Nazi Megastructures "Season - 3" (1/6) : The Eagle's Nest
For educational purposes
Hitler transformed his Alpine retreat in Bavaria into a fortified fiefdom, home to 2,000 SS troops and protected by a high level security system.
Hitler transformed his Alpine retreat in Bavaria into a fortified fiefdom, home to 2,000 SS troops and protected by a high level security system.
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00:00Remote and impregnable, these mountains hold a special power, a place of awe-inspiring
00:10beauty where the ugliest plans are born, an Alpine fortress for the Nazi war machine.
00:22If you're an anti-aircraft gunner here and your mission is to protect Hitler, well, this
00:26is the place to be.
00:29A megastructure of maniacal proportions pushes engineering to breaking point.
00:36I have promised this personally, personally to the Fuhrer.
00:40With the highest road in Germany blasted out of a cliff face and a labyrinth of tunnels
00:46cut deep into a mountain.
00:49This wasn't built just to impress Hitler, this was built to impress the world.
00:55This is the story of Hitler's infamous mountain lair and the power base which lay beneath
01:00it, the Eagle's Nest.
01:08The biggest construction projects of World War II, ordered by Hitler to secure world
01:14domination.
01:17Now they survive as dark reminders of the Fuhrer's fanatical military ambition.
01:23These are the secrets of the Nazi megastructures.
01:33The 25th of April, 1945, over Salzburg, Bavaria.
01:39Hitler's mountain headquarters is under attack.
01:46But Hitler is not there.
02:02Back in Bavaria, engineer Heinz Norris takes cover.
02:11The site manager's office was lifted two stories high into the air and collapsed in a cloud of dust.
02:26All will be safe in Obersalzberg.
02:29The bunkers will hold.
02:34Norris heads for shelter.
02:37His life will depend on one of the most famous megastructures in Nazi Germany.
02:47Today, little remains of Hitler's mountain lair.
02:52But what's left provides vital evidence of this bastion of Nazi power and supremacy.
03:01Nazi historian James Holland is a specialist in this dark chapter of history.
03:06I have absolutely no idea what to expect down here.
03:10Here's another corner.
03:13And another one.
03:17And we're still going down.
03:21It's horribly claustrophobic, but I guess at least you'd be safe from the bombs.
03:31The story of this Nazi megastructure begins in 1923.
03:37300 miles south of Berlin, in the tiny Bavarian district of Obersalzberg.
03:44It's a small rural area on the tree-lined slopes beneath the Kehlstein mountain.
03:52When Hitler first comes here as leader of the Nazi party, he stays in a nearby chalet.
04:00Later, he rents a house.
04:04And when he becomes chancellor in 1933 and then seizes power,
04:08he buys it with royalties from the sale of his book, Mein Kampf.
04:15Soon he starts to redevelop the house and calls it the Berghof.
04:22Over 80 years later, fragments of this house can still be found.
04:28If you know where to look.
04:32Despite the trees, it is quite easy to start to piece together
04:37where this house was and what bit went where.
04:42Once you start looking, there's actually quite a lot of clues here.
04:46Look at that, there's a bit of granite.
04:48That would have been on the front of the Berghof.
04:52Look at this, this sort of asphalt here.
04:56I can only guess it was the end of the driveway.
04:59And you can imagine, I suppose, the cars pulling up.
05:05Or going out and up into the house, which would have been perched sort of right in front of us here.
05:12The one substantial feature that still remains is the retaining wall.
05:16And of course, you needed that because this house was dug into the side of the hill.
05:21The Berghof will become a massive mansion,
05:25with vaulted ceilings and wide staircases,
05:28a dining room, a library, a great hall and a raised terrace.
05:33The terrace was one of the most famous or infamous parts of the whole Berghof.
05:38That was where Hitler did a lot of his entertaining.
05:41It's where Eva Braun would have taken her guests.
05:47And this is where it was.
05:51Former shop assistant and model Eva Braun is Hitler's long-term mistress.
05:5823 years his junior, she's an aspiring filmmaker.
06:03Her home movies provide a unique insight into life at the Berghof.
06:13One of Hitler's favourite features is the panoramic window,
06:18looking out towards the Untersberg mountain and his homeland of Austria.
06:29The scenery's majestic power fuels Hitler's darkest plans.
06:35I'm not drawn there merely by the beauty of the landscape.
06:40I feel myself far from petty things, and my imagination is stimulated.
06:48With Hitler settled here, many of the Nazi elite follow.
06:55The district of Obersalzberg needs to change.
07:00The man who will transform it is Martin Bormann,
07:04a ruthless and ambitious Nazi Party official.
07:08Reichsleiter Bormann.
07:11It's about the eviction of residents on the Obersalzberg.
07:16The question is, have the remaining ten families moved out yet?
07:21If they are not out within a week, then we'll kick them out.
07:27Bormann is a sort of angry young man, a thug.
07:32He's not very well educated, he's not very sophisticated.
07:37But he immediately comes under the spell of Hitler,
07:42and slowly but surely starts to climb the greasy pole of Nazi hierarchy.
07:48In 1933, Hitler appoints Bormann as Reichsleiter,
07:53one of the highest ranks in the Nazi Party.
08:00The development of the Berghof is overseen by Bormann.
08:04And here, my Führer, this must be a metal beam to support the wall above.
08:10Ah yes, and it makes sense.
08:15Bormann was sometimes referred to as the grey eminence,
08:20because he was back in the shadows,
08:23but really he was the power right behind Hitler in this area.
08:28Knowing Hitler's love of architecture,
08:31Bormann devises new building projects to gain favour with his Führer,
08:36and strengthen his own position.
08:40He now plans to construct an entire mountain fortress
08:45across the whole of Obersalzburg.
08:50Engineer Heinz Norris is the deputy site manager.
08:54Bormann, Bormann's coming. Watch yourself.
08:57He experiences first-hand Bormann's maniacal temperament.
09:01Stop, stop, this is wrong.
09:04Three metres, three metres.
09:07Bormann appeared to be an unflagging, restless bundle of energy,
09:11equipped with incredible drive.
09:13On his feet day and night, making monstrous demands on his staff,
09:17asking for the impossible.
09:19Not there.
09:21Bormann will brutally turn the quiet Alpine neighbourhood
09:25into a Nazi enclave.
09:28Here, Hitler will plan some of the most horrific acts of the 20th century.
09:39By 1936, Hitler holds total power across Germany.
09:45But he does have enemies.
09:48He's already survived several assassination attempts.
09:51As Hitler plans to spend more time at Obersalzburg,
09:55Bormann knows he needs protection.
09:58He must control everything that moves in and out of the area.
10:06Bormann creates a high-level security system.
10:10An SS checkpoint is placed down the valley in the nearby town of Berchtesgaden.
10:15Former British army captain and military historian Patrick Burey
10:20is exploring this ring of steel.
10:23Look at this.
10:25What we've got here is a door, basically originally as it was,
10:29back in 1937, when it was built.
10:32And you can see here in the SS logo,
10:35it's been chipped off by the locals since then.
10:38And this would have been the entrance into the SS guardhouse.
10:41Here you could have had a door,
10:42into the SS guardhouse.
10:44Here you could have had an area where the NCOs inside would check the passes,
10:48and then probably another area inside there to store weapons and things like that.
10:53So this SS guardhouse marks the outer cordon of the security zone for the Obersalzburg.
11:01Any visitor allowed past this checkpoint
11:04would be greeted with a second one further up the hill,
11:07and then a third just below Hitler's Berghof.
11:12And this is interesting,
11:14because what we've got here
11:16is the stone foundations of what would have been
11:20the most elaborate and most important checkpoint on the Obersalzburg.
11:28This part here was actually built out of wood,
11:31and it would have gone across the road,
11:33and then linked up on the other side,
11:35and there would have been a gate here to stop anyone coming through.
11:42Hitler is not the only one who needs protecting.
11:46His inner circle often stay here too.
11:50There's Heinrich Himmler,
11:52chief of all security forces.
11:54Josef Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda minister.
11:58And Hermann Goering,
12:00the second most powerful man in Germany,
12:03who helped Hitler to the top.
12:05And this is where Hitler would have stayed.
12:07The second most powerful man in Germany,
12:10who helped Hitler to the top.
12:15Amongst such heavyweights,
12:17Bormann has to work hard to keep ahead.
12:21By manipulating the layout of Obersalzburg,
12:24he can keep the competition at bay.
12:28So, there's the Obersalzburg,
12:30spread before us,
12:32and you can just see that rooftop peeping through the trees.
12:34To the right of that,
12:35that's the Berghof, Hitler's house,
12:37for all the world to see.
12:39And then if you see the top of the hill,
12:41that open space,
12:43that's where Goering's put himself.
12:45In between the two, driving a wedge,
12:47that's Martin Bormann,
12:49where he can keep a good eye on his Führer.
12:56In June 1936,
12:58the nearby Platerhof hotel
13:00is bought up and remodelled exclusively for Nazi Party officials.
13:05Bormann tightens Obersalzburg's security further.
13:10He builds Barracks Square
13:12to house and train 2,000 SS troops.
13:16In just a few years from 1935,
13:19Obersalzburg swells
13:21from 50 scattered farms and cottages
13:23to a vast Nazi complex.
13:28All of a sudden,
13:30you're building a mini-city
13:32for this glitterati of the Third Reich,
13:33who somehow shoehorn themselves
13:35into the whole area of Obersalzburg.
13:38And we get a community
13:40that at some stages
13:42is 10,000 people strong.
13:46To keep this Nazi complex running
13:48needs a vast infrastructure.
13:51One massive building
13:53shows clearly the sheer scale of the task.
13:57This place, believe it or not,
13:59is a coal store.
14:013,500 tonnes this building.
14:03That's all this thing could take.
14:05There's a rumour
14:07that when Bormann first saw it,
14:09he didn't like the way they'd arranged
14:11all the facing of the granite stones,
14:13and so he got them to take them all off again
14:15and put it back on.
14:17What an extraordinary man.
14:22In 1936,
14:24Hitler decides he wants
14:26another Reich's Chancellery,
14:28a second seat of government.
14:30It's built a few miles away
14:31from the Reichshofswesen.
14:33Here he can run the country
14:35without having to trek back to Berlin.
14:42Knowing Hitler is inspired
14:44by the landscape surrounding Obersalzburg,
14:46in the autumn of 1936,
14:48Bormann embarks on his most ambitious project yet.
14:53He hatches a plan
14:55to build the highest and most spectacular road
14:57in the whole of Germany,
14:59up the Kehlstein Mountain.
15:01An extreme building project
15:03all to please one man,
15:05Adolf Hitler.
15:10Well, the workers aren't a problem.
15:12The man who is responsible
15:14for attempting this seemingly impossible project
15:16is chief engineer,
15:18Hans Hauptner.
15:20And that must happen next week.
15:24Next week?
15:26The plans must be on my desk
15:28next week.
15:29Hauptner is soon to experience
15:31Bormann's ruthless determination,
15:33which threatens
15:35to jeopardise everything.
15:37I have promised this personally,
15:39personally to the Führer.
15:47High on the Kehlstein Mountain,
15:49the challenges facing engineer
15:51Hans Hauptner and his road-building team
15:53are clear to see.
15:57When I began work on this road
15:59in the spring of 1937,
16:01there was still snow on the ground
16:03as there is here now.
16:05And you can see this rock here.
16:07It's so steep.
16:09And this is what they're having to contend with.
16:11They're having to blast the road
16:13out of this almost sheer rock face.
16:17And there's a bigger problem.
16:20In one place,
16:22the planned route crosses weak bands of rock,
16:24too unstable to support a road.
16:26The only solution
16:28is to blast into the mountainside
16:30and cut a long tunnel.
16:36Nothing can stand in Bormann's way.
16:38The road has to be perfect.
16:41The whole point about this road
16:43is that it's stunning,
16:45that at every turn
16:47it fulfils a sort of romantic ideal.
16:51The road is four miles long
16:53and yet pushed to the limit,
16:55the engineers complete it
16:56within only 13 months.
16:58It's just another challenge
17:00that shows that the Germans
17:02and the Nazis
17:04can do anything they want.
17:12But Bormann wants to top
17:14even this extraordinary achievement.
17:20As the crowning glory
17:22to the Obersalzberg complex,
17:24he now demands
17:26that a mountain retreat
17:28be built on the summit.
17:30It'll become known
17:32as the Eagle's Nest.
17:37Here, Hitler will be able
17:39to impress world leaders
17:41with breathtaking vistas
17:43made accessible by Nazi engineering.
17:48But Hautner and his team
17:50believe such a structure
17:52is impossible.
17:54The mountain peak
17:56is too high for the building.
17:59Their solution
18:01is radical.
18:03End the road
18:05short of the summit,
18:07bore a tunnel into the mountain
18:09and, with an elevator,
18:11climb the last 400 feet
18:13to the building on the top.
18:17This idea is preposterous.
18:19I want the road
18:21to continue to the summit.
18:23Stop wasting my time!
18:24Herr Reichsleiter,
18:27we have conducted
18:29a thorough survey.
18:31Part of the summit
18:33will have to be destroyed
18:35to accommodate a road.
18:38The terrain will be bumpy.
18:40It will be an uncomfortable journey.
18:45That's all right.
18:47Build your elevator.
18:50Just for once,
18:52Hautner wins.
18:54800 new workers
18:56are drafted in
18:58to work high above the snow line
19:00and 5,300 feet up.
19:04But just six months
19:06into the build,
19:08Hans Hautner gets a nasty surprise.
19:10Hitler demands to see it.
19:12Tell me, Hautner,
19:14what's that supposed to be?
19:16This is unbelievable!
19:18One man remembers
19:20Bormann's behaviour
19:22only too well.
19:24It's here.
19:26Engineer Heinz Norris
19:28often witnessed
19:30Bormann's tyrannical nature.
19:32He was extremely prone
19:34to fits of anger and rage.
19:36Outrageous!
19:38And in that state,
19:40he was impervious
19:42to all reasoning.
19:44The Fuhrer will be here
19:46in three weeks.
19:48I can't show him this!
19:50Despite the extreme conditions,
19:52in September 1938,
19:54Bormann will complete
19:56the exterior of the Eagle's Nest.
20:01A spectacular climb
20:03of 5,600 feet
20:05up the mountain road
20:07leads to an impressive
20:09tunnel entrance.
20:13This tunnel is
20:15over 100 yards in length.
20:17It's lined with
20:19granite floor
20:21and marble all around.
20:22The tunnel ends
20:24right inside the mountain
20:26beneath 400 feet of rock.
20:30And from the tunnel
20:32you step into the vestibule
20:34of a dome
20:36lined with polished marble.
20:42And now
20:44into the elevator,
20:48which is made of
20:50solid brass
20:52This is a place
20:54where no expense
20:56has been spared,
20:58no small detail overlooked.
21:04The elevator is designed
21:06to carry 15 people.
21:09It climbs the last
21:11400 feet to the summit,
21:136,000 feet up.
21:22This place may have been
21:24born out of megalomania
21:26and it might ultimately
21:28be little more than a folly,
21:30but from an engineering point of view
21:32it's an astonishing achievement
21:34and no dignitary visiting this
21:36could fail to be impressed.
21:42Today, the Eagle's Nest
21:44is a tea house
21:46open to the public,
21:48but there's still evidence
21:50of its dark Nazi past.
21:52Well, this is a great hall
21:54and you can see
21:56it's got massive stone slabs
21:58on the floor,
22:00great big blocks
22:02on the wall.
22:04It's to Hitler's taste,
22:06it's baronial,
22:08it's slightly rustic,
22:10but this is the room
22:12where they'd have held
22:14their big meetings,
22:16it's where dignitaries came,
22:18it's even where once
22:20they held an SS wedding, too.
22:22Eva Braun's sister, Gretel,
22:24held her reception here.
22:30But now,
22:32Bormann is eager to find out
22:34if it'll measure up
22:36to Hitler's expectations.
22:45On the 16th of September, 1938,
22:48Hitler visits the Eagle's Nest
22:50for the first time.
22:52Bormann is anxious
22:54to please him.
22:56Please bear in mind
22:58that you are seeing
23:00this seven months early.
23:02It's not completely
23:04decorated yet.
23:06I feel that I will only
23:08be visiting here occasionally.
23:10The air is thin
23:12and I feel
23:14that I will only
23:16be visiting here occasionally.
23:18The air is thin
23:20and I feel
23:22that I'm not sure
23:24that the elevator
23:26is altogether safe.
23:28I can imagine
23:30it will be prone
23:32to lightning strikes.
23:34True to his word,
23:36Hitler rarely visits
23:38the Eagle's Nest.
23:43In contrast,
23:45Eva Braun uses
23:47every opportunity
23:49to drive up here,
23:50to escape.
23:53Hitler excludes her
23:55from most of the official
23:57functions of the Berghof,
23:59so she enjoys escaping
24:01to the mountaintop
24:03with friends and family.
24:05But Eva describes
24:07her lifestyle as being
24:09a prisoner
24:11in a golden cage.
24:13And for Bormann,
24:15his plan to please Hitler
24:17has failed.
24:18His position looks threatened.
24:20There's a moment, I think,
24:22when Hitler first sees
24:24the Eagle's Nest,
24:26when the relationship
24:28between the Führer
24:29and Martin Bormann
24:31is at risk.
24:33And the relationship
24:35could have gone two ways.
24:37Hitler could have found
24:39Martin Bormann
24:41an irritant
24:43and someone
24:45who falls out of favour.
24:47There's no one there
24:49that he can turn to
24:51other than Martin Bormann.
24:53Despite this one
24:55error of judgement,
24:57Bormann has so cleverly
24:59outmanoeuvred all his rivals,
25:01he's now indispensable
25:03to Hitler.
25:05The mole who moves
25:07mountains overnight.
25:09And since 1935,
25:11Bormann has created
25:13for Hitler
25:15the perfect Nazi stronghold.
25:17While Bormann
25:19has been building,
25:21Hitler has been hell-bent
25:23on expanding the fatherland.
25:27At the Berghof
25:29in February 1938,
25:31he makes the decision
25:33to demand a union with Austria,
25:37which he successfully annexes
25:39the next month
25:41without conflict.
25:44In the following spring,
25:45Germany invades Czechoslovakia,
25:47again meeting no resistance.
25:52Then, once more at the Berghof,
25:54he sets his sights
25:56on Poland.
26:00On the 24th of August 1939,
26:02at three in the morning,
26:04Hitler stands on the terrace
26:06with his valet
26:08and a house guest.
26:10They looked out over
26:12the Untersberg
26:13and saw a strange phenomenon.
26:15The Aurora Borealis
26:17was shimmering in the sky
26:19and covering the Untersberg
26:21and the valley below
26:23a sort of strange red colour
26:25that crept up upon them
26:27and over their hands and faces.
26:29Hitler takes it as a sign.
26:32I've never seen anything like this.
26:35It looks like a sea of blood.
26:38This time,
26:40we won't bring it about
26:41but we will.
26:46Within one week,
26:48Hitler invades Poland.
26:52On the 1st of September 1939,
26:54the Second World War begins.
27:00Over the next two years,
27:02his troops sweep across Western Europe.
27:05He then sets his sights
27:07on the Soviet Union.
27:11Throughout this time,
27:13Hitler seeks solace
27:15at the Berghof
27:17in the peace and quiet
27:19of Obersalzberg.
27:21Over the war years,
27:23he soon only sees
27:25the glass as half full
27:27rather than half empty
27:29and he doesn't want anything
27:31to taint this sort of
27:33mountain paradise.
27:35And therefore,
27:37he gets cast more and more
27:39into a world of unreality.
27:41Hitler is blind to this.
27:43He trusts in his own invincibility
27:45and the Berghof
27:47reinforces his self-belief.
27:49All my great decisions
27:51were taken at Obersalzberg.
27:53So many things
27:55were born there
27:57and brought to fruition there.
28:00But isolated in his
28:02mountain paradise,
28:04Hitler begins to make
28:06disastrous decisions.
28:07When his troops
28:09are facing desperate odds
28:11in Stalingrad in the winter
28:13of 1942,
28:15his generals beg him
28:17to allow them to withdraw.
28:20I won't leave the Volga.
28:32I won't go back
28:34from the Volga.
28:35I won't go back
28:37from the Volga.
28:51It's a catastrophic decision.
28:57Hitler's forces are slaughtered.
29:00850,000 killed,
29:02wounded
29:04or captured.
29:11As the war turns
29:13against Nazi Germany,
29:15Hitler's moods become darker.
29:17Staff are often
29:19too scared to approach him.
29:21It all comes to a head
29:23at the Berghof on D-Day.
29:27Up there on the first floor
29:29above the living room
29:31was his bedroom.
29:32It was the morning
29:34of the 6th of June, 1944,
29:36that he was finally told
29:38about the Allied invasion
29:40in Normandy.
29:42It was a little bit late
29:44in the day, to be honest.
29:46It was about 10 in the morning
29:48because Hitler was a
29:50notorious late sleeper
29:52and no one dared
29:54wake him up.
29:56With no direct order
29:58from Hitler until late
30:00in the day,
30:02they will threaten
30:04Hitler's mountain fortress.
30:12For most of the war,
30:14the Obersalzberg region,
30:16hidden away in the
30:18southeastern corner of Germany,
30:20has remained virtually untouchable.
30:24But when the Allies
30:26develop long-range bombers
30:28and their raids become
30:30more daring,
30:32the world begins to look
30:34vulnerable.
30:36Bormann comes up
30:38with a defence plan.
30:40He wants firepower
30:42high up in the mountains.
30:45He installs
30:47anti-aircraft guns
30:49along the mountain ridge
30:51overlooking the
30:53Obersalzberg complex.
30:55As military expert
30:57Patrick Burey explains.
30:59Back in the day,
31:00anti-aircraft guns
31:02were of high caliber
31:04spread out in this area.
31:06Now, there's a reason
31:08they were sighted
31:10in this location
31:11and it is precisely
31:13because of this.
31:15It looks over perfectly
31:17over the Burghof
31:19which is basically
31:21straight through there.
31:23And if you're
31:25an anti-aircraft gunner
31:27here and your mission
31:28is to destroy
31:30an anti-aircraft
31:32gun,
31:34then you
31:36have to
31:38do it.
31:40He calls for over
31:42three miles
31:44of interlinking tunnels
31:46to be built
31:48and a secret
31:49headquarters for the Führer
31:51right behind the
31:53Burghof.
31:55Engineer Heinz Norris
31:56by Christmas 1943.
31:58That was completely insane.
32:03Underground bunkers
32:05are even built
32:07beyond Obersalzberg.
32:09The Reich's Chancellery
32:11which still stands today
32:13in the nearby village
32:15of Bischofswiesen
32:17is equipped to operate
32:19even under siege.
32:26These steps lead to
32:28tunnels that go right underneath
32:29the Chancellery.
32:32I really
32:35have absolutely no idea
32:36what to expect out here.
32:43I can feel we're going down.
32:45It feels
32:47very sort of enclosed
32:48and tight.
32:50Here's another corner
32:53and another one.
32:56And another corner
33:03and we're still going down.
33:07Well I think one thing's for certain
33:09you're not going to be hit by a bomb
33:11this deep down.
33:19And this is unmistakably
33:21the power room.
33:23This is where the generators
33:24would have been.
33:26So this is
33:28communication room.
33:36Aborta.
33:38Well that means ablutions.
33:40And actually now I'm looking inside
33:42you can see
33:44where the urinals would have been.
33:46What you have to remember
33:47is that this was designed
33:49built for people
33:51to live down here
33:53to eat, drink, sleep,
33:54and work for
33:56as long as it took I suppose.
33:59I've got to say I don't fancy it.
34:03With sleeping quarters,
34:05its own power supply
34:07and communications
34:09the mechanics of government
34:10can run smoothly down here
34:12even under attack.
34:15But the tunnels lead further.
34:17Well here's a corner
34:19and another one here as well.
34:21And these are
34:23anti-blast kinks.
34:25So that's suggested
34:27that we're finally getting
34:29to the end of this mammoth tunnel.
34:31I mean we must have walked
34:33nearly half a mile or something.
34:36Just see a glint of daylight here.
34:42Oh my goodness.
34:47The tunnel comes out
34:49lower down in the valley.
34:51That's extremely
34:52extraordinary.
34:56It's just coming out
34:58in the absolute middle of nowhere
35:00and here's the railway line.
35:03What would have happened is
35:05this would have been a separate line
35:07and a train could have come up here
35:10and people could have come in
35:12and gone out without anyone knowing.
35:14This is a place to get in secretly
35:16and a place to escape secretly too.
35:19How absolutely incredible.
35:22Bormann continues
35:24to burrow underground
35:26creating an enormous labyrinth
35:28beneath Obersalzberg
35:30an elaborate network
35:32of tunnels and bunkers.
35:34Not everyone understands
35:36the necessity for so many of them.
35:38How's it going?
35:40Good.
35:42But we need more men.
35:44Chief Engineer Heinz Norris
35:46only sees the bunkers
35:48as an endless waste of resources.
35:50Bunkers which may never be used.
35:52What is all this for?
35:54Will we have to live
35:56for weeks on end underground?
35:58And when will we have to do so?
36:00What on earth
36:02is the point of these precautions?
36:06For this I will need
36:08every man I have.
36:12But for Bormann
36:14his tunnels are part
36:16of a bigger plan.
36:19If the capital should be
36:20If the capital should fall
36:22he believes that his
36:24mountain fortress of Obersalzberg
36:26is the one place
36:28where he can keep
36:30his Fuhrer safe.
36:37As Germany collapses
36:39Hitler is in Berlin.
36:45On the 20th of April 1945
36:47the Russian army is closing in.
36:50Hitler holds up
36:52in the Fuhrer bunker.
36:54He's far from the safety
36:56of Obersalzberg.
36:58My Fuhrer
37:00we must move our
37:02headquarters to Obersalzberg.
37:04I've made all the arrangements.
37:06Your Alpine Redoubt
37:08awaits your arrival.
37:10I will not be
37:12a dishonored runaway.
37:14I am the Fuhrer
37:16as long as I can be.
37:17I cannot lead
37:19by sitting on a mountain.
37:22I did not come
37:24into the world
37:26solely in order to defend
37:28the Berghof.
37:30I will fight
37:32and win the battle
37:34of Berlin
37:36or perish.
37:40Despite Hitler's
37:42long attachment
37:44to Obersalzberg
37:45he abandons any chance
37:47of returning.
37:50It's always going to be
37:52the Thousand Year Reich
37:54or it's going to be Armageddon
37:56and it's clearly going to be Armageddon.
38:04On the morning
38:06of the 25th of April 1945
38:08the peace in Obersalzberg
38:10is shattered.
38:12Two waves
38:13of RAF Lancaster bombers
38:15are closing in.
38:17After years of intelligence
38:19gathering
38:21the Allies are aware
38:23of Obersalzberg and its defences.
38:25They're aiming to destroy
38:27any last chance
38:29of a Nazi counterattack.
38:32But Bormann's
38:34anti-aircraft guns
38:36high above the Berghof
38:38are waiting for them.
38:43Now,
38:45there's one slight problem
38:47with the position
38:49and that's because
38:51although it's hidden
38:53from view by this ridgeline
38:55it can't defend anything
38:57coming from that direction
38:59and of course
39:01on the morning
39:03of the 25th of April
39:05when the Berghof is bombed
39:07which way do the bombers
39:09come from?
39:10Everyone
39:12on the Obersalzberg
39:14scrambles to the bunkers.
39:18After years
39:20of building defences
39:22Heinz Norris's life
39:24now depends on them.
39:40It was in a bunker like this
39:42that Heinz Norris took protection
39:44during the Allied bombing raid
39:46on the Obersalzberg.
39:48This bunker
39:50wouldn't have survived
39:52a direct hit from an Allied bomb
39:54but crucially
39:56it gave you more protection
39:58than being out on the exposed
40:00slopes and in the woods.
40:02This must be the
40:04bunker exit I've been looking for
40:07from Bormann's house.
40:10This bunker
40:12is the only chance
40:14that Bormann's family have
40:16to stay alive.
40:18I'm going to try and get in
40:20I'm not the most supple
40:22in the world but
40:24it's all ok.
40:26I'm going to try
40:28and get in
40:30I'm not the most supple
40:32in the world.
40:40When Bormann was with Hitler
40:42in the Fuhrer bunker in Berlin
40:44his family was still here
40:46he had ten children
40:48and when the air raid siren went off
40:50they would have entered
40:52the tunnel complex from
40:54an entrance within the house
40:56gone down the steps
40:58into pre-prepared rooms
41:00and here they would have
41:02entered the bunker.
41:06The anti-aircraft defences
41:08prove ineffectual
41:10only one plane
41:12is shot down.
41:18The RAF drops over
41:201,200 tonnes of bombs
41:22on Obersalzburg
41:24in a raid
41:26that lasts for two hours.
41:32The bunker saved
41:34Heinz Nauris' life
41:36and he actually survived
41:38that bombing
41:40and lived to tell the tale.
41:56Bormann's family
41:58hidden deep below ground
42:00also escape unscathed.
42:02Five days later
42:04with the Red Army
42:06in Berlin
42:08Hitler
42:10takes his own life.
42:12There was nothing left
42:14for Bormann
42:16he lived to serve Hitler
42:18when Hitler was gone
42:20he had no power
42:22he had no underlings
42:24that he could order around
42:26and there was nothing left
42:28for him to do.
42:30Bormann tries to escape Berlin
42:32to a railway station.
42:34When his skeleton
42:36was finally discovered
42:38many years later
42:40and subsequent DNA proved
42:42that it was absolutely
42:43beyond any doubt
42:45that that was his body
42:47they realised that there
42:49were glass fragments
42:51between his teeth
42:53and it looks like
42:55he bit on a cyanide pill.
42:57Obersalzburg
42:59ten years to build
43:00If Hitler and Bormann
43:02had made it to the safety
43:04of their underground bunkers
43:06they would have survived
43:08the air raid
43:10but even here
43:12for Hitler the end
43:14would have been inevitable.
43:16He would have just been
43:18a rat in a trap
43:20there was no way
43:22he could have defended
43:24this area.
43:25Hitler would have had
43:27no choice but to abandon
43:28which had been his
43:30spiritual home
43:31and sanctuary
43:33the place he believed
43:35made him invincible
43:37lay in ruins.
43:43But one building remains
43:45the Eagle's Nest
43:47the most superfluous
43:48building of all
43:50it stands today
43:52as a monument
43:54to the delusion
43:55greed
43:56and excess
43:57The Eagle's Nest