0:00:06 > 0:00:10We're in the Netherlands.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12A fortified shore.
0:00:12 > 0:00:16This is the frontline of a conflict with the sea.
0:00:16 > 0:00:22For centuries the Dutch have battled to build a coastline like no other.
0:00:22 > 0:00:24A wind-powered landscape,
0:00:24 > 0:00:29lined with a carpet of colourful blooms
0:00:29 > 0:00:34and extraordinary constructions that Mark is exploring.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38This is what the Dutch came up with.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42A 19-mile-long sea wall.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47And I'm on a peaceful isle, said to be the site
0:00:47 > 0:00:50of the last battle of the Second World War in Europe,
0:00:50 > 0:00:54to explore a tale of terror and traitors!
0:00:54 > 0:00:58They are Indian, people from India, but wearing German uniforms.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02They were caught in North Africa and they ran over to the Germans.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08This is Coast...and beyond.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41The Netherlands may be brand-new territory for Coast,
0:01:41 > 0:01:45but it seems rather familiar to me.
0:01:46 > 0:01:51There's something strangely unreal about these flat landscapes,
0:01:51 > 0:01:53borrowed from the sea
0:01:53 > 0:01:55and compressed by this enormous sky.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00It reminds me of where I grew up in Norfolk.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04We share the North Sea with the Netherlands.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07So we're being nosey neighbours -
0:02:07 > 0:02:10going Dutch to see what we might copy
0:02:10 > 0:02:12to make the most of our own coast.
0:02:13 > 0:02:18They don't just live beside the sea here, they live under it.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23A third of Dutch homes are below sea level.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26Huge banks hold the water back.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30They rearrange their coast to suit themselves.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33Channel the sea, harness the winds,
0:02:33 > 0:02:36build mega-ports.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40The Dutch are old masters at making new land from the waves.
0:02:40 > 0:02:46We've such sights to see, on a shore full or surprises!
0:02:49 > 0:02:52Our journey will take us to the border with Germany
0:02:52 > 0:02:54and the island of Rottumerplaat,
0:02:54 > 0:02:58the coast cutting into the heart of the Netherlands.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02But we start at the small coastal town of Ouwerkerk.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10This is the province of Zeeland, "Sea-land".
0:03:11 > 0:03:16We share this sea with the Dutch, for better or worse.
0:03:19 > 0:03:25In 1953, the east coast of Britain was battered by a terrifying storm.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27307 Britons died,
0:03:27 > 0:03:33and over 30,000 were forced to flee as the North Sea rushed in.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39Here, on the Dutch lowlands, the devastation was even worse.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43The '53 flood was a national catastrophe.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51NEWSREEL: Never in living memory have the Dutch suffered such a disaster.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54The seas, lashed by a mighty wind, broke through the dykes
0:03:54 > 0:03:57and poured in to swamp the countryside.
0:03:57 > 0:04:02The flood left 1,800 dead and many more homeless.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10The tragedy renewed an age-old conflict with the sea
0:04:10 > 0:04:13that the Dutch are still fighting, 60 years on.
0:04:18 > 0:04:23School trips teach the next generation to take up the struggle.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25SHE SPEAKS DUTCH
0:04:28 > 0:04:31At this memorial to the flood victims,
0:04:31 > 0:04:34they hear from those who fought for their lives.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40SHE SPEAKS DUTCH
0:04:40 > 0:04:44Mina Verton was the same age as these children
0:04:44 > 0:04:46the night the waters came.
0:04:46 > 0:04:52In 1953, her family were caught up in a desperate race against time,
0:04:52 > 0:04:55as water sped towards their home.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04With little warning of the deluge, they were trapped.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32What happened to you on the night of the flood?
0:05:51 > 0:05:54NEWSREEL: Aircraft fly in supplies for the people still to be moved.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57British, American and Belgian pilots keep up a shuttle service
0:05:57 > 0:06:01in helicopters, to relieve the many isolated villages
0:06:01 > 0:06:03cut off from contact with the areas of safety.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11I've got a map here which shows the parts of the Netherlands
0:06:11 > 0:06:14hit by the 1953 disaster.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16All parts in green were under water,
0:06:16 > 0:06:20and it's shocking to see how much of the delta was affected.
0:06:20 > 0:06:27Through the green you can see entire road networks, villages.
0:06:28 > 0:06:34In just six hours, 700 square miles were completely submerged.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41Because much of the Netherlands is below sea level,
0:06:41 > 0:06:45when the protective walls failed in 1953,
0:06:45 > 0:06:48the impact was worse here than in Britain.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55So for 40 years, the Dutch beavered away,
0:06:55 > 0:06:58spending billions on high-tech schemes,
0:06:58 > 0:07:02ringing their coast in concrete and rock defences.
0:07:05 > 0:07:11At its heart, with 62 floodgates, the mighty Oosterscheldedam,
0:07:11 > 0:07:14one of the engineering wonders of the world.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19But it could be just ten years before the low-lying Netherlands
0:07:19 > 0:07:22need a new plan, as sea levels rise.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27We share the same threat.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30Will our shore one day share fortifications
0:07:30 > 0:07:32on the same massive scale?
0:07:51 > 0:07:54Although we often say "Holland",
0:07:54 > 0:07:58the Netherlands has 12 different provinces.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00Only two are actually called Holland.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04In the south is the resort of Scheveningen.
0:08:10 > 0:08:15Given Holland's watery history, something odd is happening here.
0:08:23 > 0:08:28People are on the beach, enjoying themselves.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32There's a watchful eye kept on the approaching waves.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39But the Dutch don't hide behind their sea walls.
0:08:41 > 0:08:43Miranda's come to find out
0:08:43 > 0:08:47what Netherlanders like to do beside the sea.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57Sea bathing started here around 200 years ago,
0:08:57 > 0:09:00about the time it was really taking off in Brighton,
0:09:00 > 0:09:03and this is a photograph of this resort some years later.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05In fact, it could be Brighton,
0:09:05 > 0:09:09apart from these extraordinary wicker chairs on the beach.
0:09:11 > 0:09:12Like our early resorts,
0:09:12 > 0:09:16Scheveningen started as an exclusive retreat for the rich.
0:09:16 > 0:09:21But, in the late 19th century, the tourist trade developed.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28In 1885 this grand hotel, The Kurhaus, was opened,
0:09:28 > 0:09:31nearly ten years before the Blackpool Tower was built.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37So, what are we looking at?
0:09:37 > 0:09:41The Dutch version of Blackpool?
0:09:41 > 0:09:43Or perhaps it's Brighton below the sea.
0:09:46 > 0:09:52Or maybe something else altogether. I need a local guide to the locals.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55Philip. Hi, Miranda. Nice to meet you.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59Philip Walkate is a keen observer of the Dutch at their leisure.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01We work hard, we enjoy partying.
0:10:01 > 0:10:02On a nice summer day,
0:10:02 > 0:10:07when this is packed, everybody will have their own square metre of sand.
0:10:07 > 0:10:09Very organised, very structured.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11Yes, because there's not a lot of space,
0:10:11 > 0:10:16and half the country will go to the beach on a nice day.
0:10:16 > 0:10:17So this is mine, that's yours,
0:10:17 > 0:10:21we'll be fine together as long as we don't get involved with each other.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25- Quite like a class system, would you say? - We have class system as well.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29- And we're in the right part of the beach for your class now. - Oh, good, thank you!
0:10:29 > 0:10:32The posh people go over there and this is where partying goes on.
0:10:35 > 0:10:36I'm curious.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40Do the Dutch share any of our seaside traditions,
0:10:40 > 0:10:42like building sandcastles?
0:10:42 > 0:10:45This a sandcastle extraordinaire, isn't it?
0:10:45 > 0:10:47- I made this this morning for you. - I don't think so!
0:10:47 > 0:10:52This is incredible! We'd never see something like this in England.
0:10:52 > 0:10:54It represents things you can do in the water.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57This big guy here sunbathing. Was that modelled on you?
0:10:57 > 0:11:02The Mayor of Amsterdam. This is all he does, just lying in the sun.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11No day out at the seaside's complete without a snack.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15Phillip's promised me a real Dutch delight.
0:11:15 > 0:11:16This is raw herring.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18Wow, is he just gutting it?
0:11:18 > 0:11:20Cutting and gutting it, taking off the head,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23you leave the tail, cos you use that to eat it.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25Not all at once!
0:11:31 > 0:11:34Mmm, amazing!
0:11:34 > 0:11:37It's like the best sushi ever.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40Is this a good time of year to eat it this? Is it a seasonal product?
0:11:40 > 0:11:43Yes, this is actually the new Dutch herring,
0:11:43 > 0:11:48- the fatter it is, everybody gets more excited.- It's very good.
0:11:48 > 0:11:54The fat Dutch herring is much more than a delicacy. It's a celebrity.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57Every July, the first catch is celebrated with a festival.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06Washed down with lashings of the potent local tipple.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11I'll pour you some Dutch Gin. Jenever, it's like a schnapps.
0:12:11 > 0:12:16I've got to drink this as well as this. It's only ten in the morning.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19Yeah, you can just take a sip. You can, like, knock it up
0:12:19 > 0:12:22or you can just take a sip. You want to knock it up?
0:12:22 > 0:12:24Why not?
0:12:25 > 0:12:27Wow.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31'I'm beginning to see what draws the Dutch back to the beach.'
0:12:31 > 0:12:34I could do this all day.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40In a land where the people guard their coastline closely,
0:12:40 > 0:12:45here, at least, the Dutch take time out from hostilities with the sea.
0:13:04 > 0:13:09The locals have ingenious solutions for living in their "Waterworld".
0:13:10 > 0:13:11Tunnelling under it.
0:13:13 > 0:13:14Floating on it.
0:13:15 > 0:13:17And draining it dry.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23And sometimes, just rising above it all.
0:13:23 > 0:13:30MUSIC: "Jump Around" by House Of Pain
0:13:30 > 0:13:32It took off 500 years ago.
0:13:32 > 0:13:37The Dutch wanted to get about without getting their feet wet.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40Now it's an international sport.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44It's called Fierljeppen - far leaping.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46Who leaps farthest, wins.
0:13:48 > 0:13:49I'm Jaco de Groot.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51I'm Dymphie van Rooijen.
0:13:51 > 0:13:56She's running as fast as possible. Come on - run faster, faster!
0:13:56 > 0:13:58Run and climb up, hup, go, go, go, yeah, good!
0:13:58 > 0:14:01Climb on! Wow!
0:14:03 > 0:14:05I can't climb faster!
0:14:05 > 0:14:09The water, it's two metres deep.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12Nae! Help!
0:14:13 > 0:14:15And, yes, it's very cold.
0:14:15 > 0:14:16Oh!
0:14:19 > 0:14:23The pole is standing in the water, so we run about 30 km an hour.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29And then you run to a pole standing still, and then you have to grab it.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36DYMPHIE SHOUTS ENCOURAGEMENT
0:14:36 > 0:14:39And you have to climb it in five seconds.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43- It's just like you fly.- Yeah.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01Dutch engineers have carved out a remarkable coastline.
0:15:01 > 0:15:02They've battled with the sea.
0:15:05 > 0:15:10And they've taken command of it, in a big way.
0:15:12 > 0:15:14The North Sea Canal.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19A corridor of water carrying the coast inland,
0:15:19 > 0:15:21taking us to the heart of the Netherlands,
0:15:21 > 0:15:24and the capital, Amsterdam.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26But this channelling of the waves
0:15:26 > 0:15:31pales in comparison with another Dutch creation.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36At the end of the North Sea Canal is Flevoland.
0:15:36 > 0:15:4160 years ago, all this land was underwater.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45This is where the Dutch got their own back on the sea.
0:15:45 > 0:15:50Mark is searching for clues to this land's sunken past.
0:15:53 > 0:15:58I'm on the hunt for a medieval ship that's somewhere in those meadows.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02Miles from the sea,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05they're digging up the timbers of a medieval shipwreck
0:16:05 > 0:16:08in the middle of a field!
0:16:08 > 0:16:11But it's not the boat that's out of place,
0:16:11 > 0:16:13it's us!
0:16:13 > 0:16:16Now, we're ten miles from the sea,
0:16:16 > 0:16:20but only 80 years ago, this was the sea bed.
0:16:20 > 0:16:25This landlocked shipwreck is just one of hundreds
0:16:25 > 0:16:29discovered after a huge area was reclaimed from the sea.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35The sheer scale of this land grab was staggering.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40For centuries,
0:16:40 > 0:16:44the sea regularly flooded the heart of the Netherlands.
0:16:44 > 0:16:49But in the early 20th century, the Dutch fought back.
0:16:54 > 0:17:00Stage one was to build a huge sea wall across the mouth of the inlet.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05Work started in 1927
0:17:05 > 0:17:08and was completed five years later.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16It was one of the greatest engineering projects...
0:17:16 > 0:17:19in an age of innovation.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24And this is it.
0:17:24 > 0:17:29The 19-mile-long Afsluitdijk.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37The name means "closing off dyke".
0:17:45 > 0:17:48Over there is the North Sea, that's salt water.
0:17:48 > 0:17:53And the line of the coast is defined by a motorway.
0:17:55 > 0:18:00On one side the sea and on the other a lake!
0:18:01 > 0:18:06This concrete causeway became a new stretch of the Netherlands' coastline.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13With the concrete dyke holding back the sea,
0:18:13 > 0:18:16safe behind their defences,
0:18:16 > 0:18:21they started to pump out salt water, to reclaim the land.
0:18:23 > 0:18:28Legions of men, armed for the task, were drafted in.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31Barracks were built to house them.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36And to drain the small ocean behind their new sea wall,
0:18:36 > 0:18:39they used pumping stations.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42The Dutch make it look so easy but how does it work?
0:18:42 > 0:18:44- Hi.- Hi, Mark.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48Rombout Jongejans is a reclamation expert.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52First of all you start with building an island.
0:18:52 > 0:18:53Right.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55On this island you build a pumping station.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58In the old days we did it with windmill.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01For this model I'll show you with the electricity.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04So here we have a model of a pump.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07At the same time, you start building a dyke.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10- So you build the island first and then the wall.- Yeah.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12Then we start...
0:19:12 > 0:19:16Wa-hey! There it goes!
0:19:16 > 0:19:19So you're pumping now the water from the new land to the sea.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21So the water goes up here, and down on that side.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25When we reclaim land in Britain,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28we fill the land up above sea level but you do it the other way around.
0:19:28 > 0:19:30Yeah, we do the other way round.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33And after, when the land is dry, you fly over with an aeroplane
0:19:33 > 0:19:36and put in seeds of wheat, which grows,
0:19:36 > 0:19:40and uses quite a lot of water, and gives structure to the ground.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44And presumably there's water constantly filtering back through?
0:19:44 > 0:19:46Yes, that's why you still have to be pumping.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49You can see that the dyke's a bit insecure.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51Yeah, yeah, OK, this is just a model, eh?
0:19:56 > 0:19:58In 40 years of pumping and digging,
0:19:58 > 0:20:03the Dutch recovered an area the size of greater London.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07And now they could populate it.
0:20:10 > 0:20:16The 1960s saw a mass migration within the Netherlands.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20Families were encouraged to set up home on the old seabed.
0:20:21 > 0:20:26Wherever the Dutch encountered obstacles pumping out the land,
0:20:26 > 0:20:28they worked around them.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32Shokland, once an island adrift in the sea,
0:20:32 > 0:20:35was now swallowed up by land...
0:20:37 > 0:20:40..its old shoreline traced out by trees.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46But they couldn't manage to pump all the water
0:20:46 > 0:20:50out of an area called the Oostvaardersplassen.
0:20:52 > 0:20:57So now it's one of Europe's largest wetland nature reserves.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01A wild corner on a tamed coast.
0:21:12 > 0:21:17Neat, unnaturally straight lines rule on this man-made shore.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21There's a hard edge to the heart of the Netherlands.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28I've reached the mid-point of my journey at Lelystad.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36A young city born out of the waves,
0:21:36 > 0:21:39it harbours a reminder of an older age...
0:21:43 > 0:21:48..when the Dutch began building boats to build an empire.
0:21:48 > 0:21:53This is an exact copy of a 17th-century original.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57The Batavia was launched in 1628,
0:21:57 > 0:22:00not to do battle, but to do business.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05This ship was part of the Dutch East India Company -
0:22:05 > 0:22:07an organisation so vast,
0:22:07 > 0:22:11it's been called the first multi-national corporation.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19Craft like this carried spices from Asia.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23They made the Dutch East India Company very wealthy indeed.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28Success set the Netherlands on a collision course
0:22:28 > 0:22:31with neighbours across the North Sea - the English.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33I've got a copy of a painting here.
0:22:33 > 0:22:38It shows a daring raid in 1667 by the Dutch on the English Navy.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40The English ships are on fire.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45All this happened just outside London. Pretty cheeky.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51That naval humiliation was one of many in the Anglo-Dutch wars
0:22:51 > 0:22:56that rumbled on throughout the 17th century.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01Wars that the Dutch won.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04So how did they beat the Royal Navy?
0:23:04 > 0:23:07Did the secret lie in their ships?
0:23:07 > 0:23:10They're building one here to find out.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13It's the baby of Aryan Klein.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16This is a 17th-century Admiralty ship
0:23:16 > 0:23:20and she was specifically designed to wage war at sea against the English.
0:23:20 > 0:23:25What was the difference between the Dutch maritime power and English maritime power?
0:23:25 > 0:23:27We were geared up for ship-building in a huge way,
0:23:27 > 0:23:30so we could produce ships at quite a fast rate.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33So you could mass-produce ships like this.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36Almost mass-produce - a ship like this would be ready within a year.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40How could the Dutch build a ship in just a year
0:23:40 > 0:23:42when the English couldn't?
0:23:42 > 0:23:44What was the key to this mass-production?
0:23:44 > 0:23:48MUSIC: Theme to "Camberwick Green"
0:23:48 > 0:23:51Windmills - lots of them!
0:23:52 > 0:23:55Before steam power, there was wind power.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04If you can use a mill to pump water and to grind wheat,
0:24:04 > 0:24:06why not use it to saw wood as well?
0:24:09 > 0:24:11During the Netherlands' golden age of sail,
0:24:11 > 0:24:15hundreds of windmills fed the shipbuilding industry
0:24:15 > 0:24:17with a production line of cut wood,
0:24:17 > 0:24:21enabling mass-production of ships
0:24:21 > 0:24:25almost a century before the Industrial Revolution.
0:24:38 > 0:24:43The Wadden Islands, on the north-west coast of the Netherlands.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46Peaceful and unspoilt.
0:24:48 > 0:24:53But one island here conceals the scars of a terrible battle.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01In the Second World War, the Netherlands and much of Europe
0:25:01 > 0:25:04were under Nazi occupation.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09The tiny island of Texel seemed an insignificant dot.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13But this out-of-the-way place saw an eruption of violence
0:25:13 > 0:25:16in the dying days of the conflict.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20It's been called the last battle of the Second World War in Europe.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27But it all started so differently.
0:25:27 > 0:25:32The Germans had taken the island in 1940, almost unopposed.
0:25:32 > 0:25:37Before long, they'd made themselves at home.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40Two years into the war, this curious sort of occupation got...
0:25:42 > 0:25:43..curiouser.
0:25:45 > 0:25:50Look at these photos. They were taken here on Texel
0:25:50 > 0:25:54and they show local children posing with Indian soldiers.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56But they're not prisoners of war.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00If you look carefully, you can see they're wearing German uniforms.
0:26:00 > 0:26:05These soldiers of the British Empire were part of the Nazi army.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11Why where the Indians here, thousands of miles from home,
0:26:11 > 0:26:13fighting for the enemy?
0:26:13 > 0:26:18To make sense of Texel's strange war, I'm meeting two locals.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21Cor Kievits and Riet Van Der Vis-Bremer
0:26:21 > 0:26:23were teenagers when the Nazis came.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27The German soldiers in these photographs
0:26:27 > 0:26:30seem to be treating Texel like a holiday camp.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34That's what Texel was for. They had people who had been at the front
0:26:34 > 0:26:38and they were completely knocked out.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41They brought them here for a couple of months to regain strength.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45What can you both tell me about this very curious photograph,
0:26:45 > 0:26:50with what seem to be Indian soldiers surrounded by Dutch children?
0:26:50 > 0:26:54The children were surprised by the dark colour of the people.
0:26:54 > 0:26:55They had never seen it before.
0:26:55 > 0:26:57Yes, we never see that, that people.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00They were caught in the North of Africa
0:27:00 > 0:27:03and they ran over to the Germans.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07These men were part of a remarkable Nazi project.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11The Germans persuaded captured troops
0:27:11 > 0:27:16with a grudge against the Allies to switch sides.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22Some Indians from the Allied army in North Africa
0:27:22 > 0:27:27were recruited by the Germans to form an extraordinary Indian Legion.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31A propaganda victory for the Nazis
0:27:31 > 0:27:35but it didn't impress their generals.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37Not trusted to fight,
0:27:37 > 0:27:41the Indian Legion was put to work on coastal defences.
0:27:42 > 0:27:44Their stay on Texel was brief.
0:27:50 > 0:27:56But the island's curious connections to foreign fighters didn't stop there.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59It's so strange to find a hammer and sickle,
0:27:59 > 0:28:02emblem of the Soviet Union,
0:28:02 > 0:28:04here in a Dutch cemetery.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07But it's Soviet soldiers who are buried here.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10Like the Indian troops before them,
0:28:10 > 0:28:13they'd come to Texel as part of the German army.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21Originally from the Soviet province of Georgia,
0:28:21 > 0:28:25these were battle-hardened veterans of the Eastern Front.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30Tough and independently-minded,
0:28:30 > 0:28:34Georgians had little love for their Russian commanders.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38So, when captured, some collaborated with the Germans.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42They arrived on Texel in early 1945.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46As the Georgians posed for pictures with the locals,
0:28:46 > 0:28:49the Allied armies were advancing across Europe.
0:28:51 > 0:28:57NEWSREEL: And a mighty thrust into the heart of Germany began on the beaches of Normandy.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59Some nine months after D-day,
0:28:59 > 0:29:03Texel and much of the northern Netherlands
0:29:03 > 0:29:06still remained under Nazi control.
0:29:07 > 0:29:09But the German army was being forced back
0:29:09 > 0:29:11on the Western and Eastern front.
0:29:11 > 0:29:17By April 1945, the Germans were in desperate straits.
0:29:17 > 0:29:22The Red Army was massing for a final assault on Berlin.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26On Texel, the Georgians, once soldiers in the Soviet Army,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29were ordered by the Germans to head to the front line
0:29:29 > 0:29:31to fight the Allies.
0:29:36 > 0:29:38Having found themselves on the losing side,
0:29:38 > 0:29:43the Georgians had one desperate chance to redeem themselves.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50Texel had survived almost five years of war
0:29:50 > 0:29:52without a shot fired in anger.
0:29:52 > 0:29:58That all changed in the early hours of 6th April, 1945.
0:29:58 > 0:30:03You see the bullet hole in the wall there? Over there?
0:30:04 > 0:30:07The Georgians turned on the Germans.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10At one o'clock they started to kill the Germans
0:30:10 > 0:30:11and they cut their throats
0:30:11 > 0:30:14and they put hand grenades in their rooms with them
0:30:14 > 0:30:15and they shot them.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18Anyway, they killed all the Germans that lived among them,
0:30:18 > 0:30:22- any place where they were. - How many was that?
0:30:22 > 0:30:24- I think about 500. - Good heavens!
0:30:24 > 0:30:28500 massacred in one night.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32The battle was later dramatised in this Soviet feature film.
0:30:32 > 0:30:37Locals caught in the crossfire couldn't tell friend from foe.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40Both sides wore the same uniforms.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43I looked around the corner and I saw behind a tree,
0:30:43 > 0:30:45what I saw, two Georgians.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49One of them pointed the flame-thrower at us
0:30:49 > 0:30:52and I said, "Christ, they're bloody Germans."
0:30:56 > 0:31:00German reinforcements flooded the island.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04The Georgians, who'd been fighting for control of Texel,
0:31:04 > 0:31:07were now fighting for their lives.
0:31:12 > 0:31:14Surrender wasn't an option.
0:31:15 > 0:31:19The rebels made for the island's most secure stronghold.
0:31:25 > 0:31:30One group of Georgians took a last stand here at the lighthouse.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33Apparently it still carries the scars of the fighting.
0:31:33 > 0:31:38A new wall conceals the pock-marks of a desperate battle.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46Mere bullets were never going to go through a wall this thick.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49It was an impregnable defensive position
0:31:49 > 0:31:50but it was also a death-trap
0:31:50 > 0:31:53and all the Georgians in here were eventually killed
0:31:53 > 0:31:58when the Germans blew in the door on the ground floor.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03The killing continued for a month on the tiny isle of Texel.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14Then, in Berlin, Hitler committed suicide.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17BELLS PEAL
0:32:17 > 0:32:21On 7th May 1945, Germany surrendered.
0:32:21 > 0:32:24Europe celebrated peace.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34But in Texel, once famous for its tranquillity,
0:32:34 > 0:32:36the fighting continued.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42The Germans wouldn't surrender to the Georgians.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50It was two weeks after the Second World War in Europe ended,
0:32:50 > 0:32:56before Allied troops arrived to finish the final battle - here on Texel.
0:32:57 > 0:33:02Of the 800 Georgians who came to the island, only 200 or so survived.
0:33:04 > 0:33:08They had worn the uniform of the hated enemy.
0:33:09 > 0:33:14But their remarkable uprising guaranteed their safe passage.
0:33:14 > 0:33:20The rebels returned home, as heroes of the Soviet Union.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39The sandy isles of the Northern Netherlands.
0:33:39 > 0:33:44They subtly alter their shape with each new tide.
0:33:44 > 0:33:46It's one battle between land and sea
0:33:46 > 0:33:49the Dutch have decided to stay out of.
0:33:49 > 0:33:53The sweeping sand flats make for lovely, relaxed walking,
0:33:53 > 0:33:59but getting between the islands isn't so easy.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03All this sand makes it impossible to get a boat in here.
0:34:03 > 0:34:07But the Dutch have come up with a typically ingenious idea.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10Take the bus to your boat.
0:34:12 > 0:34:15This truck is known as the Vliehors Express,
0:34:15 > 0:34:19and it's one of the ways to get from island to island.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23MUSIC: "Eye Level" by The Simon Park Orchestra ("Van Der Valk" Theme)
0:34:43 > 0:34:46PASSENGERS SING
0:34:59 > 0:35:03This bus ride gets more and more otherworldly.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06We've just stopped at a driftwood stockade
0:35:06 > 0:35:09in the middle of this sand desert.
0:35:09 > 0:35:11Looks like an art installation.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14Even in this natural paradise
0:35:14 > 0:35:18the Dutch can't stop reclaiming stuff from the sea.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23Wonderful! It's a museum of found objects -
0:35:23 > 0:35:26fish crates, computer monitors,
0:35:26 > 0:35:29buoys, lifebelts, signs.
0:35:35 > 0:35:39This unusual bus journey has a suitably unlikely bus stop.
0:35:41 > 0:35:44This peculiar walkway is actually a jetty.
0:35:44 > 0:35:48At the far end, the water is deep enough for a ferry.
0:35:50 > 0:35:57Sand and sea together, combining to conjure up something truly special.
0:35:57 > 0:36:02It's a delightfully Dutch conundrum that sums up our journey.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07Life on the margins between sea and shore
0:36:07 > 0:36:11can create a flair and resourcefulness that will rise above any challenge.
0:36:13 > 0:36:15The Dutch have learned to live with the sea,
0:36:15 > 0:36:19to recognise its opportunities and to meet its threats.
0:36:19 > 0:36:20As sea levels rise
0:36:20 > 0:36:24and the search for novel solutions becomes more urgent,
0:36:24 > 0:36:28I reckon we can all learn a thing or two from the Netherlands.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd