World War II Unearthed


World War II Unearthed

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In the telling of the story of the Second World War,

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Ireland is rarely mentioned.

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But scattered across this landscape

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and hidden in the waters of these shores

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are relics and reminders

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of the greatest conflict in modern history.

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Here, there is an unique archaeological record

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which holds the key to unlocking the forgotten story

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of one of the most important battles of World War II.

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As a military historian, World War II is a story I thought I knew.

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But now I've come to Northern Ireland,

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where I'm discovering all sorts of incredible stories -

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secrets, heroism, suffering and valour.

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It was here, off the coast of Northern Ireland,

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that the Battle of the Atlantic was won...and lost.

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In these waters, German U-boats and British merchant ships

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played a deadly game of cat and mouse.

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There was very heavy loss of life.

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And the end game of this titanic struggle

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would see the symbolic surrender of the U-boats

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into a Northern Irish port.

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The records alone can only tell us part of the story.

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Archaeology can fill in the missing pieces.

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Along the way, we'll reveal the story

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of a Spitfire that never made it home...

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It's still got air in the tyre.

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"Instructions for use."

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What we have out so far is six Browning .303 machine guns.

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..and the flying boats built in Belfast's factories

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return to the skies with the airmen who flew them.

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What's it like flying in one of these after 65 years?

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It's marvellous.

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It seems like yesterday.

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During the Battle of the Atlantic,

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Northern Ireland found itself at the heart of this bitter struggle.

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And untouched, and amazingly preserved,

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the clues to this forgotten story are hidden here,

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just waiting to be discovered.

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The waters around Northern Ireland

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are littered with shipwrecks from the Second World War.

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-Hello. Good to see you.

-Hi.

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Many are the victims of German U-boats,

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sunk whilst bringing food and war materials from North America

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as part of the Atlantic convoys.

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Early in the war, the Allied navies

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began guarding large groups of unarmed merchant ships.

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The supplies they carried stopped Britain

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being starved into submission

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and would later fuel the Allied armies invading Europe after D-day.

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In this six-year battle, over 75,000 Allied seamen lost their lives,

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as well as nearly 30,000 U-boatmen.

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Initially, the Atlantic convoys reached the United Kingdom

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by the relative safety of the south-western approaches.

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But with the fall of France in June 1940,

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the Atlantic convoys were rerouted around the top of Ireland,

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and so Northern Ireland and her coastal waters

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were thrust into the heart of the action.

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I'm heading out to some of the clearest diving waters in the world,

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where World War II wrecks litter the seabed.

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There's one wreck in particular here that encapsulates

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these six years of bitter struggle

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played out just off Northern Ireland's coast.

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In the late summer of 1944,

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around 100 ships that had left Halifax in Canada 10 days before

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arrived here, off the north coast of Ireland.

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It had been an uneventful Atlantic crossing.

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Now they were in home waters, a few miles from their base at Derry

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and well within range of the protective aircraft

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of the RAF Coastal Command.

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But convoy HXF 305

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was about to feel the full might of Hitler's U-boats.

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On 30th August, 1944, the Jacksonville,

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an American tanker carrying 14,000 tons of petrol

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from New York to London, was hit by a torpedo.

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It exploded in flame.

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The sea was alight,

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and flames from the petroleum were leaping 300 ft into the air.

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Of her crew of 73,

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just two were picked up alive.

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For naval rating John Cumming, it was an all-too-familiar tale.

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I remember one occasion an oil tanker going up

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and the sea covered in this thick black oil,

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and men swimming through it.

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And we couldn't stop to rescue them.

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As a matter-of-fact...

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It's one of the worst memories I have, ploughing your way

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through men who are already swimming in this black oil,

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and the ship, the destroyer, just ploughs its way through

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to get back to the convoys.

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So, you're leaving folk...

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..to drown, there's nothing you can do about it, you know?

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A bit harrowing.

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36 hours later, the very near to where the Jacksonville was sunk,

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the British corvette HMS Hurst Castle was torpedoed.

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She'd been commissioned just two months before.

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She sank in three minutes, taking 17 Royal Navy sailors with her.

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Reg Mason served on corvettes like the Hurst Castle

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on convoy escort duties.

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I will say this, that each time,

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particularly if there was any...

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ships and that going down,

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I always...

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remembering just to say my prayers while I was in my hammock.

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And I knew, each time, that if the ship was torpedoed

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and probably blown up, the magazine,

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I knew that there would be no pain,

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you wouldn't know anything about it, so.

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In the early years of the war, the Allies' convoy system

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had offered safe passage for the cargo ships crossing the Atlantic.

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The naval warships were there to beat off any attempted U-boat attacks.

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The U-boats responded to this by attacking en masse

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in big groups called wolf packs.

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These wolf packs initially caused chaos,

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and thousands of tons of vital supplies

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were sent to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

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But, by 1944, the U-boats were forced to change their tactics,

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as the Allies once again gained the upper hand through new weapons

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and technologies, like sonar.

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Lone German submarines now lurked in the coastal waters off Ireland,

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where rocks, currents and wrecks hampered their detection.

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These new tactics saw great success, as our dive is about to demonstrate.

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There are a couple of pictures here - HMS Hurst Castle...

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'Maritime historian Ian Wilson has brought me here

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'to this U-boat killing zone.'

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There you go! Big stride out!

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This was the work of one U-boat using new tactics,

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and the first and most successful of the skippers

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employing these was the skipper from U-482,

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a German count, von Matuschka.

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And he was a U-boat captain of some experience?

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No, this was his first patrol.

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He managed to sink three ships...

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And a fourth, and that's the one we're actually right above now,

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a huge ship called the Empire Heritage.

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Wow, she's vast, isn't she? And that's below us now?

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That's below us, and her huge cargo, as well, on the seabed.

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70 metres below us lies the wreck of the Empire Heritage.

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As well as her 16,000 tons of fuel oil,

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she was carrying nearly 2,000 tons of cargo,

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most of which was military vehicles, and you can see...

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Is that what I think... That looks like a...

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-Is that a tank?

-It's a Sherman tank.

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That's unbelievable!

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The closer you look at that, the more obvious it is.

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These are scattered across the seabed.

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You can see the tracks there and the huge numbers of wheels.

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Tyres, wheels, other types of military vehicle,

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and it's a little bit like a child's toy box

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that has been scattered across the seabed.

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I didn't imagine this existed off the British and Irish coast,

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I'd never imagined it.

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It's the way the Sherman tanks are scattered like that.

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And notice, also, if you look carefully at the tyres,

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-they seem to be in perfect condition.

-They're in great condition.

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This is a huge military blow.

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D-Day just happened, the battle for Normandy, the battle for France is going on -

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I mean, these tanks are needed on the beaches, and beyond.

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Yes, the Allies were advancing through Normandy,

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so, obviously, the Empire Heritage's cargo of Sherman tanks

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and other military vehicles was destined for there.

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So, how did she sink?

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Von Matuschka put his periscope up into the middle of a convoy.

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The first ship he saw happened to be the Empire Heritage.

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The torpedo struck her after 42 seconds

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and she went down in about three minutes.

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She was one of the 20 biggest merchant ships sunk in the war.

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The Chief Officer, Mr Gibson, was the senior surviving officer

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and made a statement afterwards.

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He said he came on deck after two minutes after the explosion,

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and by the end of the third minute, by his reckoning,

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he was being swept off his feet by the water

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and the funnels were disappearing.

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Clearly, one of the officers survived,

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how many of the others managed to get off the ship?

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I'm afraid there was very heavy loss of life.

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About 110 people went down with the Empire Heritage.

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And how many survived?

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About 40.

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-So the vast majority of people on board died.

-They did, indeed.

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But the Empire Heritage wasn't the last of Matuschka's victims.

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The SS Pinto, rescuing survivors from the Empire Heritage,

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was sunk with the loss of 21 men.

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In just nine days, Matuschka had sunk two freighters,

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two tankers, and one Royal Navy corvette.

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In doing so, U-482 had caused the death of 250 Allied sailors.

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It was one of the most successful patrols of any U-boat that year.

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Matuschka arrived back at his base in Norway three weeks later a hero.

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He'd heard via radio signals on the journey

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that he'd been awarded the Iron Cross and the German Cross in gold.

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One hardened U-boat captain described Matuschka's achievements as beginner's luck.

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We'll never know if this was true or not,

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because whatever luck he did have was about to run out.

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Eight days into his second patrol, Count Herman von Matuschka

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and his crew of 47 were lost when U-482 was depth charged

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and destroyed to the west of the Shetland Islands.

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Matuschka's mission was almost the last hurrah of the U-boat threat

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that had reigned during the Battle of the Atlantic.

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It had seen Londonderry transformed from a small Irish port

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to the centre of operations for this critical front.

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At the height of the Battle of the Atlantic,

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up to 140 naval escort vessels were moored along the banks of the River Foyle.

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Alongside this naval power,

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28 new military airfields would spring up,

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housing the planes that would seek and destroy the U-boats in the mid-Atlantic.

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Uniquely preserved, a derelict but intact Second World War airbase.

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These hangars once held the sub killers of Coastal Command.

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But it wasn't just U-boats that were sinking British ships.

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With the fall of France, the German air force

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was close enough to attack the merchant fleet at will.

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Therefore, squadrons of fighter aircraft were also needed

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to defend the ships off the Northern Irish coast.

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In 1941, just such a plane was returning to base

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when it met difficulties and crashed into a peat bog.

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The pilot, a young American flying with the RAF,

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had a lucky escape and bailed out just in time.

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But the Spitfire he was flying was never found.

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Aviation expert Johnny Macnee

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has been looking for this plane for 10 years,

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and now he thinks he might have found

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the final resting place of this lost Spitfire.

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The ground-penetrating radar survey that we did in February

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showed at least ten metres of peat...

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'He's enlisted the help of World War II aviation experts

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'Steve Vizard and Gareth Jones.'

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We think they might be the undercarriage legs.

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-It's inboard of the...guns.

-Uh-huh.

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Nice, isn't it? It's like a blancmange!

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'Because the ground is soft,

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'it means that hopefully the aircraft will have survived

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'much better than if it had hit hard ground.

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'I'm aware that the downside is that soft ground means

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'that it's extremely difficult for the 20-tonne digger to operate

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'without sinking into the bog itself.'

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-Right, thumbs up, then.

-Thumbs up.

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The pilot of our missing Spitfire

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was 23-year-old Bud Wolfe from Nebraska in America.

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He'd been in Northern Ireland with his squadron for just over a month.

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Our pilot is out flying top cover

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over the convoys that are coming from America,

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bringing military supplies into the UK.

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Derry Port, very important in supplies,

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so they need protection.

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While he was out flying,

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he noticed that his engine was rapidly overheating,

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temperature about to boil over and his engine seize up,

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so he said, "I'm heading for home, folks."

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And his last reported words were, "I'm going over the side."

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And away he went.

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So he managed to bail out.

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He managed to pull his chute and landed there, did he?

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We know that it was about half-twelve on a Sunday, a very foggy Sunday.

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People coming out of Mass heard the aircraft,

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you know, screeching down through the skies,

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couldn't see anything, because it was very foggy,

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and he landed about three-quarters of a mile away.

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'But the plane itself was never recovered.'

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We've got our first bit of wreckage now,

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just little bits of aluminium from the airframe.

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They've gone into the bucket.

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Now the rest of the team are going to sift through that

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and make sure that they don't miss a single piece.

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That's just a piece of wing skinning there, Dan.

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Is that the original paint there?

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That's the original paint, yeah.

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-That's the camouflage.

-No way!

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Every single scoop is like opening a Christmas present, it's so exciting.

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You've no idea what you're going to find, no idea what it uncovers.

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-Right, guys, what have we got here?

-That's a Browning.

-That's a Browning?

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-That is one of how many machine guns on board?

-One of eight.

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One of eight machine guns, look at that, that's extraordinary!

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Good grief.

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That is... That is the original colouring.

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This was the weapon that gave the Spitfire its teeth.

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Oh, well done. Now, look.

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This is the recoil buffer at the back of the Browning, with the safety.

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-Look at that!

-After 70 years.

-That's in working condition.

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Look at the quality of that paint and that metalwork after 70 years.

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That is staggering. And we've been digging for five minutes.

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We have, yeah, and there should be another six of these.

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Each of the Browning machine guns in Bud Wolfe's Spitfire

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would have been loaded with 350 rounds of ammunition.

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So rapid were the guns' rate of fire

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that the pilots had just 15 seconds of ammunition to hit their target.

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BROWNINGS FIRE

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Oh, my goodness.

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'The lack of oxygen in the peat

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'means that our finds are uniquely well-preserved after 70 years.'

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Extraordinary, I've never seen anything like that.

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I haven't got my glasses on, Dan, what are the dates?

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-1941.

-1941.

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-I've never seen anything like this.

-Yeah, 1941.

-Yeah.

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I mean, it's like this was put underground yesterday.

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'The army has been called in

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'because of the danger of uncovering live ammunition.

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'With the machine guns in such good condition,

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'they're taking no chances.

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'Each gun will be carefully checked

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'before being removed for deactivation.'

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'Even though Bud Wolfe's Spitfire

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'ploughed into the bog at over 300mph,

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'as the wreckage is prised apart, it's still possible

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'to identify individual pieces of the wartime fighter.'

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-That's incredible!

-See the Dunlop?

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It's still got air in the tyre.

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Still got air in the tyre, that survived, that's incredible.

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Here you go.

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"Type... Type Spitfire."

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'And there, in tiny letters,

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'one of the most famous names in aviation history.'

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So just between "Type" and "Serial number" here,

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you can see etched "Spitfire" there.

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We know we dug up the right plane!

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Oh, wait, you've got documents here!

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'Even in the ferocity of the crash,

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'something as delicate as paper has survived.'

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You can just see "period of use" there.

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Easy to distinguish.

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Look at this - "instructions for use".

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One of the reasons today has been an exciting, celebratory event

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is because this, of course, was a Spitfire crash in which no-one died.

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The young Nebraskan managed to bail out of his plane,

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and he landed about three-quarters of a mile away.

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As he landed on his parachute,

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he heard the plane crash into this hillside.

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But his troubles weren't at an end,

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because even though he was just a few miles from his base,

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just over in Derry, he'd actually landed in a different country.

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Rather than being in the UK,

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he was in neutral Republic of Ireland.

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It should have taken Bud Wolfe less than an hour

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to drive the 26-odd miles back to his squadron at Eglinton,

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but by landing on the wrong side of the border,

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Wolfe was now an internee.

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He was also at the start

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of a 220-mile journey,

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south to internment

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at a place called the Curragh,

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not far from Dublin,

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where he joined other RAF airmen

0:21:280:21:31

who had accidentally come down in neutral Ireland.

0:21:310:21:34

These rather cosy-looking cottages

0:21:420:21:45

are, in fact, all that's left of the internment camp

0:21:450:21:48

that Bud Wolfe and his RAF compatriots were sent to.

0:21:480:21:50

With the corrugated-iron huts,

0:21:500:21:52

it was effectively a prisoner-of-war camp.

0:21:520:21:55

But it wasn't your average prisoner-of-war camp.

0:21:550:21:58

To start with, there were the fellow inmates.

0:22:000:22:04

Right next door to the RAF contingent were the Germans,

0:22:040:22:08

sailors and airmen from the German Navy and Luftwaffe

0:22:080:22:10

who had also strayed onto neutral Irish territory.

0:22:100:22:13

Then there was the security.

0:22:170:22:19

Now, the Irish guards did have rifles,

0:22:190:22:21

but they were loaded with blanks.

0:22:210:22:23

And the inmates were allowed to come and go as they pleased.

0:22:230:22:27

The town of Naas is about ten miles from the camp.

0:22:280:22:32

It was here that both Allied and German prisoners

0:22:320:22:35

often came for the day.

0:22:350:22:37

Some of the conditions in which the internees were kept

0:22:390:22:41

seem so far-fetched that it's hard to believe.

0:22:410:22:44

-Hello.

-Hello there.

-How are you doing?

0:22:460:22:49

'I've come to one of the oldest pubs in Naas

0:22:490:22:51

'to meet Sergeant Charlie Walsh of the Irish Army.'

0:22:510:22:54

So what was life like in this internment camp?

0:22:540:22:57

The conditions inside the camp weren't too bad.

0:22:570:22:59

In the officers' mess they actually had their own private bar.

0:22:590:23:02

They would have had beer, Irish whiskies, French wine, liqueurs,

0:23:020:23:06

Scotch, stuff like that and port.

0:23:060:23:09

The Irish Guinness and Irish whiskey was actually free.

0:23:090:23:13

So as long as you were drinking local stuff, it was free booze?

0:23:130:23:16

That's correct, yes.

0:23:160:23:17

Quite a number of marriages between the internees and local people as well.

0:23:170:23:21

There was actually one wedding in the Curragh Camp itself,

0:23:210:23:24

in the local church there.

0:23:240:23:25

-Was there trouble between the Allies and the German prisoners?

-There was.

0:23:250:23:28

The Germans would actually cycle six abreast on their bicycles

0:23:280:23:32

on the roads, so everyone would have to get out of their way

0:23:320:23:35

and the Allies, if they were out, they wouldn't wish to move off the road either,

0:23:350:23:39

so there were some fisticuffs on that there.

0:23:390:23:41

Despite the obvious comfort of being interned,

0:23:410:23:45

Bud Wolfe had no intention of sticking around.

0:23:450:23:48

As far as he was concerned

0:23:480:23:50

he was heading back to join his squadron and fight.

0:23:500:23:55

This is the old guard house at Curragh Camp and it was here

0:23:550:23:58

on 13th December 1941 that Bud came and signed a parole, which was basically a piece of paper

0:23:580:24:03

promising he was going to pop out to town but that he would come back.

0:24:030:24:07

Then he returned to the camp on the pretext

0:24:070:24:10

he'd forgotten his gloves and checked himself back in.

0:24:100:24:14

Later though, he snuck out without signing a parole.

0:24:140:24:18

Bud Wolfe had no intention of going back to Curragh Camp that night.

0:24:190:24:24

He was now on the run.

0:24:240:24:26

'He went first to Dublin, where he caught the train north to Belfast.

0:24:280:24:32

'And then back to the RAF airfield where he and his ill-fated Spitfire

0:24:320:24:37

'had taken off two weeks early.'

0:24:370:24:40

You could just imagine the excitement of Bud Wolfe's fellow pilots

0:24:410:24:45

when the 23-year-old Nebraskan arrived back here at RAF Eglinton.

0:24:450:24:49

But that excitement was to be short-lived.

0:24:490:24:52

In one of the most truly bizarre episodes of the Second World War

0:24:520:24:56

the British Government decided that rather than antagonise the neutral Irish,

0:24:560:25:01

that they would send Bud Wolfe back to the Curragh and internment.

0:25:010:25:05

'In the Donegal hills the final pieces of Bud's Spitfire

0:25:070:25:11

'are being unearthed after 70 years.'

0:25:110:25:14

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better,

0:25:140:25:17

the massive beast that is the engine is coming out.

0:25:170:25:19

It's actually too big for the bucket, vast.

0:25:190:25:21

You can put it over there.

0:25:210:25:23

What state is this in?

0:25:270:25:29

It's actually in quite good condition.

0:25:290:25:31

It's well-preserved.

0:25:310:25:32

This is fuel running out of the engine down here.

0:25:320:25:35

Look at that.

0:25:350:25:38

That's fuel running out of the engine, it's been there 70 years.

0:25:380:25:42

This is the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine,

0:25:420:25:43

one of the classic bits of British engineering history.

0:25:430:25:46

It powered the Spitfire, it powered the Lancaster bomber.

0:25:460:25:49

We worried it might have shattered as it went through the bog and hit the clay

0:25:490:25:52

but actually it's in pretty good condition.

0:25:520:25:54

Almost perfect, as good as the day it went in 70 years ago.

0:25:540:25:59

On here you'll have...

0:25:590:26:01

.."Merlin".

0:26:030:26:04

'But some artefacts provide an even closer connection to Bud Wolfe,

0:26:060:26:10

'a young American pilot who flew our Spitfire.'

0:26:100:26:15

This is my favourite find so far.

0:26:150:26:18

This is one of the harnesses from the cockpit and Bud Wolfe

0:26:180:26:22

would have pulled this bit here seconds before he ejected.

0:26:220:26:26

Absolutely incredible.

0:26:260:26:28

This here, I think you'll find we've got a lovely flying helmet.

0:26:310:26:35

No way!

0:26:350:26:36

That is about as good as it gets, really.

0:26:360:26:39

That's extraordinary.

0:26:390:26:40

This is something I never believed that we would find,

0:26:400:26:44

Bud Wolfe's original flying helmet, worn by him on that sortie,

0:26:440:26:48

still attached to the original oxygen mask.

0:26:480:26:50

It's survived underground for 70 years,

0:26:500:26:54

removed by him just before he bailed out -

0:26:540:26:57

just speechless.

0:26:570:26:59

Hey, grand slam.

0:27:100:27:12

Thanks very much.

0:27:120:27:15

It's unbelievable, that is unbelievable.

0:27:150:27:17

When you come to a hillside like this and dig these objects out of the ground -

0:27:200:27:24

the straps that held the terrified pilot into his cockpit

0:27:240:27:28

as his plane failed,

0:27:280:27:29

the engine that overheated and forced him to bail out,

0:27:290:27:33

those things take you back to a moment in time.

0:27:330:27:36

They allow you to touch the past, they allow you to smell the past,

0:27:360:27:41

even though that event happened 70 years ago.

0:27:410:27:44

'On the day he crashed, Bud Wolfe had been providing cover

0:27:470:27:50

'for convoys steaming along the north coast.

0:27:500:27:53

'But Coastal Command could also

0:27:530:27:55

'call upon planes that would patrol long and far into the Atlantic,

0:27:550:28:00

'using Northern Ireland's geography to tilt the battle

0:28:000:28:03

'in the Allies' favour.

0:28:030:28:04

'But to do this would take a particular kind of plane.'

0:28:040:28:08

This is Lough Erne in Fermanagh.

0:28:080:28:10

This is about as far west as you can get in the United Kingdom.

0:28:100:28:13

The Atlantic is just a few miles that way

0:28:130:28:15

beyond the end of the lough,

0:28:150:28:17

so with the Battle of the Atlantic raging out there

0:28:170:28:19

it was clearly vitally important to use this area as a base.

0:28:190:28:23

The trouble is, at the outbreak of war

0:28:230:28:25

there were no airfields around here,

0:28:250:28:27

but what there was, though, was water -

0:28:270:28:29

lots of water.

0:28:290:28:31

'In 1941, it was a very different kind of boat which was moored here.

0:28:320:28:37

'Perfectly adapted to the terrain

0:28:370:28:39

'and in some cases built here,

0:28:390:28:40

'a brilliant solution to the problem.'

0:28:400:28:43

NEWSREEL: Northern Ireland factories are making Sunderland flying boats,

0:28:430:28:47

those magnificent aircraft which have done

0:28:470:28:49

so much to prevent the U-boats being victorious.

0:28:490:28:52

It's not permissible to say how many flying boats have been

0:28:520:28:55

manufactured in Ulster, but the output has been highly creditable.

0:28:550:29:00

'Lough Erne was the home to the Sunderlands and Catalinas,

0:29:020:29:06

'operated here by airmen from RAF Coastal Command.'

0:29:060:29:10

'Because of a secret deal with the Irish Republic,

0:29:120:29:16

'the flying boats based at Castle Archdale and Killadeas on Lough Erne

0:29:160:29:20

'could fly a route which became known as the Donegal Corridor,

0:29:200:29:23

'a shortcut to the Atlantic over neutral Ireland.'

0:29:230:29:27

'This extended their range, enabling the aircraft to get further into the Atlantic

0:29:300:29:35

'to protect the convoys from marauding U-boats.'

0:29:350:29:38

This is a genuine Second World War Catalina flying boat,

0:29:440:29:48

an aircraft perfectly designed to take off and land on the water.

0:29:480:29:53

Actually just look at the fuselage here,

0:29:530:29:55

it's shaped exactly like the hull of a ship.

0:29:550:29:57

These wheels wouldn't actually have been there during the Second World War,

0:29:570:30:00

so it could only operate from the water.

0:30:000:30:02

For me, it's one of the most distinctive aircraft of World War II.

0:30:020:30:05

There's a huge bubble-shaped canopy, known as a blister at the back there.

0:30:050:30:10

That allowed an observer to have an unimpeded view,

0:30:100:30:13

and that's the job of these aircraft,

0:30:130:30:15

to go out and act as observers, scouring the Atlantic

0:30:150:30:19

for enemy ships and U-boats.

0:30:190:30:21

If they did spot a U-boat, there were depth charges

0:30:210:30:24

arrayed along the wings so they could swoop down and drop depth charges

0:30:240:30:27

on the U-boat and try and sink it.

0:30:270:30:31

Seven decades later, this wartime Catalina, one of only a few left

0:30:400:30:45

flying in Europe, has returned to the Fermanagh and Lough Erne.

0:30:450:30:48

It was about 66, 67 years ago when I last flew in a Catalina.

0:30:500:30:56

'On board are two veterans, Ted Jones and Chuck Singer.

0:31:000:31:04

'Both flew with Coastal Command from Lough Erne during the war.'

0:31:040:31:08

-Is it all coming back? Do you recognise it all?

-Oh, yes.

0:31:100:31:13

What's it like flying in one of these after 65 years?

0:31:190:31:23

It's marvellous. It seems like yesterday.

0:31:240:31:27

I was made a captain of a Catalina two days after my 20th birthday,

0:31:560:32:00

so I was young.

0:32:000:32:02

Ted Jones joined RAF Coastal Command in 1942.

0:32:020:32:06

He flew 55 anti-U-boat patrols.

0:32:060:32:10

They flew like an old cow, but they were lovely aircraft.

0:32:100:32:14

They were built like a tank -

0:32:140:32:16

solid, you know, but a bit heavy on the controls.

0:32:160:32:19

We had a marvellous automatic pilot

0:32:190:32:21

because we went out for 18-hour patrols

0:32:210:32:24

and it wouldn't have been possible to fly one for that time.

0:32:240:32:27

Chuck Singer was a crew member in the much larger Sunderland flying boat,

0:32:270:32:32

which operated out of RAF Castle Archdale.

0:32:320:32:36

While Chuck flew for the RAF,

0:32:360:32:38

he was just one of an estimated 100,000 US and Canadian servicemen

0:32:380:32:42

who'd flooded into Northern Ireland

0:32:420:32:44

to bolster Coastal Command and the naval convoys.

0:32:440:32:48

I was gunner in the mid-aperture. That was my position.

0:32:500:32:55

Your flying boats did an extraordinary job during the war

0:32:570:32:59

because it was just endless patrolling and looking out.

0:32:590:33:02

It must have been exhausting.

0:33:020:33:03

It was, you're awful tired when you got back.

0:33:030:33:06

You had to be on the alert all that time.

0:33:060:33:08

How long were you up in the air for?

0:33:080:33:10

10 to 12 hours. It was quite a while.

0:33:100:33:13

You must have been exhausted because you're constantly looking at everything in the sky.

0:33:130:33:18

Yes, for the first five or six hours, it's very interesting,

0:33:180:33:22

and after that your eyes start getting sore and you're imagining things.

0:33:220:33:26

You say that's an aircraft,

0:33:260:33:28

later you find out it's just a flock of gulls or something.

0:33:280:33:31

But you had to... be on the ball every second.

0:33:310:33:35

We were really shattered. And it was basically the noise

0:33:350:33:39

because we had no ear protectors,

0:33:390:33:42

we just had the ordinary earphones and a helmet on.

0:33:420:33:46

But it didn't bother us, we were too young.

0:33:460:33:50

Nothing can happen to you when you're 19, can it? You know?

0:33:500:33:55

The seaplanes built and flown in Northern Ireland

0:33:570:34:01

played a significant role in the battle of the Atlantic.

0:34:010:34:04

And across Britain, the realities of total war

0:34:040:34:07

meant everyone ended up doing their bit, and in places like Belfast,

0:34:070:34:12

this happened on a vast scale.

0:34:120:34:15

Peacetime factories were turned over to the war effort,

0:34:170:34:20

producing huge numbers of parachutes as well as uniforms.

0:34:200:34:24

They also produced massive quantities of armaments.

0:34:280:34:31

14,000 gun barrels,

0:34:320:34:34

75 million shells

0:34:340:34:37

and 180 million incendiary bullets.

0:34:370:34:40

NEWSREEL: 'Incendiary bullets that have shot down many a Nazi plane have come from this place.'

0:34:400:34:45

There was one key contribution that would come to embody

0:34:470:34:50

the Northern Irish war effort.

0:34:500:34:52

In the summer of 1940, at the height of the invasion threat,

0:34:520:34:56

while German troops were storming their way through France, in Belfast,

0:34:560:35:00

shipbuilders Harland and Wolff were putting the finishing touches

0:35:000:35:04

to a non-maritime project.

0:35:040:35:06

Harland and Wolff were asked to design a tank.

0:35:080:35:11

They came up with one which they called the rather unglamorous name the A-20.

0:35:110:35:15

But this tank would go on to become

0:35:150:35:17

one of the most successful British tanks of the Second World War.

0:35:170:35:20

The A-20 would evolve into the Churchill tank.

0:35:210:35:25

I've come to Dunmore Park in Belfast,

0:35:330:35:35

the home of the North Irish Horse, a regiment which during World War II

0:35:350:35:39

would become closely associated

0:35:390:35:41

with the Churchill.

0:35:410:35:43

The North Irish Horse, as the name suggests,

0:35:430:35:45

was at cavalry regiment raised from the northern counties of Ireland.

0:35:450:35:48

By the Second World War, they'd swapped their horses for the Churchill tank,

0:35:480:35:52

and the men served with huge gallantry through North Africa and Italy.

0:35:520:35:56

The trouble with the Churchill tank at Dunmore Park

0:36:000:36:04

is that it's a bit static - a bit of a museum piece.

0:36:040:36:07

Nigel.

0:36:150:36:17

-Welcome.

-What an extraordinary thing to have in your shed.

-I know.

0:36:170:36:20

'Belfast-born Nigel Montgomery knows quite a lot about Churchills.

0:36:200:36:25

'Not only was his father in the North Irish Horse in World War II,

0:36:250:36:29

'but he actually owns the only working Churchill tank of its kind

0:36:290:36:33

'anywhere in the world.'

0:36:330:36:35

So this is the turret here.

0:36:380:36:39

There are scars here. Is this battle damage?

0:36:390:36:41

This is battle damage and we don't know for sure where it came from.

0:36:410:36:44

It's probably shell splinters or mortar fire that burst on the deck.

0:36:440:36:47

How many crew would have served in his tank?

0:36:470:36:50

Five in total - three in the turret and two at the front.

0:36:500:36:54

The three in the turret were divided between the guy here,

0:36:540:36:57

the loader and operator, so he did the radio

0:36:570:36:59

and loaded the main gun.

0:36:590:37:01

And in here, amazingly, two people -

0:37:010:37:03

front...way down there, a gunner, and in here, the commander.

0:37:030:37:07

Gerry Chester joined the North Irish Horse in 1942.

0:37:070:37:12

He was a driver/operator in Churchill tanks.

0:37:120:37:16

The Churchill tank was the best British tank of World War II,

0:37:160:37:19

no question about it.

0:37:190:37:20

We felt safe in it, which was important.

0:37:240:37:29

It was a great tank to be aboard.

0:37:290:37:32

My role as driver/operator was to take charge of the radio

0:37:320:37:36

and also to load the heavy gun.

0:37:360:37:38

That's it.

0:37:400:37:41

Slide in.

0:37:410:37:44

I don't fancy getting out of here in a hurry.

0:37:440:37:46

I'm not sure it's designed for a tall person.

0:37:460:37:50

Wow!

0:37:500:37:51

The Churchill tank was not as tight as ones

0:37:510:37:54

we did training in at the tank regiment.

0:37:540:37:57

It was more roomy, but still it was a tight fit, that's for sure.

0:37:570:38:01

And driving-wise, obviously a nice big window here,

0:38:010:38:04

but unfortunately it's facing towards the enemy,

0:38:040:38:07

you'd want this closed, wouldn't you?

0:38:070:38:09

Yes, if there's a chance of battle, that closes,

0:38:090:38:11

and once it closes, you're reliant

0:38:110:38:14

on that single periscope, that tiny letterbox of vision.

0:38:140:38:16

-This thing here?

-Yes.

0:38:160:38:19

Oh!

0:38:210:38:23

So I'm in the turret now.

0:38:230:38:25

So this is the commander's position?

0:38:250:38:28

The man in charge, the man who made all the decisions.

0:38:280:38:32

It's a great view, but you do feel quite exposed, it's quite nice being down there.

0:38:320:38:36

I had my head out sometimes, but it depended on the circumstances.

0:38:360:38:40

If there was a lot of shelling going on,

0:38:400:38:42

of course you put your head down!

0:38:420:38:44

If you move forward a little bit,

0:38:440:38:46

you'll be sitting where the gunner would be,

0:38:460:38:48

just in front of your commander's position you were in a moment ago.

0:38:480:38:52

So you're really close to the commander?

0:38:520:38:54

Literally, by his kneecaps.

0:38:540:38:56

But the best thing about Nigel's tank is that it actually works.

0:39:000:39:04

It was in Churchill tanks like this one that men like Gerry Chester

0:39:160:39:20

and his comrades in the North Irish Horse

0:39:200:39:22

were to go into action in the Battle of the Hitler Line in Italy, in May 1944.

0:39:220:39:28

Being in this tank is really an assault on the senses.

0:39:430:39:47

The sound and smell of the engine

0:39:470:39:49

and being jolted around is like being at sea.

0:39:490:39:52

It's a strange feeling.

0:39:520:39:54

On the one hand, you feel very secure and protected,

0:39:540:39:58

but you also feel that you're in a lumbering,

0:39:580:40:01

slow machine that would attract lots of enemy fire.

0:40:010:40:05

And that day attacking the Hitler Line,

0:40:050:40:08

the tanks took terrible casualties.

0:40:080:40:10

The battle for the Hitler Line would prove the mettle of the Churchill tank

0:40:130:40:18

and the fighting men of Ulster, here in the fields of central Italy.

0:40:180:40:23

In 1943, Allied troops invaded Sicily and Italy

0:40:290:40:33

and began heading north towards the Italian capital of Rome.

0:40:330:40:37

If Rome fell, it would be a huge boost to Allied morale.

0:40:370:40:42

But they would become bogged down 75 miles south of the capital,

0:40:440:40:49

at a place called Monte Cassino.

0:40:490:40:51

There, at the foot of the Benedictine monastery,

0:40:510:40:55

in five months of bitter fighting, the Allies would try

0:40:550:40:59

to dislodge the Germans who controlled the higher ground.

0:40:590:41:02

In so doing, the monastery was reduced to a pile of rubble.

0:41:050:41:09

Having taken Monte Cassino, only one obstacle lay in their way -

0:41:130:41:18

the Hitler Line - a massive fortification

0:41:180:41:21

which blocked the road to Rome.

0:41:210:41:23

And it's here that the North Irish Horse would face the toughest battle in their history.

0:41:250:41:30

From up here, it's easy to see what was going on in 1944.

0:41:310:41:35

This is the Liri Valley.

0:41:350:41:37

If you want to march an army up from the south of Italy towards Rome,

0:41:370:41:40

just up there, you've got to bring them up this nice, flat valley.

0:41:400:41:44

And that's why the Germans built

0:41:440:41:46

what they hoped would be an impregnable line of steel and concrete,

0:41:460:41:50

which stretched from this side of the valley right across there,

0:41:500:41:53

to that great big mountain.

0:41:530:41:55

The Hitler Line, they had all sorts of stuff in there.

0:41:550:41:59

All sorts, not only dug-in Panzers,

0:41:590:42:03

they had machine-gun nests, mobile anti-tank guns and also Panzers running around,

0:42:030:42:08

so a lot of opposition,

0:42:080:42:09

a lot of opposition.

0:42:090:42:12

STRIMMER ENGINE WHIRRS

0:42:120:42:14

A group of Italian historians has been investigating the remains

0:42:190:42:24

of the bunkers and emplacements which make up the Hitler Line -

0:42:240:42:28

bunkers which have been swallowed up by the undergrowth

0:42:280:42:31

in the years following the Second World War.

0:42:310:42:34

The Churchill tanks of the North Irish Horse,

0:42:380:42:41

along with other British units,

0:42:410:42:43

would support the Canadian infantry, who were leading

0:42:430:42:46

the assault on the German bunkers and machine-gun nests.

0:42:460:42:48

The actual battle started off at six o'clock on May 23rd.

0:42:500:42:54

HEAVY ARMS FIRE

0:42:540:42:56

Of course, there was a constant barrage going on

0:42:580:43:00

but at eight o'clock a huge bang

0:43:000:43:02

cos the whole Canadian artillery -

0:43:020:43:05

a lot of Eighth Army artillery -

0:43:050:43:06

loading down a tremendous barrage

0:43:060:43:09

and we advanced in behind that.

0:43:090:43:11

CONSTANT EXPLOSIONS

0:43:110:43:13

We were working through this wood and, in there,

0:43:160:43:18

the Germans had snipers in trees

0:43:180:43:20

and we lost a few fellows - tank commanders -

0:43:200:43:23

who were killed by these snipers.

0:43:230:43:25

MACHINERY WHIRRS

0:43:250:43:27

Va bene! >

0:43:270:43:29

So this group believe that, just behind all this foliage,

0:43:290:43:32

there is a concrete bunker built by the Germans in World War II,

0:43:320:43:36

and you can see the outline of it as they start to thin it all out.

0:43:360:43:40

And, of course, this was just one of hundreds of bunkers,

0:43:400:43:43

gun emplacements, concrete-and-steel structures and machine-gun pits

0:43:430:43:47

that spread right the way across this valley here -

0:43:470:43:49

the so-called Hitler Line.

0:43:490:43:51

The Germans built this line

0:43:510:43:52

intending it to be absolutely impregnable.

0:43:520:43:55

They'd lost Monte Cassino

0:43:550:43:57

but they were not going to give this up without one heck of a fight.

0:43:570:44:00

When we first went in to action, most of us - well, I was - dead scared.

0:44:000:44:04

What was going to happen, you know? 18, well, I was 19, you know?

0:44:040:44:07

HE CHUCKLES

0:44:070:44:08

There was so much gunfire and things that we couldn't see

0:44:100:44:13

because there was dust everywhere.

0:44:130:44:15

Now, our visibility was estimated

0:44:150:44:18

at no more than ten yards.

0:44:180:44:20

We didn't see that Panzer turret. We didn't see it.

0:44:200:44:23

I mean, it ran so close to us.

0:44:230:44:25

Walking across this fairly flat, wide open, lush Liri Valley,

0:44:300:44:33

the troops would have felt very, very exposed

0:44:330:44:36

to the German machine-gunners just there.

0:44:360:44:38

And they would have been cut down instantly,

0:44:380:44:40

were it not for the fact they weren't alone.

0:44:400:44:42

They had the support of their tanks.

0:44:420:44:44

The tanks were behind them, blasting high-explosive shells

0:44:440:44:47

towards those German positions,

0:44:470:44:49

forcing the Germans to keep their heads down.

0:44:490:44:51

And there's shrapnel all over these fields,

0:44:510:44:53

like these pieces of shell-casing here.

0:44:530:44:56

It allowed the infantry to get nice and close to this German bunker.

0:44:560:44:59

'At the time of the assault, the bunker would have been

0:45:010:45:04

'surrounded by minefields and barbed wire.

0:45:040:45:07

'Now uncovered by the team, it's possible to climb up inside it.'

0:45:070:45:12

Wow! That's pretty cosy.

0:45:120:45:14

And another bunker like this, maybe just a few hundred metres?

0:45:140:45:17

Yes, yes, yes. Very close.

0:45:170:45:19

-Very strong position.

-Very strong position.

0:45:190:45:22

'Excavating the ground in front of the bunker,

0:45:250:45:28

'what the historians are finding is evidence of a robust defence

0:45:280:45:32

'by its German occupants.'

0:45:320:45:33

-German?

-German. Yes. German.

-Machine gun?

-Yes, machine gun.

0:45:330:45:37

-It's German machine gun round.

-OK! Another one.

-That's fine.

0:45:370:45:40

These were fired in the heat of battle,

0:45:400:45:44

on that one day at the end of May 1944.

0:45:440:45:47

RAPID MACHINE GUN FIRE

0:45:470:45:49

MAN SPEAKS EXCITEDLY IN ITALIAN

0:45:500:45:52

That was the belt on which all the bullets would have been stored.

0:45:520:45:56

Incredible, eh?

0:45:560:45:58

You can not believe this was fired 70 years ago.

0:45:580:46:01

-Yes, yes.

-70, yes.

0:46:010:46:03

METAL DETECTOR BEEPS

0:46:030:46:05

'As tanks and infantry closed in on the prize of the Hitler Line,

0:46:070:46:11

'many fell in the fighting

0:46:110:46:14

'and the evidence is still there to be found.'

0:46:140:46:16

No way! Is that a German shape?

0:46:160:46:18

Hmm. No. From the shape, no.

0:46:180:46:20

Early to say but there's a jagged hole and it could be a helmet

0:46:200:46:23

of a Canadian Infantryman

0:46:230:46:24

who was killed in the assault on this bunker.

0:46:240:46:27

MEN CONVERSE IN ITALIAN

0:46:270:46:28

-Fantastic.

-All go. My God!

0:46:350:46:38

-It's definitely a Canadian... a Canadian helmet?

-Yes.

-Yes.

0:46:380:46:42

-Absolutely.

-Wow!

0:46:420:46:43

We advanced through all this smoke and dust

0:46:470:46:50

and then we got hit on the starboard side three times.

0:46:500:46:54

CONSTANT EXPLOSIONS

0:46:540:46:57

Skipper gave the order to bail out.

0:46:570:46:59

We got out. My driver was badly cut -

0:47:010:47:03

almost in two - and he died.

0:47:030:47:06

Er...a further shot hit the turret,

0:47:060:47:09

which shot fragments of red hot... all over,

0:47:090:47:13

o e of which seriously wounded the tank commander, Gordon Russell.

0:47:130:47:18

EXPLOSION

0:47:180:47:19

It was a tough day for the regiment -

0:47:190:47:21

the toughest we'd had in either war.

0:47:210:47:24

It was a...

0:47:240:47:26

It was the... catastrophic, as far as losses.

0:47:260:47:31

More than 70 men from the North Irish Horse

0:47:390:47:42

were killed or wounded that day.

0:47:420:47:45

With the dead buried here, below the monastery of Monte Cassino.

0:47:450:47:49

The Canadian infantry, who they'd supported,

0:47:540:47:57

had also suffered heavy losses.

0:47:570:48:00

After the battle, the dead of the Canadians

0:48:010:48:04

and the North Irish Horse were buried alongside each other.

0:48:040:48:08

This was entirely fitting for men who had fought and fallen together -

0:48:080:48:12

men who had broken the Hitler Line.

0:48:120:48:15

Was I feeling proud when I took part?

0:48:180:48:21

In a way, yes.

0:48:220:48:23

In a way, er...

0:48:240:48:27

Most of us thought, during the war, that the war was worthwhile.

0:48:270:48:31

You know? It was a war that we felt had to be won and it was a right war.

0:48:320:48:37

There was an inward pride that we'd fought a good battle and we'd won.

0:48:430:48:47

As simple as that.

0:48:480:48:49

Simple as that.

0:48:500:48:51

In our story of Northern Ireland's role in the Second World War,

0:49:030:49:06

I've got one last trip to make.

0:49:060:49:09

Back in Ireland,

0:49:130:49:14

there's a post-script to the story of our crashed Spitfire

0:49:140:49:17

and the brave, young American pilot

0:49:170:49:19

who was interned as a prisoner of war for over a year.

0:49:190:49:22

It's been six months since we dug up Bud Wolfe's Spitfire

0:49:220:49:25

from the bogs of Donegal.

0:49:250:49:27

In the meantime, something remarkable has been happening.

0:49:270:49:30

The machine guns from the crashed Spitfire were taken away

0:49:320:49:36

by the Irish Army to be stripped down before being deactivated.

0:49:360:49:40

'But when they were dismantled,

0:49:420:49:44

'they were found to be in much better condition than anyone had imagined...

0:49:440:49:49

'..and that raised an interesting possibility.'

0:49:540:49:58

-Hi, there.

-Hi, Dan.

0:49:580:49:59

How are you doing? Good to see you.

0:49:590:50:02

'So I've come to meet Lieutenant Dave Sexton,

0:50:020:50:04

'Ordinance Officer in the Irish Army,

0:50:040:50:06

'and hopefully, actually fire the machine gun.'

0:50:060:50:10

So the last time I saw that machine gun,

0:50:100:50:12

I was pulling it with my hands out of a bog in Donegal.

0:50:120:50:15

What have you done to it since?

0:50:150:50:16

Well, we've been doing a lot of work on them,

0:50:160:50:19

but basically, the work has been 95%

0:50:190:50:21

just cleaning up the weapons,

0:50:210:50:23

stripping them down,

0:50:230:50:24

cleaning them out, checking them, measuring them,

0:50:240:50:26

and adjusting them for firing.

0:50:260:50:28

But no repairs. No repairs at all, really.

0:50:280:50:30

These machine guns hit the ground at well over 300mph.

0:50:300:50:34

Why weren't they all bent and twisted and unusable?

0:50:340:50:37

Well, the short answer is, we don't really know!

0:50:370:50:41

We had assumed that we'd be picking up bits and pieces

0:50:410:50:44

and collecting up the ammunition, etc.

0:50:440:50:46

So when we took them out of the bog,

0:50:460:50:49

I got a call on that day to say

0:50:490:50:51

that they were actually in one piece.

0:50:510:50:54

And, of course, that set the cogs in motion,

0:50:540:50:57

as regards, "Well, how far can we go with this?"

0:50:570:50:59

If they're in one piece, you know, could they actually fire?

0:50:590:51:03

So you're telling me that every single part of that weapon

0:51:030:51:06

over there was recovered from that aircraft wreck?

0:51:060:51:08

Yes, I am, yes. Absolutely.

0:51:080:51:11

Every single piece.

0:51:110:51:13

-Protection.

-Ah. Protect the good bits!

0:51:130:51:16

-Protection.

-That fits.

0:51:230:51:25

I'm extremely excited.

0:51:280:51:29

It's been 70 years to the month

0:51:290:51:32

since Bud Wolfe's plane crashed into Donegal.

0:51:320:51:34

And now we are going to try and fire that machine gun again.

0:51:340:51:38

-OK?

-OK? That's your charge at the front. In your own time.

0:51:380:51:42

OK. Here we go. 70 years on.

0:51:420:51:44

-HE SHOUTS

-Stand by! Firing!

0:51:440:51:48

RAPID MACHINE GUN FIRE

0:51:480:51:51

THAT was the sound of a Spitfire!

0:51:540:51:57

It's a testament to the engineers

0:52:000:52:02

that put that weapon together more than 70 years ago,

0:52:020:52:05

that, after decades under a bog,

0:52:050:52:07

having hit the ground at over 300mph,

0:52:070:52:09

that weapon is working like the day was made.

0:52:090:52:13

RAPID MACHINE GUN FIRE

0:52:130:52:16

But what happened to the RAF pilot

0:52:190:52:22

who flew the Spitfire where the guns had come from?

0:52:220:52:25

Bud Wolfe was eventually released from Curragh Camp,

0:52:250:52:29

and got back in the cockpit,

0:52:290:52:31

this time with the American Air Force,

0:52:310:52:33

in time to see service at the end of World War II.

0:52:330:52:36

To tell the final chapter of this country's role

0:52:400:52:43

in what was a global conflict,

0:52:430:52:46

we're heading back underwater, to the hunting grounds

0:52:460:52:50

of one of the most feared German war machines, the U-Boat.

0:52:500:52:53

The hidden menace that tried to starve us into submission.

0:52:530:52:56

Just off the north coast lies a submarine graveyard,

0:52:590:53:02

where over 100 of the vessels that formed Germany's backbone

0:53:020:53:06

during the Battle of the Atlantic,

0:53:060:53:08

now lie broken, and in ruin.

0:53:080:53:10

The Battle of the Atlantic

0:53:130:53:14

was the longest continuous battle of World War II.

0:53:140:53:17

It stretched from the earliest days of September, 1939

0:53:170:53:20

right up until early May, 1945,

0:53:200:53:23

just before the final German surrender.

0:53:230:53:26

Throughout this battle,

0:53:260:53:28

Allied convoys feared U-boats like no other weapons system.

0:53:280:53:32

Hunting alone, or in dreaded 'wolf packs',

0:53:320:53:35

they would prey on Allied shipping

0:53:350:53:36

and sent numerous vessels to the bottom.

0:53:360:53:39

GUNFIRE

0:53:390:53:42

But, by the spring of 1945, the Nazis were on their knees,

0:53:480:53:52

and as the noose tightened around Berlin,

0:53:520:53:55

the German High Command had no choice

0:53:550:53:58

but to put an end to its naval campaign.

0:53:580:54:00

For the U- boats, it ended here in Northern Ireland.

0:54:010:54:05

On May 5th, 1945,

0:54:070:54:10

just five days after Hitler had died in his bunker in Berlin,

0:54:100:54:13

Grossadmiral Karl Donitz, who was now the supreme commander

0:54:130:54:18

of the German Armed Forces, issued the following order.

0:54:180:54:21

"All U-boats cease fire immediately.

0:54:210:54:26

"Stop all offensive actions against Allied shipping."

0:54:260:54:30

This was total defeat.

0:54:300:54:35

The German fleet was made to surrender formally in Londonderry,

0:54:350:54:39

the city that had played such a huge part in the battle against them.

0:54:390:54:44

Able Seaman Tex Beasley was among those who were tasked

0:54:440:54:48

with ensuring that all enemy crews yielded without incident.

0:54:480:54:52

We went out in early May

0:54:520:54:54

to meet up with the U-boats that were surrendering.

0:54:540:54:59

Behind her were many, many other U-boats.

0:54:590:55:02

I don't know how many, but quite a few.

0:55:020:55:04

So the skipper said,

0:55:040:55:06

"Right, you're in action now. Over."

0:55:060:55:09

So I jumped from our boat onto the U-boat.

0:55:090:55:13

I said to the...who I presumed was the commander...I said,

0:55:130:55:17

"Guten Morgen, sprechen Sie English?"

0:55:170:55:21

And he said, "Yes, rather well, I think."

0:55:210:55:23

The other guy that came up had an American accent, but...

0:55:260:55:29

HE ADOPTS ACCENT: ..mit a German American accent, you know what I mean?

0:55:290:55:34

That sort of thing.

0:55:340:55:37

And he said, "What would you do if I just did a crash dive?"

0:55:370:55:43

I said, "I'd shoot you right between the eyes."

0:55:430:55:45

This remarkable structure is all that's left

0:56:010:56:04

of the naval escort base built at Lisahally during the war,

0:56:040:56:08

just a few miles north of Derry.

0:56:080:56:09

It was here that the U-boats were moored alongside.

0:56:090:56:12

And here, on 14th May, 1945,

0:56:120:56:15

the German Navy ceremonially signed its final surrender.

0:56:150:56:19

Over the next few months, more than 50 U-boats

0:56:210:56:24

came up the River Foyle,

0:56:240:56:25

where they were stripped of anything valuable still on board.

0:56:250:56:29

Locals came from miles around

0:56:290:56:31

to have a look at the world's most famous submarines.

0:56:310:56:34

Once the U-boats were alongside here, the crews were marched off.

0:56:340:56:38

They were taken along the pier and put on waiting trains

0:56:380:56:41

and then transferred to POW camps.

0:56:410:56:44

For the commanders, it must have been a terrible humiliation.

0:56:440:56:47

And for the locals,

0:56:470:56:48

watching these men as they shuffled off into captivity,

0:56:480:56:51

it must have been hard to believe

0:56:510:56:53

that this was the force that, just a few years earlier,

0:56:530:56:55

had almost brought the Allied navies to their knees.

0:56:550:56:59

For the U-boats that remained tied up in Derry,

0:57:010:57:04

their fate was swift and deliberate.

0:57:040:57:07

As part of Operation Deadlight, 116 surrendered U-boats

0:57:070:57:11

were towed into the North Atlantic, off Malin Head.

0:57:110:57:14

Some of them didn't even make it.

0:57:140:57:15

They were barely seaworthy after such a long war.

0:57:150:57:18

But those that did were then used for target practice

0:57:180:57:22

by Allied ships and aircraft.

0:57:220:57:24

The task of dragging them out to sea took three months.

0:57:260:57:29

One by one, 116 of these once-proud members of the wolf packs

0:57:290:57:34

were systematically destroyed.

0:57:340:57:36

GUNFIRE

0:57:360:57:39

The sinking of the U-boats, as part of Operation Deadlight,

0:57:480:57:52

marked the end of the Battle of the Atlantic.

0:57:520:57:56

It was a campaign which had thrust Northern Ireland

0:57:560:57:59

to the heart of the action,

0:57:590:58:01

defending the convoys at sea and from the air.

0:58:010:58:04

It's some 70 years

0:58:080:58:11

since one of the key battles of the world's greatest war

0:58:110:58:15

was fought and won here, off the rugged coast of Northern Ireland.

0:58:150:58:19

And the evidence for that struggle is still with us -

0:58:220:58:25

at least, for now.

0:58:250:58:27

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0:58:510:58:54

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