0:00:06 > 0:00:09In the telling of the story of the Second World War,
0:00:09 > 0:00:11Ireland is rarely mentioned...
0:00:14 > 0:00:16..but scattered across this landscape
0:00:16 > 0:00:18and in the waters off these shores
0:00:18 > 0:00:22are the relics and reminders of the greatest conflict in modern history.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31As a military historian, World War II is a story I THOUGHT I knew
0:00:31 > 0:00:33but now I've come to Northern Ireland
0:00:33 > 0:00:36where I am discovering all sorts of incredible stories -
0:00:36 > 0:00:40secrets, heroism, suffering and valour.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43This is the untold story
0:00:43 > 0:00:47of how Northern Ireland played a pivotal role in the war
0:00:47 > 0:00:49and how its people helped shape the outcome.
0:00:51 > 0:00:55In the waters off the north coast of Ireland...
0:00:55 > 0:00:57I'm afraid there was heavy loss of life.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59..we're diving on extraordinary wrecks...
0:00:59 > 0:01:01- It's a Sherman tank under there. - That's unbelievable!
0:01:01 > 0:01:04..we solve the mystery of a Spitfire crash
0:01:04 > 0:01:07that would claim the life of its young pilot.
0:01:10 > 0:01:12We're piecing together wartime tragedies...
0:01:12 > 0:01:13'Oh!'
0:01:13 > 0:01:17..of those who volunteered and didn't return.
0:01:17 > 0:01:22I just knew that he was in the war, and he was a soldier, and he died.
0:01:23 > 0:01:28The person who shot this was aiming for the person in this bunker here.
0:01:28 > 0:01:29He was trying to kill him.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32From the flying boats built in Belfast factories,
0:01:32 > 0:01:36we return to Fermanagh with the airmen who flew here.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40What's it like flying in one of these after 65 years?
0:01:40 > 0:01:41It's fabulous!
0:01:41 > 0:01:44It seems like yesterday.
0:01:44 > 0:01:46And how the Londonderry-based warships
0:01:46 > 0:01:48took the fight to Hitler's U-boats.
0:01:49 > 0:01:54Preserved for 70 years, this is the story of Northern Ireland's war
0:01:54 > 0:01:56told with what's left behind.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08The waters around Northern Ireland
0:02:08 > 0:02:11are littered with shipwrecks from the Second World War.
0:02:11 > 0:02:12- Darren!- Hello.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15- Good to see you, how are you? - Not too bad, thank you.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18Many are the victims of German U-boats -
0:02:18 > 0:02:22sunk while bringing food and war materials from Canada and America
0:02:22 > 0:02:25as part of the Atlantic convoys.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29I'm heading out to sea on a dive vessel, The Loyal Watcher,
0:02:29 > 0:02:31to some of the clearest diving waters in the world,
0:02:31 > 0:02:35where I've been told of an extraordinary wartime wreck.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38It will take us two hours to reach the wreck site,
0:02:38 > 0:02:4017 miles off Malin Head.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44In the late summer of 1944
0:02:44 > 0:02:48around 100 ships that had left Halifax, in Canada, 10 days before,
0:02:48 > 0:02:51arrived here, off the north coast of Ireland.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54It had been an uneventful Atlantic crossing
0:02:54 > 0:02:55but now they were in home waters,
0:02:55 > 0:02:57just a few miles from their base at Derry
0:02:57 > 0:03:00and WELL within range of the protective aircraft
0:03:00 > 0:03:02of the RAF Coastal Command.
0:03:05 > 0:03:10But convoy HXF-305 was about to feel the full might of Hitler's U-boats.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26'For nearly four years, since late 1940'
0:03:26 > 0:03:28there had been no attacks against shipping,
0:03:28 > 0:03:31here, in the coastal waters off the north coast of Ireland.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35Mainly because the ground-based aircraft had seen the U-boats off.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38Now, in the late summer of 1944,
0:03:38 > 0:03:40that was about to change dramatically.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55On 30 August 1944, the Jacksonville,
0:03:55 > 0:03:59an American tanker carrying 14,000 tons of petrol
0:03:59 > 0:04:03from New York to London, was hit by a torpedo.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05It exploded in flame.
0:04:09 > 0:04:10The sea was alight
0:04:10 > 0:04:14and flames from the petroleum were leaping 300 feet into the air.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22Of her crew of 73, just two were picked up alive.
0:04:25 > 0:04:31John Cumming remembers the after-effects of a tanker that had been torpedoed.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34I remember, one occasion, an oil tanker going up,
0:04:34 > 0:04:36and the sea covered in this thick black oil,
0:04:36 > 0:04:38and men swimming through it.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41And we couldn't stop to rescue them.
0:04:41 > 0:04:42As a matter of fact...
0:04:43 > 0:04:45..it's one of the worst memories I have,
0:04:45 > 0:04:47of ploughing your way through men
0:04:47 > 0:04:50who are already swimming in this black oil.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54And the ship just, the destroyer just ploughed its way through
0:04:54 > 0:04:56to get back to the convoys.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58So, you're leaving folk...
0:05:01 > 0:05:04..er, to drown as there was nothing could do about it, you know?
0:05:06 > 0:05:07A bit harrowing.
0:05:11 > 0:05:1536 hours later, very near to where the Jacksonville was sunk,
0:05:15 > 0:05:19the British corvette HMS Hurst Castle was torpedoed.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21She had been commissioned just two months before.
0:05:21 > 0:05:26She sank in three minutes, taking 17 Royal Navy sailors with her.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30Reg Mason served on corvettes, like the Hurst Castle,
0:05:30 > 0:05:32on convoy escort duties.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35'I will say this, that each time,'
0:05:35 > 0:05:39particularly if there was any ships and that going down...
0:05:40 > 0:05:45..I always remembered just to say my prayers while I was in my hammock.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51And I knew, each time, that if the ship was torpedoed
0:05:51 > 0:05:53it would probably blow up the magazine.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55I knew that there would be no pain,
0:05:55 > 0:05:58you wouldn't know anything about it, so...
0:05:59 > 0:06:01Then, just two days later,
0:06:01 > 0:06:04it was the turn of a Norwegian steamer, the Fjordheim.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11In four years, no ships had been lost in these waters
0:06:11 > 0:06:15and now three ships had been sunk in nearly as many days.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22Naval escort ships operating out of Londonderry,
0:06:22 > 0:06:25the largest convoy base in the UK,
0:06:25 > 0:06:30had done much to keep the wolf packs away from the merchant ships crossing the Atlantic.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41But, by 1944, the U-boat tactics had changed.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46Lone German submarines now lurked in the coastal waters off Ireland,
0:06:46 > 0:06:49where rocks, currents and wrecks hampered their detection.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57It was a tactic which saw success
0:06:57 > 0:07:01and it's for this reason that we are here diving off Malin Head.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04Away you go, big stride out!
0:07:04 > 0:07:08Let's go, big stride out!
0:07:08 > 0:07:11So, there's a couple of pictures here, HMS Hurst Castle, which...
0:07:11 > 0:07:15'Maritime historian Ian Wilson has brought me here,
0:07:15 > 0:07:17'to the U-boat killing zone.'
0:07:17 > 0:07:19Away you go, big stride out!
0:07:21 > 0:07:24This was the work of one U-boat using new tactics.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28And the first and most successful of the skippers employing these
0:07:28 > 0:07:33was the skipper of U-482, a German count, von Matuschka.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37And he was a U-boat captain of some experience?
0:07:37 > 0:07:38No, this was his first patrol.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41So, he managed to sink three ships...?
0:07:41 > 0:07:45And a fourth, and that's the one we're actually right above now.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48A huge ship called the Empire Heritage.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51Wow, she's vast, isn't she? And that's below us now?
0:07:51 > 0:07:55That's below us and her huge cargo as well, on the seabed.
0:07:58 > 0:08:0370 metres below us lies the wreck of the Empire Heritage.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06As well as her 16,000 tons of fuel oil,
0:08:06 > 0:08:09she was carrying nearly 2,000 tons of cargo,
0:08:09 > 0:08:12most of which was military vehicles and you can see quite a number...
0:08:12 > 0:08:15- That looks like a... Is that a tank? - It's a Sherman tank.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17That's unbelievable!
0:08:17 > 0:08:19The closer you look at that, the more obvious it is.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22These are scattered across the seabed.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26You can see the tracks there and all the, the huge number of wheels.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28Tyres, wheels, other types of military vehicles
0:08:28 > 0:08:33and it's a little bit like a child's toy box...
0:08:33 > 0:08:35that has been scattered across the seabed.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47I didn't imagine this existed off the British and Irish coast,
0:08:47 > 0:08:48I'd never imagined it.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00It's the way the Sherman tanks are scattered like that
0:09:00 > 0:09:03and...notice, also, you can see there that,
0:09:03 > 0:09:08if you look carefully at the tyres, they seem to be in perfect condition.
0:09:08 > 0:09:09They're in great condition.
0:09:22 > 0:09:23This is a huge military blow.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27D-Day has just happened, the battle for Normandy, the battle for France is going on.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29These tanks are needed on the beaches and beyond.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32Yes, the Allies were advancing through Normandy
0:09:32 > 0:09:36so, obviously, the Empire Heritage's cargo of Sherman tanks
0:09:36 > 0:09:38and other military vehicles was destined for there.
0:09:42 > 0:09:43So, how did she sink?
0:09:43 > 0:09:47Von Matuschka put his periscope up, he was in the middle of a convoy.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50The first ship he saw happened to be the Empire Heritage.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52A torpedo struck her after 42 seconds
0:09:52 > 0:09:55and she went down in about three minutes.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59She was one of the 20 biggest merchant ships sunk in the war.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02The chief officer, Mr Gibson, was the senior surviving officer
0:10:02 > 0:10:04and made the statement afterwards.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08He said he came on deck after two minutes, after the explosion,
0:10:08 > 0:10:11and by the end of the third minute, by his reckoning,
0:10:11 > 0:10:13he was being swept off his feet by the water
0:10:13 > 0:10:16and the funnels were disappearing.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18Clearly, one of the officers survived
0:10:18 > 0:10:20but how many other people managed to get off the ship?
0:10:20 > 0:10:22Well, I'm afraid there was very heavy loss of life.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25There was about 110 people went down with the Empire Heritage.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29- And how many survived?- About 40.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33- So, a vast majority of people on board died.- They did indeed.
0:10:39 > 0:10:41And was this the first time that she had been damaged in the war?
0:10:41 > 0:10:46Strangely, no. She'd been possibly weakened by the fact that,
0:10:46 > 0:10:49as this picture shows very graphically,
0:10:49 > 0:10:52she had been beached in South Wales after hitting a mine
0:10:52 > 0:10:54and, actually, broken in two.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56That's an extraordinary picture.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58Amazing, you've got the bow section here and then a huge gap
0:10:58 > 0:11:01and then the stern is... I've never seen anything like that.
0:11:01 > 0:11:06She was repaired and it could be that the structure was weakened.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14The clarity of the waters around here
0:11:14 > 0:11:16means that the wrecks like the Empire Heritage,
0:11:16 > 0:11:20are attracting divers from all over the world.
0:11:20 > 0:11:26We saw the, er, some tanks that had fallen off the wreck as it sank.
0:11:26 > 0:11:27Quite a few of those.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29Sherman tanks all over the place!
0:11:29 > 0:11:36Half tracks, engine showing, wrecks, mast lying to one side. Beautiful.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38The remains of the ship
0:11:38 > 0:11:43and a jumble of Sherman tanks piled on one another,
0:11:43 > 0:11:45scattered like the hands of God just picked them up
0:11:45 > 0:11:47and placed them in random order.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55But the Empire Heritage wasn't the last of Matuschka's victims.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59The SS Pinto, rescuing survivors from the Empire Heritage,
0:11:59 > 0:12:01was sunk with a loss of 21 men.
0:12:08 > 0:12:13In just nine days, Matuschka had sunk two freighters, two tankers
0:12:13 > 0:12:15and one Royal Navy corvette.
0:12:15 > 0:12:21In doing so, U-482 had caused the death of 250 Allied sailors.
0:12:21 > 0:12:26It was on of the most successful patrols of any U-boat that year.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32Matuschka arrived back at his base in Norway three weeks later a hero.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36He'd heard via radio signals on the journey
0:12:36 > 0:12:41that he'd been awarded the Iron Cross and the German Cross in gold.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45On hardened U-boat captain described Matuschka's achievements
0:12:45 > 0:12:47as "beginner's luck".
0:12:47 > 0:12:48We'll never know if this was true or not
0:12:48 > 0:12:52because whatever luck he did have was about to run out.
0:12:54 > 0:12:59Eight days into his second patrol, Count Hartmut von Matuschka
0:12:59 > 0:13:04and his crew of 47 were lost when U-482 was depth charged
0:13:04 > 0:13:07and destroyed to the west of the Shetland Islands.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16At the height of the Battle of The Atlantic,
0:13:16 > 0:13:18up to 140 naval escort vessels
0:13:18 > 0:13:20were moored along the banks of the River Foyle.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25As the most westerly naval base in the UK,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28it was considered so important to winning the U-boat war
0:13:28 > 0:13:30that the RAF would bring squadrons of fighter aircraft
0:13:30 > 0:13:33to defend the ships and the city.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38The airfield they chose was RAF Eglinton -
0:13:38 > 0:13:40now the City of Derry airport.
0:13:52 > 0:13:5470 years later, the very same airport -
0:13:54 > 0:13:59a group of scientists from Queen's University Belfast
0:13:59 > 0:14:02and aviation historians are searching for an aircraft.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05DETECTOR BEEPS
0:14:09 > 0:14:14The team are looking for a Spitfire which crashed here in 1942
0:14:14 > 0:14:17when the airport was a wartime RAF base.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24The picture is dated "14/08/42",
0:14:24 > 0:14:28which is approximately 10 to 12 weeks after the crash occurred.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30This is runway 02, which is now abandoned
0:14:30 > 0:14:31and this is the grassed area here...
0:14:31 > 0:14:35The search is being led by aviation enthusiast Jonny McNee,
0:14:35 > 0:14:40who has a passion for World War II aircraft, particularly Spitfires.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44'I've been looking for it since 1992'
0:14:44 > 0:14:49and I was granted an MoD licence in 1993 to officially go looking for it.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53So it's been many years of fruitless looking!
0:14:53 > 0:14:57'I think, at this time, you know, I intend to throw all the equipment
0:14:57 > 0:15:01'that we have at our availability on to this search
0:15:01 > 0:15:03'but I think if we don't find it now
0:15:03 > 0:15:06'it'll very much go onto the back burner.'
0:15:08 > 0:15:10It's shiny and it has paint on it.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16The Spitfire which crashed suffered mechanical failure.
0:15:16 > 0:15:17Gareth!
0:15:17 > 0:15:19So the pilot bailed out
0:15:19 > 0:15:22and the Spitfire ploughed into the airfield.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24There's paint there.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28Well, Mr Carter seems to think this is aviation-related.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32But try as they may, they don't seem to be able to find it.
0:15:32 > 0:15:37Yes, I'm afraid Spitfires weren't marked "Coca-Cola" so...
0:15:37 > 0:15:41The detectors were picking up a couple of signals
0:15:41 > 0:15:44so we tried to investigate, because it could be that
0:15:44 > 0:15:49fragments may lead us to pinpoint where the actual main impact is,
0:15:49 > 0:15:51but unfortunately, in this case,
0:15:51 > 0:15:55just a bit of modern debris, so we fill in the hole, we batter on.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07Jonny's research indicates
0:16:07 > 0:16:10that the Spitfire wreck should be 25 feet below the surface.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12Does that look modern to you?
0:16:12 > 0:16:14Well, that's a bit of...
0:16:14 > 0:16:18There are planes all around, just not the one they're looking for.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20Yeah, not so happy with that piece.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22Right. Okey-doke.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25Seven hours and several flights later,
0:16:25 > 0:16:28and despite using their high-tech equipment,
0:16:28 > 0:16:30still no luck.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32It might be time to call it a day.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35I think we have come to the end of the road today.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39We've surveyed everywhere. We've found a few wartime-related objects,
0:16:39 > 0:16:41one small piece of aluminium.
0:16:41 > 0:16:43Unfortunately, no substantial evidence
0:16:43 > 0:16:45to pinpoint the crash site of the Spitfire
0:16:45 > 0:16:48so it looks like effectively game over for this site.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55It might be game over for the Derry airport Spitfire search
0:16:55 > 0:17:00but this is not the only aircraft Jonny has been interested in.
0:17:00 > 0:17:02Over the years, I think
0:17:02 > 0:17:05I've been to approximately 100 of these aircraft sites,
0:17:05 > 0:17:09many of them in Northern Ireland, then many further afield in Donegal.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13Like most young children, I spent my Saturdays and Sundays
0:17:13 > 0:17:17gluing myself to the kitchen table making my model kits,
0:17:17 > 0:17:20and then you want to know a bit more about these aircraft
0:17:20 > 0:17:25so you get a few books, and then you start going to a few museums
0:17:25 > 0:17:29and it just builds from there. I never lost the interest.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34From small beginnings with model kits, Jonny has now become
0:17:34 > 0:17:37something of an authority on World War II crash sites.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41My interest isn't just limited to Northern Ireland.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45I think behind many of the fields
0:17:45 > 0:17:48in which these pilots and air crew operated,
0:17:48 > 0:17:51there are tremendous stories to be investigated
0:17:51 > 0:17:54and that's my passion, finding out what happened
0:17:54 > 0:17:58and then trying to find out, is there evidence at any of these crash sites
0:17:58 > 0:18:01or excavations that we can say, "Actually, the paperwork's wrong.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03"This is what happened."
0:18:05 > 0:18:08And it's this passion for solving mysteries
0:18:08 > 0:18:12that has brought Jonny and his team to another Spitfire crash site -
0:18:12 > 0:18:14this time further afield
0:18:14 > 0:18:16in Normandy, northern France.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20Jonny believes that like the Derry Spitfire,
0:18:20 > 0:18:25this fighter plane also came down as a result of mechanical failure.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29But because the Spitfire crashed in mysterious circumstances
0:18:29 > 0:18:33in German-occupied France, only the dig can prove this for certain.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37What do we know about the circumstances? How did it end up
0:18:37 > 0:18:41- crashing in a field in Nazi-occupied Europe?- The report that we have
0:18:41 > 0:18:43is that the pilot, Fred Heninger,
0:18:43 > 0:18:46was flying with a colleague from 91 Squadron
0:18:46 > 0:18:48when he reported that his engine was failing
0:18:48 > 0:18:51and the other pilot looked back,
0:18:51 > 0:18:54saw black puffs of smoke emitting from Heninger's engine,
0:18:54 > 0:18:57at which point Flying Officer Heninger radioed him back
0:18:57 > 0:19:00and said, "I'm bailing out, I'm having to get out of the aircraft."
0:19:00 > 0:19:03We have eyewitness reports then
0:19:03 > 0:19:07which sadly indicate that as Pilot Officer Heninger bailed out,
0:19:07 > 0:19:10his parachute became entangled around the tailplane of the aircraft
0:19:10 > 0:19:14and from 4,000 feet, he and the aircraft crashed into this field.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19After the crash, Heninger's body was found close to the aircraft
0:19:19 > 0:19:22and removed by the Germans for burial nearby.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29What this crash reveals
0:19:29 > 0:19:32is both the extreme nature of modern warfare
0:19:32 > 0:19:35but also the heroism of the pilots who flew these Spitfires.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41Paddy French was born in Cork
0:19:41 > 0:19:44but educated in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46Like Fred Heninger,
0:19:46 > 0:19:50he was also flying Spitfires over occupied France.
0:19:50 > 0:19:55Our early duties were escorting,
0:19:55 > 0:19:57escorting bombers across to France.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59You may have, say, 40 or 50 bombers,
0:19:59 > 0:20:04you may have hundreds. At one stage, it came to actually thousands
0:20:04 > 0:20:08but Spitfires go at either side of the formations
0:20:08 > 0:20:11and then another lot would be above them.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14Gareth has just put a probe down there
0:20:14 > 0:20:16and we actually are hitting something solid.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19Jonny and the team are interested in this particular aircraft
0:20:19 > 0:20:22because it's an extremely rare type of Spitfire -
0:20:22 > 0:20:23the Mark 12,
0:20:23 > 0:20:26of which only 100 were ever made.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30This wartime photo is of the actual plane we're digging.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35But what we don't know at the moment
0:20:35 > 0:20:38is what caused it to crash in this French field,
0:20:38 > 0:20:41killing its young pilot.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43This is an interesting piece here.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47A piece of the fuselage with the classic RAF roundel painted on it,
0:20:47 > 0:20:49the famous bull's-eye, if you like.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52There's the red in the middle and the white band
0:20:52 > 0:20:56and then the blue on the outside. That's fantastic.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01That is the cockpit door, isn't it?
0:21:01 > 0:21:03- Oh, man.- Look at that. - That is magic.
0:21:03 > 0:21:08- "Make sure door is locked before flight."- Incredible.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10That's quite a spectacular find.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13That is just one of the best things I've found.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17We lost people, of course we did.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20That was the tragic side of the thing
0:21:20 > 0:21:23but you never thought it was going to be you.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33Fred Heninger was part of a select group of RAF pilots
0:21:33 > 0:21:36who had been chosen to fly over German-occupied France
0:21:36 > 0:21:38and cause havoc wherever they could.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41ENGINES DRONE
0:21:41 > 0:21:45There were Spitfires roaming all over northern France.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49The French people were warned time and time again,
0:21:49 > 0:21:53keep off the roads during daylight hours.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57The Germans spent all day under cover
0:21:57 > 0:21:59hiding in woods and things
0:21:59 > 0:22:02and we would...
0:22:02 > 0:22:05sometimes, an odd vehicle might come out
0:22:05 > 0:22:08and he'd soon be pounced upon.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10He'd be shot up.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15The army might ask you to shoot up anything,
0:22:15 > 0:22:17trains or anything like that.
0:22:17 > 0:22:22Sometimes we were dive-bombing these railway marshalling yards
0:22:22 > 0:22:26and things like that to upset their communications.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29MACHINE-GUN FIRE
0:22:29 > 0:22:33Their exploits were recorded by small film cameras
0:22:33 > 0:22:35mounted in the aircraft wings.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40It's amazing. This was a camera carried by every Spitfire.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43- That's amazing.- Indeed, yeah. - Wonderful.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46This plate on the back - camera type G45,
0:22:46 > 0:22:49serial number, make,
0:22:49 > 0:22:50London and Reading. Amazing.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52And the lens is almost intact, isn't it?
0:22:52 > 0:22:55The rest of it's obviously in a pretty sad state
0:22:55 > 0:22:57but that's the actual film cassette.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01Send it off to Kodak and see what they can do.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04It's like finding the black box. Amazing.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09MACHINE-GUN FIRE
0:23:10 > 0:23:12Much of the Spitfires' success
0:23:12 > 0:23:15on these low-level attacks over occupied France
0:23:15 > 0:23:18was down to the planes' 20mm cannons,
0:23:18 > 0:23:20one of which has now been uncovered
0:23:20 > 0:23:22by Jonny and the team here in Normandy.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33It's amazing to be up close to this weapon. It's seven foot tall.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36It's pretty heavy, so the mayor here is helping me hold it.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40It makes me think that the Spitfire itself was a wonderful design,
0:23:40 > 0:23:42a fast, versatile, manoeuvrable aircraft
0:23:42 > 0:23:46but it wasn't until it became armed with these 20-mil cannons
0:23:46 > 0:23:49that it really started packing a punch, and made its claim
0:23:49 > 0:23:53to be one of the greatest aircraft of the Second World War.
0:23:55 > 0:23:56What's intriguing me is,
0:23:56 > 0:24:00what went wrong that day to bring the plane crashing down
0:24:00 > 0:24:03and burying it 20 feet beneath the surface?
0:24:07 > 0:24:10Is there any evidence of German involvement?
0:24:10 > 0:24:11Might it have been shot down?
0:24:11 > 0:24:14The reports from the squadrons say mechanical,
0:24:14 > 0:24:17but there are reports from a German pilot
0:24:17 > 0:24:21flying a Messerschmitt 109, who claims to have shot down a Spitfire
0:24:21 > 0:24:23in the same area at the same time.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26We won't know until we get down on to the wreckage.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28Possibly, we may see signs of battle damage,
0:24:28 > 0:24:32bullet holes in propeller blades, something like that.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34I've never really fully understood
0:24:34 > 0:24:37the raw ferocity of an impact like this before
0:24:37 > 0:24:41but coming up close to this twisted pile of mangled, smashed metal,
0:24:41 > 0:24:43you get such a powerful sense of it.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46The aircraft would have hit the ground at terminal velocity,
0:24:46 > 0:24:49so would have buried itself 20 feet under the surface of the ground
0:24:49 > 0:24:52in less than a quarter of a second and in doing so,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55it concertinaed in on itself, like crushing an aluminium drinks can.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59Here's the engine. The propeller would have been up at the front
0:24:59 > 0:25:01and the whole plane followed it in.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04The cockpit is this smashed bit in here
0:25:04 > 0:25:06and there is the tail wheel.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09So the whole thing is hardly more than a metre cubed.
0:25:26 > 0:25:31Such an impenetrable, twisted mess of wires and metal
0:25:31 > 0:25:33and oxygen bottles, seat fittings,
0:25:33 > 0:25:37it's taking a while to break bits off and work out what's what.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52'At the bottom of the hole is the Spitfire's Griffon engine
0:25:52 > 0:25:53'and as it's turned over,
0:25:53 > 0:25:58'it reveals the cause of Heninger's crash to team member Jeff Carless.'
0:25:58 > 0:26:01Was it enemy fire or engine failure?
0:26:01 > 0:26:03Engine failure. We know that for certain now.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05Now we've lifted the engine up, we can see
0:26:05 > 0:26:07it's thrown a con-rod off the crank.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09So that smashed out through the...?
0:26:09 > 0:26:11It burst through the side of the crankcase.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15It shouldn't be on the outside, so it's come through the housing.
0:26:15 > 0:26:16Yep, it's thrown off the crank.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19Why couldn't that have happened when it hit the ground?
0:26:19 > 0:26:22It's a classical sign of losing a big end bearing, oil failure
0:26:22 > 0:26:24and it's thrown through the crankcase.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26That happened when the engine was running.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29That wasn't a result of hitting the ground.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35'The harsh reality was
0:26:35 > 0:26:38'that not only was this mark of Spitfire a prototype
0:26:38 > 0:26:41'but the aircraft's Rolls-Royce Griffon engine
0:26:41 > 0:26:43'was also not long off the drawing board.'
0:26:43 > 0:26:46This is when they were still in their development stages
0:26:46 > 0:26:48and things were going wrong
0:26:48 > 0:26:51as I think we've found evidence here to prove, with the crank failure.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53It's amazing that during the war,
0:26:53 > 0:26:55they had no time for R&D and testing.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59These guys were sent up in the air with developmental engines.
0:26:59 > 0:27:00They were tested in battle.
0:27:03 > 0:27:0530 miles from the crash site
0:27:05 > 0:27:07is Grandcourt War Cemetery
0:27:07 > 0:27:11and it's here that Fred Heninger is buried.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15As you can see, crew together in life and buried together in death.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18You can see them paired up, navigator and pilots in several locations.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21The amazing thing about that dig for me
0:27:21 > 0:27:23was that when you come here and look at a headstone,
0:27:23 > 0:27:27you don't really think about the circumstances under which they died
0:27:27 > 0:27:30but seeing that twisted metal, that compacted, shattered wreck,
0:27:30 > 0:27:34I'll never quite look at a fighter pilot's tomb in the same way again.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36- Here's our man, Heninger.- Yeah.
0:27:36 > 0:27:3822 years of age.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42The one thing I'll take away from this is
0:27:42 > 0:27:45the unconditional willingness of these guys
0:27:45 > 0:27:48to put themselves on the line time and time again.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59Back in Northern Ireland, the young pilots of the RAF
0:27:59 > 0:28:03were in engaged in a very different type of warfare
0:28:03 > 0:28:06against the U-boats operating deep into the Atlantic.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09This is Lough Erne in Fermanagh.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13This is about as far west as you can get in the United Kingdom.
0:28:13 > 0:28:17The Atlantic is just a few miles that way beyond the end of the lough
0:28:17 > 0:28:20so with the battle of the Atlantic raging out there,
0:28:20 > 0:28:23it was clearly vitally important to use this area as a base.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26Trouble is, on the outbreak of war, there were no airfields around here.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28What there was, though, was water.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30Lots of water.
0:28:30 > 0:28:36In 1941, it was a very different kind of boat which was moored here.
0:28:36 > 0:28:41- NEWSREEL:- Northern Ireland factories are making Sunderland flying boats -
0:28:41 > 0:28:42those magnificent aircraft
0:28:42 > 0:28:46which have done so much to prevent the U-boats being victorious.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50It's not permissible to say how many flying boats have been manufactured
0:28:50 > 0:28:53in Ulster, but the output has been highly creditable.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59Lough Erne was the home to the Sunderlands and Catalinas
0:28:59 > 0:29:03operated here by airmen from RAF Coastal Command.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09Because of a secret deal with the Irish Republic,
0:29:09 > 0:29:13the flying boats based at Castle Archdale and Killadeas on Lough Erne
0:29:13 > 0:29:17could fly a route which became known as the Donegal corridor,
0:29:17 > 0:29:20a short cut to the Atlantic over neutral Ireland.
0:29:23 > 0:29:24This extended their range,
0:29:24 > 0:29:28enabling the aircraft to get further into the Atlantic
0:29:28 > 0:29:31to protect the convoys from marauding U-boats.
0:29:37 > 0:29:41This is a genuine Second World War Catalina flying boat,
0:29:41 > 0:29:46an aircraft perfectly designed to take off and land on the water.
0:29:46 > 0:29:48And just look at the fuselage here -
0:29:48 > 0:29:50it's shaped exactly like the hull of a ship
0:29:50 > 0:29:53and these wheels wouldn't have been there during the Second World War
0:29:53 > 0:29:56so it could only operate from the water. For me,
0:29:56 > 0:29:59it's one of the most distinctive aircraft of World War II.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03There's a huge bubble-shaped canopy known as a blister at the back there
0:30:03 > 0:30:06and that allowed an observer to have an unimpeded view
0:30:06 > 0:30:08and that's the job of these aircraft,
0:30:08 > 0:30:11to go out and act as observers,
0:30:11 > 0:30:14scouring the Atlantic for enemy ships and U-boats.
0:30:14 > 0:30:15If it did spot a U-boat,
0:30:15 > 0:30:19there were depth charges arrayed along the wings
0:30:19 > 0:30:22so it could swoop down and drop depth charges on the U-boat
0:30:22 > 0:30:23and try and sink it.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25MUFFLED BOOM
0:30:33 > 0:30:34Seven decades later,
0:30:34 > 0:30:39this wartime Catalina, one of only a few left flying in Europe,
0:30:39 > 0:30:41has returned to Fermanagh and Lough Erne.
0:30:43 > 0:30:47'It was about 66, 67 years ago'
0:30:47 > 0:30:49when I last flew in a Catalina.
0:30:53 > 0:30:55On board are two veterans,
0:30:55 > 0:30:57Ted Jones and Chuck Singer.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01Both flew with Coastal Command from Lough Erne during the war.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06- So is it all coming back? Do you recognise it all?- Oh yeah, yeah.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16What's it like flying in one of these after 65 years?
0:31:17 > 0:31:19It's fabulous.
0:31:19 > 0:31:21It seems like yesterday.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53I was made a captain of a Catalina two days after my 20th birthday
0:31:53 > 0:31:55so I was young.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59Ted Jones joined RAF Coastal Command in 1942
0:31:59 > 0:32:03and flew 55 anti-U-boat patrols.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05Well, they flew like an old cow
0:32:05 > 0:32:07but they were a lovely aircraft.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10They were built like a tank, solid, you know,
0:32:10 > 0:32:11but a bit heavy on the controls.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14I mean, we had a marvellous automatic pilot
0:32:14 > 0:32:17because we went out for 18-hour patrols
0:32:17 > 0:32:20and it wouldn't have been possible to fly one for that time.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24Chuck Singer was a crew member
0:32:24 > 0:32:27of the much larger Sunderland flying boats,
0:32:27 > 0:32:31which operated out of RAF Castle Archdale.
0:32:31 > 0:32:33- I was the gunner.- The gunner?- Yeah,
0:32:33 > 0:32:36in the mid-aperture. That was my position.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41Flying boats, an extraordinary job during the war because it was just
0:32:41 > 0:32:45endless patrolling and looking out. It must have been exhausting.
0:32:45 > 0:32:47It was. You were awful tired when you got back,
0:32:47 > 0:32:49after you had to be on the alert all that time.
0:32:49 > 0:32:51How long were you up in the air for?
0:32:51 > 0:32:5310 to 12 hours.
0:32:53 > 0:32:55It was quite a while.
0:32:55 > 0:32:56You must have been exhausted
0:32:56 > 0:32:59because you're constantly looking at everything in the sky.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02Yes, for the first five or six hours it's very interesting
0:33:02 > 0:33:05and after that, your eyes start getting sore
0:33:05 > 0:33:07and it's drawing, you imagine things.
0:33:07 > 0:33:09You say, "That's an aircraft,"
0:33:09 > 0:33:12and later you find out it was just a flock of gulls or something,
0:33:12 > 0:33:16but you had to be on the ball every second.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18We were really shattered, you know,
0:33:18 > 0:33:21and it was basically the noise
0:33:21 > 0:33:23because we had no ear protectors.
0:33:23 > 0:33:28We just had the ordinary earphones and a helmet on.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31But it didn't bother us. We were too young.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34Nothing can happen when you're 19,
0:33:34 > 0:33:36can it? You know.
0:33:47 > 0:33:49In the Second World War,
0:33:49 > 0:33:53all able-bodied young men across the UK were liable for conscription.
0:33:53 > 0:33:55All, that is, except in Northern Ireland
0:33:55 > 0:33:57where political sensitivities
0:33:57 > 0:34:00dictated that there was no conscription.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03In spite of the fact conscription was never introduced in Northern Ireland,
0:34:03 > 0:34:07there was a very high level of volunteering for all three services
0:34:07 > 0:34:12and for the women's auxiliary services.
0:34:12 > 0:34:15From both sides of the community in Northern Ireland,
0:34:15 > 0:34:19there was a tremendous outpouring of the volunteering spirit
0:34:19 > 0:34:22so that you get people from Northern Ireland in all three services
0:34:22 > 0:34:25and in every theatre of war and in significant numbers.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29MARCHING MUSIC
0:34:31 > 0:34:35In all, nearly 40,000 men and women from Northern Ireland
0:34:35 > 0:34:38volunteered for the Armed Forces.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43- NEWSREEL:- Ulster puts all her resources
0:34:43 > 0:34:45at the disposal of the United Nations.
0:34:48 > 0:34:50Many of those who didn't volunteer
0:34:50 > 0:34:53were able to give their support to the war effort in other ways.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56The ships that Northern Ireland has sent to sea
0:34:56 > 0:34:59carried war goods to every front in the world.
0:34:59 > 0:35:00Her troop ships conveyed...
0:35:00 > 0:35:04Northern Ireland industry played a fairly significant part in the Second World War.
0:35:04 > 0:35:09Harland and Wolff, the shipyard, built ships for the Royal Navy,
0:35:09 > 0:35:12repaired ships for the Royal Navy.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19Short Brothers, the UK's oldest aircraft manufacturer,
0:35:19 > 0:35:23in fact the world's oldest aircraft manufacturer.
0:35:23 > 0:35:27They created Short Brothers of Harland who were based in Belfast, as well, and built aircraft.
0:35:30 > 0:35:33Peacetime factories were turned over to the war effort,
0:35:33 > 0:35:37producing huge numbers of parachutes, as well as uniforms.
0:35:41 > 0:35:44They also produced massive quantities of armaments.
0:35:44 > 0:35:4714,000 gun barrels.
0:35:48 > 0:35:5175 million shells
0:35:51 > 0:35:53and 180 million incendiary bullets.
0:35:53 > 0:35:55NEWS REEL: Incendiary bullets that have shot down
0:35:55 > 0:35:58many a Nazi plane have come from this place.
0:36:01 > 0:36:05Like the rest of the United Kingdom, with many men away fighting,
0:36:05 > 0:36:09it was women who stepped in to make a vital contribution to the war effort.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14So you would have had women working in the aircraft factory,
0:36:14 > 0:36:17you would have had women working in various other industries
0:36:17 > 0:36:21where they hadn't normally been employed.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24The wartime years brought an awful lot of additional work for women,
0:36:24 > 0:36:27including working on farms, which they did
0:36:27 > 0:36:30to a much greater extent than they had done in peace time.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34And it was women who helped to make agriculture
0:36:34 > 0:36:39one of the great success stories of Northern Ireland's war effort.
0:36:39 > 0:36:43Agriculture was an industry which had been transformed
0:36:43 > 0:36:47under the watchful eye of the energetic cabinet minister, Sir Basil Brooke.
0:36:47 > 0:36:51NEWS REEL: Today the Minister Of Agriculture, Sir Basil Brooke,
0:36:51 > 0:36:54watches a demonstration of the new tractor that has been imported
0:36:54 > 0:36:57and, on such an important occasion, why shouldn't Sir Basil have a go?
0:36:59 > 0:37:03Sir Basil Brooke eventually became the wartime Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
0:37:03 > 0:37:08but he wasn't the only member of his family to make an extraordinary contribution
0:37:08 > 0:37:09to the British war effort.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20The Brooke family have a long history of military service
0:37:20 > 0:37:22going back over 200 years.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33The walls of the parish church at Colebrook in Fermanagh
0:37:33 > 0:37:37are covered with the names of the family who have served their country.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44This is a memorial to Sir Basil Brooke and his wife, Cynthia.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47He became the wartime Prime Minister of Northern Ireland in 1943.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50He came from a powerful family.
0:37:50 > 0:37:52Just over here is a memorial to his uncle,
0:37:52 > 0:37:55although they grew up like brothers - they were very close in age.
0:37:55 > 0:37:57Lord Alanbrooke...
0:37:57 > 0:38:00This man became the senior British general during World War II.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04He was the military mastermind of Britain's war effort
0:38:04 > 0:38:07and it was said he was the only general that could stand up to,
0:38:07 > 0:38:10and control, Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister.
0:38:10 > 0:38:12Over here, two more Brookes.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15Probably poignant this time because two of Sir Basil's sons
0:38:15 > 0:38:19are remembered upon this plaque here, Julian and Henry.
0:38:19 > 0:38:24Both young men who gave their lives during the fighting in the Second World War.
0:38:27 > 0:38:29This is Colebrooke Park, not far from the church.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32It's the seat of the Brooke family.
0:38:35 > 0:38:37Lord Brookeborough, nice to meet you. Dan.
0:38:37 > 0:38:39I've come to meet the present Lord Brookeborough.
0:38:39 > 0:38:41Thank you for coming.
0:38:41 > 0:38:42He is the grandson of Sir Basil Brooke.
0:38:42 > 0:38:43A lot of history.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46How long have you been living here?
0:38:46 > 0:38:48We moved in in 1980.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51'Colebrooke Park is significant because not only
0:38:51 > 0:38:54'did Sir Basil Brooke and his three sons grow up here
0:38:54 > 0:38:57'but Field Marshal Alanbrooke spent much of his childhood here, too.'
0:39:00 > 0:39:02Churchill had a sometimes stormy
0:39:02 > 0:39:06but nevertheless successful relationship with Alanbrooke.
0:39:06 > 0:39:08It was a partnership which would ultimately lead
0:39:08 > 0:39:10to victory for Britain in World War II.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16Sir Basil remained close to his uncle, Alanbrooke, throughout the war.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20Whenever my grandfather went on trips to England,
0:39:20 > 0:39:22he always noted down,
0:39:22 > 0:39:24"I had dinner with Alan."
0:39:24 > 0:39:27They saw a lot of each other and they talked to each other a lot.
0:39:27 > 0:39:32And they, both Alanbrooke and your grandfather had sons who served?
0:39:32 > 0:39:37Yes, Alanbrooke had Tom and then my father, and his two brothers, four.
0:39:37 > 0:39:39What became of them?
0:39:39 > 0:39:43The eldest, Julian, was killed in 1943 in Tunisia
0:39:43 > 0:39:46at something called the Mareth Line, he was in the 6th Grenadiers.
0:39:46 > 0:39:52Henry died in the last few days of the war in Italy
0:39:52 > 0:39:54when... the break at Ravenna
0:39:54 > 0:39:58and he was in the 10th Hussars and he was in a Sherman.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02They were in a village and, in fact, the lead tank had been knocked out
0:40:02 > 0:40:05and he took over and he was killed by a sniper.
0:40:07 > 0:40:11So your grandfather lost two of his sons. What became of your father?
0:40:11 > 0:40:13My father was wounded and he was in Italy at that time.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16That must have been devastating for your grandfather?
0:40:16 > 0:40:21Yes, I think it was, and for my grandmother who had also had a very difficult time
0:40:21 > 0:40:25because she had had TB and had been incapacitated for quite a long time. I mean, months.
0:40:26 > 0:40:29We have obviously private letters,
0:40:29 > 0:40:33some of them are to my father saying how they heard and how devastating it was
0:40:33 > 0:40:37but they also show how devastating it was my father
0:40:37 > 0:40:40because he and Henry, especially - and Julian was older
0:40:40 > 0:40:44and had gone off earlier - were so very close at the time.
0:40:44 > 0:40:46And then we've got the official diary.
0:40:46 > 0:40:51There's one here which says, "Wednesday the 18 April 1945..."
0:40:51 > 0:40:53So very near the end of the war?
0:40:53 > 0:40:55Yes, within a few days of the end of the war in Italy.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58"Another terrible blow has struck us.
0:40:58 > 0:41:00"Alex wired to say that Henry had been killed in Italy.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04"Cynthia has been just marvellous but it was a horrible task telling her.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07"Henry was so grand and big hearted and such a friend.
0:41:07 > 0:41:08"It's a bit difficult to bear
0:41:08 > 0:41:11"but one just has to carry on with a heavy heart."
0:41:11 > 0:41:13Of course, it's the second one that's been killed.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16"Spoke at Larne, Carrickfergus that night." He went straight on.
0:41:16 > 0:41:20"They were good meetings but it was not very pleasant going to them."
0:41:20 > 0:41:26- Not very pleasant? That's a classic British understatement.- Exactly.
0:41:26 > 0:41:29Then, "Friday the 20th, hundreds of messages of sympathy are coming in about Henry.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32"It's a severe strain, especially on Cynthia.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35"The trouble is there were so many memories of the boys
0:41:35 > 0:41:38"that when one goes around Colebrooke, it's hard to stop thinking.
0:41:38 > 0:41:40"A very kind wire from Their Majesties,
0:41:40 > 0:41:43"expressing sympathy about Henry."
0:41:43 > 0:41:47Then Winston Churchill sent a wire.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52And, of course, it must have been devastating.
0:41:56 > 0:41:57It's really impossible for me
0:41:57 > 0:42:01to imagine the grief that Sir Basil and Lady Brooke must've felt
0:42:01 > 0:42:04at the loss of their two sons during the war,
0:42:04 > 0:42:09particularly their son Henry who was killed just days before the end of the war in Europe.
0:42:09 > 0:42:13For one Belfast family, their grief at the loss of a loved one
0:42:13 > 0:42:16has been compounded by a mystery,
0:42:16 > 0:42:19a mystery that's taken nearly 70 years to solve.
0:42:23 > 0:42:27The story begins on September 17, 1944, when the first
0:42:27 > 0:42:32of nearly 12,000 troops were dropped by parachute and gliders
0:42:32 > 0:42:35on fields eight miles to the west of Arnhem in the Netherlands.
0:42:35 > 0:42:40Their objective was to capture the bridge over the Lower Rhine
0:42:40 > 0:42:42in a bold bid to end the war early.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48In nine days of bitter fighting, Arnhem would be remembered
0:42:48 > 0:42:52as a heroic failure and their objective, a bridge too far.
0:42:56 > 0:43:03This wide-open and fairly flat terrain made a perfect candidate to be a glider landing zone.
0:43:03 > 0:43:07On Sunday 17 September, this whole area would have been
0:43:07 > 0:43:10chock full of over 130 gliders that landed that day.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14Among the troops aboard them was Sammie Cassidy,
0:43:14 > 0:43:17a 24-year-old private from Belfast.
0:43:17 > 0:43:23Cassidy had volunteered in 1942 and this was his first time in action.
0:43:24 > 0:43:28He was leaving behind his wife and their 23-month-old daughter, Betty.
0:43:30 > 0:43:35I was born in '42 and he was killed in '44.
0:43:35 > 0:43:40For almost her entire life Betty Ross has lived with a mystery -
0:43:40 > 0:43:43how was her father killed and where is he buried?
0:43:45 > 0:43:47Mother never talked about it.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50Her family and her sisters never talked about it either.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52So, it just wasn't talked about.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54Did you know anything?
0:43:54 > 0:43:56I just knew that he was in the war
0:43:56 > 0:43:58and he was a soldier and he died.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01- He was killed here. - And, he was killed here.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04Arrived on time, the gliders were soon
0:44:04 > 0:44:07discharging their cargos of fighting men, tanks, guns and supplies.
0:44:07 > 0:44:10An entire Allied army had swept down from the skies
0:44:10 > 0:44:13behind the enemy fighting line.
0:44:14 > 0:44:17There were reports that Sammie Cassidy was injured
0:44:17 > 0:44:19during the landing in the glider.
0:44:19 > 0:44:21In fact, some reports said that he had been killed.
0:44:21 > 0:44:25But in fact, he was fit and well, and two days after landing,
0:44:25 > 0:44:29he arrived here with 250 men of his unit at the Hotel Dreyeroord,
0:44:29 > 0:44:33about halfway between the landing zones and Arnhem bridge.
0:44:35 > 0:44:38The Hotel Dreyeroord, which the troops would call
0:44:38 > 0:44:43the White House, is located in the leafy Arnhem suburb of Oosterbeek.
0:44:43 > 0:44:47It's here, 67 years later, that Betty and her daughter Lynda have come.
0:44:48 > 0:44:51And the journey has not been easy.
0:44:51 > 0:44:52Very emotional.
0:44:53 > 0:44:55I just couldn't believe I was here.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58I'd talked about it to Lynda for so long.
0:45:00 > 0:45:02I just couldn't believe I was here, and seeing it,
0:45:02 > 0:45:05walking down the street, walking round here.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10It was so... It was unreal, actually.
0:45:10 > 0:45:14It was as if... It's like, "This is happening to somebody else,
0:45:14 > 0:45:16"somebody's else's story."
0:45:18 > 0:45:20This hotel became the front line.
0:45:20 > 0:45:22Cassidy and his comrades found themselves fighting
0:45:22 > 0:45:24the Germans at very close quarters.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28As this photograph shows, the hotel itself was very badly damaged.
0:45:28 > 0:45:30These window frames here
0:45:30 > 0:45:35and the windowpanes had been blown out by incoming and outgoing fire.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38And if we look at this next photograph here,
0:45:38 > 0:45:41it shows the front foyer here, there are the pillars
0:45:41 > 0:45:43and the banisters, and the damage is extraordinary.
0:45:43 > 0:45:48There's burn marks, scorch marks on the walls, masonry has collapsed.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51This was at the centre of some very bitter fighting.
0:45:51 > 0:45:54It was a target for the Germans all the time.
0:45:54 > 0:45:56Once they could get through there,
0:45:56 > 0:45:58they could get into the streets of Oosterbeek.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02John Crosson served as a sniper alongside Sammie Cassidy
0:46:02 > 0:46:04in the King's Own Scottish Borderers.
0:46:06 > 0:46:08There was a lot of bombardment.
0:46:08 > 0:46:13They were using bombs, obviously, mortars,
0:46:13 > 0:46:17and machine guns, mostly. And snipers.
0:46:25 > 0:46:26It was not a good place to be.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30There was absolutely no security there.
0:46:30 > 0:46:34At any moment, something could happen,
0:46:34 > 0:46:37and you had to do your best to fight against it.
0:46:41 > 0:46:44The day after Sammie Cassidy arrived here,
0:46:44 > 0:46:47this was the site of a vicious skirmish.
0:46:47 > 0:46:51The Germans had managed to drive out the British from the White House,
0:46:51 > 0:46:54and so the British counter-attacked with everything they had.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57Sten guns, heavy machine guns, and in the end,
0:46:57 > 0:47:02they drove the Germans out using an age-old tactic - the bayonet charge.
0:47:03 > 0:47:05In this brief, 45-minute fight,
0:47:05 > 0:47:0915 British soldiers had been killed and many, many more wounded.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17- Are they good readings today? - Well, a few bits.
0:47:18 > 0:47:22'Hans van der Velden is a metal detectorist.'
0:47:22 > 0:47:24A-ha. There's something. 'For some years,
0:47:24 > 0:47:27'he has had permission to detect in the hotel grounds.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30'And considering Sammie Cassidy's battalion was here
0:47:30 > 0:47:34'for just 36 hours, it's remarkable what still remains.'
0:47:34 > 0:47:36There's one there, I think, isn't there?
0:47:36 > 0:47:37- Yeah.- What is this?
0:47:40 > 0:47:42The caps of a three-inch mortar.
0:47:42 > 0:47:43- Three-inch mortar.- Yeah.
0:47:43 > 0:47:45So, there might have been a position here.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54Where we are now, on the north side of the hotel,
0:47:54 > 0:47:55the British would have been able to see
0:47:55 > 0:47:57the whites of their enemies' eyes.
0:47:57 > 0:47:59The Germans were just metres away, in that direction.
0:48:02 > 0:48:03Oh, my goodness.
0:48:03 > 0:48:06Lots of live ammunition coming out of the ground now.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09Which was held together in these bandoliers.
0:48:11 > 0:48:15Wow! There's mounds of ammunition coming out of the soil here.
0:48:15 > 0:48:16And there's more to come.
0:48:18 > 0:48:20Sten gun magazine!
0:48:20 > 0:48:21Oh, my goodness!
0:48:22 > 0:48:23That's the classic.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26There would have been bullets in there, it's a magazine.
0:48:26 > 0:48:27Magazine, yeah.
0:48:27 > 0:48:28- Clips into the side.- Yeah.
0:48:28 > 0:48:29It's amazing.
0:48:29 > 0:48:34This is a poignant reminder that what is now a quiet hotel garden
0:48:34 > 0:48:38in a suburb of Arnhem was once a military stronghold,
0:48:38 > 0:48:40a unit of men here, armed to the teeth,
0:48:40 > 0:48:43preparing to fight to the last round.
0:48:45 > 0:48:49Sammie Cassidy and his platoon were in a street close to the White House.
0:48:50 > 0:48:55In an upstairs window, John Crosson was posted as a sniper.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59There was a German tank that was causing a problem.
0:48:59 > 0:49:01And so, it was decided to hunt this down
0:49:01 > 0:49:03and try and put it out of action.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08In the street below, as they waited for the tank to appear,
0:49:08 > 0:49:12Cassidy spotted some German soldiers and called for a Bren gun.
0:49:14 > 0:49:17Somebody gave him the Bren gun. He tried to fire it from the hip.
0:49:19 > 0:49:20But it jammed.
0:49:21 > 0:49:23As they sometimes do.
0:49:23 > 0:49:25Well, there is a procedure for unjamming a Bren,
0:49:25 > 0:49:27because it takes time.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30But he banged the butt of the gun on the ground, tried again
0:49:30 > 0:49:33and it was still jammed.
0:49:33 > 0:49:36And, getting a bit agitated now, he banged it again -
0:49:36 > 0:49:38this time, it went off.
0:49:38 > 0:49:42But the gun was facing upwards, and shot him up through the head.
0:49:45 > 0:49:46He fell instantly dead.
0:49:47 > 0:49:49With a great clatter.
0:49:49 > 0:49:51Everybody thought these Germans had shot him,
0:49:51 > 0:49:52but they got up and ran away.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57I realised what had happened, because I was just behind him.
0:49:59 > 0:50:03Sammie Cassidy's death came in the middle of nine days of fighting.
0:50:04 > 0:50:07In the fog of war, it was no less heroic for being an accident.
0:50:09 > 0:50:11And it would be nearly 70 years
0:50:11 > 0:50:13before the family would learn the truth.
0:50:13 > 0:50:17Because Mum never knew what happened, you kind of think,
0:50:17 > 0:50:19"Well, maybe we should find out what happened."
0:50:19 > 0:50:21So I started to look into it.
0:50:21 > 0:50:24I would be curious, and I would ask a lot of questions about things.
0:50:24 > 0:50:26And I think one day I just decided,
0:50:26 > 0:50:28"I'm going to find out what happened to him."
0:50:28 > 0:50:34A letter was sent to the Army Veterans Club magazine,
0:50:34 > 0:50:38appealing for anybody who knew something about this incident.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42Because this was his daughter appealing for this.
0:50:43 > 0:50:47And I thought, "I know what happened, because I was there,
0:50:47 > 0:50:50"but I can't tell her that he shot himself."
0:50:51 > 0:50:54But there was another appeal in the next issue, so I thought,
0:50:54 > 0:50:56"Well, maybe I should."
0:50:56 > 0:50:57We didn't know any of this.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01When we started looking into it, we didn't know what happened to him.
0:51:01 > 0:51:03We know now where he died, the exact spot where he died.
0:51:03 > 0:51:04We didn't know that.
0:51:13 > 0:51:17- Is this the house? - This is the house here.- Just here.
0:51:17 > 0:51:19This house.
0:51:19 > 0:51:21Betty, it's pretty amazing, you started out on this journey,
0:51:21 > 0:51:24you didn't know anything about your dad, and here we are,
0:51:24 > 0:51:26the place he died, knowing the details of that last moment.
0:51:26 > 0:51:27It's weird, isn't it?
0:51:27 > 0:51:29It is weird. Very emotional.
0:51:31 > 0:51:34The veterans that were with him were very reluctant to tell us
0:51:34 > 0:51:36what had happened.
0:51:36 > 0:51:38And it was only that we kept pushing
0:51:38 > 0:51:43and asking did they eventually tell us what happened.
0:51:44 > 0:51:49We sort of... He died in battle, and that's the way it happened.
0:51:49 > 0:51:51You can't hide the facts, you know?
0:51:57 > 0:51:59I'll move the leaves.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29However difficult the discovery of the facts has been, it has brought
0:52:29 > 0:52:33Betty and Lynda closer to the father and grandfather they never knew.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42Sammie Cassidy was buried in the grounds of the White House.
0:52:42 > 0:52:46Like thousands of others who fell in the Netherlands,
0:52:46 > 0:52:48his was an unmarked grave.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55And how many bodies do you get handed over a year?
0:52:55 > 0:52:57It's very difficult to say, because...
0:52:57 > 0:53:01'In 1945, the Dutch Army set up a special unit to recover
0:53:01 > 0:53:05'and try to identify the bodies of soldiers like Sammie Cassidy
0:53:05 > 0:53:07'who had fallen in their country.
0:53:07 > 0:53:11'It's a unit which is, remarkably, still active today.'
0:53:11 > 0:53:15This is the laboratory where we do all our anthropological research
0:53:15 > 0:53:18and orthodontic research - you know, the teeth.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22'Nearly 70 years after the end of the war,
0:53:22 > 0:53:25'bodies are still being unearthed from that conflict.'
0:53:27 > 0:53:32This is a Dutchman, probably a Dutchman who served with the Germans.
0:53:32 > 0:53:36Oh, really? So this was not killed by the Germans?
0:53:36 > 0:53:38No, this is someone who most probably...
0:53:38 > 0:53:42We have reasons to believe he was executed by the Dutch resistance
0:53:42 > 0:53:43because of being a collaborator.
0:53:43 > 0:53:44How do you know that?
0:53:44 > 0:53:48This individual comes from a group of three men, three individuals
0:53:48 > 0:53:52that were shot by the Resistance, and were buried together.
0:53:52 > 0:53:57They were all shot in the back of the head, so most probably, they were...
0:53:57 > 0:54:00They had to kneel, and then they were shot in the head.
0:54:00 > 0:54:01Wow, execution...
0:54:02 > 0:54:04This is true execution-style.
0:54:04 > 0:54:07The skull is completely fractured.
0:54:07 > 0:54:09This is what we call primary fractures.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12So, all the energy from the impact released in the skull,
0:54:12 > 0:54:14and it just explodes.
0:54:16 > 0:54:18And what else can we tell from looking at the corpse?
0:54:18 > 0:54:22The four individuals we've exhumed in this particular cemetery,
0:54:22 > 0:54:25they were all found with pieces of string that you can see
0:54:25 > 0:54:27over here between the leg bones.
0:54:27 > 0:54:31These are pieces of string that were cut from parachutes.
0:54:31 > 0:54:33And these pieces of string were used
0:54:33 > 0:54:35to tie the hands of these collaborators.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39So, these loops here are exactly as they were in 1944, '45?
0:54:39 > 0:54:43- They would have bound the hands as this man was executed?- Absolutely.
0:54:53 > 0:54:57Irrespective of which side the combatants fought on,
0:54:57 > 0:55:01the sole purpose of the Dutch Army's work is to try
0:55:01 > 0:55:03and give an individual their identity back.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10Using tried-and-tested anthropological techniques,
0:55:10 > 0:55:12as well as modern forensic methods,
0:55:12 > 0:55:16the team work on around 35 bodies a year.
0:55:19 > 0:55:22It just goes to show that there is really no difference
0:55:22 > 0:55:27between someone going missing in 1944
0:55:27 > 0:55:30or someone going missing in 2004.
0:55:32 > 0:55:36For the next of kin, the feeling of uncertainty just stays the same,
0:55:36 > 0:55:38it doesn't wear off.
0:55:38 > 0:55:41And as long as the people are still alive,
0:55:41 > 0:55:45that have known those who went missing during the war,
0:55:45 > 0:55:50I am positive that the Dutch government in the Netherlands will
0:55:50 > 0:55:53keep on doing this very important task.
0:56:01 > 0:56:04'The work carried out by the Dutch Army makes me feel that,
0:56:04 > 0:56:07'in some ways, the Second World War has still not come to an end.
0:56:12 > 0:56:16'It's a feeling echoed by the family of Private Sammie Cassidy.
0:56:17 > 0:56:19'Their journey is not yet over.'
0:56:21 > 0:56:25So, here's... Is this possibly Sammie Cassidy here?
0:56:25 > 0:56:27- Possibly.- Possibly.
0:56:27 > 0:56:28What happened to his body?
0:56:28 > 0:56:32He was buried in a mass grave at the White House.
0:56:32 > 0:56:34We know that cos we've German records
0:56:34 > 0:56:35to show that he was buried there.
0:56:37 > 0:56:43But after the war, whenever they were digging up the mass graves
0:56:43 > 0:56:47and reburying people, he seems to have got lost.
0:56:50 > 0:56:54'At the Oosterbeek Cemetery in Arnhem, there are eight graves
0:56:54 > 0:56:57'to unknown privates from Sammie Cassidy's regiment.
0:56:59 > 0:57:02'So the family can only assume that his is one of them.'
0:57:02 > 0:57:06When you come here, do you spend a bit of time at each one?
0:57:06 > 0:57:08Yeah, we did last time, we went round every one of them.
0:57:10 > 0:57:13We laid a cross on every one of them, just in case.
0:57:14 > 0:57:16We find each, we put a cross on each of them,
0:57:16 > 0:57:19because we have to assume that he is one of them.
0:57:21 > 0:57:23We can't just pick one.
0:57:24 > 0:57:26We have to assume that he's one of them.
0:57:26 > 0:57:29But it's nice to have a grave to go to.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34Yeah, it is, but we'd still like to know.
0:57:37 > 0:57:39At least we know he's somewhere.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47Betty and Lynda may not have found the final resting place of Sammie,
0:57:47 > 0:57:49but they have come a long way in understanding the part
0:57:49 > 0:57:53that one Northern Ireland soldier played to help make peace possible.
0:57:59 > 0:58:01Next time on Dig World War II,
0:58:01 > 0:58:04the American bomber which crashed in Lough Foyle,
0:58:04 > 0:58:05an island on Lough Neagh
0:58:05 > 0:58:08where troops bound for D-Day left their mark...
0:58:11 > 0:58:13..and the sand-filled tunnels on Normandy beaches
0:58:13 > 0:58:16where our soldiers fought ashore.
0:58:20 > 0:58:22Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd