralizing that firepower. 90 00:06:34,500 --> 00:06:43,060 And the most legendary story of how we did it is just now revealing its secrets. 91 00:06:43,060 --> 00:06:49,020 To understand how the Allies survived the longest day, I go to Pointe de Hoc, the one-time 92 00:06:49,020 --> 00:06:54,500 German outpost overlooking the beaches. 93 00:06:54,500 --> 00:07:04,060 There, I meet military historian and bona fide war hero Captain Dale Dye. 94 00:07:04,060 --> 00:07:05,060 Captain Dye, how are you? 95 00:07:05,060 --> 00:07:06,060 Good, good, how are you? 96 00:07:06,060 --> 00:07:07,060 I'm well. 97 00:07:07,060 --> 00:07:08,060 Great pleasure to meet you. 98 00:07:08,060 --> 00:07:09,060 Thank you, thank you. 99 00:07:09,060 --> 00:07:10,060 Welcome to Pointe de Hoc. 100 00:07:10,060 --> 00:07:15,420 Captain Dye is a decorated Marine, Vietnam veteran, and military advisor for films including 101 00:07:15,420 --> 00:07:16,980 Saving Private Ryan. 102 00:07:16,980 --> 00:07:21,460 It's actually a beautiful place, but we have lots of evidence that it wasn't always that 103 00:07:21,460 --> 00:07:22,460 way. 104 00:07:22,460 --> 00:07:23,460 Right. 105 00:07:23,460 --> 00:07:25,340 It was in 1944. 106 00:07:25,340 --> 00:07:28,300 And all these little valleys I see around us here? 107 00:07:28,300 --> 00:07:30,700 Those little valleys are shell holes. 108 00:07:30,700 --> 00:07:34,500 The deeper ones are primarily airstrikes. 109 00:07:34,500 --> 00:07:35,860 Wow. 110 00:07:35,860 --> 00:07:38,540 So let's go back to June of 1944. 111 00:07:38,540 --> 00:07:41,580 Surely Hitler must be expecting an Allied invasion. 112 00:07:41,580 --> 00:07:42,580 He is. 113 00:07:42,580 --> 00:07:46,020 The problem is he doesn't know where and he doesn't know exactly when. 114 00:07:46,020 --> 00:07:47,020 Right. 115 00:07:47,020 --> 00:07:48,340 So he's bought a little insurance. 116 00:07:48,340 --> 00:07:51,820 He's built this thing called the Atlantic Wall. 117 00:07:51,820 --> 00:07:56,460 Because he doesn't know where to expect the Allied invasion, Hitler constructs a lethal 118 00:07:56,460 --> 00:08:02,820 coastal network of fortifications from northern Scandinavia to the southern tip of France, 119 00:08:02,820 --> 00:08:07,980 a nearly 1700-mile defensive shield known as the Atlantic Wall. 120 00:08:07,980 --> 00:08:13,260 It's through this wall that the Allies will have to break in order to retake Europe. 121 00:08:13,260 --> 00:08:15,620 And where does he think this invasion is going to happen? 122 00:08:15,620 --> 00:08:20,300 He thinks, and we intend that he continue to think, that it's going to happen at Potta 123 00:08:20,300 --> 00:08:21,300 Calais. 124 00:08:21,300 --> 00:08:24,620 Essentially, it's only eight miles across the English Channel. 125 00:08:24,620 --> 00:08:25,620 And that makes sense, right? 126 00:08:25,620 --> 00:08:28,420 If you're going to do an invasion and you've got to get across water, you've got the shortest 127 00:08:28,420 --> 00:08:29,420 point. 128 00:08:29,420 --> 00:08:30,420 The shortest point you can pick. 129 00:08:30,420 --> 00:08:33,380 And how are we helping Hitler to believe that's what we're going to do? 130 00:08:33,380 --> 00:08:38,060 You do all sorts of false flag operations so that he thinks you're going to do one thing 131 00:08:38,060 --> 00:08:41,140 and of course you're going to do the other. 132 00:08:41,140 --> 00:08:46,740 In order for D-Day to succeed, the Allies embark on an immense disinformation campaign 133 00:08:46,740 --> 00:08:50,780 with fake radio broadcasts, counterintelligence leaks. 134 00:08:50,780 --> 00:08:56,700 And going so far as to create inflatable rubber tanks and dummy paratroopers to fool German 135 00:08:56,700 --> 00:08:58,060 reconnaissance. 136 00:08:58,060 --> 00:09:03,140 The secrecy surrounding D-Day was total, but not entirely infallible. 137 00:09:03,140 --> 00:09:08,420 A dress rehearsal for the invasion known as Exercise Tiger staged on a British beach 138 00:09:08,420 --> 00:09:13,060 was discovered by German U-boats who torpedoed the landing craft. 139 00:09:13,060 --> 00:09:18,860 746 D-Day soldiers were killed weeks before they could even leave England. 140 00:09:19,140 --> 00:09:24,580 Thankfully, the most important secret of all was kept and the Germans continued to believe 141 00:09:24,580 --> 00:09:28,980 the invasion would be at Calais. 142 00:09:28,980 --> 00:09:34,300 But of course, the Allies had another site in mind, 200 miles to the south. 143 00:09:34,300 --> 00:09:35,300 So now the big question. 144 00:09:35,300 --> 00:09:36,300 We're not going to go to Potta Calais. 145 00:09:36,300 --> 00:09:39,020 We're not going to go where the Nazis expect us. 146 00:09:39,020 --> 00:09:40,020 Why come here? 147 00:09:40,020 --> 00:09:45,300 Well, Normandy, compared with what's happening up at Potta Calais, doesn't have that big 148 00:09:45,300 --> 00:09:46,540 and organized defense. 149 00:09:46,540 --> 00:09:47,540 Right. 150 00:09:47,540 --> 00:09:50,460 There's static divisions here. 151 00:09:50,460 --> 00:09:55,180 Instead of taking the shorter route, the Allies go where Hitler would least expect it. 152 00:09:55,180 --> 00:09:59,740 A stretch of coastline in Normandy shielded by high cliffs. 153 00:09:59,740 --> 00:10:05,580 The Americans would take two beaches codenamed Utah and Omaha, while British and Canadian 154 00:10:05,580 --> 00:10:09,820 forces would attack gold, Juno, and sword. 155 00:10:09,820 --> 00:10:14,260 But they'll have to sail into rough water and unpredictable weather, and their ships 156 00:10:14,260 --> 00:10:17,100 will be vulnerable to German artillery. 157 00:10:17,380 --> 00:10:20,660 The troops will have to land without a port to dock in. 158 00:10:20,660 --> 00:10:25,620 But of all this, perhaps the most daunting thing about the beaches of Normandy is the 159 00:10:25,620 --> 00:10:28,460 Clifftop Station at Point de Hoc. 160 00:10:28,460 --> 00:10:33,860 Point de Hoc occupies a central position to the two American beaches. 161 00:10:33,860 --> 00:10:37,060 If you look over to the west, that's Utah Beach. 162 00:10:37,060 --> 00:10:40,340 If you look over here to the east, that's Omaha Beach. 163 00:10:40,340 --> 00:10:43,860 And I can see now that we're standing out here the value of this place. 164 00:10:43,860 --> 00:10:45,980 This seems like a perfect defensive position. 165 00:10:45,980 --> 00:10:49,340 Yeah, if I was defending, I would certainly be here. 166 00:10:49,340 --> 00:10:53,460 I'm going to want artillery pieces up in here to fire in this direction and fire in this 167 00:10:53,460 --> 00:10:55,540 direction if anybody comes ashore. 168 00:10:55,540 --> 00:10:56,540 Right. 169 00:10:56,540 --> 00:11:03,100 To protect the beaches, six 155-millimeter artillery guns with 20-foot-long barrels, 170 00:11:03,100 --> 00:11:07,980 each with 360-degree range, are positioned at Point de Hoc. 171 00:11:07,980 --> 00:11:14,260 The guns are capable of lethally broadsiding any ships approaching the invasion beaches. 172 00:11:14,260 --> 00:11:19,980 For D-Day to succeed, the Allies need to take out the guns at Point de Hoc. 173 00:11:19,980 --> 00:11:23,060 How many Allied troops spill out onto these beaches? 174 00:11:23,060 --> 00:11:27,020 There's about 150,000 that are eventually going to land on all of the beaches up and 175 00:11:27,020 --> 00:11:28,620 down the Norman coast. 176 00:11:28,620 --> 00:11:32,460 Here at Point de Hoc, it's only about 220 guys. 177 00:11:32,460 --> 00:11:35,260 And who were the people tasked with taking this position? 178 00:11:35,260 --> 00:11:38,820 The Ranger Force under Lieutenant Colonel James Rudder. 179 00:11:38,820 --> 00:11:42,380 They were aboard nine British landing craft, or LCA's. 180 00:11:42,380 --> 00:11:47,620 And as soon as three destroyers who are specifically assigned to bombard Point de Hoc, as soon as 181 00:11:47,620 --> 00:11:51,420 they finish, Rudder is supposed to come ashore. 182 00:11:51,420 --> 00:11:55,140 As they started, the landing crafts were leaking like hell. 183 00:11:55,140 --> 00:11:59,580 All the Rangers had to take their helmets and help bail out and all that sort of thing. 184 00:11:59,580 --> 00:12:04,660 And one of the landing craft in choppy seas out there in the channel actually overturned. 185 00:12:04,660 --> 00:12:08,260 And so Rudder lost 22 men of his assault force right there. 186 00:12:08,380 --> 00:12:14,300 Before they even got here, I can't think of a crazier place to try to take than what 187 00:12:14,300 --> 00:12:16,820 I'm looking at right here. 188 00:12:16,820 --> 00:12:20,700 I mean, the idea is that these guys are going to get out of a boat right here and they're 189 00:12:20,700 --> 00:12:23,100 going to climb up these sheer cliffs. 190 00:12:23,100 --> 00:12:24,100 That's the plan. 191 00:12:24,100 --> 00:12:25,780 I mean, these guys have a problem. 192 00:12:25,780 --> 00:12:26,780 Yes. 193 00:12:26,780 --> 00:12:30,820 Well, they've got a problem and they've got a truckload of guts because that's exactly 194 00:12:30,820 --> 00:12:31,820 what it takes. 195 00:12:35,500 --> 00:12:36,980 Well, here's the plan. 196 00:12:36,980 --> 00:12:40,540 They have experimented with rocket propelled grepknols. 197 00:12:40,540 --> 00:12:42,020 This is like full Batman. 198 00:12:42,020 --> 00:12:44,260 They're going to fire grappling hooks. 199 00:12:44,260 --> 00:12:45,260 Yes. 200 00:12:46,940 --> 00:12:51,940 The problem is that during the crossing, a lot of these ropes have gotten wet. 201 00:12:51,940 --> 00:12:55,340 A wet rope weighs a hell of a lot more than a dry rope. 202 00:12:55,340 --> 00:13:02,340 The lucky break was that destroyer naval gunfire that kept hitting at Point de Hoc actually 203 00:13:02,340 --> 00:13:04,300 tore a big chunk out. 204 00:13:04,300 --> 00:13:08,620 And there was at the base of the cliffs about a 40-foot rubble pile. 205 00:13:08,620 --> 00:13:13,020 They could get up on that rubble pile, slap a ladder up in there and climb up only 40 206 00:13:13,020 --> 00:13:14,500 feet instead of 100. 207 00:13:14,500 --> 00:13:21,620 The Second Ranger battalion tasked with taking Point de Hoc are sitting ducks for German guns. 208 00:13:21,620 --> 00:13:27,900 As they approach, Nazi soldiers drop grenades over the cliff and cut the American ropes 209 00:13:27,900 --> 00:13:30,780 as the men climb. 210 00:13:30,780 --> 00:13:34,900 As each Ranger falls, another rises to take his place. 211 00:13:34,900 --> 00:13:37,260 They finally got up on top of Point de Hoc. 212 00:13:37,260 --> 00:13:44,940 The fight really starts once you're up here among the German defenders. 213 00:13:44,940 --> 00:13:49,260 The remaining soldiers reach the top of the cliffs and unsurprisingly encounter heavy 214 00:13:49,260 --> 00:13:52,060 resistance from the Nazis. 215 00:13:52,060 --> 00:13:56,820 But when they finally manage to take the point, what they find is more shocking than they 216 00:13:56,820 --> 00:14:00,500 ever could have imagined. 217 00:14:00,500 --> 00:14:17,500 The Nazis preparing for an invasion force coming from a different direction had repositioned 218 00:14:17,500 --> 00:14:19,100 their artillery. 219 00:14:19,100 --> 00:14:24,780 After securing Point de Hoc, the remaining Rangers, bloody, beaten and exhausted, discover 220 00:14:24,780 --> 00:14:31,740 where the Germans had taken the guns and destroy them using thermite grenades. 221 00:14:31,740 --> 00:14:36,020 But though Point de Hoc has been disabled, the Allies on the beaches are still taking 222 00:14:36,020 --> 00:14:40,020 artillery fire. 223 00:14:40,020 --> 00:14:43,620 But from where? 224 00:14:43,620 --> 00:14:46,340 It's a question that we may finally have an answer for. 225 00:14:46,340 --> 00:14:51,780 Look, one of the interesting things about D-Day is it's such an iconic battle, but there's 226 00:14:51,780 --> 00:14:55,740 stuff coming to light every day, stuff that nobody really knew before. 227 00:14:55,740 --> 00:14:57,780 Have you ever heard of Maisie Battery? 228 00:14:57,780 --> 00:14:59,700 Maisie Battery, no. 229 00:14:59,700 --> 00:15:02,780 Not a lot of people have, but it's an interesting place. 230 00:15:02,780 --> 00:15:13,980 And if you want to dig into some of these stories that are just now coming to light, go there. 231 00:15:13,980 --> 00:15:19,660 Maisie Battery was a place unknown for decades, even to many historians of World War II. 232 00:15:19,660 --> 00:15:25,100 But now, recent discoveries there could dramatically alter the story of how the Nazis defended 233 00:15:25,100 --> 00:15:27,100 Normandy from the Allied invasion. 234 00:15:27,100 --> 00:15:32,140 This should be it, the Maisie Battery. 235 00:15:32,140 --> 00:15:41,500 I drive two miles inland for a walk into a maze of deep scars lining the landscape. 236 00:15:41,500 --> 00:15:46,340 It's hard to believe that a site this overgrown and this far from the beaches of Normandy 237 00:15:46,340 --> 00:15:49,900 would play a role in the story of D-Day. 238 00:15:49,900 --> 00:15:53,980 But that's what World War II historian Gary Stern believes. 239 00:15:53,980 --> 00:16:00,860 He's the person who rediscovered this place, whatever this place is. 240 00:16:00,860 --> 00:16:03,300 So this is really where it all began here. 241 00:16:03,300 --> 00:16:04,300 Right here? 242 00:16:04,300 --> 00:16:05,300 Yep, right here. 243 00:16:05,300 --> 00:16:06,380 Okay, so take me back in time. 244 00:16:06,380 --> 00:16:07,380 What brought you here? 245 00:16:07,380 --> 00:16:08,540 It's a crazy story, really. 246 00:16:08,540 --> 00:16:11,420 I bought some clothes belonging to a veteran. 247 00:16:11,420 --> 00:16:14,940 And in the pocket, I found this map. 248 00:16:14,940 --> 00:16:16,540 This is like too good to be true. 249 00:16:16,540 --> 00:16:21,180 So it's a map of this area of land in France where we're stood now. 250 00:16:21,180 --> 00:16:22,420 And what's interesting about it? 251 00:16:22,420 --> 00:16:27,380 Well, in the center of the map, it says area of high resistance. 252 00:16:27,380 --> 00:16:29,220 So area of high resistance. 253 00:16:29,220 --> 00:16:31,300 And was this an area of high resistance? 254 00:16:31,300 --> 00:16:33,060 Originally, nobody thought it was. 255 00:16:33,060 --> 00:16:34,980 Historically, there was nothing here. 256 00:16:34,980 --> 00:16:40,980 The map was tucked into a World War II-era uniform and showed a Nazi installation inland 257 00:16:40,980 --> 00:16:43,020 from the beaches of Normandy. 258 00:16:43,020 --> 00:16:48,340 Gary had spent years in this area, but had never noticed anything here except fields. 259 00:16:48,340 --> 00:16:51,340 So he decided to investigate. 260 00:16:51,340 --> 00:16:52,780 Everybody said, oh, you're an idiot. 261 00:16:52,780 --> 00:16:55,260 You're just a mad British guy and there's nothing here. 262 00:16:55,260 --> 00:16:56,260 Which you are. 263 00:16:56,260 --> 00:16:57,260 Which I am, of course. 264 00:16:57,260 --> 00:17:00,500 But geographically, we're right between Utah and Omaha Beach. 265 00:17:00,500 --> 00:17:02,740 So tactically speaking, it is an interesting place. 266 00:17:02,740 --> 00:17:05,420 So you've got your secret map and you come back here. 267 00:17:05,420 --> 00:17:06,820 What does it look like here? 268 00:17:06,820 --> 00:17:07,820 This high overgrown. 269 00:17:07,820 --> 00:17:08,820 Yep. 270 00:17:08,820 --> 00:17:09,820 The whole site. 271 00:17:09,820 --> 00:17:10,820 The whole site. 272 00:17:10,820 --> 00:17:12,820 And I came across an area of concrete here. 273 00:17:12,820 --> 00:17:13,620 This here. 274 00:17:13,620 --> 00:17:16,340 But it looked like a very odd thing to be on the floor of a building. 275 00:17:16,340 --> 00:17:17,340 And there's a big hole. 276 00:17:17,340 --> 00:17:19,580 And there's a big hole going down, which looks like a chimney. 277 00:17:19,580 --> 00:17:24,820 It turned out that the concrete Gary found wasn't the floor of a ruined building. 278 00:17:24,820 --> 00:17:27,820 It was the roof of an intact one. 279 00:17:27,820 --> 00:17:29,900 It's a 502 headquarters building. 280 00:17:29,900 --> 00:17:34,900 So basically it's a nerve center and a command base for the control of the operation of this 281 00:17:34,900 --> 00:17:37,780 area, this district. 282 00:17:37,780 --> 00:17:41,860 The discovery of the buried bunker put Maisie Battery back on the map. 283 00:17:41,860 --> 00:17:45,980 And Gary knew there had to be even more. 284 00:17:45,980 --> 00:17:47,580 And here's the thing about Gary. 285 00:17:47,580 --> 00:17:48,900 He's very persistent. 286 00:17:48,900 --> 00:17:52,780 Well, over a period of time, we started to discover more and more. 287 00:17:52,780 --> 00:17:56,380 We would clear a building and a trench and another building would appear and another building 288 00:17:56,380 --> 00:17:57,380 would appear. 289 00:17:57,380 --> 00:17:58,380 And you must be going mental, Jerry. 290 00:17:58,380 --> 00:18:02,620 Well, it's crazy because historians and experts are telling me there's nothing there. 291 00:18:02,620 --> 00:18:06,580 And we're digging up real, real tangible evidence that there was a battle here. 292 00:18:06,580 --> 00:18:09,580 I mean, at a certain point, this becomes undeniable. 293 00:18:09,580 --> 00:18:11,460 It's literally in stone. 294 00:18:11,460 --> 00:18:14,180 That's the point that people don't realize it's not just a building. 295 00:18:14,180 --> 00:18:15,180 It's not just a bunker. 296 00:18:15,180 --> 00:18:16,180 It's a complex. 297 00:18:16,180 --> 00:18:30,780 Look at this place. 298 00:18:30,780 --> 00:18:37,260 On June 6, 1944, Allied forces turned the tide of World War II with a daring invasion 299 00:18:37,260 --> 00:18:40,660 of Europe that began on the beaches of Normandy. 300 00:18:40,860 --> 00:18:46,580 Now, I've come to the complex known as Maisie Battery, where Gary Stern has made headline 301 00:18:46,580 --> 00:18:52,380 news by discovering a network of Nazi structures buried deep in the earth. 302 00:18:52,380 --> 00:19:00,340 Concrete buildings that stood where historians once believed there were just empty fields. 303 00:19:00,340 --> 00:19:05,220 But why was this place so valued by the Nazis? 304 00:19:05,220 --> 00:19:09,980 The answer, Gary says, will change how the world thinks about D-Day. 305 00:19:09,980 --> 00:19:14,420 Now, Josh, this is what Maisie Battery is all about. 306 00:19:14,420 --> 00:19:15,420 Firepower. 307 00:19:15,420 --> 00:19:18,140 Whoa, whoa. 308 00:19:18,140 --> 00:19:21,900 This is 150 millimeter German howitzer. 309 00:19:21,900 --> 00:19:23,220 Crazy. 310 00:19:23,220 --> 00:19:24,700 How many of these were here? 311 00:19:24,700 --> 00:19:28,260 There were four of these in one battery at the back. 312 00:19:28,260 --> 00:19:33,580 There were another six guns here and another four, a couple of hundred yards down the road. 313 00:19:33,580 --> 00:19:38,260 These guns had plenty of range to reach the Allied forces at the beachfront several miles 314 00:19:38,260 --> 00:19:44,500 away, which means as a brave squad of Army Rangers scaled the cliffs to reach guns they 315 00:19:44,500 --> 00:19:51,060 believed were on point to hawk, operational weapons were hiding back here at Maisie Battery. 316 00:19:51,060 --> 00:19:56,140 When I think of D-Day, I think of kind of the saving Private Ryan version, all this 317 00:19:56,140 --> 00:19:58,860 firepower looking down onto the beach. 318 00:19:58,860 --> 00:20:01,900 It never really occurred to me that there could be this kind of firepower raining down 319 00:20:01,900 --> 00:20:03,380 on them from miles inland. 320 00:20:03,380 --> 00:20:08,660 Well, the Germans very cleverly designed sites like this to be inland so that the Navy couldn't 321 00:20:08,660 --> 00:20:12,940 see them and it couldn't fire at them directly. 322 00:20:12,940 --> 00:20:18,180 The Germans pre-targeted their guns at known landmarks, so when an enemy got near one, 323 00:20:18,180 --> 00:20:20,900 they'd know exactly where to shoot. 324 00:20:20,900 --> 00:20:27,820 This facility could point 14 guns at the beaches of Normandy, firing 95 pound shells at almost 325 00:20:27,820 --> 00:20:30,060 1,900 feet per second. 326 00:20:30,060 --> 00:20:34,780 The complex was protected by bomb proof bunkers and a maze of trenches. 327 00:20:34,780 --> 00:20:38,500 There was even a full hospital for treating wounded men. 328 00:20:38,500 --> 00:20:43,060 Gary believes this would have made Maisie Battery one of the deadliest Nazi strongholds 329 00:20:43,060 --> 00:20:46,020 of D-Day. 330 00:20:46,020 --> 00:20:48,980 So do you feel like you've uncovered everything that's here? 331 00:20:48,980 --> 00:20:50,460 No, no way at all. 332 00:20:50,460 --> 00:20:54,100 There's a lot more to find here and in fact we're in the process of doing that right now. 333 00:20:54,100 --> 00:20:56,100 Do you want to come and have a look? 334 00:20:56,100 --> 00:20:58,100 Yeah, sure. 335 00:21:00,540 --> 00:21:05,300 To see what other secrets Maisie is hiding, Gary has arranged to have Isabel Heights and 336 00:21:05,300 --> 00:21:11,620 her associate do an aerial laser scan of the site in an effort to find more buried structures 337 00:21:11,620 --> 00:21:14,340 and hopefully new information about D-Day. 338 00:21:14,340 --> 00:21:15,340 Nice to meet you. 339 00:21:15,340 --> 00:21:16,340 Nice to meet you. 340 00:21:16,340 --> 00:21:17,340 Nice to meet you. 341 00:21:17,340 --> 00:21:18,340 They're helping us out with some really cool technology. 342 00:21:18,340 --> 00:21:19,780 I can see that. 343 00:21:19,780 --> 00:21:20,780 What is this, a beast? 344 00:21:20,780 --> 00:21:21,780 A drone, yes? 345 00:21:21,780 --> 00:21:24,300 Yes, it's a drone with a LiDAR capture underneath. 346 00:21:24,300 --> 00:21:27,700 For folks who don't know, LiDAR is this very magical technology. 347 00:21:27,700 --> 00:21:30,020 It's a laser mapping technology, right? 348 00:21:30,020 --> 00:21:31,340 So okay, how does it work? 349 00:21:31,340 --> 00:21:37,260 So the LiDAR emits 300,000 pulses of light every second and that can be transformed into 350 00:21:37,260 --> 00:21:42,860 a map and then we take off all the trees and vegetation and then we have the map of only 351 00:21:42,860 --> 00:21:44,420 the soil. 352 00:21:44,420 --> 00:21:48,740 Which to me is the crazy part that you can literally strip away vegetation with this 353 00:21:48,740 --> 00:21:49,740 technology. 354 00:21:49,740 --> 00:21:50,740 Exactly. 355 00:21:50,740 --> 00:21:51,860 Obviously some very powerful tech here. 356 00:21:51,860 --> 00:21:53,540 What's the plan for today? 357 00:21:53,540 --> 00:21:56,500 The plan is to go beyond what we've already discovered. 358 00:21:56,500 --> 00:21:57,500 Right. 359 00:21:57,500 --> 00:22:00,340 We're going to look for new things, look for new areas of research. 360 00:22:00,340 --> 00:22:04,580 So really this technology gives us an opportunity to look at things we just couldn't see with 361 00:22:04,580 --> 00:22:05,580 the naked eye. 362 00:22:05,580 --> 00:22:06,940 All right, well let's see what else is underground. 363 00:22:06,940 --> 00:22:10,020 Isabelle, is there anything that we can do other than get the hell out of your way? 364 00:22:10,020 --> 00:22:12,260 No guys, just a backup. 365 00:22:12,260 --> 00:22:15,260 Okay. 366 00:22:15,260 --> 00:22:20,340 Isabelle spins up the drone and it soars into the air. 367 00:22:20,340 --> 00:22:27,540 Okay, so the plan of attack here is you've got a pre-designated course. 368 00:22:27,540 --> 00:22:28,540 Is that right? 369 00:22:28,540 --> 00:22:29,540 Exactly, yes. 370 00:22:29,540 --> 00:22:31,180 It's like mowing the lawn. 371 00:22:31,180 --> 00:22:32,180 Mowing the lawn? 372 00:22:32,180 --> 00:22:33,180 Yes. 373 00:22:33,180 --> 00:22:34,180 That's the official description of LiDAR. 374 00:22:34,180 --> 00:22:35,860 It's mowing the lawn. 375 00:22:35,860 --> 00:22:40,660 And like mowing any lawn, it's going to take a while. 376 00:22:40,660 --> 00:22:45,660 For several hours, Isabelle painstakingly steers the drone up one row of the property 377 00:22:45,660 --> 00:22:50,500 and down the next as it sends billions of laser pulses to the earth. 378 00:22:50,500 --> 00:22:54,900 The scan is so shockingly detailed that if anyone loses their cell phone out here, we 379 00:22:54,900 --> 00:22:56,220 might be able to find it. 380 00:22:56,220 --> 00:22:57,900 Okay, the scan is complete. 381 00:22:57,900 --> 00:22:58,900 We're bringing home. 382 00:22:58,900 --> 00:23:03,340 Now the exciting part, the data. 383 00:23:03,340 --> 00:23:08,180 Okay guys, here we go. 384 00:23:08,180 --> 00:23:09,500 All right, what do we got? 385 00:23:09,500 --> 00:23:12,980 So you see the trees in red, but you don't see much there. 386 00:23:12,980 --> 00:23:13,980 Right. 387 00:23:13,980 --> 00:23:16,020 So we're going to take this trip off all the vegetation. 388 00:23:16,020 --> 00:23:17,900 This is my favorite part of LiDAR. 389 00:23:17,900 --> 00:23:19,820 And now we take it away. 390 00:23:19,820 --> 00:23:20,820 It's unbelievable. 391 00:23:20,820 --> 00:23:24,980 So now we can see everything right down to the field level. 392 00:23:24,980 --> 00:23:27,540 Anything that jumps out at you immediately on here. 393 00:23:27,540 --> 00:23:32,260 Something very interesting are those three mounds here that might be above ground. 394 00:23:32,260 --> 00:23:35,420 And right in the middle, you have kind of earth mound. 395 00:23:35,420 --> 00:23:37,420 Oh, right, you see that? 396 00:23:37,420 --> 00:23:38,420 Yes. 397 00:23:38,420 --> 00:23:39,420 That's superb. 398 00:23:39,420 --> 00:23:41,060 It looks like there's something in between them. 399 00:23:41,060 --> 00:23:45,300 Now that's interesting because I think I know where those three are above ground. 400 00:23:45,300 --> 00:23:47,940 They're in the tree line in the distance over there. 401 00:23:47,940 --> 00:23:50,060 Oh, those mounds back there? 402 00:23:50,060 --> 00:23:51,060 Yes. 403 00:23:51,060 --> 00:23:54,620 Gary knows the three structures Isabelle has spotted. 404 00:23:54,620 --> 00:23:59,220 They were fortified gun emplacements during the war, but there's an empty looking field 405 00:23:59,220 --> 00:24:05,700 between them that the LiDAR indicates might not be so empty after all. 406 00:24:05,700 --> 00:24:08,940 So how do we know that that bump is a building? 407 00:24:08,940 --> 00:24:09,940 Well we don't right now. 408 00:24:10,220 --> 00:24:12,060 We've got to dig it up to find out. 409 00:24:12,060 --> 00:24:13,060 Do you want to do that? 410 00:24:13,060 --> 00:24:14,060 Can you do that? 411 00:24:14,060 --> 00:24:15,060 We can do that. 412 00:24:15,060 --> 00:24:16,060 Yes. 413 00:24:19,900 --> 00:24:24,460 We thank Isabelle and walk half a mile away to the field in question. 414 00:24:24,460 --> 00:24:28,780 There may be a secret and undisturbed structure here. 415 00:24:28,780 --> 00:24:34,580 Something almost unheard of in a place as famous and well trod as Normandy. 416 00:24:34,580 --> 00:24:37,500 Or it could be a landfill. 417 00:24:37,500 --> 00:24:39,220 This is generally the spot, yeah? 418 00:24:39,220 --> 00:24:40,940 Yeah, this sort of area here. 419 00:24:40,940 --> 00:24:41,940 OK. 420 00:24:41,940 --> 00:24:43,500 There you go. 421 00:24:43,500 --> 00:24:44,780 Just start swinging these things? 422 00:24:44,780 --> 00:24:48,060 No, first of all we've got to bring in the heavy artillery. 423 00:24:48,060 --> 00:24:49,700 Clovis, come in. 424 00:24:49,700 --> 00:24:50,700 Who's Clovis? 425 00:24:55,180 --> 00:24:56,180 Clovis. 426 00:24:56,180 --> 00:24:58,180 That's a Clovis. 427 00:24:59,180 --> 00:25:01,180 Nice to meet you. 428 00:25:01,180 --> 00:25:06,620 Clovis Valtier is Gary's heavy equipment operator and he is clearly not to be trifled 429 00:25:06,620 --> 00:25:07,620 with. 430 00:25:07,620 --> 00:25:09,860 See that raised up area on the lidar? 431 00:25:09,860 --> 00:25:11,220 I think we're in the middle of it. 432 00:25:11,220 --> 00:25:13,380 It's indicating something in this area here. 433 00:25:13,380 --> 00:25:14,380 Right. 434 00:25:14,380 --> 00:25:15,380 Unleash the Clovis. 435 00:25:15,380 --> 00:25:16,700 The Clovis is unleashed. 436 00:25:16,700 --> 00:25:17,700 OK. 437 00:25:17,700 --> 00:25:18,700 Hit it. 438 00:25:22,220 --> 00:25:23,220 Jeez, Clovis. 439 00:25:23,220 --> 00:25:27,140 This guy's not fooling around. 440 00:25:27,140 --> 00:25:32,300 Clovis and the excavator carefully scrape away the earth one layer at a time. 441 00:25:33,300 --> 00:25:37,980 That guy just took out a wine bottle in one piece. 442 00:25:37,980 --> 00:25:41,300 Clovis is the surgeon of construction workers. 443 00:25:47,300 --> 00:25:49,900 Whoa, oh ho, we got something. 444 00:25:49,900 --> 00:25:52,820 It's a steel reinforcing bar. 445 00:25:52,820 --> 00:25:54,300 That is a steel reinforcing bar. 446 00:25:54,300 --> 00:25:55,300 Look at that. 447 00:25:55,300 --> 00:25:56,300 Wow. 448 00:25:56,300 --> 00:25:57,980 Whether it's significant or not, who knows, but that's man-made. 449 00:25:57,980 --> 00:25:58,980 That's man-made. 450 00:25:58,980 --> 00:25:59,980 OK, good. 451 00:25:59,980 --> 00:26:00,980 We're on the right track. 452 00:26:00,980 --> 00:26:01,980 Clovis, we're good. 453 00:26:02,980 --> 00:26:07,580 Where there's rebar, there are structures, so Clovis keeps at it. 454 00:26:10,980 --> 00:26:12,620 You can feel it vibrating under our feet. 455 00:26:12,620 --> 00:26:14,660 I think we might be right on top of it. 456 00:26:16,660 --> 00:26:18,380 Whoa, that's a good sign. 457 00:26:19,380 --> 00:26:20,380 Oh, whoa, hold on. 458 00:26:20,380 --> 00:26:22,380 And soon, we have something. 459 00:26:22,380 --> 00:26:23,380 What did he hit? 460 00:26:23,980 --> 00:26:24,980 Whoa, Jack. 461 00:26:24,980 --> 00:26:25,980 Oh! 462 00:26:25,980 --> 00:26:26,980 Jackpot. 463 00:26:27,980 --> 00:26:28,980 Look at that! 464 00:26:28,980 --> 00:26:30,980 Oh, what the f***? 465 00:26:31,980 --> 00:26:32,980 Is that a roof? 466 00:26:32,980 --> 00:26:33,980 Yep. 467 00:26:34,980 --> 00:26:35,980 We're on top of a building. 468 00:26:35,980 --> 00:26:36,980 For sure. 469 00:26:36,980 --> 00:26:37,980 100% sure. 470 00:26:37,980 --> 00:26:39,980 Unbelievable! 471 00:27:02,980 --> 00:27:03,980 Whoa, Jackpot. 472 00:27:03,980 --> 00:27:04,980 Look at that! 473 00:27:04,980 --> 00:27:07,980 Today, researcher Gary Stern and I have found one of the site's lost structures. 474 00:27:07,980 --> 00:27:08,980 Is that a roof? 475 00:27:08,980 --> 00:27:09,980 Yep. 476 00:27:09,980 --> 00:27:11,980 Oh, what the f***? 477 00:27:11,980 --> 00:27:14,980 It would take months for us to dig our way in by hand. 478 00:27:14,980 --> 00:27:17,980 What he needs to do now is he needs to change to a bigger bucket. 479 00:27:17,980 --> 00:27:21,980 Fortunately, Clovis has outfitted the excavator with a wider bucket. 480 00:27:21,980 --> 00:27:24,980 And now, he starts clearing the roof. 481 00:27:27,980 --> 00:27:29,980 This guy can shave your beard. 482 00:27:29,980 --> 00:27:31,980 Even if you haven't got one. 483 00:27:33,980 --> 00:27:36,980 Clovis makes much better time than we ever could. 484 00:27:42,980 --> 00:27:44,980 We're on the way to the next site. 485 00:27:44,980 --> 00:27:46,980 We're on the way to the next site. 486 00:27:46,980 --> 00:27:48,980 We're on the way to the next site. 487 00:27:49,980 --> 00:27:52,980 This looks like it's a brook. 488 00:27:52,980 --> 00:27:54,980 It's a machine gun emplacement. 489 00:27:54,980 --> 00:27:55,980 Yeah. 490 00:27:55,980 --> 00:27:56,980 Yeah? 491 00:27:56,980 --> 00:27:57,980 Here. 492 00:27:57,980 --> 00:27:58,980 Ah! 493 00:27:58,980 --> 00:27:59,980 Look at that! 494 00:27:59,980 --> 00:28:01,980 That's exactly what it is! 495 00:28:03,980 --> 00:28:06,980 Start to see the shape of it there. 496 00:28:09,980 --> 00:28:10,980 It goes down. 497 00:28:11,980 --> 00:28:13,980 Can you lift that up a little bit? 498 00:28:13,980 --> 00:28:14,980 Yeah. 499 00:28:14,980 --> 00:28:16,980 Can you lift that up a little bit? 500 00:28:18,980 --> 00:28:20,980 Can you see anything? 501 00:28:23,980 --> 00:28:25,980 It's a staircase! 502 00:28:25,980 --> 00:28:26,980 Ha ha! 503 00:28:27,980 --> 00:28:31,980 This is a to brook, a round concrete machine gun nest. 504 00:28:31,980 --> 00:28:36,980 Inside this chamber, Nazi soldiers manning huge M-34 automatic guns 505 00:28:36,980 --> 00:28:42,980 could defend Maisie in all directions, firing 900 rounds per minute. 506 00:28:45,980 --> 00:28:51,980 This just gets more and more astounding. 507 00:28:51,980 --> 00:28:54,980 First of all, the bunker is enormous. 508 00:28:54,980 --> 00:28:56,980 It's huge, whatever it is. 509 00:28:56,980 --> 00:28:58,980 We found machine gun emplacement on the end. 510 00:28:58,980 --> 00:29:00,980 Probably the door is down here somewhere. 511 00:29:00,980 --> 00:29:06,980 But no question at this point, we have a really significant structure for Maisie battery. 512 00:29:06,980 --> 00:29:08,980 Just about speechless. 513 00:29:14,980 --> 00:29:24,980 Well, Gary, this is a little bit bigger than I thought it was going to be. 514 00:29:24,980 --> 00:29:26,980 Yeah, it's bigger than I thought as well. 515 00:29:26,980 --> 00:29:27,980 What the hell is this? 516 00:29:27,980 --> 00:29:29,980 Well, there's the question. 517 00:29:29,980 --> 00:29:32,980 Nobody's been inside this for 75 years, so we've no idea what's in there. 518 00:29:32,980 --> 00:29:35,980 We will only know when we get through the front doors. 519 00:29:38,980 --> 00:29:43,980 Based on the layout of the building, Gary has a good idea which side will have an entrance into the bunker. 520 00:29:45,980 --> 00:29:53,980 He sends Clovis over to the edge to get digging, while other members of Gary's team, including his son, come in to help. 521 00:30:02,980 --> 00:30:04,980 Look at that! 522 00:30:04,980 --> 00:30:05,980 Jackpup. 523 00:30:05,980 --> 00:30:08,980 Oh my god, it's a door! 524 00:30:09,980 --> 00:30:11,980 Is it blocked or can you get in there? 525 00:30:11,980 --> 00:30:12,980 I think you can get in there. 526 00:30:12,980 --> 00:30:13,980 Yeah? 527 00:30:13,980 --> 00:30:14,980 Yeah, I think so. 528 00:30:17,980 --> 00:30:21,980 This place doesn't exactly have an elevator, so we make our own. 529 00:30:21,980 --> 00:30:22,980 Okay, can you take me down? 530 00:30:22,980 --> 00:30:24,980 Down, yeah? 531 00:30:24,980 --> 00:30:25,980 Ha ha! 532 00:30:25,980 --> 00:30:26,980 I owe you. 533 00:30:33,980 --> 00:30:34,980 Okay. 534 00:30:36,980 --> 00:30:37,980 Love it. 535 00:30:38,980 --> 00:30:39,980 Merci. 536 00:30:41,980 --> 00:30:42,980 Oh! 537 00:30:42,980 --> 00:30:43,980 Did you hit something? 538 00:30:43,980 --> 00:30:44,980 Yeah. 539 00:30:44,980 --> 00:30:45,980 What'd you hit? 540 00:30:46,980 --> 00:30:51,980 Before we can clear the door, though, we spot something buried in the earth outside the bunker. 541 00:30:52,980 --> 00:30:53,980 What the heck is this? 542 00:30:53,980 --> 00:30:54,980 It looks like a cannon. 543 00:30:55,980 --> 00:30:56,980 This is the back end? 544 00:30:56,980 --> 00:30:57,980 Yeah. 545 00:30:57,980 --> 00:30:58,980 This is a cannon? 546 00:30:58,980 --> 00:30:59,980 Yeah, it looks like it. 547 00:31:00,980 --> 00:31:01,980 Loantemont, loantemont. 548 00:31:02,980 --> 00:31:03,980 He's gonna try and pull it? 549 00:31:03,980 --> 00:31:04,980 Yeah. 550 00:31:04,980 --> 00:31:05,980 Okay. 551 00:31:05,980 --> 00:31:06,980 Wow. 552 00:31:06,980 --> 00:31:07,980 We're gonna lift it out. 553 00:31:08,980 --> 00:31:09,980 One huge piece. 554 00:31:10,980 --> 00:31:13,980 We give Clovis a hand so he can hoist it out of the hole. 555 00:31:16,980 --> 00:31:17,980 There it goes. 556 00:31:18,980 --> 00:31:19,980 Yay! 557 00:31:19,980 --> 00:31:20,980 We did it! 558 00:31:20,980 --> 00:31:21,980 Yes! 559 00:31:24,980 --> 00:31:26,980 Superb, superb. 560 00:31:26,980 --> 00:31:28,980 Makes you wonder what else is here. 561 00:31:28,980 --> 00:31:30,980 Yeah, unbelievable. 562 00:31:30,980 --> 00:31:37,980 This is a 105-millimeter check-made field cannon, their version of the Howitzer. 563 00:31:37,980 --> 00:31:42,980 One of the original guns that was hurling explosive shells at Allied forces on D-Day. 564 00:31:42,980 --> 00:31:47,980 It's slightly smaller caliber than its big brothers nearby, but its presence helps make 565 00:31:47,980 --> 00:31:54,980 clear why this place had to be neutralized and why the Allies buried the site after its capture. 566 00:31:54,980 --> 00:31:55,980 Wow. 567 00:31:55,980 --> 00:31:56,980 Look at this. 568 00:31:56,980 --> 00:31:57,980 Okay, let's try and dig it out. 569 00:31:57,980 --> 00:31:58,980 Dig it. 570 00:31:58,980 --> 00:31:59,980 Can I take that pick? 571 00:31:59,980 --> 00:32:03,980 With the outside cleared, we now need to get inside the bunker. 572 00:32:03,980 --> 00:32:06,980 It's blocked with decades of fill and debris. 573 00:32:07,980 --> 00:32:10,980 It's like they dumped all this garbage in here. 574 00:32:10,980 --> 00:32:12,980 Look at that, it's not blocked. 575 00:32:12,980 --> 00:32:14,980 That goes down and down and down into the dark. 576 00:32:14,980 --> 00:32:15,980 I can see it. 577 00:32:18,980 --> 00:32:19,980 Whoa, look at this. 578 00:32:20,980 --> 00:32:21,980 Dan, what do you think of that? 579 00:32:21,980 --> 00:32:22,980 German barbed wire. 580 00:32:22,980 --> 00:32:23,980 Is it? 581 00:32:23,980 --> 00:32:24,980 Yes, indeed. 582 00:32:24,980 --> 00:32:25,980 How do we know it's German? 583 00:32:25,980 --> 00:32:26,980 Nice and tight on the left. 584 00:32:26,980 --> 00:32:27,980 How do we know it's German? 585 00:32:27,980 --> 00:32:29,980 Nice and tight on the little roundalls here. 586 00:32:29,980 --> 00:32:33,980 So the Allies would put the spikes much further apart here, whereas the Germans would put 587 00:32:33,980 --> 00:32:34,980 them very tight together. 588 00:32:34,980 --> 00:32:35,980 It's very nasty stuff. 589 00:32:35,980 --> 00:32:36,980 It would catch you. 590 00:32:36,980 --> 00:32:37,980 It was horrible to get through. 591 00:32:37,980 --> 00:32:38,980 That's the engineering. 592 00:32:38,980 --> 00:32:39,980 Very much so. 593 00:32:39,980 --> 00:32:40,980 That was finest. 594 00:32:40,980 --> 00:32:41,980 Look at that. 595 00:32:41,980 --> 00:32:43,980 So we've got some writing on the wall at the side here. 596 00:32:43,980 --> 00:32:44,980 Oh, look at that. 597 00:32:44,980 --> 00:32:45,980 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. 598 00:32:45,980 --> 00:32:46,980 Looks like maybe a seven, maybe a one. 599 00:32:46,980 --> 00:32:48,980 Zero, zero, one, seven maybe. 600 00:32:48,980 --> 00:32:49,980 Okay. 601 00:32:49,980 --> 00:32:53,980 Look, we're not even inside yet, but just based on the architecture you see here, can you 602 00:32:53,980 --> 00:32:54,980 tell what this is? 603 00:32:54,980 --> 00:32:55,980 Not yet. 604 00:32:55,980 --> 00:32:57,980 We've not seen this type of building before. 605 00:32:57,980 --> 00:33:03,980 It's going to be tight, but we can get in there. 606 00:33:03,980 --> 00:33:04,980 Okay, let's go for it. 607 00:33:04,980 --> 00:33:05,980 After you. 608 00:33:05,980 --> 00:33:07,980 Okay, well, here goes nothing. 609 00:33:07,980 --> 00:33:08,980 Okay. 610 00:33:08,980 --> 00:33:14,980 This is going to be messy and muddy and horrible. 611 00:33:14,980 --> 00:33:15,980 Okay. 612 00:33:15,980 --> 00:33:16,980 Man. 613 00:33:16,980 --> 00:33:20,980 We take our first steps into the bunker. 614 00:33:20,980 --> 00:33:24,980 The first steps anyone has taken into it in 75 years. 615 00:33:24,980 --> 00:33:26,980 Okay, I'm in. 616 00:33:26,980 --> 00:33:28,980 What can you see? 617 00:33:28,980 --> 00:33:31,980 Well, it goes back to a solid wall. 618 00:33:31,980 --> 00:33:36,980 Back section looks flooded and then a door that goes off to the left here. 619 00:33:36,980 --> 00:33:42,980 I can see big hinges on it, but no door. 620 00:33:42,980 --> 00:33:43,980 Okay. 621 00:33:43,980 --> 00:33:45,980 You're okay. 622 00:33:45,980 --> 00:33:49,980 Bank, dark and dripping with seven decades of mold. 623 00:33:49,980 --> 00:33:51,980 This place is repulsive. 624 00:33:51,980 --> 00:33:55,980 When you remember it was once crawling with Nazis though, it's kind of an improvement. 625 00:33:55,980 --> 00:33:58,980 Oh, wow. 626 00:33:58,980 --> 00:34:02,980 Huge room. 627 00:34:02,980 --> 00:34:03,980 Very muddy. 628 00:34:03,980 --> 00:34:04,980 Yeah. 629 00:34:04,980 --> 00:34:06,980 And we got some clues in here though. 630 00:34:06,980 --> 00:34:07,980 What's that valve over there? 631 00:34:07,980 --> 00:34:09,980 That's part of the ventilation system. 632 00:34:09,980 --> 00:34:11,980 And this too, look. 633 00:34:11,980 --> 00:34:13,980 Yeah, that's all part of the ventilation system. 634 00:34:13,980 --> 00:34:14,980 Wow. 635 00:34:14,980 --> 00:34:17,980 It brought fresh air in from the outside. 636 00:34:17,980 --> 00:34:19,980 The roof, it's all burnt. 637 00:34:19,980 --> 00:34:21,980 Yeah, totally burned. 638 00:34:21,980 --> 00:34:28,980 The bunker may have been burned during the firefight to take Maisie or torched by the allies before burying the site. 639 00:34:28,980 --> 00:34:31,980 Regardless, the structure is intact. 640 00:34:31,980 --> 00:34:35,980 And so are several artifacts left behind by the former occupants. 641 00:34:35,980 --> 00:34:37,980 What is this? 642 00:34:37,980 --> 00:34:39,980 It's the end of a gas mask filter. 643 00:34:39,980 --> 00:34:42,980 Look at that. 644 00:34:42,980 --> 00:34:46,980 And another one there, it looks like too. 645 00:34:46,980 --> 00:34:57,980 These asbestos filters were placed inside Nazi gas masks to be used in case of chemical attack. 646 00:34:57,980 --> 00:34:59,980 Yeah, what's that there? 647 00:34:59,980 --> 00:35:00,980 What is that? 648 00:35:00,980 --> 00:35:01,980 Whoa, I know what that is. 649 00:35:01,980 --> 00:35:02,980 What is it? 650 00:35:02,980 --> 00:35:04,980 That's the drum of a machine gun. 651 00:35:04,980 --> 00:35:06,980 Get out of here. 652 00:35:06,980 --> 00:35:08,980 Whoa, look at that. 653 00:35:08,980 --> 00:35:12,980 Load that with 50 rounds of ammunition and it clips onto the side of a machine gun. 654 00:35:12,980 --> 00:35:15,980 Wow, it looks like it's still with its original paint. 655 00:35:15,980 --> 00:35:17,980 Wow, look at that. 656 00:35:17,980 --> 00:35:18,980 It does. 657 00:35:18,980 --> 00:35:19,980 Is this the feeder? 658 00:35:19,980 --> 00:35:21,980 Yeah, that will feed one round at a time into the gun. 659 00:35:21,980 --> 00:35:24,980 That is unbelievable. 660 00:35:24,980 --> 00:35:25,980 Okay, should we push into this room? 661 00:35:25,980 --> 00:35:26,980 I think it's dry. 662 00:35:26,980 --> 00:35:27,980 Yep, let's do that. 663 00:35:27,980 --> 00:35:28,980 Let's do that. 664 00:35:28,980 --> 00:35:34,980 We move from room to room, each one offering up haunting remnants of the past. 665 00:35:34,980 --> 00:35:36,980 There's some German barbed wire. 666 00:35:36,980 --> 00:35:38,980 Look how many twists there are. 667 00:35:38,980 --> 00:35:39,980 What is this? 668 00:35:39,980 --> 00:35:42,980 This looks like it might have been an ammunition box. 669 00:35:42,980 --> 00:35:46,980 We've got wood, brackets, bracing. 670 00:35:46,980 --> 00:35:47,980 Anything else? 671 00:35:47,980 --> 00:35:48,980 Not yet. 672 00:35:48,980 --> 00:35:50,980 Keep going this way. 673 00:35:50,980 --> 00:35:52,980 Oh, hey, look! 674 00:35:52,980 --> 00:35:54,980 Hey, hey, hey, look, that's his, don't you? 675 00:35:54,980 --> 00:35:57,980 Are you kidding me? 676 00:35:57,980 --> 00:35:59,980 Just look at that. 677 00:35:59,980 --> 00:36:01,980 Look at the condition of that. 678 00:36:01,980 --> 00:36:05,980 My word. 679 00:36:05,980 --> 00:36:06,980 Wow, look at that. 680 00:36:06,980 --> 00:36:07,980 It's got a symbol. 681 00:36:07,980 --> 00:36:08,980 Yes, the SS. 682 00:36:08,980 --> 00:36:11,980 Oh, my word, it's an SS helmet. 683 00:36:23,980 --> 00:36:32,980 In the fields overlooking Omaha Beach, researcher Gary Stern and I have discovered a buried Nazi bunker untouched since World War II. 684 00:36:33,980 --> 00:36:42,980 The German bunker is a well-known, well-known, well-known, well-known, well-known, well-known, well-known, well-known, well-known, well-known, well-known, well-known, well-known, well-known. 685 00:36:42,980 --> 00:36:48,980 And we've just uncovered something that could prove it. 686 00:36:48,980 --> 00:36:51,980 Just look at that. 687 00:36:51,980 --> 00:36:53,980 Look at the condition of that. 688 00:36:53,980 --> 00:36:56,980 Oh, my word. 689 00:36:56,980 --> 00:36:58,980 Wow, look at that. 690 00:36:58,980 --> 00:36:59,980 It's got a symbol. 691 00:36:59,980 --> 00:37:00,980 Yes, the SS. 692 00:37:00,980 --> 00:37:02,980 Oh, my word, it's an SS helmet. 693 00:37:02,980 --> 00:37:03,980 Yep. 694 00:37:03,980 --> 00:37:04,980 The runic symbol. 695 00:37:04,980 --> 00:37:05,980 Amazing. 696 00:37:05,980 --> 00:37:15,980 To just be confronted with that and to see that horrible symbol on a helmet is just unbelievable. 697 00:37:15,980 --> 00:37:27,980 This is a steel helmet belonging to a member of the Waffen SS, Hitler's elite paramilitary guard, and the arm of the German state most responsible for the atrocities of the Holocaust. 698 00:37:27,980 --> 00:37:34,980 The symbols on its side are called Siegruhns, twin lightning bolts that were intended to represent victory. 699 00:37:34,980 --> 00:37:36,980 So let's try to put this together. 700 00:37:36,980 --> 00:37:42,980 We've got a lot of remains of gas masks, maybe an ammo box, and now an SS helmet. 701 00:37:42,980 --> 00:37:44,980 This has got to be an ammunition store. 702 00:37:44,980 --> 00:37:45,980 That's what I was thinking. 703 00:37:45,980 --> 00:37:46,980 It's the only thing it could be. 704 00:37:46,980 --> 00:37:51,980 It feels like a big weapon storage area, which makes sense too, because we've got these big guns, these big casements outside. 705 00:37:51,980 --> 00:37:52,980 50 feet away. 706 00:37:52,980 --> 00:37:53,980 And this feeds them. 707 00:37:53,980 --> 00:37:54,980 Yeah. 708 00:37:54,980 --> 00:38:01,980 It appears we're standing in an immense ammo bunker, designed to supply the massive gun emplacements above. 709 00:38:01,980 --> 00:38:08,980 The presence of the infamous SS here further underscores the importance and lethal power of this complex. 710 00:38:10,980 --> 00:38:16,980 We continue to explore the bunker until we suddenly get a call from the surface. 711 00:38:16,980 --> 00:38:17,980 Charlie! 712 00:38:17,980 --> 00:38:18,980 Where was it? 713 00:38:18,980 --> 00:38:19,980 Over there! 714 00:38:19,980 --> 00:38:20,980 Charlie! 715 00:38:20,980 --> 00:38:21,980 Is that Klovis? 716 00:38:21,980 --> 00:38:22,980 He's shouted. 717 00:38:22,980 --> 00:38:23,980 Klovis! 718 00:38:23,980 --> 00:38:24,980 Klovis! 719 00:38:24,980 --> 00:38:25,980 I found something! 720 00:38:34,980 --> 00:38:35,980 Think you found something else? 721 00:38:35,980 --> 00:38:36,980 Maybe. Let's have a look. 722 00:38:36,980 --> 00:38:42,980 While we've been investigating the bunker, Gary's team has discovered something else buried nearby. 723 00:38:42,980 --> 00:38:44,980 We hurry over to see what they've found. 724 00:38:46,980 --> 00:38:47,980 You find something! 725 00:38:47,980 --> 00:38:48,980 Is this structure? 726 00:38:49,980 --> 00:38:50,980 The bathroom? 727 00:38:50,980 --> 00:38:51,980 Yeah, no. 728 00:38:54,980 --> 00:38:55,980 It's concrete. 729 00:38:56,980 --> 00:38:57,980 Hey! 730 00:38:58,980 --> 00:38:59,980 Another building! 731 00:38:59,980 --> 00:39:00,980 Fantastic. 732 00:39:02,980 --> 00:39:06,980 With the help of Gary's team, we work to clear away the earth from this new building. 733 00:39:14,980 --> 00:39:15,980 Digging away the roof. 734 00:39:19,980 --> 00:39:20,980 Finding another to broke. 735 00:39:24,980 --> 00:39:28,980 Exposing a new door. 736 00:39:33,980 --> 00:39:37,980 And finally, revealing the shape of this second enormous structure. 737 00:39:40,980 --> 00:39:46,980 Together with the first bunker, there's no doubt that we've uncovered an entirely new section of the compound. 738 00:39:46,980 --> 00:39:48,980 Okay, first looks. 739 00:39:48,980 --> 00:39:49,980 Okay. 740 00:39:49,980 --> 00:39:50,980 Oh! 741 00:39:50,980 --> 00:39:51,980 Wow. 742 00:39:51,980 --> 00:39:52,980 Machine gun port. 743 00:39:52,980 --> 00:39:54,980 Yeah, but look, it's got the shield in place. 744 00:39:55,980 --> 00:39:56,980 It does have the shield in place. 745 00:39:56,980 --> 00:39:57,980 Look at that! 746 00:39:57,980 --> 00:39:58,980 We gotta clear some debris out of here. 747 00:39:58,980 --> 00:39:59,980 We should be able to get in. 748 00:39:59,980 --> 00:40:00,980 Yep. Okay. 749 00:40:00,980 --> 00:40:01,980 Yeah? 750 00:40:09,980 --> 00:40:10,980 We're going down. 751 00:40:12,980 --> 00:40:13,980 I'm in! 752 00:40:13,980 --> 00:40:15,980 Wow, look at this! 753 00:40:23,980 --> 00:40:24,980 Okay. 754 00:40:28,980 --> 00:40:32,980 So, okay, so we've got the machine gun port here, this guard of the entrance. 755 00:40:32,980 --> 00:40:35,980 We haven't found any of these with the shield in place at all and the rest of the site. 756 00:40:35,980 --> 00:40:36,980 Wow. 757 00:40:36,980 --> 00:40:38,980 So that's quite unusual to find that. 758 00:40:40,980 --> 00:40:43,980 And if you look here, you've got two antenna positions. 759 00:40:43,980 --> 00:40:44,980 These. 760 00:40:44,980 --> 00:40:46,980 So they would wind a retractable antenna. 761 00:40:46,980 --> 00:40:49,980 Still got some of the communication cable in place. 762 00:40:50,980 --> 00:40:51,980 Whoa. 763 00:40:51,980 --> 00:40:52,980 Wow. 764 00:40:52,980 --> 00:40:59,980 The retractable antennas would allow the Nazis to communicate with the outside from within a sealed, bomb-proof building. 765 00:41:00,980 --> 00:41:02,980 Okay, okay, let's see what we got here. 766 00:41:07,980 --> 00:41:08,980 Oh, man! 767 00:41:08,980 --> 00:41:09,980 What can you say? 768 00:41:09,980 --> 00:41:10,980 It's just terrifying. 769 00:41:10,980 --> 00:41:11,980 Look at this. 770 00:41:11,980 --> 00:41:13,980 First of all, what is growing in here? 771 00:41:15,980 --> 00:41:17,980 I have no idea. 772 00:41:17,980 --> 00:41:20,980 I mean, it looks full on alien toxic death. 773 00:41:22,980 --> 00:41:25,980 This structure appears at a glance to be even bigger than the first. 774 00:41:29,980 --> 00:41:37,980 The two bunkers certainly share a mold problem, as well as a lingering residual feeling of evil, nearly eight decades old. 775 00:41:37,980 --> 00:41:39,980 We've got a room to the left. 776 00:41:40,980 --> 00:41:41,980 Yep. 777 00:41:41,980 --> 00:41:44,980 The question now is, what was this building's purpose? 778 00:41:44,980 --> 00:41:47,980 We search for artifacts to give us an indication. 779 00:41:47,980 --> 00:41:49,980 What is this growing out of these pipes? 780 00:41:49,980 --> 00:41:50,980 I have no idea. 781 00:41:50,980 --> 00:41:52,980 It's like a blue crystal. 782 00:41:53,980 --> 00:41:55,980 Oh, I would not touch that if I were you, Gary. 783 00:42:01,980 --> 00:42:02,980 What is this? 784 00:42:02,980 --> 00:42:03,980 Aha. 785 00:42:03,980 --> 00:42:05,980 That is a German belt buckle. 786 00:42:05,980 --> 00:42:08,980 Oh, my word, it is. 787 00:42:08,980 --> 00:42:17,980 So we got T, Ott, Gott, Gott, Gott, Gott, Gott mit uns. 788 00:42:17,980 --> 00:42:19,980 Gott ist mit uns in German. 789 00:42:19,980 --> 00:42:20,980 Gott ist mit uns. 790 00:42:20,980 --> 00:42:22,980 Not quite. 791 00:42:22,980 --> 00:42:23,980 It wasn't this time. 792 00:42:23,980 --> 00:42:24,980 Yeah. 793 00:42:24,980 --> 00:42:26,980 Yeah, an aswastika under the eagle. 794 00:42:28,980 --> 00:42:30,980 That is just terrifying. 795 00:42:30,980 --> 00:42:32,980 It's one of those weird dual things, right? 796 00:42:32,980 --> 00:42:36,980 Like, on one hand, it's this big symbol, this big Nazi military symbol. 797 00:42:36,980 --> 00:42:38,980 Propaganda symbol, as well. 798 00:42:38,980 --> 00:42:39,980 Exactly, propaganda. 799 00:42:39,980 --> 00:42:41,980 On the other hand, it's very personal. 800 00:42:41,980 --> 00:42:43,980 It's like some guy's belt. 801 00:42:43,980 --> 00:42:45,980 You know, somebody got up every day and put this on. 802 00:42:45,980 --> 00:42:46,980 Yeah. 803 00:42:46,980 --> 00:42:47,980 Amazingly. 804 00:42:47,980 --> 00:42:49,980 And then he leaves it here, or it gets lost here. 805 00:42:49,980 --> 00:42:50,980 Yeah. 806 00:42:50,980 --> 00:42:51,980 All right, get that away from me, will you? 807 00:42:51,980 --> 00:42:52,980 All right. 808 00:42:52,980 --> 00:42:53,980 Let's keep looking. 809 00:42:56,980 --> 00:42:57,980 Watch your head. 810 00:42:57,980 --> 00:42:58,980 Yeah. 811 00:43:00,980 --> 00:43:01,980 Oh, wow. 812 00:43:01,980 --> 00:43:02,980 Crazy. 813 00:43:02,980 --> 00:43:03,980 Wow. 814 00:43:03,980 --> 00:43:04,980 This is crazy. 815 00:43:04,980 --> 00:43:06,980 This one's more flooded than the other one. 816 00:43:07,980 --> 00:43:11,980 And another one of these machine gun ports right here. 817 00:43:11,980 --> 00:43:12,980 Yeah. 818 00:43:13,980 --> 00:43:15,980 Oh, look at this. 819 00:43:15,980 --> 00:43:18,980 Oh, my word. 820 00:43:19,980 --> 00:43:20,980 Are you kidding me? 821 00:43:20,980 --> 00:43:21,980 Look at this. 822 00:43:21,980 --> 00:43:22,980 It's sheet music. 823 00:43:25,980 --> 00:43:29,980 And all of this was burned, and we have a piece of this sheet music is still here. 824 00:43:29,980 --> 00:43:30,980 That is insane. 825 00:43:30,980 --> 00:43:31,980 That's crazy. 826 00:43:31,980 --> 00:43:33,980 Can you imagine a guy sitting in here playing the piano? 827 00:43:36,980 --> 00:43:38,980 The guys had to entertain themselves, you know? 828 00:43:38,980 --> 00:43:41,980 Remember, they were in these places for four years. 829 00:43:41,980 --> 00:43:43,980 Four years before the Allies invaded. 830 00:43:43,980 --> 00:43:44,980 Yeah. 831 00:43:45,980 --> 00:43:51,980 The presence of so many personal items suggests to Gary that this was once a personnel bunker, 832 00:43:51,980 --> 00:43:53,980 housing up to 20 soldiers. 833 00:43:53,980 --> 00:43:57,980 This is where the Nazis who guarded Maisie once lived. 834 00:43:58,980 --> 00:44:02,980 What we'll do with all the items we found, we'll keep them, preserve them, put them on display, 835 00:44:02,980 --> 00:44:05,980 and then everybody in the future can see what we found. 836 00:44:05,980 --> 00:44:06,980 And have some context. 837 00:44:06,980 --> 00:44:07,980 Of what happened here. 838 00:44:07,980 --> 00:44:08,980 And yeah. 839 00:44:08,980 --> 00:44:09,980 All right. 840 00:44:09,980 --> 00:44:11,980 Let's start making our way back to the light, yeah? 841 00:44:11,980 --> 00:44:12,980 Okay. 842 00:44:12,980 --> 00:44:13,980 Okay. 843 00:44:13,980 --> 00:44:14,980 Here we go. 844 00:44:21,980 --> 00:44:25,980 We emerge from underground, and I remain shaken by what we found. 845 00:44:25,980 --> 00:44:31,980 Maisie's battery was crucial in the Allies' fight to break Germany's grip on Europe. 846 00:44:31,980 --> 00:44:35,980 Yet its story, like our bunker, seems to have been buried. 847 00:44:35,980 --> 00:44:38,980 While the assault on Pointe de Hoc remains the stuff of action movies, 848 00:44:38,980 --> 00:44:44,980 the fact is that Maisie's battery's hidden history is every bit as central to the D-Day legend. 849 00:44:44,980 --> 00:44:47,980 It's a reckoning that's long overdue. 850 00:44:54,980 --> 00:45:00,980 Gary is going to continue excavating the battery until every Nazi structure is exposed to the light of day. 851 00:45:01,980 --> 00:45:09,980 I leave him and drive across Normandy in muted awe at the bravery of the Allied soldiers who withstood the assault from Maisie 852 00:45:09,980 --> 00:45:13,980 and who rose from the beaches to put it out of commission. 853 00:45:21,980 --> 00:45:28,980 Some of the bravest men who fought on D-Day never even saw the beaches though, except perhaps from the air. 854 00:45:29,980 --> 00:45:37,980 It's another secret of the Allies' success, an operation that's finally coming to light at Normandy's Airborne Museum, 855 00:45:37,980 --> 00:45:42,980 where I board a legendary American troop transporter called the C-47. 856 00:45:47,980 --> 00:45:55,980 Many people assume that D-Day started on the beaches, but actually it began up here in the air with these guys. 857 00:45:59,980 --> 00:46:11,980 Just after midnight on June 6, 1944, the first wave of more than 10,000 aircraft started dropping more than 20,000 paratroopers behind enemy lines. 858 00:46:11,980 --> 00:46:15,980 In a top secret mission that wasn't just dangerous, it was deadly. 859 00:46:17,980 --> 00:46:20,980 Perhaps the most incredible thing about the operation? 860 00:46:20,980 --> 00:46:26,980 An entire fleet of unique aircraft that led the invasion never returned from Normandy. 861 00:46:26,980 --> 00:46:28,980 And it was all on purpose. 862 00:46:34,980 --> 00:46:35,980 Coming up. 863 00:46:36,980 --> 00:46:39,980 These gliders were dangerous to put it mildly, right? 864 00:46:41,980 --> 00:46:43,980 A glider crashed in this field? 865 00:46:45,980 --> 00:46:46,980 Josh! 866 00:46:46,980 --> 00:46:48,980 You got something! 867 00:46:49,980 --> 00:46:51,980 There's something big here! 868 00:46:52,980 --> 00:46:53,980 Look at it! 869 00:46:53,980 --> 00:46:54,980 And later. 870 00:46:55,980 --> 00:46:58,980 So out there, you're looking at the battle as it happened. 871 00:47:00,980 --> 00:47:02,980 The Germans heavily mined this area. 872 00:47:07,980 --> 00:47:10,980 Don't touch that! That's an unexploded bolt! 873 00:47:11,980 --> 00:47:12,980 Back up! Back up! 874 00:47:23,980 --> 00:47:30,980 I'm in Normandy's Airborne Museum, investigating the lingering mysteries of World War II's most decisive battle. 875 00:47:30,980 --> 00:47:40,980 On June 6, 1944, Allied forces began the brutal campaign to retake Europe from the Nazis with the invasion of Normandy. 876 00:47:40,980 --> 00:47:45,980 And in fact, the operation began before a single boot hit the beaches on D-Day. 877 00:47:45,980 --> 00:47:50,980 It actually started the night before, a thousand feet above the conflict. 878 00:47:51,980 --> 00:48:00,980 The Allied plan on D-Day was to drop paratroopers behind enemy lines so they could attack German positions from both land and sea. 879 00:48:02,980 --> 00:48:05,980 They flew in the dark of night through heavy fog. 880 00:48:05,980 --> 00:48:08,980 Most had never made a combat jump before. 881 00:48:08,980 --> 00:48:15,980 Months of cloak and dagger preparation led up to the assault, but the mission still hit a few snags. 882 00:48:20,980 --> 00:48:23,980 Many paratroopers were blown far off course. 883 00:48:23,980 --> 00:48:29,980 Some were shot by snipers before they ever landed, and some landed in places like this. 884 00:48:33,980 --> 00:48:40,980 It's a memorial to an American paratrooper who got caught on this church spire, Private John Steele. 885 00:48:41,980 --> 00:48:52,980 And inside the church, a stained glass window depicts his fellow heroes, who miraculously descended from the heavens to rescue France from the Nazis. 886 00:48:57,980 --> 00:49:02,980 For those who did make it to the ground, the situation was still grim. 887 00:49:02,980 --> 00:49:06,980 They were alone in the dark, often separated from their team. 888 00:49:06,980 --> 00:49:10,980 Their odds of survival were about one in four. 889 00:49:10,980 --> 00:49:13,980 These were the first men to face the Nazis. 890 00:49:13,980 --> 00:49:17,980 On a mission so top secret, it's been largely forgotten. 891 00:49:17,980 --> 00:49:20,980 But not all of them landed in parachutes. 892 00:49:20,980 --> 00:49:26,980 Now, 75 years later, this unbelievable story is finally being exposed. 893 00:49:30,980 --> 00:49:32,980 This is Pegasus Bridge. 894 00:49:32,980 --> 00:49:39,980 One of two bridges critical for the Allies to take on D-Day, so the troops could get off the beaches and push inland. 895 00:49:39,980 --> 00:49:45,980 But the Nazis understood the strategic importance of this place, and they had it heavily defended. 896 00:49:45,980 --> 00:49:49,980 They even wired the bridges with explosives as a last resort. 897 00:49:49,980 --> 00:49:54,980 So, how do you sneak up on an enemy armed to the teeth with their finger on a detonator? 898 00:49:54,980 --> 00:49:59,980 You do it with a secret weapon never before used in the history of war. 899 00:50:00,980 --> 00:50:03,980 Gliders 900 00:50:03,980 --> 00:50:08,980 Engineless aircraft made of little more than canvas and wood. 901 00:50:08,980 --> 00:50:18,980 In a stealth nighttime raid, C-47 transport planes towed thousands of American Waco gliders and British Horsa gliders into battle. 902 00:50:18,980 --> 00:50:26,980 Capable of carrying more than a dozen men and even tanks, jeeps and artillery, these were the first stealth aircraft. 903 00:50:30,980 --> 00:50:40,980 And to unearth their role in D-Day, I head to a nearby field, where I meet with former French paratrooper turned World War II historian Ludovic Dufay. 904 00:50:40,980 --> 00:50:43,980 Bonjour, à chanter. Beautiful weather. 905 00:50:43,980 --> 00:50:47,980 If you wait for Cliske, you'll never leave the house. 906 00:50:47,980 --> 00:50:53,980 Tell me a little bit about this glider assault. First of all, why gliders? Why not just use paratroopers? 907 00:50:53,980 --> 00:50:58,980 Gliders can get closer to enemy lines undetected. The key to this mission was surprise. 908 00:50:58,980 --> 00:51:02,980 Everything about it was shrouded in secrecy. 909 00:51:02,980 --> 00:51:10,980 It was an audacious mission codenamed Operation Deadstick, and it was crucial to ensuring that D-Day was successful. 910 00:51:10,980 --> 00:51:13,980 These gliders were dangerous to put it mildly, right? 911 00:51:13,980 --> 00:51:19,980 Yes, they were very flimsy. Remember, they were built as single-use planes. 912 00:51:19,980 --> 00:51:24,980 In fact, they were so fragile that pilots dubbed them flying coffins. 913 00:51:25,980 --> 00:51:30,980 And if they were spotted, the gliders were sitting ducks for the Germans. 914 00:51:30,980 --> 00:51:34,980 But the troops that made it into enemy territory turned the tide of war, 915 00:51:34,980 --> 00:51:40,980 securing critical positions like the Pegasus Bridge, where they cut the German supply line off, 916 00:51:40,980 --> 00:51:44,980 helping the Allies begin their march to victory. 917 00:51:47,980 --> 00:51:51,980 So let's talk about what you're finding out here. First of all, why here? Why in this field? 918 00:51:51,980 --> 00:51:56,980 The gliders had one objective, to get Allied troops behind enemy lines. 919 00:51:56,980 --> 00:52:01,980 They landed in this field right here and were left behind. 920 00:52:04,980 --> 00:52:06,980 But more crashed than landed. 921 00:52:06,980 --> 00:52:12,980 89% of the Horses of Gliders and 50% of the Wacoes were totaled. 922 00:52:12,980 --> 00:52:18,980 After Allied troops moved inland, the gliders and the weapons they transported were abandoned. 923 00:52:18,980 --> 00:52:20,980 Is this from this field? 924 00:52:20,980 --> 00:52:23,980 Yes, it is a British Enfield rifle. 925 00:52:23,980 --> 00:52:28,980 So this would have been carried by one of the British soldiers, presumably in one of these gliders? 926 00:52:28,980 --> 00:52:29,980 Yes. 927 00:52:29,980 --> 00:52:36,980 But Ludo's real objective is a far rarer World War II artifact, the gliders themselves. 928 00:52:36,980 --> 00:52:42,980 Today, only one example of a completely original British Horsa exists. 929 00:52:42,980 --> 00:52:45,980 I'm going back out to search the field. Would you like to help? 930 00:52:45,980 --> 00:52:48,980 Why not? Staying dry is overrated. 931 00:52:49,980 --> 00:52:53,980 Ludo has special permission to metal detect in this historic war zone. 932 00:52:53,980 --> 00:52:59,980 With each find, he helps preserve an endangered piece of history, lost on that fateful night. 933 00:52:59,980 --> 00:53:02,980 Obviously this is a farm. Does it matter that this soil has been tilled? 934 00:53:02,980 --> 00:53:07,980 That's a good thing. Sometimes a tilled field can bring things closer to the surface. 935 00:53:08,980 --> 00:53:10,980 The Wacoes are now in the field. 936 00:53:13,980 --> 00:53:16,980 It has, at least for the moment, stopped raining. 937 00:53:16,980 --> 00:53:19,980 And I am happy about that. 938 00:53:27,980 --> 00:53:28,980 Josh! 939 00:53:28,980 --> 00:53:30,980 You got something! 940 00:53:31,980 --> 00:53:37,980 Something small, whatever it is. 941 00:53:41,980 --> 00:53:42,980 What is this? 942 00:53:42,980 --> 00:53:44,980 It's a narrow-vingian bellbuckle. 943 00:53:44,980 --> 00:53:46,980 Is it a buckle? 944 00:53:46,980 --> 00:53:49,980 I found others like it in the area. 945 00:53:49,980 --> 00:53:52,980 Buckle from the Merovingians. 946 00:53:52,980 --> 00:53:56,980 Hey, Alexa, what is a Merovingian? 947 00:53:56,980 --> 00:54:01,980 FYI, it turns out the Merovingians were a dynasty of kings from early medieval France. 948 00:54:01,980 --> 00:54:02,980 Thank you, Alexa. 949 00:54:02,980 --> 00:54:04,980 You're telling me this is from the Middle Ages? 950 00:54:04,980 --> 00:54:05,980 Yes. 951 00:54:05,980 --> 00:54:10,980 This is incredible. Now we just got to go forward like 1500 years. 952 00:54:10,980 --> 00:54:11,980 Exactly. 953 00:54:11,980 --> 00:54:14,980 Okay, let's go. Incredible find. Here you go. 954 00:54:16,980 --> 00:54:24,980 We continue to metal detect, but the more we uncover, the more I realize that they've been making French history for a very long time. 955 00:54:24,980 --> 00:54:26,980 It looks like a copper coin. 956 00:54:26,980 --> 00:54:27,980 What year do you think this is from? 957 00:54:27,980 --> 00:54:30,980 It's very old, maybe 16th century. 958 00:54:30,980 --> 00:54:35,980 Alright, it's not Merovingian, but we just got to go another 300 years forward. 959 00:54:35,980 --> 00:54:37,980 We're getting closer. We're getting closer. 960 00:54:41,980 --> 00:54:46,980 We carry on, spending hours meticulously combing every square inch of the field. 961 00:54:51,980 --> 00:54:53,980 Hey, hit here. 962 00:54:53,980 --> 00:54:54,980 No. 963 00:54:54,980 --> 00:54:55,980 No. 964 00:54:55,980 --> 00:54:56,980 No, no. 965 00:54:56,980 --> 00:55:03,980 You get these small hits all over the place here, probably a million little bits of nails and metal in these fields. 966 00:55:03,980 --> 00:55:09,980 The gliders that crashed here are the key to a top secret mission that's been all but forgotten. 967 00:55:09,980 --> 00:55:14,980 But after 75 years of decay, is there anything left to be found? 968 00:55:20,980 --> 00:55:21,980 Josh, come here. 969 00:55:21,980 --> 00:55:23,980 You got something else? 970 00:55:26,980 --> 00:55:27,980 Right here. 971 00:55:27,980 --> 00:55:28,980 Big. 972 00:55:29,980 --> 00:55:30,980 Yeah. 973 00:55:30,980 --> 00:55:31,980 Oh yeah. 974 00:55:36,980 --> 00:55:37,980 Look how that is. 975 00:55:37,980 --> 00:55:39,980 Feels like a big target. 976 00:55:44,980 --> 00:55:45,980 It's metal. 977 00:55:47,980 --> 00:55:48,980 Ah, writing. 978 00:55:49,980 --> 00:55:50,980 It's stamped. 979 00:55:50,980 --> 00:55:52,980 It's from a glider. 980 00:56:02,980 --> 00:56:06,980 I'm in Normandy, France with ex-paratrooper Ludo de Fay, 981 00:56:06,980 --> 00:56:10,980 digging for one of the lost secrets of D-Day, gliders. 982 00:56:10,980 --> 00:56:13,980 In the hours before the amphibious invasion, 983 00:56:13,980 --> 00:56:17,980 hundreds of Allied gliders crash landed here on a clandestine mission 984 00:56:17,980 --> 00:56:22,980 to capture Pegasus Bridge and cut off German reinforcements. 985 00:56:22,980 --> 00:56:26,980 The men who flew in these planes are the forgotten heroes of D-Day, 986 00:56:26,980 --> 00:56:30,980 and we just dug up the glider equivalent of a dog tag. 987 00:56:32,980 --> 00:56:33,980 It's metal. 988 00:56:36,980 --> 00:56:37,980 Ah, writing. 989 00:56:38,980 --> 00:56:39,980 It's stamped. 990 00:56:39,980 --> 00:56:40,980 It's from a glider. 991 00:56:40,980 --> 00:56:42,980 Ah, Horsa. 992 00:56:43,980 --> 00:56:46,980 This is a tag from the type of glider that took Pegasus Bridge. 993 00:56:46,980 --> 00:56:47,980 Can you read anything on it? 994 00:56:47,980 --> 00:56:48,980 1640. 995 00:56:48,980 --> 00:56:49,980 That's the serial number. 996 00:56:49,980 --> 00:56:51,980 That's the serial number of the glider. 997 00:56:51,980 --> 00:56:53,980 The Horsa is extremely rare. 998 00:56:54,980 --> 00:56:55,980 Wow. 999 00:56:57,980 --> 00:56:58,980 Unbelievable. 1000 00:56:58,980 --> 00:57:00,980 This tag tells a story. 1001 00:57:01,980 --> 00:57:04,980 This will help us understand more about this operation. 1002 00:57:06,980 --> 00:57:11,980 This ID tag came from the Holy Grail of World War II gliders, the British Horsa, 1003 00:57:11,980 --> 00:57:15,980 with an 88-foot wingspan capable of carrying 25 men. 1004 00:57:15,980 --> 00:57:20,980 It was the biggest glider in the war, and today it is the most rare. 1005 00:57:20,980 --> 00:57:25,980 The only original example is housed at the Museum of Flying in Hampshire, England. 1006 00:57:27,980 --> 00:57:31,980 We're still getting hits on the metal detector, which can only mean one thing. 1007 00:57:31,980 --> 00:57:33,980 We need to keep digging. 1008 00:57:35,980 --> 00:57:37,980 There's something big here. 1009 00:57:38,980 --> 00:57:40,980 It's a painted piece of fabric. 1010 00:57:41,980 --> 00:57:42,980 This could be from a glider. 1011 00:57:42,980 --> 00:57:44,980 Let's see how far this goes. 1012 00:57:46,980 --> 00:57:48,980 I hit something. 1013 00:57:48,980 --> 00:57:50,980 Is it a box? 1014 00:57:53,980 --> 00:57:54,980 Is that wood? 1015 00:57:54,980 --> 00:57:56,980 Yes, it is. 1016 00:58:07,980 --> 00:58:08,980 Careful, careful, careful. 1017 00:58:09,980 --> 00:58:10,980 Got it? 1018 00:58:10,980 --> 00:58:11,980 Yeah. 1019 00:58:12,980 --> 00:58:15,980 I think this is from a glider. 1020 00:58:20,980 --> 00:58:21,980 Is it part of the wing? 1021 00:58:21,980 --> 00:58:22,980 Yes. 1022 00:58:22,980 --> 00:58:24,980 Are you kidding me? 1023 00:58:26,980 --> 00:58:29,980 That is undoubtedly the edge of a wing. 1024 00:58:29,980 --> 00:58:31,980 It's a flap that goes up and down. 1025 00:58:32,980 --> 00:58:35,980 It's made of this incredibly thin, almost paper thin wood. 1026 00:58:35,980 --> 00:58:40,980 When you see this up close, you see how fragile these gliders really were. 1027 00:58:40,980 --> 00:58:43,980 I would not want to fly in something made of this. 1028 00:58:43,980 --> 00:58:49,980 And I'm thankful they flew it, but you would not want to get into an aircraft made only of this. 1029 00:58:49,980 --> 00:58:54,980 That's why so few of them survived, and their story has almost been lost. 1030 00:58:54,980 --> 00:58:56,980 A secret piece of history right there. 1031 00:58:56,980 --> 00:58:59,980 Nice work. Incredible. 1032 00:59:00,980 --> 00:59:06,980 Ludo will continue to comb the field, but for now, the ID tag and wing flap are major finds. 1033 00:59:06,980 --> 00:59:11,980 Historians may be able to connect the serial number to the men who flew this plane, 1034 00:59:11,980 --> 00:59:15,980 revealing more lost details of this top secret mission. 1035 00:59:24,980 --> 00:59:31,980 Meanwhile, my own investigation of D-Day's secrets is turning to the story of one of the invasion's most harrowing mysteries 1036 00:59:31,980 --> 00:59:34,980 in the nearby city of Kong. 1037 00:59:37,980 --> 00:59:41,980 Today, Kong is a postcard come to life. 1038 00:59:41,980 --> 00:59:45,980 It wasn't so picturesque though back in 1944. 1039 00:59:48,980 --> 00:59:52,980 The morning of June 6th. This was the battleground. 1040 00:59:52,980 --> 00:59:54,980 Pierce fighting around Kong. 1041 00:59:56,980 --> 01:00:00,980 On D-Day, the Allies were determined to drive the Germans out of Kong 1042 01:00:00,980 --> 01:00:02,980 to cut off their supply lines. 1043 01:00:02,980 --> 01:00:06,980 They expected it would take a day. It took a month. 1044 01:00:06,980 --> 01:00:11,980 And that was only achieved with a desperate and controversial decision. 1045 01:00:11,980 --> 01:00:14,980 The city had to be bombed. 1046 01:00:14,980 --> 01:00:16,980 By the Allies. 1047 01:00:16,980 --> 01:00:23,980 On July 7th, 1944, the British Royal Air Force dropped 2,000 tons of bombs on Kong. 1048 01:00:23,980 --> 01:00:28,980 The British Royal Air Force was able to take the airfield and take the airfield. 1049 01:00:28,980 --> 01:00:33,980 The result? Sheer devastation that still echoes into the present day. 1050 01:00:44,980 --> 01:00:49,980 The bombing was one of the most relentless in the history of war. 1051 01:00:49,980 --> 01:00:52,980 Most of the city was flattened. 1052 01:00:52,980 --> 01:00:56,980 Yet, incredibly, in a town of 60,000 people, 1053 01:00:56,980 --> 01:00:58,980 only about a thousand died. 1054 01:00:58,980 --> 01:01:01,980 The question is, how is that possible? 1055 01:01:04,980 --> 01:01:09,980 To unlock that mystery, I'm headed to a nondescript warehouse on the edge of town 1056 01:01:09,980 --> 01:01:13,980 called the National Institute for Preventive Archaeology, 1057 01:01:13,980 --> 01:01:17,980 where the history of that era is being preserved by scientists Benoit Lebes 1058 01:01:17,980 --> 01:01:19,980 and Cyril Marseigny. 1059 01:01:19,980 --> 01:01:20,980 Bonjour, I'm Josh. 1060 01:01:20,980 --> 01:01:21,980 Hey, hi, Josh. I'm Benoit. 1061 01:01:21,980 --> 01:01:22,980 Benoit. 1062 01:01:22,980 --> 01:01:23,980 Yeah. 1063 01:01:23,980 --> 01:01:25,980 Nice to meet you both. Thanks for having me. 1064 01:01:25,980 --> 01:01:27,980 This is like from Indiana Jones. 1065 01:01:27,980 --> 01:01:28,980 Yes, exactly. 1066 01:01:28,980 --> 01:01:30,980 This is like the warehouse from Raiders. 1067 01:01:33,980 --> 01:01:34,980 What is this place? 1068 01:01:34,980 --> 01:01:38,980 This place is the deeper where we store what we find in Normandy. 1069 01:01:38,980 --> 01:01:41,980 And have you recovered a lot of World War II artifacts? 1070 01:01:41,980 --> 01:01:42,980 Oui, on le troupe. 1071 01:01:42,980 --> 01:01:44,980 We find many things. 1072 01:01:44,980 --> 01:01:45,980 Lots. 1073 01:01:45,980 --> 01:01:48,980 So this town was heavily bombed? 1074 01:01:48,980 --> 01:01:53,980 Yes. Probably one of the most destroyed during the Second World War in Normandy. 1075 01:01:53,980 --> 01:01:57,980 And so do you find a lot of archaeological materials from that invasion? 1076 01:01:57,980 --> 01:01:59,980 Yes. Yes. I can show you. 1077 01:01:59,980 --> 01:02:00,980 Yeah, please. 1078 01:02:03,980 --> 01:02:04,980 Wow. 1079 01:02:04,980 --> 01:02:08,980 So here you have a small example of what you can find all around Kone. 1080 01:02:08,980 --> 01:02:09,980 A small example? 1081 01:02:09,980 --> 01:02:10,980 Yes, it's a small example. 1082 01:02:10,980 --> 01:02:11,980 Is that ammunition? 1083 01:02:11,980 --> 01:02:12,980 Yes. 1084 01:02:12,980 --> 01:02:14,980 It's British ammunition. 1085 01:02:14,980 --> 01:02:16,980 Not live still? 1086 01:02:16,980 --> 01:02:17,980 No, no. 1087 01:02:17,980 --> 01:02:18,980 You're sure? 1088 01:02:18,980 --> 01:02:19,980 Yeah, we are sure. 1089 01:02:19,980 --> 01:02:24,980 And look at this. If you look at the primer on the back, this really is just like a massive bullet. 1090 01:02:24,980 --> 01:02:25,980 Yeah. 1091 01:02:25,980 --> 01:02:26,980 And this? 1092 01:02:26,980 --> 01:02:28,980 This is a German machine gun. 1093 01:02:28,980 --> 01:02:29,980 Terrifying. 1094 01:02:29,980 --> 01:02:31,980 This one was a German plane. 1095 01:02:31,980 --> 01:02:32,980 From a plane? 1096 01:02:32,980 --> 01:02:34,980 It's an electric, all machine gun. 1097 01:02:34,980 --> 01:02:36,980 Wow. And it's incredibly heavy too for an aircraft. 1098 01:02:36,980 --> 01:02:37,980 Yes. 1099 01:02:37,980 --> 01:02:39,980 Josh, come this way. 1100 01:02:43,980 --> 01:02:44,980 Wow. Machine gun. 1101 01:02:44,980 --> 01:02:47,980 Yes, it's a British stand-sub machine gun. 1102 01:02:47,980 --> 01:02:52,980 This was like one of the bread and butter weapons for the British, right? 1103 01:02:52,980 --> 01:02:53,980 Absolutely, yeah. 1104 01:02:53,980 --> 01:02:55,980 And this is the magazine? 1105 01:02:55,980 --> 01:02:56,980 Yes. 1106 01:02:56,980 --> 01:02:57,980 So this would have gone in here? 1107 01:02:57,980 --> 01:02:58,980 Yes, like this. 1108 01:02:58,980 --> 01:02:59,980 Wow. 1109 01:02:59,980 --> 01:03:06,980 Sifting through the residue of Kone's past, it's not surprising there's plenty from the battles of World War II, 1110 01:03:06,980 --> 01:03:09,980 but there are some unexpected finds in here too. 1111 01:03:09,980 --> 01:03:11,980 I would like to show you this. 1112 01:03:11,980 --> 01:03:13,980 These are brass knuckles? 1113 01:03:13,980 --> 01:03:14,980 Yeah, it's a Canadian one. 1114 01:03:14,980 --> 01:03:15,980 Canadian? 1115 01:03:15,980 --> 01:03:16,980 Yeah. 1116 01:03:16,980 --> 01:03:17,980 Wow. 1117 01:03:17,980 --> 01:03:19,980 Then there are brass knuckles. 1118 01:03:20,980 --> 01:03:22,980 Knucks, we call them knucks. 1119 01:03:22,980 --> 01:03:23,980 Canadian. 1120 01:03:23,980 --> 01:03:25,980 I mean, I had to forget it. 1121 01:03:25,980 --> 01:03:29,980 And we also found a lot of really interesting personal things. 1122 01:03:29,980 --> 01:03:30,980 Personal items. 1123 01:03:30,980 --> 01:03:31,980 Okay, like what? 1124 01:03:31,980 --> 01:03:33,980 From those. 1125 01:03:33,980 --> 01:03:35,980 This is a dog tag. 1126 01:03:35,980 --> 01:03:36,980 Yes. 1127 01:03:36,980 --> 01:03:38,980 Canadian ID tag. 1128 01:03:38,980 --> 01:03:40,980 And we have his initials, HF. 1129 01:03:40,980 --> 01:03:43,980 Yes, and his army serial number. 1130 01:03:43,980 --> 01:03:44,980 Wow. 1131 01:03:44,980 --> 01:03:45,980 On the back. 1132 01:03:45,980 --> 01:03:47,980 From Rose. 1133 01:03:47,980 --> 01:03:49,980 A gift from his girlfriend. 1134 01:03:49,980 --> 01:03:50,980 Wow. 1135 01:03:50,980 --> 01:03:53,980 Just seeing that makes it so real. 1136 01:03:53,980 --> 01:03:54,980 Yeah. 1137 01:03:54,980 --> 01:03:59,980 Like the machine gun, you see these weapons, they're kind of faceless, you know, they're just weapons of war, 1138 01:03:59,980 --> 01:04:05,980 but boy, when you see that, it's more than just an item, it's a whole story. 1139 01:04:06,980 --> 01:04:11,980 These amazing relics litter the fields of Normandy, showing the extent of the battle here. 1140 01:04:11,980 --> 01:04:17,980 A bloody toll that could have been exacted on the civilians of Khaan, but miraculously, wasn't. 1141 01:04:19,980 --> 01:04:26,980 Seeing all of these artifacts, the thing that's kind of confusing is how it is that so few civilians died here. 1142 01:04:26,980 --> 01:04:28,980 It's like a thousand people, right? 1143 01:04:28,980 --> 01:04:29,980 Yeah. 1144 01:04:29,980 --> 01:04:33,980 Still a huge number, obviously, but in a town of 60,000, it's actually not as many as you'd think. 1145 01:04:33,980 --> 01:04:34,980 Yeah. 1146 01:04:34,980 --> 01:04:36,980 Why did so few citizens perish? 1147 01:04:36,980 --> 01:04:37,980 There is a secret in Khaan. 1148 01:04:37,980 --> 01:04:39,980 There's a secret in Khaan. 1149 01:04:39,980 --> 01:04:40,980 What's the secret? 1150 01:04:40,980 --> 01:04:41,980 I'll show you. 1151 01:04:41,980 --> 01:04:46,980 Cyril and Benoit lead me outside the warehouse to their parking lot. 1152 01:04:46,980 --> 01:04:48,980 So the secret is a shipping container. 1153 01:04:48,980 --> 01:04:49,980 Oh no, not at all. 1154 01:04:49,980 --> 01:04:52,980 The secret is inside the shipping container. 1155 01:04:56,980 --> 01:05:00,980 Oh, oh my God, look at this. 1156 01:05:02,980 --> 01:05:03,980 Oh. 1157 01:05:03,980 --> 01:05:04,980 Yeah, that's the big hole. 1158 01:05:04,980 --> 01:05:07,980 I mean, it just looks like a bottomless pit. 1159 01:05:07,980 --> 01:05:08,980 Is it a well? 1160 01:05:08,980 --> 01:05:09,980 Yes. 1161 01:05:09,980 --> 01:05:10,980 Oh, wow. 1162 01:05:10,980 --> 01:05:11,980 Wow. 1163 01:05:12,980 --> 01:05:14,980 So the secret's down there. 1164 01:05:14,980 --> 01:05:15,980 Yes. 1165 01:05:15,980 --> 01:05:16,980 Does that mean we're going down there? 1166 01:05:16,980 --> 01:05:17,980 Yes, of course. 1167 01:05:17,980 --> 01:05:19,980 Oh, well. 1168 01:05:19,980 --> 01:05:20,980 Oh, well. 1169 01:05:22,980 --> 01:05:29,980 Despite a ladder that drops down into the nothingness, we rig harnesses to a safety line in case of any accidental gravity. 1170 01:05:29,980 --> 01:05:30,980 Okay. 1171 01:05:30,980 --> 01:05:32,980 So who's going first? 1172 01:05:33,980 --> 01:05:35,980 Why do I even bother to ask? 1173 01:05:35,980 --> 01:05:36,980 Okay, here we go. 1174 01:05:39,980 --> 01:05:41,980 Okay, into the darkness, here we go. 1175 01:05:43,980 --> 01:05:49,980 The shaft is crumbling, and if I fall, I'm landing onto a hard pile of God knows what. 1176 01:05:49,980 --> 01:05:53,980 All of which means I'm holding onto this ladder like it's my only friend. 1177 01:05:55,980 --> 01:05:56,980 Oh boy. 1178 01:06:05,980 --> 01:06:07,980 Okay, into the darkness, here we go. 1179 01:06:09,980 --> 01:06:17,980 I'm near the French city of Caen, the center of a massive Allied bombing campaign during the D-Day struggle to defeat the Nazis. 1180 01:06:17,980 --> 01:06:26,980 While over 70% of the city was completely flattened, only 1,000 of the city's 60,000 civilian residents were killed. 1181 01:06:26,980 --> 01:06:31,980 And the secret of how they survived is at the bottom of this deep, dark hole. 1182 01:06:32,980 --> 01:06:38,980 As you go down, it is all hand-dumped. You can actually see the tool marks in the walls. 1183 01:06:39,980 --> 01:06:41,980 And really deep. 1184 01:06:44,980 --> 01:06:47,980 Oh my God, look at this! 1185 01:06:49,980 --> 01:06:52,980 The well opens up into a vast cavern. 1186 01:06:52,980 --> 01:06:57,980 Benoit and Cyril touch down and prepare to show me the underground secrets of Caen. 1187 01:06:57,980 --> 01:07:02,980 Secrets that have been preserved here untouched since 1944. 1188 01:07:02,980 --> 01:07:05,980 As my eyes adjust to it, it goes on forever. It keeps going back this way. 1189 01:07:05,980 --> 01:07:08,980 Yes, this way and also this way, everywhere. 1190 01:07:08,980 --> 01:07:10,980 This is not just a well. 1191 01:07:10,980 --> 01:07:13,980 It's a quarry. It's an ancient stone quarry. 1192 01:07:13,980 --> 01:07:14,980 This is the secret. 1193 01:07:14,980 --> 01:07:15,980 Yes, absolutely. 1194 01:07:17,980 --> 01:07:23,980 In 44, Caen was occupied by the Germans and was the target of a lethal Allied assault. 1195 01:07:23,980 --> 01:07:30,980 While fire and fury rained down from above, the citizens caught in the crossfire found salvation here. 1196 01:07:31,980 --> 01:07:34,980 Protected by 45 feet of solid stone. 1197 01:07:34,980 --> 01:07:40,980 The quarry their ancestors helped create now served as an impregnable bomb shelter. 1198 01:07:40,980 --> 01:07:42,980 So what were they quarrying here? Some kind of stone? 1199 01:07:42,980 --> 01:07:45,980 Yes, white stone called Pierre de Caen. 1200 01:07:45,980 --> 01:07:46,980 Pierre de Caen. 1201 01:07:46,980 --> 01:07:47,980 This stuff? 1202 01:07:47,980 --> 01:07:52,980 Yes, this white stone is really famous because Westminster Abbey was built. 1203 01:07:52,980 --> 01:07:54,980 It was built from this table. 1204 01:07:54,980 --> 01:07:55,980 Wow. 1205 01:07:55,980 --> 01:07:57,980 And yet I see electricity. 1206 01:07:57,980 --> 01:08:03,980 Yes, before the Second World War, this quarry was used as a brewery. 1207 01:08:03,980 --> 01:08:04,980 Does that mean there's beer down here? 1208 01:08:04,980 --> 01:08:06,980 Only empty bottles. 1209 01:08:07,980 --> 01:08:08,980 Tragedy. 1210 01:08:08,980 --> 01:08:09,980 Okay, let's keep moving. 1211 01:08:18,980 --> 01:08:20,980 Look at the size of this place. 1212 01:08:21,980 --> 01:08:23,980 How big is this quarry? 1213 01:08:24,980 --> 01:08:26,980 Approximately 10 acres. 1214 01:08:26,980 --> 01:08:27,980 10 acres? 1215 01:08:27,980 --> 01:08:28,980 Yes. 1216 01:08:29,980 --> 01:08:31,980 So, Josh, look at that. 1217 01:08:31,980 --> 01:08:33,980 Oh, wow. 1218 01:08:34,980 --> 01:08:36,980 Look at all this stuff. 1219 01:08:37,980 --> 01:08:38,980 So people were hiding right here. 1220 01:08:38,980 --> 01:08:43,980 A whole family was living right here. 1221 01:08:43,980 --> 01:08:46,980 Look at this, the remains of a doll. 1222 01:08:46,980 --> 01:08:48,980 And what is that with the writing? 1223 01:08:48,980 --> 01:08:53,980 So here we have the remains of a cup of beef broth. 1224 01:08:53,980 --> 01:08:54,980 Wow. 1225 01:08:54,980 --> 01:08:55,980 And animal bones? 1226 01:08:55,980 --> 01:08:57,980 It's probably the remains of a meal. 1227 01:08:57,980 --> 01:08:59,980 Which would have been cooked here? 1228 01:08:59,980 --> 01:09:00,980 Yes. 1229 01:09:00,980 --> 01:09:02,980 This is not a museum exhibit. 1230 01:09:02,980 --> 01:09:06,980 All of these artifacts are just as the refugees left them on D-Day. 1231 01:09:06,980 --> 01:09:12,980 After the war, the entrance to the quarry was closed off and this clandestine cavern forgotten. 1232 01:09:12,980 --> 01:09:16,980 Rediscovered in the 21st century and off limits to the general public. 1233 01:09:16,980 --> 01:09:19,980 Now it's preserved as an eerie time capsule. 1234 01:09:19,980 --> 01:09:24,980 It feels as if the family sheltering here could return at any moment. 1235 01:09:24,980 --> 01:09:29,980 So they had this whole infrastructure under the town already, this huge quarry. 1236 01:09:29,980 --> 01:09:30,980 Yes. 1237 01:09:30,980 --> 01:09:32,980 And they turned it into a bomb shelter. 1238 01:09:32,980 --> 01:09:33,980 Yeah. 1239 01:09:33,980 --> 01:09:35,980 So all these quarries under Kona. 1240 01:09:35,980 --> 01:09:36,980 Yes. 1241 01:09:36,980 --> 01:09:37,980 How many people were hiding? 1242 01:09:37,980 --> 01:09:39,980 About 20,000 people. 1243 01:09:39,980 --> 01:09:41,980 20,000 people? 1244 01:09:41,980 --> 01:09:42,980 Yes. 1245 01:09:42,980 --> 01:09:43,980 That's staggering. 1246 01:09:47,980 --> 01:09:54,980 Benoit tells me that the refugees hid here, not knowing when the bombing above would stop or which side would be victorious. 1247 01:09:54,980 --> 01:10:01,980 They endured in near complete darkness for six weeks until they were liberated by the allies. 1248 01:10:05,980 --> 01:10:09,980 So far his team has catalogued more than 8,000 artifacts. 1249 01:10:09,980 --> 01:10:16,980 A treasure trove of archaeological information painting a striking portrait of life underground. 1250 01:10:16,980 --> 01:10:20,980 You can clearly see the limits of the living area. 1251 01:10:20,980 --> 01:10:21,980 Right. 1252 01:10:21,980 --> 01:10:22,980 This is the plan of the house right there. 1253 01:10:22,980 --> 01:10:23,980 Yes. 1254 01:10:23,980 --> 01:10:25,980 Or a family in third, five people or less. 1255 01:10:25,980 --> 01:10:26,980 Five people living in here? 1256 01:10:26,980 --> 01:10:27,980 Yes. 1257 01:10:27,980 --> 01:10:28,980 So this would have been the sleeping area? 1258 01:10:28,980 --> 01:10:29,980 Yes. 1259 01:10:29,980 --> 01:10:31,980 The sleeping area, the cooking area. 1260 01:10:31,980 --> 01:10:36,980 And if you look on the wall, on this small hole, you can see a pair of glasses. 1261 01:10:36,980 --> 01:10:38,980 Wow, that's really haunting. 1262 01:10:38,980 --> 01:10:39,980 Yes. 1263 01:10:39,980 --> 01:10:44,980 A little shelf they carved out there and you can just imagine somebody storing their glasses there. 1264 01:10:44,980 --> 01:10:54,980 In a way, this quarry is the ultimate war memorial, revealing the intimate details of the lives of ordinary people who huddled down here to survive. 1265 01:11:00,980 --> 01:11:03,980 So another residence here, another family living area. 1266 01:11:03,980 --> 01:11:05,980 Here, Josh, you can see records. 1267 01:11:05,980 --> 01:11:07,980 These are all records? 1268 01:11:07,980 --> 01:11:08,980 Yeah. 1269 01:11:08,980 --> 01:11:09,980 And this is part of the turntable? 1270 01:11:09,980 --> 01:11:10,980 Yes. 1271 01:11:10,980 --> 01:11:12,980 And this is the speaker? 1272 01:11:12,980 --> 01:11:15,980 This is the speaker, the big thing that would come off of the phonograph. 1273 01:11:15,980 --> 01:11:16,980 Yeah. 1274 01:11:16,980 --> 01:11:17,980 Wow. 1275 01:11:17,980 --> 01:11:19,980 Have you been able to identify any of the records? 1276 01:11:19,980 --> 01:11:20,980 Yes, only one. 1277 01:11:20,980 --> 01:11:21,980 Taylor Swift. 1278 01:11:21,980 --> 01:11:25,980 The name was La Verve Joyuse. 1279 01:11:25,980 --> 01:11:27,980 La Verve Joyuse. 1280 01:11:27,980 --> 01:11:30,980 Yes, it was a famous French song. 1281 01:11:30,980 --> 01:11:31,980 Okay. 1282 01:11:31,980 --> 01:11:37,980 The music, a ghostly echo from the darkest of days, is strangely comforting. 1283 01:11:37,980 --> 01:11:42,980 Here, in this ancient maze of tunnels, life endured. 1284 01:11:45,980 --> 01:11:46,980 Wow. 1285 01:11:46,980 --> 01:11:51,980 So all these people are living down here in this darkness, but eventually, Conn is liberated. 1286 01:11:51,980 --> 01:11:52,980 Yeah. 1287 01:11:52,980 --> 01:11:56,980 So in July 19, the British and the British came to the island of La Verve. 1288 01:11:56,980 --> 01:12:03,980 And while the bombing of Conn helped liberate it from the Nazis, it came at a terrible cost. 1289 01:12:03,980 --> 01:12:11,980 36,000 residents were left homeless, and the city took until 1962 to fully rebuild. 1290 01:12:11,980 --> 01:12:13,980 The city was also liberated. 1291 01:12:13,980 --> 01:12:15,980 The city was also liberated. 1292 01:12:15,980 --> 01:12:16,980 Yeah. 1293 01:12:16,980 --> 01:12:22,980 So in July 19, the British and the Canadian soldiers came here, and were very shocked to see people living here. 1294 01:12:22,980 --> 01:12:23,980 Yeah. 1295 01:12:23,980 --> 01:12:25,980 That must have been an amazing day. 1296 01:12:25,980 --> 01:12:26,980 Yeah. 1297 01:12:26,980 --> 01:12:27,980 It's incredible. 1298 01:12:27,980 --> 01:12:29,980 Thank you so much for showing me this. 1299 01:12:29,980 --> 01:12:31,980 Keep up the amazing work down here. 1300 01:12:31,980 --> 01:12:32,980 Yeah. 1301 01:12:32,980 --> 01:12:33,980 That's incredible. 1302 01:12:33,980 --> 01:12:34,980 Thank you so much. 1303 01:12:34,980 --> 01:12:45,980 Benoit's team plans to build a virtual reality model of the quarry to preserve the site while making it accessible to millions around the globe. 1304 01:12:45,980 --> 01:12:50,980 They're ensuring that Conn's sacrifice will never be forgotten. 1305 01:12:51,980 --> 01:13:00,980 However, there are other crucial secrets of D-Day in danger of vanishing before they can ever be revealed. 1306 01:13:00,980 --> 01:13:11,980 I drive from Conn to the tiny fishing village of Aramanche to meet underwater photographer Martin Davies. 1307 01:13:11,980 --> 01:13:19,980 Davies is part of an effort to preserve the vast battlefield that now lies beneath the waves of the English Channel before it's lost to time. 1308 01:13:19,980 --> 01:13:23,980 But first, he has something to show me right here on the beach. 1309 01:13:23,980 --> 01:13:24,980 Hey, are you Martin? 1310 01:13:24,980 --> 01:13:25,980 Yeah, I'm Martin. 1311 01:13:25,980 --> 01:13:26,980 Hey, I'm Josh. 1312 01:13:26,980 --> 01:13:27,980 Hi, Josh. 1313 01:13:27,980 --> 01:13:28,980 How you doing? 1314 01:13:28,980 --> 01:13:29,980 Nice to meet you. 1315 01:13:29,980 --> 01:13:30,980 Yeah. 1316 01:13:30,980 --> 01:13:31,980 Well, let's start with the elephant in the room. 1317 01:13:31,980 --> 01:13:32,980 What is this thing? 1318 01:13:32,980 --> 01:13:35,980 This is part of a secret project that the Allies put together, a code named Mulberry. 1319 01:13:35,980 --> 01:13:36,980 So what was Mulberry? 1320 01:13:36,980 --> 01:13:41,980 Well, Mulberry was the creation of two giant artificial harbors. 1321 01:13:41,980 --> 01:13:44,980 Everything I'm seeing here, that's all artificial. 1322 01:13:44,980 --> 01:13:46,980 Yep, they're artificial concrete caissons. 1323 01:13:46,980 --> 01:13:51,980 A big reason the Allies chose to attack Normandy was the element of surprise. 1324 01:13:51,980 --> 01:13:54,980 The Germans simply didn't think an invasion here was possible. 1325 01:13:54,980 --> 01:14:02,980 Even if we took the beaches, there wasn't a proper harbor to bring in the waves of troops and supplies needed to move inland. 1326 01:14:02,980 --> 01:14:05,980 So the Allies came up with an ingenious solution. 1327 01:14:05,980 --> 01:14:07,980 They would build one. 1328 01:14:08,980 --> 01:14:15,980 These massive concrete structures, each weighing upwards of 6,000 tons, were prefabricated in England, 1329 01:14:15,980 --> 01:14:21,980 towed across the channel, and then assembled into nearly two square miles of aquatic highways. 1330 01:14:21,980 --> 01:14:27,980 And voila, a harbor capable of moving men and equipment into France. 1331 01:14:27,980 --> 01:14:32,980 It's an unbelievable engineering feat beyond comprehension, really, what they came up with. 1332 01:14:33,980 --> 01:14:35,980 Even more mind-blowing? 1333 01:14:35,980 --> 01:14:41,980 The Allies didn't just build one giant artificial harbor, they built a second one at Omaha Beach, 1334 01:14:41,980 --> 01:14:45,980 effectively transforming this entire coastline into a giant port. 1335 01:14:45,980 --> 01:14:52,980 850,000 Allied soldiers passed through the new harbor on their way to liberate the continent. 1336 01:14:52,980 --> 01:14:56,980 And for a bit of context, how many vessels arrived on D-Day? 1337 01:14:56,980 --> 01:14:59,980 Just under 7,000 vessels came from the UK. 1338 01:15:00,980 --> 01:15:03,980 And obviously a number of those actually got wrecked here. 1339 01:15:03,980 --> 01:15:06,980 Yeah, the Germans heavily mined this area. 1340 01:15:06,980 --> 01:15:08,980 And so what's your primary mission out there? 1341 01:15:08,980 --> 01:15:13,980 Study the wrecks, a lot of the wrecks that have been unknown, a lot of the wrecks have been forgotten. 1342 01:15:13,980 --> 01:15:18,980 It's important that we identify the ships with the people that went down. 1343 01:15:18,980 --> 01:15:20,980 Right, because that really is their grave. 1344 01:15:20,980 --> 01:15:21,980 It is. 1345 01:15:21,980 --> 01:15:27,980 Hundreds of Allied ships sank on and after D-Day, and thousands of lives were lost. 1346 01:15:28,980 --> 01:15:33,980 But with war raging, the information we have about the final resting place of the wrecks 1347 01:15:33,980 --> 01:15:36,980 and their victims is sadly incomplete. 1348 01:15:36,980 --> 01:15:40,980 Martin is working to fill in those blank pages in history. 1349 01:15:40,980 --> 01:15:43,980 As you've been diving out here and studying these wrecks, what's been surprising to you? 1350 01:15:43,980 --> 01:15:47,980 I think the most surprising thing is how inaccurate some of the information is. 1351 01:15:47,980 --> 01:15:48,980 Inaccurate how? 1352 01:15:48,980 --> 01:15:53,980 Everything from their position to the way in which they sank, to how many people died on them. 1353 01:15:53,980 --> 01:15:54,980 Right. 1354 01:15:54,980 --> 01:15:57,980 So out there, you're looking at the battle as it happened. 1355 01:15:57,980 --> 01:15:58,980 It's frozen in time. 1356 01:15:58,980 --> 01:16:00,980 It's completely frozen in time. 1357 01:16:00,980 --> 01:16:02,980 Well, can you give me a peek at how it all works? 1358 01:16:02,980 --> 01:16:03,980 I certainly can. 1359 01:16:03,980 --> 01:16:04,980 I would love that. 1360 01:16:08,980 --> 01:16:11,980 To catalog the ships that were lost in the fight to free France, 1361 01:16:11,980 --> 01:16:15,980 Martin and I head to a dock in nearby Port-en-Basson, 1362 01:16:15,980 --> 01:16:18,980 where another pressing investigation peaks my interest. 1363 01:16:18,980 --> 01:16:20,980 Quick question, do we have time for croissants? 1364 01:16:20,980 --> 01:16:21,980 We certainly do not. 1365 01:16:22,980 --> 01:16:23,980 Okay. Cheese? 1366 01:16:23,980 --> 01:16:24,980 No. 1367 01:16:24,980 --> 01:16:25,980 Espresso? 1368 01:16:25,980 --> 01:16:26,980 No. 1369 01:16:26,980 --> 01:16:27,980 Cigarette? Something French? 1370 01:16:27,980 --> 01:16:28,980 No. We've got to go diving. 1371 01:16:28,980 --> 01:16:29,980 Okay. 1372 01:16:31,980 --> 01:16:36,980 I don't want to cramp up, so expedition Patisserie will have to wait until after we dive. 1373 01:16:36,980 --> 01:16:37,980 Hello. 1374 01:16:37,980 --> 01:16:38,980 This is the team. 1375 01:16:38,980 --> 01:16:39,980 This is Josh. 1376 01:16:39,980 --> 01:16:40,980 This is Pete. 1377 01:16:40,980 --> 01:16:41,980 Pete. 1378 01:16:41,980 --> 01:16:42,980 Mark. 1379 01:16:42,980 --> 01:16:43,980 Nice to meet you. 1380 01:16:43,980 --> 01:16:44,980 Allison. 1381 01:16:44,980 --> 01:16:45,980 Allison. 1382 01:16:45,980 --> 01:16:46,980 And another Allison. 1383 01:16:46,980 --> 01:16:47,980 Two Allison's. 1384 01:16:47,980 --> 01:16:50,980 And two Rex from the war, and they're ready to find more. 1385 01:16:50,980 --> 01:16:55,980 Now that we've assembled our investigation team, all we need is a boat and maybe a ladder 1386 01:16:55,980 --> 01:16:56,980 to reach it. 1387 01:16:56,980 --> 01:16:57,980 Oh, hi down there. 1388 01:16:57,980 --> 01:16:58,980 Hello. 1389 01:16:58,980 --> 01:16:59,980 I'm Josh. 1390 01:16:59,980 --> 01:17:00,980 My name's Tom. 1391 01:17:00,980 --> 01:17:01,980 Nice to meet you, Tom. 1392 01:17:01,980 --> 01:17:03,980 Do I just jump down there or what? 1393 01:17:03,980 --> 01:17:06,980 If you're going to jump, make sure you hit the tube before you go in. 1394 01:17:06,980 --> 01:17:07,980 Okay. 1395 01:17:07,980 --> 01:17:08,980 So what's the plan? 1396 01:17:08,980 --> 01:17:09,980 The plan is we go dive it. 1397 01:17:09,980 --> 01:17:10,980 Okay. 1398 01:17:10,980 --> 01:17:11,980 Should we get kitted up? 1399 01:17:11,980 --> 01:17:12,980 Let's do it. 1400 01:17:12,980 --> 01:17:13,980 Let's do it. 1401 01:17:13,980 --> 01:17:14,980 Come on. 1402 01:17:15,980 --> 01:17:21,980 We board the boat and set a course to the heart of the English Channel, a ship graveyard 1403 01:17:21,980 --> 01:17:27,980 where the secrets of D-Day are waiting to be discovered. 1404 01:17:27,980 --> 01:17:29,980 And route, Martin briefs me on the mission. 1405 01:17:29,980 --> 01:17:32,980 How do you begin to tackle what's out here? 1406 01:17:32,980 --> 01:17:35,980 The only way to do it is by sonar survey. 1407 01:17:35,980 --> 01:17:40,980 Martin is part of a multinational effort to scan and document the Rex of D-Day. 1408 01:17:40,980 --> 01:17:45,980 The first part of the process was the meticulous scanning to create a detailed sonar map of 1409 01:17:45,980 --> 01:17:47,980 the waters off the coast. 1410 01:17:47,980 --> 01:17:50,980 So here are the invasion beaches here and this brown area. 1411 01:17:50,980 --> 01:17:52,980 This is actually where all the survey work was done. 1412 01:17:52,980 --> 01:17:54,980 And all of these symbols I see on here? 1413 01:17:54,980 --> 01:17:55,980 Yeah, these are all Rex. 1414 01:17:55,980 --> 01:17:58,980 How many Rex total do we have in these waters? 1415 01:17:58,980 --> 01:18:00,980 Well, the guys picked up about 600 targets. 1416 01:18:00,980 --> 01:18:02,980 600 targets. 1417 01:18:02,980 --> 01:18:03,980 600 targets. 1418 01:18:03,980 --> 01:18:04,980 Wow. 1419 01:18:04,980 --> 01:18:05,980 That's a lifetime's work. 1420 01:18:05,980 --> 01:18:08,980 Presumably these are all known ships that were part of the invasion? 1421 01:18:08,980 --> 01:18:10,980 Not all of them are known ships. 1422 01:18:10,980 --> 01:18:15,980 We tend to look at a lot more of the ones that are not so well known and have been forgotten stories. 1423 01:18:15,980 --> 01:18:17,980 So what are we going to be doing today? 1424 01:18:17,980 --> 01:18:18,980 What's the mission? 1425 01:18:18,980 --> 01:18:20,980 The mission is to do some photogrammetry if we can. 1426 01:18:20,980 --> 01:18:23,980 Photogrammetry is where you stitch photos together, correct? 1427 01:18:23,980 --> 01:18:26,980 Yeah, we've now got the ability to create a three-dimensional model. 1428 01:18:26,980 --> 01:18:29,980 Because the ocean is actually swallowing this stuff up. 1429 01:18:29,980 --> 01:18:32,980 Future generations can see what was there. 1430 01:18:32,980 --> 01:18:34,980 This is sort of the last chance to preserve what's down there. 1431 01:18:34,980 --> 01:18:36,980 It is definitely the last chance. 1432 01:18:36,980 --> 01:18:37,980 What record are we going to start with? 1433 01:18:37,980 --> 01:18:39,980 Well, we're going to start with this one. 1434 01:18:39,980 --> 01:18:41,980 LST 523. 1435 01:18:41,980 --> 01:18:45,980 LST stands for landing ship tank. 1436 01:18:45,980 --> 01:18:51,980 More than a thousand of these vessels were built to ferry troops and vehicles into battle on the beaches of Normandy. 1437 01:18:51,980 --> 01:18:54,980 But number 523 never made it. 1438 01:18:54,980 --> 01:18:58,980 She struck a German mine and was lost with 42 men aboard. 1439 01:18:58,980 --> 01:19:02,980 To reach the site, Tom kicks the boat into top gear. 1440 01:19:02,980 --> 01:19:04,980 So, okay, so why are we hauling ass here? 1441 01:19:04,980 --> 01:19:07,980 We're hauling ass because we've got to make what we call slack water. 1442 01:19:07,980 --> 01:19:12,980 That's the time when they're tied to the steadiest moment in the English Channel. 1443 01:19:12,980 --> 01:19:16,980 We've got a ton of water that comes in and comes out twice a day. 1444 01:19:16,980 --> 01:19:19,980 So you only get two shots a day in this water? 1445 01:19:19,980 --> 01:19:21,980 You only get two shots a day. 1446 01:19:21,980 --> 01:19:24,980 And if you get caught in this water after the slack tide ends? 1447 01:19:24,980 --> 01:19:26,980 You're on your way to Denmark. 1448 01:19:26,980 --> 01:19:27,980 Okay, got it. 1449 01:19:27,980 --> 01:19:33,980 With no time to lose and dangerous conditions at hand, we get in position and Martin and I gear up 1450 01:19:33,980 --> 01:19:38,980 to document the site where these brave soldiers made their ultimate sacrifice 1451 01:19:38,980 --> 01:19:43,980 and to discover what secrets of D-Day lie deep below the surface. 1452 01:19:57,980 --> 01:20:02,980 I'm exploring the secrets of D-Day just off the coast of Normandy, France. 1453 01:20:02,980 --> 01:20:08,980 Underwater photographer Martin Davies and his team are using a process called photogrammetry. 1454 01:20:08,980 --> 01:20:13,980 They're building 3D digital models of the hundreds of historic ships that sank here 1455 01:20:13,980 --> 01:20:16,980 before time and tide destroy them forever. 1456 01:20:28,980 --> 01:20:30,980 Okay, let's head down. 1457 01:20:30,980 --> 01:20:32,980 Follow me, Josh. 1458 01:20:33,980 --> 01:20:37,980 The powerful currents are far from the only danger lurking in the channel. 1459 01:20:37,980 --> 01:20:41,980 This time of year, the water temperature is dangerously low. 1460 01:20:41,980 --> 01:20:46,980 I guess when Martin said the wrecks down there are frozen in time, he meant it literally. 1461 01:20:46,980 --> 01:20:48,980 Man, it is freezing down here. 1462 01:20:48,980 --> 01:20:51,980 Yes, it is. And remember, we have to move quickly. 1463 01:20:51,980 --> 01:20:56,980 We only have 45 minutes before the tide shifts and we get caught in that strong current. 1464 01:21:00,980 --> 01:21:02,980 Wow, there she is. 1465 01:21:02,980 --> 01:21:04,980 Long time, isn't it? 1466 01:21:04,980 --> 01:21:08,980 It certainly is. A ghost ship. 1467 01:21:08,980 --> 01:21:14,980 We swim amidst the wreckage of the sunken vessel, part of the tragic legacy of D-Day. 1468 01:21:16,980 --> 01:21:22,980 According to recently declassified military documents, our photogrammetry target, LST-523, 1469 01:21:22,980 --> 01:21:25,980 hit a mine and broke in two. 1470 01:21:25,980 --> 01:21:31,980 The official action report states that the stern stopped dead in the water and began to settle. 1471 01:21:31,980 --> 01:21:36,980 The bow continued to make headway for approximately 600 yards. 1472 01:21:36,980 --> 01:21:40,980 She sank so quickly that 42 men went down with the ship. 1473 01:21:40,980 --> 01:21:47,980 The site where LST-523 rests is now a war grave and must be treated with reverence. 1474 01:21:47,980 --> 01:21:52,980 It is just enormous. How big is this ship? 1475 01:21:52,980 --> 01:22:00,980 More than 300 feet long, Josh. These landing ships could carry 150 men and nearly 2,000 tons of equipment. 1476 01:22:00,980 --> 01:22:02,980 Unreal. 1477 01:22:04,980 --> 01:22:08,980 Landing ships like 523 were the unsung heroes of D-Day. 1478 01:22:08,980 --> 01:22:12,980 Just over 1,000 LSTs like this were produced. 1479 01:22:12,980 --> 01:22:16,980 Without them, the amphibious assault on Normandy would not have been possible. 1480 01:22:16,980 --> 01:22:21,980 Now, thanks to photogrammetry, we can digitally preserve this important wreck. 1481 01:22:21,980 --> 01:22:25,980 Okay, let's start photographing the bow. Follow me. 1482 01:22:25,980 --> 01:22:27,980 Copy that. I'm right behind you. 1483 01:22:37,980 --> 01:22:43,980 We work our way down the length of the vessel, capturing detailed digital photos as we go. 1484 01:22:43,980 --> 01:22:47,980 It looks like a trend, Mark. Isn't that a gang? 1485 01:22:47,980 --> 01:22:51,980 If it is indeed part of our cargo for the invasion. 1486 01:22:51,980 --> 01:22:55,980 They're all over the plate. There must be a dozen of them. 1487 01:22:56,980 --> 01:23:00,980 Martin photographs the tanks from every angle. 1488 01:23:03,980 --> 01:23:07,980 Okay, I've got good coverage of the tanks. Let's find where she broke apart. 1489 01:23:07,980 --> 01:23:11,980 We swim on and soon reach the stern of the ship. 1490 01:23:11,980 --> 01:23:14,980 That rudder is enormous. 1491 01:23:15,980 --> 01:23:20,980 Something's not right, Josh. The report said LST 523 broke in two. 1492 01:23:20,980 --> 01:23:23,980 But this ship is in what piece? 1493 01:23:23,980 --> 01:23:25,980 How is that possible? 1494 01:23:25,980 --> 01:23:29,980 I'm not sure, but this doesn't match the description. 1495 01:23:29,980 --> 01:23:33,980 Copy. Our dive time is about up. 1496 01:23:33,980 --> 01:23:38,980 Let's get topside and release it a marker buoy for the surface team to retrieve us. 1497 01:23:45,980 --> 01:23:48,980 Incredible. Wow. 1498 01:23:50,980 --> 01:23:54,980 Plenty of tanks down there, Josh. I mean tank treads everywhere. 1499 01:23:54,980 --> 01:23:57,980 I couldn't find where it was snapped in half. 1500 01:23:57,980 --> 01:23:59,980 I don't think it is. 1501 01:23:59,980 --> 01:24:01,980 It's not, right? It's a continuous slide. 1502 01:24:01,980 --> 01:24:06,980 We went from bow to stern and back. I didn't see it snapped anywhere. 1503 01:24:06,980 --> 01:24:09,980 Is it possible that's not LST 523? 1504 01:24:09,980 --> 01:24:11,980 No, it's no 523. 1505 01:24:11,980 --> 01:24:17,980 So that means that their accepted wreck that's supposed to be there could be a different ship entirely. 1506 01:24:17,980 --> 01:24:18,980 I think it is. 1507 01:24:18,980 --> 01:24:21,980 Wow. Okay, so we've got a mischievous ship in our hands. 1508 01:24:21,980 --> 01:24:23,980 We certainly have. 1509 01:24:23,980 --> 01:24:27,980 And it's a mystery that photogrammetry may be able to solve. 1510 01:24:27,980 --> 01:24:31,980 Once the images we shot are processed and assembled into a 3D model, 1511 01:24:31,980 --> 01:24:37,980 marine forensic scientists can look for clues that may reveal the ship's true identity. 1512 01:24:37,980 --> 01:24:42,980 In the meantime, we're forced to wait eight hours for the tide cycle to complete. 1513 01:24:42,980 --> 01:24:46,980 Once our second one-hour window with slack water approaches, 1514 01:24:46,980 --> 01:24:49,980 we speed back out for our second mission. 1515 01:24:49,980 --> 01:24:50,980 All right, Martin, what's next? 1516 01:24:50,980 --> 01:24:55,980 Okay, so next we're going to go out to a wreck that some people believe is the USS Partridge. 1517 01:24:55,980 --> 01:24:56,980 What was the Partridge? 1518 01:24:56,980 --> 01:25:01,980 Partridge was a minesweeper that was converted to tug duties. 1519 01:25:01,980 --> 01:25:05,980 We got some sonar imagery of her here, or the remains of her. 1520 01:25:05,980 --> 01:25:06,980 She was torpedoed. 1521 01:25:06,980 --> 01:25:07,980 Wow. 1522 01:25:07,980 --> 01:25:08,980 So it was a huge explosion. 1523 01:25:08,980 --> 01:25:10,980 35 people died on it. 1524 01:25:10,980 --> 01:25:11,980 Wow. 1525 01:25:11,980 --> 01:25:13,980 About 30 odd people were wounded. 1526 01:25:13,980 --> 01:25:14,980 And what's the objective down there? 1527 01:25:14,980 --> 01:25:17,980 So the objective today is to go and do some more photogrammetry. 1528 01:25:17,980 --> 01:25:21,980 We're particularly interested in some of the guns if we can find them. 1529 01:25:21,980 --> 01:25:23,980 We want to go down there and measure them, you know, 1530 01:25:23,980 --> 01:25:26,980 so we can get an overall length and so we can get the bore diameter, 1531 01:25:26,980 --> 01:25:27,980 which is really important. 1532 01:25:27,980 --> 01:25:29,980 Okay, well, so the Partridge. 1533 01:25:29,980 --> 01:25:30,980 Let's do it. 1534 01:25:30,980 --> 01:25:35,980 By taking measurements, Martin can verify that the ship here believed to be the Partridge 1535 01:25:35,980 --> 01:25:37,980 is in fact the right vessel. 1536 01:25:37,980 --> 01:25:42,980 Captain Tom Templeton repositions us over the wreck and we dive back in. 1537 01:25:46,980 --> 01:25:50,980 The tide is coming in soon, so speed is of the essence. 1538 01:25:50,980 --> 01:25:51,980 Are you ready, Josh? 1539 01:25:51,980 --> 01:25:53,980 Ready, let's go. 1540 01:25:53,980 --> 01:25:56,980 We're dropping down to about 100 feet. 1541 01:25:57,980 --> 01:25:59,980 Copy that, dropping down. 1542 01:25:59,980 --> 01:26:01,980 Disability is rough. 1543 01:26:03,980 --> 01:26:05,980 There it is. 1544 01:26:06,980 --> 01:26:08,980 Wow, look at the debris scatter. 1545 01:26:08,980 --> 01:26:10,980 This really was one of them. 1546 01:26:12,980 --> 01:26:15,980 The torpedo hit the boiler at the ammunition magazine. 1547 01:26:15,980 --> 01:26:17,980 There was a massive explosion. 1548 01:26:20,980 --> 01:26:22,980 Bit of million teeth in. 1549 01:26:23,980 --> 01:26:26,980 One thing that may have survived is the artillery charge. 1550 01:26:26,980 --> 01:26:27,980 Copy. 1551 01:26:27,980 --> 01:26:34,980 If we can find and verify those guns, we'll have confirmation that this is in fact the Partridge. 1552 01:26:34,980 --> 01:26:36,980 I think I can be one. 1553 01:26:37,980 --> 01:26:39,980 That should be it. 1554 01:26:41,980 --> 01:26:43,980 Let's take some measurements. 1555 01:26:47,980 --> 01:26:50,980 Bore diameter is about four and a half inches. 1556 01:26:53,980 --> 01:26:55,980 Great, I'm going to take some photographs. 1557 01:26:55,980 --> 01:26:57,980 See if you can find the other gun. 1558 01:26:58,980 --> 01:26:59,980 Okay, copy. 1559 01:27:03,980 --> 01:27:07,980 Hey Martin, you may want to check this out. I'm not sure what this is. 1560 01:27:19,980 --> 01:27:21,980 Don't touch that. 1561 01:27:21,980 --> 01:27:23,980 That's an unexploded bomb. 1562 01:27:24,980 --> 01:27:26,980 It could still be live. 1563 01:27:26,980 --> 01:27:27,980 Get away from it. 1564 01:27:27,980 --> 01:27:29,980 Holy s***, backup! 1565 01:27:29,980 --> 01:27:31,980 Backup, backup! 1566 01:27:31,980 --> 01:27:34,980 The End 1567 01:27:51,980 --> 01:27:54,980 In my travels I've driven a lot of cool cars. 1568 01:27:54,980 --> 01:27:59,980 But I've never been behind the wheel, or should I say, stick, of something like this. 1569 01:28:01,980 --> 01:28:04,980 It's made in FB 43210. 1570 01:28:05,980 --> 01:28:10,980 And for some reason the people here in the Normandy Victory Museum think that I know how to drive. 1571 01:28:12,980 --> 01:28:20,980 It weighs 15 tons, gets about a mile to the gallon, and is so unbearably hot that soldiers would drive them in the buff. 1572 01:28:21,980 --> 01:28:25,980 I on the other hand keep my pants on. You're just going to have to trust me on that. 1573 01:28:26,980 --> 01:28:29,980 I'm alive! Okay, thanks for watching. 1574 01:28:32,980 --> 01:28:35,980 The End 1575 01:28:40,980 --> 01:28:47,980 I'm in Normandy, France, diving the depths of the English Channel to document a wreck that may be the USS Partridge. 1576 01:28:48,980 --> 01:28:54,980 It's an exceedingly rare and emotional glimpse into the physical relics that D-Day left behind. 1577 01:28:54,980 --> 01:28:58,980 And, as I learn, some of those relics are deadly. 1578 01:28:59,980 --> 01:29:06,980 Don't touch that! That's an unexploded bulb! It could still be live! Get away from it! 1579 01:29:06,980 --> 01:29:09,980 Holy f***! Backup! Backup! Backup! 1580 01:29:11,980 --> 01:29:14,980 That is a parachute bite! 1581 01:29:14,980 --> 01:29:17,980 Kevin, backup! We need to be very careful around this thing! 1582 01:29:21,980 --> 01:29:24,980 We need to document this and then report it. 1583 01:29:25,980 --> 01:29:32,980 Though a very functional instrument of death, the mine is also a crucial piece of living history. 1584 01:29:32,980 --> 01:29:37,980 The French authorities will need all the information they can get to safely dispose of it. 1585 01:29:37,980 --> 01:29:43,980 So Martin and I inch closer to the mine and gingerly begin the process of photogrammetry. 1586 01:29:48,980 --> 01:29:52,980 I am literally holding my breath as we examine the device. 1587 01:29:52,980 --> 01:29:56,980 Josh, you see this? This is the fuse at the detonator. 1588 01:29:56,980 --> 01:30:02,980 Corroded, but the mine is in one piece. Anything could set this off, Martin. 1589 01:30:05,980 --> 01:30:12,980 Nazi aircraft dropped parachute mines on land and sea. Many were rigged with magnetic detonators. 1590 01:30:12,980 --> 01:30:17,980 I never imagined I would encounter a Nazi threat still lurking in these waters. 1591 01:30:23,980 --> 01:30:29,980 Holy s***! Did you see that? That's a German parachute mine, that is. 1592 01:30:29,980 --> 01:30:32,980 That's full of 15-odd pounds worth of explosives. 1593 01:30:32,980 --> 01:30:36,980 That's insane and it's just sitting on this wreckage and nobody knows it's there. 1594 01:30:36,980 --> 01:30:39,980 Nobody knows it's there. We're the first to see that. 1595 01:30:39,980 --> 01:30:43,980 I mean, even though that's been sitting down there for three-quarters of a century, that could still explode, right? 1596 01:30:43,980 --> 01:30:46,980 It did go off. We still treat the most live. 1597 01:30:46,980 --> 01:30:47,980 Okay, so now what? 1598 01:30:47,980 --> 01:30:49,980 We have to report that object. 1599 01:30:49,980 --> 01:30:53,980 So let's get the hell out of the water and call it in. Come on. 1600 01:30:53,980 --> 01:30:57,980 Martin's team wastes no time in alerting the authorities. 1601 01:30:57,980 --> 01:31:04,980 I'd like to report that we have found a mine-like object on the wreck of the USS Partridge. 1602 01:31:04,980 --> 01:31:09,980 We believe this is a German parachute mine. Over. 1603 01:31:09,980 --> 01:31:13,980 Record the coordinates. Bring them to us immediately. 1604 01:31:14,980 --> 01:31:21,980 With the explosive called in, we head to shore and the relative safety of the world after D-Day. 1605 01:31:22,980 --> 01:31:28,980 As I look back on my journey across Normandy, this has been an expedition like no other. 1606 01:31:29,980 --> 01:31:34,980 It turns out we were able to make a major correction to the historical record. 1607 01:31:34,980 --> 01:31:41,980 The alleged wreck of LST 523 has been misidentified for 75 years. 1608 01:31:42,980 --> 01:31:47,980 In the weeks that followed, Martin's 3D model offered a detailed look at the wreck 1609 01:31:47,980 --> 01:31:56,980 and, once compared with declassified action reports, revealed that the vessel we saw was actually LST 496. 1610 01:31:56,980 --> 01:32:03,980 She went down on June 11, 1944, carrying 31 tanks and 32 other vehicles. 1611 01:32:04,980 --> 01:32:09,980 22 lives were lost. Their final resting place is now identified. 1612 01:32:12,980 --> 01:32:21,980 At Maisie Battery, structures not seen in 75 years are now seeing the light, 1613 01:32:21,980 --> 01:32:28,980 adding to the portrait of the invasion and revealing the full scope of Hitler's Atlantic Wall. 1614 01:32:29,980 --> 01:32:38,980 Inland, I learned how the citizens of Kahn withstood the fury of war and lived to taste freedom once again. 1615 01:32:42,980 --> 01:32:49,980 And in seemingly empty fields, the fragile remains of Allied gliders are rising once again, 1616 01:32:49,980 --> 01:32:53,980 a secret weapon used to silently slip behind enemy lines. 1617 01:32:55,980 --> 01:33:03,980 And here, in the dark waters of the English Channel, we came face to face with D-Day as I never imagined. 1618 01:33:03,980 --> 01:33:07,980 With the discovery of a long dormant weapon in waiting, 1619 01:33:08,980 --> 01:33:13,980 Martin's photogrammetry scans reveal the parachute mine in all its terrifying detail. 1620 01:33:14,980 --> 01:33:20,980 The French Navy is dispatching a bomb squad to detonate the device once and for all. 1621 01:33:22,980 --> 01:33:29,980 Before I depart Normandy, I need to make one last stop at one of the most hallowed grounds on Earth. 1622 01:33:29,980 --> 01:33:31,980 This is the American Cemetery. 1623 01:33:32,980 --> 01:33:37,980 Established on June 8, 1944, D-Day plus two. 1624 01:33:38,980 --> 01:33:42,980 Over 9,000 American soldiers were laid to rest here, 1625 01:33:42,980 --> 01:33:47,980 men who fell on Omaha and Utah beaches, as well as those who followed. 1626 01:33:53,980 --> 01:33:58,980 Many of these boys had never strayed more than a few miles from their hometowns 1627 01:33:58,980 --> 01:34:03,980 when they were suddenly dropped into an epic conflict a half a world away. 1628 01:34:03,980 --> 01:34:09,980 And yet, their collective sacrifice fundamentally altered the course of history. 1629 01:34:09,980 --> 01:34:14,980 They saved Europe from tyranny and rescued the world from a dark future. 1630 01:34:14,980 --> 01:34:17,980 Would any of us be standing here if they hadn't? 1631 01:34:21,980 --> 01:34:27,980 There's a time capsule buried here in their honor to be opened on the 100th anniversary of the invasion. 1632 01:34:27,980 --> 01:34:32,980 And who knows, maybe by then the remaining mysteries of Normandy will be answered. 1633 01:34:32,980 --> 01:34:41,980 But until then, the work goes on to explore, to discover, and to understand the secrets of D-Day.