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.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16But scattered across this landscape
0:00:16 > 0:00:18and in the waters off these shores
0:00:18 > 0:00:23are the relics and reminders of the greatest conflict in modern history.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28As a military historian,
0:00:28 > 0:00:31World 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'm discovering all sorts of incredible stories -
0:00:36 > 0:00:38secrets, heroism,
0:00:38 > 0:00:40suffering 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.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56In our final programme, we search for an American bomber
0:00:56 > 0:00:58which crashed in the mouth of Lough Foyle...
0:01:01 > 0:01:02..we discover a farm in County Down
0:01:02 > 0:01:06which gave refuge from the Holocaust
0:01:06 > 0:01:11and an island on Lough Neagh where the troops left their mark...
0:01:12 > 0:01:16..explore an underground bunker once occupied by the enemy...
0:01:19 > 0:01:23..and find evidence of a U-boat graveyard off the north Irish coast.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27Preserved for 70 years,
0:01:27 > 0:01:31this is the story of Northern Ireland's war
0:01:31 > 0:01:33told with what's left behind.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47This is Lough Foyle where it meets the Atlantic.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52I'm fortunate to be here on a calm day
0:01:52 > 0:01:56because I'm in search of a special piece of World War II history
0:01:56 > 0:01:59hidden beneath this seemingly-tranquil surface.
0:02:02 > 0:02:07It was here in 1942 that an American B-17 bomber
0:02:07 > 0:02:09carrying 11 members of the US Air Force
0:02:09 > 0:02:12crashed on its way to a base in England.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21'I've teamed up with divers from Inishowen
0:02:21 > 0:02:23'who have located the bomber.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25'This is an experienced group
0:02:25 > 0:02:28'of wreck-diving specialists who know these waters well.
0:02:28 > 0:02:33'Their knowledge is going to be vital to this salvage effort.'
0:02:33 > 0:02:34Well, we're all kitted up now
0:02:34 > 0:02:36and we're ready for the tide to slack off,
0:02:36 > 0:02:38in other words, to get slack water
0:02:38 > 0:02:41because we simply can't fight that current there at the moment.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47The plane is 25 metres below the surface
0:02:47 > 0:02:50and the Lough Foyle tide constantly throws up silt and sand,
0:02:50 > 0:02:54covering the wreckage with every ebb and flow.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58'We're being assisted by aviation expert Jonny McNee.'
0:02:58 > 0:03:02- So the mud has preserved? - Yes, preserves it excellently.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04You can see that stencilling after 70 years
0:03:04 > 0:03:07in the corrosive environment on the seabed. It's remarkable.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12The plan is to retrieve what they can from the wreckage
0:03:12 > 0:03:15before the tide turns against them.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23The sight of an aircraft plummeting into the water
0:03:23 > 0:03:27is seared into the memory of those who were there to witness it.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31In 1942, on that particular Saturday,
0:03:31 > 0:03:34it was a lovely day. It was a spanking breeze
0:03:34 > 0:03:37and my mother said, "Let's go for a sail."
0:03:37 > 0:03:39So we went out
0:03:39 > 0:03:41and we heard this terrible noise
0:03:41 > 0:03:43and looked up and to our horror,
0:03:43 > 0:03:45we saw this huge plane
0:03:45 > 0:03:49and it obviously was going to crash. It was diving down.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52ENGINES WHINE
0:03:52 > 0:03:56The sudden knowledge that it was going to crash,
0:03:56 > 0:03:59I still remember vividly.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03And the fright I felt for the people in it.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13It's almost impossible to imagine
0:04:13 > 0:04:18what it's like to crash-land a B-17 Flying Fortress on water.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21But that was the reality for the pilot, Curtis Melton,
0:04:21 > 0:04:23on the Saturday morning in September 1942
0:04:23 > 0:04:27when he ditched his aircraft here into Lough Foyle.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29Just hours before the crash here,
0:04:29 > 0:04:31he'd been warming his engines on the tarmac
0:04:31 > 0:04:34in Gander, Newfoundland, thousands of miles away.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37All systems were go and his crew were ready
0:04:37 > 0:04:40to fly to Europe and join the war effort.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43Above all, they were preparing themselves
0:04:43 > 0:04:46for the 12-hour flight across the Atlantic.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52With a wingspan of more than 100 feet,
0:04:52 > 0:04:54it weighed over 60,000 lb when fully loaded
0:04:54 > 0:04:58and had an amazing 2,000-mile range.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01They were the most heavily-armed long-range bomber
0:05:01 > 0:05:04on either side of the conflict.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06EXPLOSIONS
0:05:12 > 0:05:17The B-17 we're going to dive on today was nicknamed The Melton Pot -
0:05:17 > 0:05:19partly a play on words. Her captain was Curt Melton
0:05:19 > 0:05:24but it was also a real melting pot. The crew were all American airmen
0:05:24 > 0:05:26but they were from many different ethnic backgrounds.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28Russians, Jewish, German,
0:05:28 > 0:05:31some were southerners and some from the northern states.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33They all had one thing in common -
0:05:33 > 0:05:36they'd been trained to a very high level. They also shared a fate
0:05:36 > 0:05:39that would see that training put to the test.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46They took off from Newfoundland
0:05:46 > 0:05:51at 9.30pm on September 12th, 1942.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55This was the 11-man crew's first transatlantic journey
0:05:55 > 0:05:57and expectations would have been high.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01But it didn't take long for things to go wrong.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04Just 45 minutes into the flight,
0:06:04 > 0:06:07one of the four engines began to overheat
0:06:07 > 0:06:10and Captain Melton was forced to shut it down.
0:06:11 > 0:06:1490 minutes later, a second engine caught fire,
0:06:14 > 0:06:18leaving Melton and his crew with just two.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21They were now somewhere over the Atlantic, far from land
0:06:21 > 0:06:23and past the point of no return.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27Melton knew that their best chance of making landfall now
0:06:27 > 0:06:30was to reduce the weight of the aircraft.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35As the B-17 struggled to stay in the air,
0:06:35 > 0:06:38Captain Melton ordered all non-essential kit to be jettisoned
0:06:38 > 0:06:41and there was a lot of that on board - cartons of cigarettes,
0:06:41 > 0:06:44Canadian winter jackets, a case of bourbon.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47One guy played the saxophone with Tommy Dorsey before the war
0:06:47 > 0:06:50and he brought 120 records from his collection with him on the aircraft.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53It was all stuff to make wartime life in Europe
0:06:53 > 0:06:55that little bit more bearable,
0:06:55 > 0:06:58which is why most of it didn't get thrown overboard.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00They smuggled it away in compartments.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02The bourbon, however, they did get rid of.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06They cracked it open as the plane lost altitude.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12Despite all the mechanical failures of the night,
0:07:12 > 0:07:15there was optimism now. They thought they would make it
0:07:15 > 0:07:17but then at 7am, with a terrible sound,
0:07:17 > 0:07:20the third engine cut out.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24The B-17 was now flying with just one of its four engines
0:07:24 > 0:07:26and that was unsustainable.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30The captain had no choice but to issue his final order -
0:07:30 > 0:07:33"Prepare for ditching, prepare for ditching."
0:07:37 > 0:07:41Incredibly, Curt Melton managed to ditch the stricken bomber
0:07:41 > 0:07:43and all 11 crew survived.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48As the crew looked out over the lough, sailing towards them
0:07:48 > 0:07:51was the most unlikely of rescuers.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57We saw yellow dinghies, inflatable things, floating
0:07:57 > 0:08:00and we realised there were men in them.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03So we sailed. When we got there,
0:08:03 > 0:08:06my mother was able to bear down on it. We grabbed it
0:08:06 > 0:08:09and I made it fast alongside.
0:08:09 > 0:08:10And the men...
0:08:10 > 0:08:12Well, the men didn't say anything.
0:08:12 > 0:08:17I said, in a rather quavery voice, "You're all safe now."
0:08:17 > 0:08:19So we just held on.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24I think they must have been in shock in the boat.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28Well, it must have been a terrible trauma for them
0:08:28 > 0:08:30and they didn't say a word.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33I often wondered if they thought I was speaking Irish
0:08:33 > 0:08:35or what on earth they thought
0:08:35 > 0:08:40because I did say, "You're all right," but there was no reaction.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45I was very shaken, I think, but you don't think in these...
0:08:45 > 0:08:47It's interesting, your reaction.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51Something awful happens and you go and do something.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53Just automatic, it was not brave,
0:08:53 > 0:08:55you just did it because you were there
0:08:55 > 0:08:57and you tried to help.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02Now, 70 years later,
0:09:02 > 0:09:06we're right above the spot where the aircraft went down.
0:09:06 > 0:09:11There's still a mass of wreckage down there, waiting to be recovered,
0:09:11 > 0:09:13but it won't be there forever.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16It's a very tricky place to dive. There's a lot of tide here.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18It really rips it out of Lough Foyle.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20We've chosen a period of slack water
0:09:20 > 0:09:22between the tide coming in and going out
0:09:22 > 0:09:25so they've gone down the shot line, perhaps 20, 25 metres
0:09:25 > 0:09:27to where the aircraft is on the bottom.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36Visibility can be very poor here.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40All the groundwater comes with its sediment out of the River Foyle
0:09:40 > 0:09:44but they're taken some tools down there to rake through
0:09:44 > 0:09:47some of the sand and mud that's filled up the fuselage
0:09:47 > 0:09:50and hopefully find some of those personal items.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07Apparently the visibility isn't too bad today.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10- We have some finds from the bottom. What have you got?- It looks like
0:10:10 > 0:10:13one of the portable plug-in headsets they could move around,
0:10:13 > 0:10:16from their own helmets or they would use as they moved around,
0:10:16 > 0:10:19There's a jack they could plug into various points.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22I love these finds that disappeared below the waves 70 years ago
0:10:22 > 0:10:25and no-one would expect them to be seen again
0:10:25 > 0:10:26and here they are, in our hands.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33Looks like a bit of Perspex from one of the cockpit windows. That's good.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38These are lifting bags, where air is attached to some heavy object
0:10:38 > 0:10:42and that brings it to the surface. Let's see what we've got here.
0:10:44 > 0:10:45Ooh.
0:10:45 > 0:10:46Hmm.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50'All the material that has been recovered is highly corroded.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53'The job now is to get everything back on dry land
0:10:53 > 0:10:57'and transport it to the nearby maritime museum
0:10:57 > 0:11:00'where we can clean it up and examine it properly.'
0:11:00 > 0:11:02- Coming up nice, isn't it?- Yep.
0:11:02 > 0:11:03This is very exciting.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07We're rediscovering, we're reclaiming this machine gun,
0:11:07 > 0:11:10this Browning machine gun, a 50-calibre Browning machine gun
0:11:10 > 0:11:13and it's covered in sea life and barnacles
0:11:13 > 0:11:17but actually, you can start to see the shape. There's the barrel there.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20You can see where they put the belt of ammunition
0:11:20 > 0:11:21here on the top.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23Underneath these barnacles and this mud
0:11:23 > 0:11:27it's in remarkable condition. We've found moving parts and everything
0:11:27 > 0:11:29in pretty good working order.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34These high-powered guns contributed to the fortresses' success.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37The idea was that with the gun crews working in unison,
0:11:37 > 0:11:42they'd be better able to defend the plane from all points of attack -
0:11:42 > 0:11:45a potent defence against German fighters.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49It's amazing to me they didn't jettison this over the Atlantic.
0:11:49 > 0:11:50That's a heavy piece of equipment.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53They kept it on board right till the crash.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56You're right, normally the guns and the ammo are the first thing to go
0:11:56 > 0:12:00but as I say, rumours are that the bourbon was much more exciting
0:12:00 > 0:12:02and they thought, "If we're going to go, let's go happy,"
0:12:02 > 0:12:05and everything else stayed on the aircraft
0:12:05 > 0:12:06and they enjoyed a last drink.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08Thank goodness they did.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16There you go, unloaded,
0:12:16 > 0:12:18as we've been told.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20Look at that.
0:12:20 > 0:12:21I mean, this is incredible.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24After 70 years on the bottom of the ocean
0:12:24 > 0:12:27in a pretty rough, pretty weather-beaten part of the world,
0:12:27 > 0:12:28the breechblock still works
0:12:28 > 0:12:31and you can still tell the internal workings of the gun.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33It's just extraordinary.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37What's this? Some kind of Perspex?
0:12:37 > 0:12:40Yeah, one of the Plexiglas side windows, possibly from the cockpit,
0:12:40 > 0:12:44- where the guys were down today. - So that might be from the cockpit?
0:12:44 > 0:12:45- Yes.- That's so exciting.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48He'd have been staring through that all the way across the Atlantic,
0:12:48 > 0:12:51- begging for a sight of land. - Yes, and suddenly watching the sea
0:12:51 > 0:12:54get closer and closer through that piece of Perspex.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56That's incredible, isn't it?
0:12:59 > 0:13:02For me, what's so astonishing about this crash
0:13:02 > 0:13:03is that nowadays,
0:13:03 > 0:13:07that would be a momentous, life-changing event for anyone
0:13:07 > 0:13:08but for these crewmen,
0:13:08 > 0:13:13it was just another terrifying event they had to endure.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17Just days after this crash, they were out flying combat missions.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19Curtis Melton served with great distinction,
0:13:19 > 0:13:23flying right across Europe, exposing himself to terrible dangers.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26One other crew member became highly decorated
0:13:26 > 0:13:28but had to bail out of an aircraft
0:13:28 > 0:13:30and spent two years in a German POW camp
0:13:30 > 0:13:34and four of the survivors from this crash ended up dying
0:13:34 > 0:13:38when another bomber they were in crashed into the North Sea.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41In the tumultuous wartime service of these men,
0:13:41 > 0:13:45this crash barely gets a passing mention.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51Theirs is just one of the countless stories
0:13:51 > 0:13:55that connect Northern Ireland to the Allied air campaign against Germany.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00Here on the western shores of Lough Neagh,
0:14:00 > 0:14:02the connection runs especially deep.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05It might look like a wasteland today
0:14:05 > 0:14:09but 70 years ago, this was Cluntoe Airfield,
0:14:09 > 0:14:11a massive 640-acre site
0:14:11 > 0:14:14and a hive of Allied activity.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20This was a military training base,
0:14:20 > 0:14:23a place where pilots would come to hone their skills,
0:14:23 > 0:14:26to make last-minute improvements to their technique
0:14:26 > 0:14:28that could one day save their lives
0:14:28 > 0:14:31and they'd need those skills because the air crew that trained here
0:14:31 > 0:14:35were about to take part in the largest amphibious invasion
0:14:35 > 0:14:37in history - D-Day.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47If I'd been walking along this runway during World War II,
0:14:47 > 0:14:51I'd have seen many of the iconic aircraft of that conflict,
0:14:51 > 0:14:55like the mighty B-17 Flying Fortress
0:14:55 > 0:14:56or Spitfires, Hurricanes
0:14:56 > 0:14:59and even a huge Lancaster bomber.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01Back then, this was Cluntoe Military Airfield
0:15:01 > 0:15:03and it was a very busy place.
0:15:07 > 0:15:12It was one of several key training bases dotted across Allied territory
0:15:12 > 0:15:15where young pilots earned their wings.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18Squadron leader Tom Long from Belfast
0:15:18 > 0:15:20joined the volunteer reserve in 1939.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24He trained at bases just like Cluntoe
0:15:24 > 0:15:28and remembers his introduction to flight school.
0:15:28 > 0:15:29We were delighted
0:15:29 > 0:15:32when we got to flying training school
0:15:32 > 0:15:35and then the butterflies started
0:15:35 > 0:15:38because we knew
0:15:38 > 0:15:41that about a third of us
0:15:41 > 0:15:42wouldn't get through.
0:15:44 > 0:15:51Of the 20 who became air crew,
0:15:51 > 0:15:53only seven of us came home.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59Built and operated initially by the RAF,
0:15:59 > 0:16:02Cluntoe was handed over to the US in 1943.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07At its height, it was home to 3,500 air force personnel.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13There were only three airfields in Northern Ireland in 1939.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16By 1945, there were 26.
0:16:16 > 0:16:21As D-Day approached, these fields became vital in training the men
0:16:21 > 0:16:23who would help to end the war in Europe.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35Standing here, you realise just how rural this place was in 1939
0:16:35 > 0:16:37and how extraordinary it was that
0:16:37 > 0:16:40thousands of young men suddenly descended on it for their training.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43Most of the men that came here were Americans
0:16:43 > 0:16:44so they trained hard all day
0:16:44 > 0:16:46and at night, they had money to spend
0:16:46 > 0:16:48and they were keen to spend it.
0:16:48 > 0:16:50They wanted to do as much socialising as possible
0:16:50 > 0:16:53before they were thrown into the furnace of battle.
0:16:56 > 0:17:01We were just a cross-section of young people at that time.
0:17:01 > 0:17:06There were the serious types and the cheerful types and so on.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09The idea was that
0:17:09 > 0:17:11you had as good a time as you could,
0:17:11 > 0:17:15that you went dancing, if that was your bent.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21The only thing we had in common, I would say,
0:17:21 > 0:17:25was our desire to become pilots.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31Eventually, 120,000 US servicemen
0:17:31 > 0:17:34came to live and train in Northern Ireland.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39For the Americans stationed here,
0:17:39 > 0:17:42there was no better respite from the rigours of military life
0:17:42 > 0:17:47than here on Rams Island, a short boat ride across Lough Neagh.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58The Americans would come to this island, not for training
0:17:58 > 0:18:00but for rest and recuperation.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03They'd steal a few hours, sometimes perhaps even a whole day.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06It must have been a little paradise for them,
0:18:06 > 0:18:10away from the sounds and smells of the vast military enterprise
0:18:10 > 0:18:12and they showed their appreciation
0:18:12 > 0:18:14by carving their names into these trees
0:18:14 > 0:18:16and they're still here today.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25There are little hearts on these trees, I think.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27The closeness of battle
0:18:27 > 0:18:31was making these soldiers think about what they were leaving behind.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33A big "1944".
0:18:33 > 0:18:35"NJK, 1944."
0:18:35 > 0:18:37Here's his mark.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40This is obviously where the guys came. There's a lot of graffiti.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42Here's the best one yet.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46"NNP, USA, 44."
0:18:46 > 0:18:48That is a direct link with those US servicemen
0:18:48 > 0:18:51that were here in the build-up to D-Day.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00The Second World War left its mark on this landscape
0:19:00 > 0:19:01in so many different ways.
0:19:01 > 0:19:06It feels like there isn't a corner of this country it didn't touch.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08This graffiti here is just so surprising.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12I suppose it's just young men who on the eve of the liberation of Europe,
0:19:12 > 0:19:16on the eve of D-Day, were terrified about not making it back alive
0:19:16 > 0:19:20and were desperate to leave some sign of their existence.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26I wonder how many of the guys who did carve their names in these trees
0:19:26 > 0:19:31survived the beaches of Normandy and the fighting that followed.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36We already knew
0:19:36 > 0:19:40what we would have to do once we landed in France.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42The thing that kept us going
0:19:42 > 0:19:45in the Army, really,
0:19:45 > 0:19:49was orders and training,
0:19:49 > 0:19:51discipline and training.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59While preparations continued at bases like Cluntoe,
0:19:59 > 0:20:02the German soldiers in occupied Europe
0:20:02 > 0:20:05were building a network of defensive fortifications
0:20:05 > 0:20:07designed to be impregnable
0:20:07 > 0:20:10from air, land and sea.
0:20:11 > 0:20:1670 years later, evidence of their occupation remains,
0:20:16 > 0:20:17now buried in the sand.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23I've travelled to the beaches of Normandy
0:20:23 > 0:20:28to uncover what the Germans had in store for the Allied forces -
0:20:28 > 0:20:32a truly international brotherhood who would fight their way ashore.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39We're digging on the site of what 70 years ago was a German bunker,
0:20:39 > 0:20:42part of the Atlantic Wall, a long line of fortifications
0:20:42 > 0:20:45that stretched not just along the French Atlantic coast
0:20:45 > 0:20:48but all the way from the Spanish border in the south
0:20:48 > 0:20:50right up to Norway in the north,
0:20:50 > 0:20:523,000 miles.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56And along that wall were 15,000 of these bunkers.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00On June 6th, 1944,
0:21:00 > 0:21:03the Allied forces, including those from Northern Ireland,
0:21:03 > 0:21:07combined all of their military might into one synchronised assault
0:21:07 > 0:21:10involving over 200,000 men.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13Known as Operation Overlord,
0:21:13 > 0:21:17the D-Day landings were one of the biggest turning points of the war.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20There was a very, very strong Northern Ireland influence
0:21:20 > 0:21:22in Operation Overlord,
0:21:22 > 0:21:24right from General Sir James Steele
0:21:24 > 0:21:26who was in charge of the plans,
0:21:26 > 0:21:28who came from Ballycarry in County Antrim,
0:21:28 > 0:21:31General Montgomery, who commanded 21 Army Group
0:21:31 > 0:21:35and, of course, on the ground, you had a unique situation
0:21:35 > 0:21:39where you've both regular battalions of the Royal Ulster Rifles involved -
0:21:39 > 0:21:43the Second Battalion coming ashore on Sword Beach
0:21:43 > 0:21:46and the First Battalion coming in by glider on the evening of D-Day
0:21:46 > 0:21:49and it's the only regiment in the British Army
0:21:49 > 0:21:53that had both regular battalions involved in that operation.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57The Allies chose five landing beaches along the Normandy coast,
0:21:57 > 0:22:00each defended by the German occupying forces.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06There were literally hundreds of aircraft that could be seen.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09The sky was black with aeroplanes
0:22:09 > 0:22:11and so forth, all heading inland.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16We went in
0:22:16 > 0:22:19and finally we sighted land
0:22:19 > 0:22:22and it was very quiet, it was eerie.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26There was a long beach and a wall
0:22:26 > 0:22:27and there wasn't a sound
0:22:27 > 0:22:29or a sight and you couldn't see anything.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31It didn't enter our heads
0:22:31 > 0:22:35that the Germans could stop the army, I don't think.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37It seemed to be such an overwhelming force
0:22:37 > 0:22:41that they were bound to get to their objective sooner or later.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43EXPLOSIONS
0:22:47 > 0:22:51When we first landed, it was almost like a training scheme.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54But then we realised that...
0:22:54 > 0:22:58this is for real - they're going to kill us.
0:23:01 > 0:23:06Before D-Day, these beaches were tightly-controlled military areas.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08Civilians weren't allowed anywhere near them
0:23:08 > 0:23:11and they'd been littered with defences,
0:23:11 > 0:23:12the concrete pillboxes
0:23:12 > 0:23:15and gun emplacements slightly higher up the beach
0:23:15 > 0:23:17but there were also minefields,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20barbed wire, slit trenches and tank obstacles.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23The Germans had had years to prepare these beaches
0:23:23 > 0:23:26and the result was an absolute killing field.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34The need to get across the beach to the bunker line quickly
0:23:34 > 0:23:36was paramount at each landing site.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38When that ramp went down
0:23:38 > 0:23:41and we went through the water onto the beach,
0:23:41 > 0:23:42we just ran and ran.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44GUNFIRE
0:23:44 > 0:23:48If you stop on the beach, you're dead. They'll kill you.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54There was a lot of firing going on from the dunes
0:23:54 > 0:23:56and we couldn't see them.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00It was going on quite fiercely.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05Two of my mates got hit
0:24:05 > 0:24:07and going across,
0:24:07 > 0:24:09quite honestly,
0:24:09 > 0:24:11I was saying my prayers.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15We'd never seen action before.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18We'd never seen an angry shot.
0:24:18 > 0:24:19I was shouting I wanted my mum...
0:24:21 > 0:24:23..and I wasn't the only one.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27Everyone was doing something similar.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30It was just pure... Nobody knew what was happening
0:24:30 > 0:24:33because there were bits of bodies lying all over the place
0:24:33 > 0:24:35and people screaming.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38And we lost quite a few.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55It's amazing, the sand just reclaimed these bunkers.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58This has been covered for nearly 50 years.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02I'm very excited to see what we're going to find down here.
0:25:02 > 0:25:03METER BEEPS
0:25:03 > 0:25:06This tells us what the percentage of oxygen is down there,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09just in case it is foul.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12It'll just give us a readout and say if it's safe or not.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19Bill's down there, checking there's enough oxygen for us to breathe.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21It's been covered over for 60 years
0:25:21 > 0:25:25so there could have been some kind of contamination or gas release
0:25:25 > 0:25:27but so far, so good.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33These really were the most formidable obstacles
0:25:33 > 0:25:35for the Canadian infantry
0:25:35 > 0:25:37but luckily, they weren't alone.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41As this giant impact crater on the side of this bunker shows,
0:25:41 > 0:25:44the infantry had some pretty heavy-duty support,
0:25:44 > 0:25:47known to history as Hobart's Funnies.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52They were the brainchild of a particularly innovative general.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55One of the most significant and important figures
0:25:55 > 0:25:57in the Allied success on D-Day
0:25:57 > 0:25:59was Major-General Sir Percy Hobart
0:25:59 > 0:26:02who came from an Irish family.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06His mother came from Newmills, outside Dungannon in County Tyrone.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08His father came from Dublin.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12The Funnies weren't a particular kind of tank -
0:26:12 > 0:26:15rather, an array of specially-adapted vehicles
0:26:15 > 0:26:17designed to breach heavy defences.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21They included flamethrowers,
0:26:21 > 0:26:24amphibious assault tanks and mine clearers.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27Hobart had thought about every possible scenario
0:26:27 > 0:26:30that men taking a beach might encounter.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35It was this combination of training, machinery and manpower
0:26:35 > 0:26:40that allowed the Allied soldiers to fight their way off the beaches.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44I think that Hobart's 79th armoured division,
0:26:44 > 0:26:49if it had operated on no other day than the 6th of June, 1944,
0:26:49 > 0:26:54would have repaid all of the investment and energy and coin
0:26:54 > 0:26:57that the British War Office had put into it.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02The German bunkers were eventually penetrated
0:27:02 > 0:27:04'and now, 70 years later,
0:27:04 > 0:27:06'we're about to do it once more.'
0:27:08 > 0:27:11It's not easy digging out on your tummy, is it, Bill?
0:27:11 > 0:27:14No, not at all, mate. Not when you're my size, anyway.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17'The labyrinth of passageways seems endless
0:27:17 > 0:27:19'and the build-up of sand over half a century
0:27:19 > 0:27:24'has made them susceptible to collapse, so we have to be careful.'
0:27:24 > 0:27:28OK. The wall's gone completely here.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30So that blockage is in fact just a collapse, is it?
0:27:30 > 0:27:32Yeah, it's a collapse in the wall
0:27:32 > 0:27:34and it is very, very loose.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38Erm, there's something...
0:27:38 > 0:27:40something beyond it.
0:27:42 > 0:27:44This just keeps going.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47I think that might be an underground passage
0:27:47 > 0:27:50all the way from this bunker system
0:27:50 > 0:27:53to the observation bunker, right on the beach.
0:27:53 > 0:27:55Yeah, it's going in the right direction.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00It would have been a lonely place, in many ways,
0:28:00 > 0:28:04to wait for the Allied invasion they knew was coming.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06You very rarely hear about the experience
0:28:06 > 0:28:10of the German soldiers that manned these fortifications.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13Having built them, they would have waited for months and months
0:28:13 > 0:28:15for the inevitable Allied assault,
0:28:15 > 0:28:20praying it would fall somewhere else on the French coast, I'm sure.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25The Germans faced a terrible choice between holding out desperately,
0:28:25 > 0:28:26fighting to the last man
0:28:26 > 0:28:30and almost certainly being killed by a flamethrower or explosive shell
0:28:30 > 0:28:33or surrendering early and maybe saving their skins.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47We felt that we were part of something huge.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49We did what we were supposed to do.
0:28:51 > 0:28:55It was an experience not to be forgotten easily, you know?
0:28:56 > 0:28:57Aye.
0:29:03 > 0:29:07That's a day I'll never forget and I lost a lot of friends that day.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11And I landed with a bunch of very good men.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16And I'm very proud to have served with them.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20And I'll never forget them.
0:29:40 > 0:29:42In the days following D-Day,
0:29:42 > 0:29:45the Allied forces pushed towards Paris.
0:29:45 > 0:29:47There was ferocious fighting.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50I'm heading to a village now called Cintheaux.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52It's about 20 miles south of the beach
0:29:52 > 0:29:54and here there was a particularly bloody firefight
0:29:54 > 0:29:56but it's symbolic of all the battles
0:29:56 > 0:29:59that were happening right across this landscape
0:29:59 > 0:30:01as the Allies desperately pushed into France
0:30:01 > 0:30:03and the Germans tried to hold them back.
0:30:10 > 0:30:15From the second day onwards, it was... I just couldn't...
0:30:15 > 0:30:18It was just hell upon earth.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21ARTILLERY BOOMS AND ROARS
0:30:22 > 0:30:26The men of the Royal Ulster Rifles were now moving inland,
0:30:26 > 0:30:30going village by village, town by town, freeing each one as they went.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35As we were advancing, my mate, he shouted to me,
0:30:35 > 0:30:37"Bill, I'll see you afterwards,"
0:30:37 > 0:30:42and I looked down and looked back again and he wasn't there.
0:30:42 > 0:30:46He'd had a direct hit with a German 88 millimetre.
0:30:47 > 0:30:49He was blown to pieces.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55The casualties at the end of two days in Normandy
0:30:55 > 0:30:59were almost 200 men killed, wounded or missing.
0:30:59 > 0:31:04If you consider that the battalion's strength was about 760,
0:31:04 > 0:31:06those are very, very heavy casualties indeed.
0:31:15 > 0:31:20The fighting was so intense that the detritus, the waste of war,
0:31:20 > 0:31:23littered the fields and streets.
0:31:23 > 0:31:24Some people started picking it up.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27Up here, there's a collection, said to be unique in France,
0:31:27 > 0:31:30three generations of the same family
0:31:30 > 0:31:33have gathered together evidence from the fighting in this area.
0:31:38 > 0:31:40Where do you even start?
0:31:40 > 0:31:45Everything in this room is from the fighting around this town in 1944.
0:31:45 > 0:31:47It's just incredible.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51Look at this, a Sten gun, classic shape.
0:31:51 > 0:31:56This is the old infantry anti-tank weapon, the PIAT.
0:31:56 > 0:31:59This must have been used by the Canadians fighting around here.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03It's a PIAT anti-tank weapon. The infantry could carry it.
0:32:03 > 0:32:07Designed by a British officer from Northern Ireland called Blacker.
0:32:07 > 0:32:08Very important bit of kit.
0:32:08 > 0:32:10Gave the British infantry a bit more teeth
0:32:10 > 0:32:13when it came to taking on German armour.
0:32:13 > 0:32:15And the human impact of these kind of weapons can be seen
0:32:15 > 0:32:18by this shocking German helmet here,
0:32:18 > 0:32:20the front of which has been completely vaporised, almost,
0:32:20 > 0:32:23and you can imagine the injuries
0:32:23 > 0:32:25the person wearing this would've sustained.
0:32:27 > 0:32:29I have never seen anything like this.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32This is the tail fin of an FW-190.
0:32:32 > 0:32:37It was a German fighter that was shot down here, in 1944.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40It was actually flown by an ace, a highly decorated German pilot.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43Just extraordinary, not just because of the swastika motif,
0:32:43 > 0:32:48but because it was graffiti'd by the locals after it crashed.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52"Mort au Boche", which, in French means "death to the Germans".
0:33:01 > 0:33:04The Allies were now taking more and more territory,
0:33:04 > 0:33:07but not without cost. Even to those who survived.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14I was a boy when I went out to France,
0:33:14 > 0:33:16but within a couple of days, a man.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18I've seen things that I'd never seen in my life before,
0:33:18 > 0:33:20and I hope never to see again.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23But unfortunately, I did see it again.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32Back in Northern Ireland, there was a poignant reminder
0:33:32 > 0:33:36of just why it was that we were fighting.
0:33:37 > 0:33:39Just along the road down here there is a farm that,
0:33:39 > 0:33:41from the outside, looks just like any other.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44But actually, it's a very unusual farm with a particular history.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48It's overlooking the sea, and, during the Second World War,
0:33:48 > 0:33:51it became home to dozens of Jewish children,
0:33:51 > 0:33:54brought from around all around eastern and central Europe,
0:33:54 > 0:33:58who came here seeking a haven from persecution.
0:34:02 > 0:34:07The farm, called Millisle, took in children from Germany, Austria
0:34:07 > 0:34:12and Czechoslovakia, escaping what the Nazis called the Final Solution.
0:34:12 > 0:34:15Among them was 15-year-old Walter Kammerling
0:34:15 > 0:34:17who arrived from Vienna in 1939.
0:34:20 > 0:34:22I remember we came to the farm.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25We didn't have any buildings yet.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29It was wooden buildings rather, on top of, not a hill, really,
0:34:29 > 0:34:31it was a meadow going down.
0:34:31 > 0:34:33I remember, when we went there,
0:34:33 > 0:34:37everybody got a bottle of milk...
0:34:37 > 0:34:39when we got on the farm.
0:34:39 > 0:34:41That, I remember, as it was rather refreshing.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47Though we lived together, we worked together, we joked together,
0:34:47 > 0:34:51we realised that, though we live together,
0:34:51 > 0:34:54we didn't know anything about each other.
0:34:54 > 0:34:59It was almost like wounded animals, licking their wounds.
0:35:04 > 0:35:05It all happened virtually overnight.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08It seemed like an improbable picture -
0:35:08 > 0:35:10a huge gang of Jewish children
0:35:10 > 0:35:14dropped down in the middle of rural Northern Ireland.
0:35:14 > 0:35:16The question is, why here?
0:35:22 > 0:35:26In nearby Belfast, I met Professor Leon Litwack,
0:35:26 > 0:35:30who told me about a programme called Kindertransport.
0:35:30 > 0:35:32The story began in early 1939,
0:35:32 > 0:35:36when there was a meeting in a pub, much like this one.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39There was a meeting between a farmer from County Down
0:35:39 > 0:35:41and a member of the Jewish community.
0:35:41 > 0:35:43And there they developed a plan
0:35:43 > 0:35:47that saved 30 or 40 children from the clutches of Hitler.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51There was a scheme that was developed in Britain
0:35:51 > 0:35:55to take children under 17 years old away from their parents
0:35:55 > 0:35:59and bring them to the UK in order to offer them a new life.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02And it must have been very, very difficult for them,
0:36:02 > 0:36:04because their parents were left behind.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08Sometimes, one child might have gone, another might not have gone.
0:36:10 > 0:36:13I loved the harvesting work.
0:36:15 > 0:36:17I loved all the other stuff - the work with the animals.
0:36:20 > 0:36:25In the evening when we finished off, sometimes they had musical evenings.
0:36:27 > 0:36:32The carpenter selected records, and records were played.
0:36:32 > 0:36:34It was marvellous.
0:36:35 > 0:36:39In total, 10,000 children were saved by the Kindertransport programme
0:36:39 > 0:36:43and sent to refuges all over the United Kingdom.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48Walter's family were less fortunate.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52Both his sister and his parents died in Auschwitz.
0:36:52 > 0:36:54It is quite amazing,
0:36:54 > 0:36:58if I compare myself with youngsters at 15 now.
0:36:58 > 0:37:04When I said goodbye to my father, he was in tears. That really choked me.
0:37:04 > 0:37:08He obviously realised he may not see me again.
0:37:10 > 0:37:11HE EXHALES
0:37:23 > 0:37:2470 years later,
0:37:24 > 0:37:27there's still some evidence of this building's wartime uses.
0:37:27 > 0:37:29It looks like a little German graffiti here.
0:37:29 > 0:37:33You can imagine the kids playing around, drawing on the walls.
0:37:36 > 0:37:40The building's looking pretty dilapidated now, pretty unfriendly,
0:37:40 > 0:37:43but, actually, that's the state that the Jews found it in,
0:37:43 > 0:37:49and they turned it from this hostile shell into a happy, safe refuge.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58The farm was a lifesaver, because where else would I be?
0:37:59 > 0:38:00The mere fact that I was there,
0:38:00 > 0:38:05that I had the facility to be there, where would I have been otherwise?
0:38:05 > 0:38:09'Over 300 refugees took century at Millisle,
0:38:09 > 0:38:12'brought by Kindertransport or other evacuation programmes,
0:38:12 > 0:38:16'but even on this remote farm, the war was never far away.'
0:38:16 > 0:38:18We are in the stable block now.
0:38:18 > 0:38:20This looks like a sheep lambing pen.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23And this whitewash doesn't look like it's been touched up
0:38:23 > 0:38:25since the Second World War.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29Up there is clearly a blackout blind.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31It was slid along those rails,
0:38:31 > 0:38:34now covered by cobwebs that must be 70 years old.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39They were designed to shut out the light from the night skies.
0:38:39 > 0:38:40The lights were burning in here.
0:38:40 > 0:38:42These were living quarters in the war.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46But that light couldn't escape out because it would give the Luftwaffe
0:38:46 > 0:38:48a vital clue that they had hit the Irish coast
0:38:48 > 0:38:53and they could home in on big bombing targets like Belfast.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56I remember there was only once we were woken up at night
0:38:56 > 0:38:59because Belfast, I think, was bombed,
0:38:59 > 0:39:05and I remember people came out into the corridor and waited at night
0:39:05 > 0:39:08and we saw, in the distance, fires, etc.
0:39:08 > 0:39:09EXPLOSIONS
0:39:09 > 0:39:13Belfast was just 20 miles to the west,
0:39:13 > 0:39:16and remained a high-profile target throughout the war.
0:39:17 > 0:39:21But it was not the only target in Northern Ireland.
0:39:21 > 0:39:23To the west, the city of Derry,
0:39:23 > 0:39:25where up to 140 warships could be moored,
0:39:25 > 0:39:28was also a prime target for German bombers.
0:39:29 > 0:39:33And when German aircraft did bomb Derry, just after Easter in 1941,
0:39:33 > 0:39:36the wartime authorities were forced to act.
0:39:39 > 0:39:41So it would have had some sort of...
0:39:41 > 0:39:45'So they decided to construct, secretly, a series of decoys,
0:39:45 > 0:39:49'known as Starfish sites, built to deceive the German bombers.'
0:39:49 > 0:39:52Obvious why it was sited up here, isn't it?
0:39:52 > 0:39:57'By setting ablaze this hillside a mile to the south of Derry,
0:39:57 > 0:40:00'the soldiers inside this command and control bunker
0:40:00 > 0:40:04'hoped to fool the German pilots
0:40:04 > 0:40:07'that this was the city itself.'
0:40:10 > 0:40:12So what are these platforms here?
0:40:12 > 0:40:14These would have been beds for the generators
0:40:14 > 0:40:17that provided the power for the equipment on the site.
0:40:19 > 0:40:24Richard, why build this building on this windswept hill?
0:40:24 > 0:40:27The whole point was that this was a starfish, a decoy,
0:40:27 > 0:40:28and the reason for it
0:40:28 > 0:40:30is that the city below us
0:40:30 > 0:40:33was a major target for the Luftwaffe,
0:40:33 > 0:40:36because it contained the Royal Navy's most important escort base
0:40:36 > 0:40:38in the Battle of the Atlantic.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41And the idea was that, if the bombers came back again,
0:40:41 > 0:40:45fires were lit, and other lights were it further up from the Starfish site
0:40:45 > 0:40:48and the bombers drop their bombs short of the city.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50And that's because the city is blacked out.
0:40:50 > 0:40:52So the bomber crews are looking for
0:40:52 > 0:40:55anything on the ground to give them a target?
0:40:55 > 0:40:56There should be no lights in the city.
0:40:56 > 0:40:58It would've been blacked out completely.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03Of course, once the fires light, the bombers home in on the lights.
0:41:03 > 0:41:05So the idea is they drop their bombs
0:41:05 > 0:41:08here in the country, where it doesn't matter.
0:41:08 > 0:41:10They drop the bombs in the country,
0:41:10 > 0:41:13where the only threat is to the personnel of the Starfish site,
0:41:13 > 0:41:15and to the cattle and sheep and so forth
0:41:15 > 0:41:17that are around in the countryside.
0:41:17 > 0:41:19What about these guys in here? They've got a dangerous job,
0:41:19 > 0:41:22sticking their head above the parapet, saying, "We're over here."
0:41:22 > 0:41:26They have got a pretty difficult job. They are right in the front line.
0:41:26 > 0:41:27This is a huge exercise, isn't it?
0:41:27 > 0:41:29It just shows the importance
0:41:29 > 0:41:32with which the British government viewed Derry.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35Look at it in terms of the size of the city
0:41:35 > 0:41:39in proportion to any other city in the United Kingdom
0:41:39 > 0:41:40outside London.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43This is the most heavily defended city,
0:41:43 > 0:41:47which simply underlines its importance to the Royal Navy
0:41:47 > 0:41:49and the Allies generally in the Battle of the Atlantic.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56Donal Neill from Limavady is a pyrotechnician
0:41:56 > 0:41:58who works on firework displays.
0:42:02 > 0:42:03And he's going to show me
0:42:03 > 0:42:07how it's possible to light a fire in a brazier very quickly,
0:42:07 > 0:42:11in the same way that the troops did at the Starfish site in the war.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16So the guys here would have had maybe maximum of an hour's notice
0:42:16 > 0:42:18that the Germans were arriving.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22- How do you make a huge fire very quickly?- You make lots of little, small fires.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25You put them all at a central point and start cutting them off
0:42:25 > 0:42:27from one position.
0:42:27 > 0:42:30So, you're in a central position, you wire it all up
0:42:30 > 0:42:32and ignite them all separately.
0:42:32 > 0:42:34- You load the fire.- Yep.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39'Fuel was sourced locally, to fill the braziers.'
0:42:39 > 0:42:42There is no coal in Ireland. What do you use? You use peat.
0:42:42 > 0:42:47'One memo talks of 600 tonnes of peat being ordered for the Derry site.'
0:42:47 > 0:42:51At the bottom of this fire, we have what is called a portfire.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55This is a device we use for lighting fireworks.
0:42:55 > 0:42:56And how do you light those?
0:42:56 > 0:43:02This would be sparked with a small ignition charge.
0:43:02 > 0:43:04This will burn for two minutes.
0:43:04 > 0:43:08So you can wire up the whole hillside from one central location?
0:43:08 > 0:43:09From one central location.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13This is the same sort of technology we'd use for a firework display.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17Something like that, where you have more than one fire,
0:43:17 > 0:43:21you just run it with a simple wire. Just two-core wire.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27A touch of liquid fuel is added to help the combustion.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32One side goes to one terminal of the battery.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36And then the other side goes to the other terminal of the battery.
0:43:36 > 0:43:40You have now completed the circuit. Once you touch the wire to it,
0:43:40 > 0:43:41you can run down, as quick as you want,
0:43:41 > 0:43:43and have fires going all over the hill.
0:43:45 > 0:43:46Let's go for it.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49Nice. That sounds hopeful. Ooh, look at that.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57'And true to his word, Donal's fire is ablaze in seconds.'
0:44:00 > 0:44:02Look at it. That's really going now, and that's seconds.
0:44:04 > 0:44:06Just brilliant, isn't it?
0:44:06 > 0:44:09And from 15-20,000 feet, that would look like,
0:44:09 > 0:44:11a settlement, or it might look like fires started by bombings,
0:44:11 > 0:44:14so the rear bombers would think, that's the place to drop them.
0:44:14 > 0:44:16I'm just amazed at the speed
0:44:16 > 0:44:19with which you can set an entire hillside on fire, effectively.
0:44:27 > 0:44:32Derry was never bombed again and the Starfish site would remain untested.
0:44:37 > 0:44:41To tell the final chapter of this country's role
0:44:41 > 0:44:42in what was a global conflict,
0:44:42 > 0:44:46we are heading back underwater, to the hunting grounds
0:44:46 > 0:44:50of one of the most feared German war machines the U-Boat.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53The hidden menace that tried to starve us into submission.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59Just off the north coast lies a submarine graveyard,
0:44:59 > 0:45:03where over 100 of the vessels that formed Germany's backbone
0:45:03 > 0:45:07during the Battle of the Atlantic now lie broken and in ruin.
0:45:10 > 0:45:11The Battle of the Atlantic
0:45:11 > 0:45:14was the longest continuous battle of World War II.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17It stretched from the earliest days of September 1939
0:45:17 > 0:45:20right up until early May 1945,
0:45:20 > 0:45:23just before the final German surrender.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27Throughout this battle, Allied convoys feared U-Boats
0:45:27 > 0:45:29like no other weapons system.
0:45:29 > 0:45:33Hunting alone or in wolf packs, they would prey on Allied shipping
0:45:33 > 0:45:36and sent numerous vessels to the bottom.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39GUNS BOOM AND ROAR
0:45:45 > 0:45:49But by the spring of 1945, the Nazis were on their knees,
0:45:49 > 0:45:51and as the noose tightened around Berlin,
0:45:51 > 0:45:55the German High Command had no choice but to put an end
0:45:55 > 0:45:57to its naval campaign.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02For the U-Boats, it ended here in Northern Ireland.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09On May 5th, 1945, just five days after Hitler had died in his bunker
0:46:09 > 0:46:14in Berlin, Admiral Karl Donitz, who was now the supreme commander
0:46:14 > 0:46:17of the German Armed Forces, issued the following order.
0:46:19 > 0:46:23"All U-Boats, cease fire immediately.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27"Stop all offensive actions against Allied shipping."
0:46:27 > 0:46:30This was total defeat.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36The German fleet was made to surrender formally in Londonderry,
0:46:36 > 0:46:39the city that had played such a huge part in the battle against them.
0:46:41 > 0:46:44Able seaman Tex Beasley was among those tasked with ensuring
0:46:44 > 0:46:47that all enemy crews yielded without incident.
0:46:49 > 0:46:51We went out in early May
0:46:51 > 0:46:56to meet up with these U-Boats that were surrendering.
0:46:56 > 0:46:58Behind were many other U-Boats.
0:46:58 > 0:47:00I don't know how many. Quite a few.
0:47:00 > 0:47:06So the skipper said, "Right begin actions now, over."
0:47:06 > 0:47:10So we jumped from our boat onto the U-Boat.
0:47:10 > 0:47:14I said to the, I presume he was the commander,
0:47:14 > 0:47:17I said, "Guten Morgen, sprechen Sie Englisch?"
0:47:17 > 0:47:20And he said, "Yes, rather well, I think!"
0:47:23 > 0:47:26And the other diver came up, had an American accent, but...
0:47:26 > 0:47:31HE MIMICS THE ACCENT ..a German-American accent, you know what I mean?
0:47:31 > 0:47:33That sort of thing.
0:47:33 > 0:47:38And he said, "What would you do," he said, "if I...?"
0:47:38 > 0:47:42"I just did. I told the crash divers to shoot you right between the eyes."
0:47:58 > 0:48:02This remarkable structure is all that's left of the naval escort base
0:48:02 > 0:48:06built at Lisahally during the war, just a few miles north of Derry.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09It's here that the U-Boats were moored alongside
0:48:09 > 0:48:12and here that, on 14th May 1945,
0:48:12 > 0:48:16the German Navy ceremonially signed its final surrender.
0:48:18 > 0:48:22Over the next few months, more than 50 U-Boats came up the River Foyle
0:48:22 > 0:48:26where they were stripped of anything valuable still on board.
0:48:26 > 0:48:29Locals came from miles around to have a look
0:48:29 > 0:48:31at the world's most famous submarines.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35Once the U-Boats were alongside here, the crews were marched off,
0:48:35 > 0:48:37taken along the pier
0:48:37 > 0:48:40and put on waiting trains, then transferred to PoW camps.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44For the commanders, it must've been a terrible humiliation.
0:48:44 > 0:48:48For the locals watching these men as they shuffled off into captivity,
0:48:48 > 0:48:51it must've been hard to believe that this was the force that,
0:48:51 > 0:48:52just a few years earlier,
0:48:52 > 0:48:55almost brought the Allied navies to their knees.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01For the U-Boats that remained tied up in Derry,
0:49:01 > 0:49:03their fate was swift and deliberate.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08As part of Operation Deadlight, 116 surrendered U-Boats
0:49:08 > 0:49:11were towed into the north Atlantic, off Malin Head.
0:49:11 > 0:49:12Some of them didn't even make it.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15They were barely seaworthy after such a long war.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18But those that did were used as target practice
0:49:18 > 0:49:20by Allied ships and aircraft.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25The task of dragging them out to sea took three months.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30One by one, 116 of these once-proud members of the wolf packs
0:49:30 > 0:49:33were systematically destroyed.
0:49:43 > 0:49:4870 years later, we're looking for one in particular. U2511.
0:49:48 > 0:49:54This was a Type XXI craft, the most lethal U-Boat yet designed.
0:49:54 > 0:49:56It was quicker, could fire faster
0:49:56 > 0:49:59and dive for longer than any of its predecessors.
0:50:02 > 0:50:06Dive supervisor Geoff Millar is leading a group of divers
0:50:06 > 0:50:12with a combined 100 years' experience working in these deep waters.
0:50:12 > 0:50:14These U-boats were deliberately sunk to be forgotten
0:50:14 > 0:50:20and only now are advances in diving technology re-opening this extraordinary sight.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23We're diving in the low-water slack,
0:50:23 > 0:50:26so the depth of the water is 67 metres.
0:50:26 > 0:50:30From the top of the submarine there's approximately 62 metres.
0:50:30 > 0:50:35The hardest thing about it is trying to hook on the submarine.
0:50:35 > 0:50:37You're just a straight pipe more or less.
0:50:37 > 0:50:39There's not an awful lot to catch on.
0:50:49 > 0:50:53With the shot line successfully attached, the team descends quickly,
0:50:53 > 0:50:56knowing that at this depth they only have 25 minutes
0:50:56 > 0:51:01on the bottom to gather photographic evidence confirming this as U2511.
0:51:07 > 0:51:12The technology of this rare type of U-boat was highly prized.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15Those that were still operational were divided up
0:51:15 > 0:51:19between Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the US.
0:51:19 > 0:51:24Several of them even saw service for those countries after the war.
0:51:30 > 0:51:36After 19 minutes of decompression time, the divers surface safely.
0:51:36 > 0:51:40Geoff and I review the material they captured back at the dock.
0:51:40 > 0:51:42What's on this screen here?
0:51:42 > 0:51:45This is U-boat 2511.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48- Is this the conning tower? - Yes, that's the conning tower.
0:51:48 > 0:51:53- So that the periscope, is it?- Yes, that's the periscope.- It's amazing.
0:51:55 > 0:51:59To the inexpert eye this looks like a big pile of rusted metal.
0:51:59 > 0:52:01How can you tell what it is?
0:52:01 > 0:52:05Obviously you can see here the huge propeller and there's the rudder.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09- Oh, yeah!- The submarine's actually lying on its port side.
0:52:09 > 0:52:13- I see. The propeller's great. - It's hopefully intact.
0:52:13 > 0:52:17These are storage pods and this one's completely opened.
0:52:17 > 0:52:20- If you look closely here, you see this black and yellow?- Yeah.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24This black rubber, that's the remains of one of their life rafts.
0:52:24 > 0:52:25No!
0:52:25 > 0:52:28- An inflatable boat.- That's amazing.
0:52:30 > 0:52:35Their visibility is incredible. How do you know what kind of U-boat this is?
0:52:35 > 0:52:39The telltale sign is the streamlining and the shape of it.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42The Type XXIs had a huge conning tower compared to the ordinary subs.
0:52:42 > 0:52:47Either side of the conning tower was just completely straight.
0:52:47 > 0:52:52- Also the Type XXI had six torpedo tubes on the bow.- Ah.
0:52:52 > 0:52:58I never thought anything like this existed in UK or Irish waters.
0:53:00 > 0:53:04What's especially remarkable about U2511
0:53:04 > 0:53:09is that it's one of only two Type XXIs that actually saw active service.
0:53:09 > 0:53:14Launched too late to have any impact, it never even fired a shot.
0:53:17 > 0:53:20The sinking of the U-boats as part of Operation Deadlight
0:53:20 > 0:53:24marked the end of the Battle of the Atlantic.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28It was a campaign which thrust Northern Ireland to the heart of the action,
0:53:28 > 0:53:33defending the convoys at sea and from the air.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40CHATTERING
0:53:40 > 0:53:42At the start of this series,
0:53:42 > 0:53:46we recovered the wreckage of a wartime Spitfire which had crashed in a bog
0:53:46 > 0:53:51while providing cover for a convoy off the coast of Northern Ireland.
0:53:52 > 0:53:53Let's have a look.
0:53:53 > 0:53:59The Spitfire's RAF pilot was an American called Bud Wolfe
0:53:59 > 0:54:02who bailed out of the aircraft before it crashed.
0:54:03 > 0:54:06This is something I never believed that we would find.
0:54:06 > 0:54:11Bud Wolfe's original flying helmet, worn by him on that sortie,
0:54:11 > 0:54:13still attached to the original oxygen mask,
0:54:13 > 0:54:15it's survived underground for 70 years.
0:54:25 > 0:54:2870 years later, Bud Wolfe's daughters have come to Derry
0:54:28 > 0:54:32to see for themselves the remains of the aircraft their father flew.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35Then you had your oxygen...
0:54:35 > 0:54:39They unveil a plaque at the City of Derry Airport in memory of their father
0:54:39 > 0:54:43and the other pilots who flew from here when it was a wartime airfield.
0:54:45 > 0:54:47We just want you to know that we're so honoured
0:54:47 > 0:54:50by the folks of County Derry.
0:54:50 > 0:54:55All the work that's gone into excavating the aeroplane
0:54:55 > 0:54:58and all the research that's gone into finding out things
0:54:58 > 0:55:03and teaching us things about our dad that we didn't know, we appreciate so much.
0:55:08 > 0:55:12The trip has also given Bud Wolfe's family the chance to visit
0:55:12 > 0:55:16the crash site where five months earlier the Spitfire was unearthed.
0:55:18 > 0:55:23We're exactly 70 years almost to the very minute
0:55:23 > 0:55:28when Bud was... bailed out of his crashing Spitfire.
0:55:28 > 0:55:33So we know this is a very emotional time for you, Barb, and for Betty.
0:55:33 > 0:55:38And it's this peat bog here that's given up its secrets
0:55:38 > 0:55:40after 70 years.
0:55:40 > 0:55:41Now perhaps it has given you
0:55:41 > 0:55:44an insight into the secrets of some of the things
0:55:44 > 0:55:48and the exploits and bravery and the heroism of your father.
0:55:48 > 0:55:52Heavenly Father, we thank you that through the enthusiasm...
0:55:52 > 0:55:55Bud Wolfe, the young American pilot,
0:55:55 > 0:55:58bailed out of his stricken aircraft here
0:55:58 > 0:56:02while defending Derry and the convoys steaming off the coast nearby.
0:56:02 > 0:56:05So it's appropriate the remains of his Spitfire
0:56:05 > 0:56:09should go on display in the city he defended so bravely.
0:56:09 > 0:56:12It's absolutely amazing.
0:56:18 > 0:56:23Another thing which Barb has mentioned is this dilemma about how to represent our dad
0:56:23 > 0:56:28on our return because Dad would not be sitting up here.
0:56:28 > 0:56:33TEARFULLY: Where Dad would be today would be out there with that engine.
0:56:33 > 0:56:35Um...
0:56:35 > 0:56:40He would want to hear about the process of retrieving it.
0:56:40 > 0:56:43He would want to lay hands on it, he would want to hijack that
0:56:43 > 0:56:46and keep it in his living room.
0:56:53 > 0:56:58Bud Wolfe died in 1994, but through the remains of his Spitfire
0:56:58 > 0:57:01the memory of his bravery and that of the others
0:57:01 > 0:57:04who flew here in the Second World War will not be forgotten.
0:57:13 > 0:57:16What I've experienced in this series
0:57:16 > 0:57:21shows that Northern Ireland's influence stretched right across the war.
0:57:21 > 0:57:26The land was home to hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers,
0:57:26 > 0:57:28sailors and airmen.
0:57:29 > 0:57:32And their story remains carved into the landscape.
0:57:34 > 0:57:38I've seen 70-year-old fighter planes reclaimed from the hillsides,
0:57:38 > 0:57:42visited coastal defences buried by the sands of time,
0:57:42 > 0:57:47fired 70-year-old guns once buried in peat.
0:57:50 > 0:57:54And ridden in tanks that took our fighting men into the heart of battle.
0:57:55 > 0:58:00But it's perhaps this extraordinary U-boat graveyard
0:58:00 > 0:58:03hidden for the last 70 years which will ensure that
0:58:03 > 0:58:06Northern Ireland's role in the Second World War
0:58:06 > 0:58:08will never be forgotten.
0:58:32 > 0:58:34Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd