Hitler's Last Stand (2018–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - Nazi Fortress - full transcript

Western France.

Two months after D-Day.

Trapped on the wrong side of
a burning tank an allied tank

commander goes on a rampage to clear
the approach to Fort Montbarey.

Out of ammo and defenseless he
turns back but slides into a crater.

And lands at the doorstep of German
bunker occupied by enemy soldiers.

It defies any kind of
rational explanation that 39

guys were going to surrender
to a guy with a pistol.

They will put his
bluff to the ultimate test.

On June 6th, 1944 allied forces
finally land troops in Normandy.

To open the western front.



But Nazi fanatics and diehards continue
to fight ruthlessly for survival.

D-day was a battle.

The allies still
need to win the war.

September 13th,
1944, Brest, France.

Members of the American 121st
engineers battalion work to

find a route through an area
occupied by Nazi forces since 1940.

Captain Sidney Smith and
his men must clear two paths

across the minefield.

To allow allied tanks
access to Fort Montbarey,

which guards the Port of Brest.

The allies' siege of
Brest began on August 7th.

As allied forces
head north east,

supreme allied commander,
General Dwight D. Eisenhower,

judges the capture of Brest
to be of the highest priority.



There's this spectacular breakout
from the Normandy beachhead.

They're pursuing the German
army and they're running out

of supplies very quickly.

The port situation
became critical.

The goal, to seize
the Port of Brest and the.

U-Boat bunkers back
from the Nazis.

Hitler told the
German troops that were in the

ports to hold at all costs.

There was a, "To the last
bullet to the last round",

to the last life."

These guys were going
hold out until the end.

Capture of the
deep-water port would allow

men and materials to be
unloaded directly to feed the

growing allied war effort.

Fort Montbarey is one of
the last German strongholds

outside Brest.

But it is protected
by Nazi minefields.

For the Americans to clear the
mines in daylight could be fatal.

The big advantage of
clearing mines at night is

you're not going to be as
visible to the Germans,

uh so you will have
that kind of, you know,

concealment under darkness.

But the darkness makes their
mine sweeping more dangerous.

It also makes for a
more confusing situation,

it's easier to get lost.

They're using these metal
detectors and of course the

ground is just inundated with
all this stuff so at night,

how are you really going
to tell the difference?

Metal is metal is metal
down there and you,

you're going by feel and
touch rather than sight.

Outside the Fort's walls Smith's
men crawl forward in the dark.

Some fan out into no man's
land to ensure their work is

not disrupted by German raiders.

The others work in
groups of three,

armed only with metal
detectors, engineer's tape,

explosives and digging tools.

While one sweeps, another
marks off the safe path.

The unlucky third probes.

The true work of mine
clearing is done on your hands

and knees usually
with a bayonet.

Not straight down.

But a sloped angle and very
gently prodding and probing ahead.

As they work they
uncover 300 pound naval shells,

buried as improvised
mines by the Nazis.

Each capable of destroying
a tank and killing its crew.

Yeah the engineers are
not going to try and diffuse

these mines at night because
it's just way too dangerous.

You have to be able to see
what you're doing in order to

be able to diffuse them.

They rig each
one with a pound of plastic

explosive to detonate later.

That way there's no
chance that you are going to

be trying to diffuse it
under cover of darkness and

it blows up in your face.

The cleared paths
will allow the tanks to

advance on the
walls of the fort.

The engineers creep
back to their lines.

Their night's work has
already proved costly.

German snipers located one
man despite the darkness.

And another is gravely wounded.

Allied command believed German
troop strength at Brest to be

10,000 to 20,000 men and that
the city would fall in a week.

But the allies have under
estimated the Nazi defenses.

They do not account for the
German soldiers who retreated

from the American advance and
provided thousands of reinforcements.

The troops assigned to Brest
were also among the elite.

Nazi propaganda
often portrays and calls the.

Fallschirmjager as the youngest
sons of the god of war.

German paratroopers are
generally well-trained and

well-equipped and have
got a high motivation.

Including Major
General Herman-Bernhard Ramcke,

commandant of fortress Brest.

Ramcke has served in all three
branches of the German armed forces.

And is himself a
qualified paratrooper in the

2nd Fallschirmjager division.

He was also someone who was
particularly dedicated to Nazism.

Someone who firmly believed
in the Fuhrer Adolf Hitler.

Ramcke issues an order
saying that every single U.S.

soldier that is fighting
against us here in Brest will

not fight in Germany
against our home country.

By the morning
of September 14th,

the 121st engineers have
uncovered four naval shells

and rigged them for
simultaneous detonation.

But the explosions reveal a fifth
naval shell in the tanks' path,

still intact.

Private John Nelson races
forward to place an explosive

charge on the shell.

Though struck by enemy fire,

Nelson succeeds in
setting the charge...

then scrambles back to safety.

With a route cleared through
the minefield the craters will

be filled in to
create two paths,

50 yards apart and
eight yards wide.

Major Tom Dallas of the
116th infantry regiments,

prepares to storm
Fort Montbarey.

Major Tom Dallas he was a soldier
with a soldier's fighting heart.

He had kind of ferocity about
him and a single mindedness in

terms of destroying the Germans.

He had an axe to grind against
them because of the many

soldiers under his command
they had killed on D-Day.

It won't be easy.

An 18th century French fort
provides German forces with a

formidable defensive position.

Strong masonry walls are
backed by a massive earthen

embankment 40 feet thick.

A moat 15 feet deep and 40
feet wide surrounds the fort.

You basically have
these forts that are,

that are created to withstand
almost any weapon that would

have existed in the
18th Century and uh,

still pretty applicable
to the 20th Century.

In addition to
the existing structures,

German troops have dug an
anti-tank ditch and placed

bunkers and pillboxes
occupied by machine gun crews.

It is just one of a series
of forts that ring Brest to

protect its port.

Plus, the forts are sighted along
every reasonable route of advance.

The allies had already ruled
out attack from the sea.

This is supposed to
be the easy way in.

Fort Montbarey is just a nut that
you are going to have to crack.

In addition to
Sidney Smith's engineers,

Major Dallas also
commands artillery...

Fire!

Along with
American and British tanks.

Major Dallas orders a smokescreen to
protect US troops as they mobilize.

Then sends the 116th's "c"
company to attack German

positions on the
Fort's right flank.

Dallas must neutralize the
German's forward defenses.

If he fails, his
advance will stall.

September 14th, 1944.

For two days American forces
have attacked Fort Montbarey,

which guards the
port city of Brest,

without breaking through.

Yes Sir!

Get those troops moving!
Let's Go!

Major tom Dallas
orders C Company of the 116th

infantry regiment to clear the
pillboxes and trenches on the

right flank of the fort.

You've got to take these
positions first as a kind of

stepping stone to get
physically near the fort.

In the smoky haze,

the cratered landscape
proves dangerous.

The infantry moves
in with grenades and bayonets.

C Company is in some
very intense fighting.

Grenade to grenade
kind of fighting.

Uh, rifle to rifle.

Bayonet fighting, which
is exceedingly rare.

When you see that in the
reports of the time, uh,

it tells you that it's an
extraordinarily traumatic kind of combat.

What it meant was
really intimate killing.

While C Company has this
mission: Close with the enemy

and destroy them at
that close range.

But by late
afternoon C Company achieves

its objective and the Americans
occupy the west side of the fort.

Dallas can begin to
move in his tanks.

British Churchill MK VII tanks
are known as "crocodiles".

They are armed with a 75mm gun,

and turret-mounted machine guns.

Each crocodile tows
an armored trailer,

which contains 400
gallons of petroleum fuel.

That enables the tank to
shoot flames 80 yards, in 120,

one second blasts.

Crocodile Tank is a
fearsome psychological weapon.

Nobody wants to be
burned to death.

There are a lot of
different kinds of death.

That's probably the worst.

Major Dallas orders
three crocodiles to cross the

minefields and
approach the fort.

Because the Crocodile
Tanks are heavy, it's uh,

you know, about 40 ton tank,
they are fairly well suited to

this sort of jagged,
cratered terrain.

The lead crocodile
is under the command of.

British Lieutenant
Hubert Anthony Ward.

♪ ♪

But as the second crocodile
cuts across the minefield...

it sets off another
undetected naval shell.

The tank is immobilized.

The explosion kills one man and
badly wounds the four other tankers.

Major Tom Dallas' troops rush
in to deal with the wreckage.

Worse still, it holds
up the other tanks.

They stand by to cross the
minefield to provide covering fire.

But their path is now blocked.

The remaining
tanks are bottle necked.

Ward is basically
up there, cut off,

on his own and those five tanks
are of really no use to him.

So American
Captain Sidney Smith's Combat.

Engineers spring into action, to clear
a new path around the dead crocodile.

These aren't just
guys that build stuff.

They're fighting engineers.

These men have to
maneuver, position charges,

blow things up and then
continue to fight and then in

some cases hold things
against all odds.

His men must now locate the
mines in broad daylight.

Making them easy targets
for German snipers.

This setback is yet more proof
that German troops intend to

fight for every inch of ground.

Now nearly three weeks
into their siege,

the Americans still have not
reached the city walls of Brest.

Nazi propaganda
minister, Joseph Goebbels,

makes a big story out
of the defense of Brest.

He portrays the German
Fallschirmjager and General.

Ramcke as heroes fighting against
all odds against the Americans.

So, Brest is seen as something
like the peak of the fighting

in the fortresses in the West.

Fort Montbarey itself is held
by a unit of Fallschirmjagers,

commanded
by Oberleutnant Floter.

German paratroopers
or Falschirmjagers were an

elite unit, battle hardened.

They had all the
mental toughness.

They had the best weapons and they
were going to fight to the death.

Near the Fort's walls,

Ward's Crocodile Tank remains a
sitting duck alone on the battlefield.

Vulnerable to one of the
most feared Nazi weapons,

the Panzerfaust.

The, the Panzerfaust
is the leading individual

soldiers' anti-tank
weapon of that time.

In that kind of cratered
landscape around Montbarey

these guys could
be hiding anywhere.

If he's within 30 or 40 yards
he's got this thing at his

side and he can fire it.

A one shot deal and there's a
very good chance that thing is

going to penetrate your
armor and possibly lead to a

catastrophic explosion.

Lieutenant Ward
decides to take action.

He targets the German
defensive positions on the

left flank.

Dallas sends the 116th's B Company
forward to support the tank's charge.

The Panzerfaust is just
one example of why combined

arms become so important.

The tankers don't often have
the visibility to deal with

them and they're looking
for the heavier weapons.

With clear lines
of sight and maneuverability,

the infantry are the best weapon
against a Panzerfaust gunner.

With bursts of flame Ward
starts to clear the German

forces from the
outlying pillboxes.

♪ ♪

Left Stick!

Then adds both his
guns to the hail of fire.

The flames do much of the work.

The defenders quickly surrender.

B Company rounds up more
than 70 German soldiers.

Ward presses onward
with guns and flames.

He clears the treeline to the north
and then east of Fort Montbarey.

Ward attacks so aggressively
he runs out of fuel for his

flame thrower and shells
and bullets, for his guns.

He has also outrun his support.

It's just Ward and his crew.

Uh, he has no
infantry men with him.

It's this lone tank,
basically behind the fort,

deep in enemy country.

Now defenseless,

Ward turns back
towards his lines.

He navigates the bomb blasted,
cratered area, around the fort.

♪ ♪

But stops suddenly when his 40 ton tank
slips sideways into a deep depression.

His timing couldn't be worse.

The tank comes to rest facing
a bunker of German soldiers.

As the American
29th Infantry Division tries to

seize Fort Montbarey...

Lieutenant Tony Ward's
British Crocodile Tank crashes

into a bunker containing
39 German soldiers.

Ward has been roaming
around there firing off,

every, all these weapons he's
definitely has an effect.

He has demonstrated the exact
right personality you want in

someone who, who has
that kind of weapon,

that kind of tank in
that kind of situation.

He's done precisely
what you should do.

Initially surprised,
the Germans may have been

ready to surrender, but they quickly
realize the tank is helpless.

The tank's steep angle causes
gasoline fumes to fill its interior.

And worse, a fire extinguisher discharges
and fills the tank with toxic gas.

Ward's crew starts to suffocate.

He seizes his pistol
and pops the hatch.

Lieutenant Ward does
not plan to surrender.

He begins a bold bluff
and orders the Germans.

"Hande hoch!" Or "Hands up."

Not convinced by his pistol;
The Germans don't move.

The Germans look at him
and are kind of sizing it up.

Thinking of surrendering.

But thinking, wait a minute,
these guys look a little wobbly.

This guy only has a pistol.

One of the tank crew
passes Ward a loaded Bren gun.

And he blasts out a
series of warning shots.

Remarkably, the
Germans surrender.

It defies any kind of
rational explanation that 39

guys were going to surrender
to a guy with a pistol.

If the flames or these other
weapons are not some kind of

factor in that.

Despite Ward's success the
day's fighting has cost.

Major Tom Dallas two tanks.

And his troops have yet to directly
attack the walls of Fort Montbarey.

I suggest.

Dallas hopes he can get some help
from the 115th Infantry Regiment.

They will manoeuver to sever
the Fort's last lifeline,

by capturing the road from
Fort Montbarey back to Brest.

If the 115th succeeds,
Oberleutnant Floter will be

cut off from supplies,
reinforcement and escape.

Meanwhile, Dallas prepares for
another assault on the Fort itself.

To do so, he must use the
Crocodile tanks to full

tactical and
psychological advantage.

Dallas still thinks
he's going to need the tanks.

The engineers then
have to make sure to,

to create some sort
of smooth surface.

Captain Sidney
Smith and his 121st engineers

venture back onto
the battlefield,

to fill in the moat and level out
the approach to Fort Montbarey.

They use everything
at their disposal,

from bulldozers to explosives
to picks and shovels to

accomplish the task.

Captain Smith, he is
the brains of this operation.

If this were a, uh, peacetime
civilian job he would be the

architect, he would
be the uh, foreman,

the supervisor all in one.

You've got a
clear path over here!

As they perform this work,

Smith and his men must also
detect mines and avoid enemy fire.

Smith himself directs a
bulldozer operator's work.

So, here he is lying
on the ground you know,

under some level of cover,
but certainly in danger.

I think Captain
Smith is a major,

major player and character in this
whole push toward Fort Montbarey.

Without him I don't know it's
going to proceed the same way.

US Riflemen provide coverage
throughout the operation.

Their protection is so complete,

only one member of the engineers
is struck by German counter fire.

On September 16th, Major
Dallas launches yet another

assault on Fort Montbarey.

Smith's engineers have
done their job well.

Three Crocodile Tanks
advance across the approach.

And open up at
point blank range.

Each creates a wall of fire,
on the Fort's north side.

But with their fuel trailers
empty the flames burn out.

The blaze has no
impact on the stone.

The thick walls continue to
protect the defenders inside.

Dallas will need another
plan to deliver the flames

right into Fort Montbarey.

September 1944.

American forces continue their siege to
liberate the French port city of Brest.

Three flame throwing Crocodile
Tanks fail to break through

the walls of Fort Montbarey.

American Major Tom Dallas must
find a way to deliver the fire

into the fort directly, to force
the Nazis holdout to surrender.

He realizes the easiest way
through might be the main gate.

Dallas orders an M-10 tank destroyer
to fire 50 rounds at the entrance.

While surely shaking the
walls to their foundations,

the gate holds.

Six more Crocodile
Tanks expend their fuel,

sending fire up the walls on the
north and east sides of the fort.

Though they push the Nazi
troops back from the walls,

the flames still have no
effect on the structure.

Flame tanks at this
point are not effective.

You're asking them to do
something they're not really

designed to do which is shoot
jets of flame at very well

fortified masonry.

I don't think flames are
going to overcome that.

Dallas tries his
luck with a bigger gun against

the main entrance.

They position a 105mm howitzer,

armed with white phosphorus shells
just 20 meters from the gate.

While white phosphorus
was used for smokescreens,

Dallas now uses it as an
incendiary to set the fort on fire.

They shoot off 150 rounds.

The shells are too small,

the explosive charges
are not strong enough.

You don't have the kind of
penetration factor that you need.

I mean they're just going
to bounce off those walls.

So, the shells are
not at all effective.

The barrage devastates
the inside of the fort,

but Oberleutnant Floter and his
paratroopers remain entrenched.

Though the weapons are
not always that effective for

doing exactly what
Dallas would hope,

it is I think contributing
to the kind of lowering of a

morale of the German Garrison.

Meanwhile,
Smith and his men locate a

passageway which runs to a tunnel
on the outside of the moat.

The engineers determine that if
the main gate cannot be breached,

they might use the passage to bring down
the walls to capture Fort Montbarey.

So when the Americans
find the passageway it now

creates a new option for
Dallas beyond just standing

there and battering the gate.

An M-10 tank
destroyer is positioned.

The impact blows a hole at
the top of the passageway's

masonry wall.

Just big enough for a
man to crawl through.

Before anyone could be sent in
three wounded German soldiers

emerge carrying a white flag.

Through a translator they
explain the constant shelling

and flames were taking a
toll on the defenders inside.

That the constant
bombing has driven them crazy.

So they are psychologically,
totally down.

The artillery fire,
the air bombardment have

heavily impacted
on their psyche.

Armed with this information,

Major Dallas decides to
offer Oberleutnant Floter a

chance to surrender.

He uses an English-speaking
German prisoner-of-war to

deliver his message.

Dallas demands
Floter's surrender by saying,

"If you don't surrender
you're going to get

a lot worse than this."

Minutes later,

Dallas receives Floter's reply.

Floter's response to Major
Dallas' message is rather cheeky.

Floter says, "If this
is all you've got",

we'll hold out for
a little while."

The siege of
Fort Montbarey will continue.

♪ ♪

The 29th Infantry
Division has attacked the.

German stronghold of Fort Montbarey
for five consecutive days.

Despite walls of flames and
countless rounds of ordnance,

the obstinate German
Lieutenant rejects the

opportunity to surrender.

So, it's kind of a taunt
to the Americans and Dallas is

not the kind of guy
you mess around with.

Major Dallas
decides on a new approach.

He orders five tons
of TNT explosive.

That much explosive
is not available.

But Dallas hopes two tons
will bring down the wall,

like a medieval castle siege.

Dallas also has ladders at
the ready to scale the wall,

should the TNT's effects
prove inadequate.

But getting hundreds of pounds of
dynamite into position proves difficult.

Once again, Dallas calls
on the 121st engineers,

Company B, led by
Captain Sidney Smith.

With the Crocodile Tanks and
infantry providing covering fire,

Smith's men move into the moat
and unload the crates of dynamite.

It would've been
enormously stressful and tense,

because you don't
necessarily know what's going

to happen from one
minute to the next.

For all you know the Germans
may be massing their people.

So, before
they begin work inside,

they must secure their location.

Smith's men enter
the passageway,

fire their guns down its length
and lob in hand grenades.

Satisfied it is clear,

Company B works quickly to bring
in the crates of explosives.

♪ ♪

When the last man emerges,

Smith sends him
back for a final sweep.

With the all clear and the
dynamite rigged for detonation

another German POW
approaches Dallas and

asks him to offer Floter one
more chance to surrender.

Dallas brushes the
POW's request aside.

Dallas hears these sort
of vague illusions to the fact

that perhaps, ah, the Germans
may want to surrender and he

is in no mood to hear that and so
the explosion is going to go forward.

I won't tell you what
he actually said,

but it was colorful.

Dallas orders
his men to blow the TNT.

But before the detonation,

Dallas reconsiders his position.

As the men worked near the
walls they realize the body of.

Second Lieutenant
Durwood Settles lies nearby.

He had been killed
in earlier fighting,

near the wall they
hoped to bring down.

Dallas is reluctant
to blow the charges before

the body can be recovered.

The demolition would
likely crush his remains.

An idea which disturbs everyone.

A Lieutenant from the
graves registration unit,

volunteers to attempt
recovery of Settles' body.

Dallas agrees to the delay.

It's going to be better
for your fighting morale

because of course,

inevitable, you're going to
think what if it were me?

And no one wants to
think about, you know,

their remains getting
exploded into atoms like that.

Lieutenant Kelton braves
enemy fire to cross the moat.

He retrieves the body,

and carries it out himself.

At 5 PM on September 16th,
Dallas finally gives the order

to detonate the TNT.

He can only hope that it is enough
to finally conquer Fort Montbarey.

September 16th, 1944.

More than three
months after D-Day,

American forces try to bring
down the walls of Fort Montbarey,

a Nazi holdout guarding
the deep-water Port of Brest.

Major Tom Dallas hopes two tons
of TNT will bring down the walls.

The explosion succeeds and
causes the collapse of the

central section of
the Fort's north wall.

Once more, the 121st Combat
Engineers enter the fray.

With British and American
tanks providing covering fire,

Captain Sidney Smith's
B-Company attacks the

breach in the Fort's wall.

Let's move out!

And climbs over the rubble.

It's a storm of artillery
and machine gun fire.

♪ ♪

The onslaught is so intense
that Smith's men do not

realize the Germans are
finally surrendering.

Hey!

When they catch on,
they pound on the tanks' hulls

to stop the barrage.

It's a chaotic moment
the 29th Division soldiers

eventually have
to take their, uh,

rifle butts and pound on the,
on the tanks to get the

attention of the tank crew men
so that they could tell them

to stop firing.

And it's not just a matter
of humanity to the Germans,

but also the fact that you got
American soldiers who are now

within that fort and
who might be in danger

from the tank fire.

Dazed German
soldiers pour out of the fort.

♪ ♪

As the 29th Division starts
rounding up German prisoners

above ground, Smith's men
realize that some may be

holding out in tunnels
beneath the fort.

♪ ♪

As they creep down the
passageway they hear voices

speaking German.

The engineers fire their
tommy guns down the tunnel to

announce their presence.

Two men surrender.

The engineers have captured
the garrison commander:

Oberleutnant Floter.

♪ ♪

Floter is delivered to major
Tom Dallas and demands to be

treated as an officer.

But after five days
of intense fighting,

Dallas is not in
a receptive mood.

He roars that Floter is a
prisoner of war and to get his

hands above his head.

Dallas insists that Floter
to return to the fort and

identify all of the
mines set by the Germans.

With Fort Montbarey
finally in allied hands,

the 29th division is ready for
the final assault on the city.

Two days later, on
September 18th, 1944,

the 29th, along with two other
divisions of the US 8th army corps,

take Brest and its port.

Major General Ramcke is
captured a day later,

having fled across
the harbor by boat.

Captain Sidney Smith's daring
leadership at Fort Montbarey

earns him a silver star.

A silver star would also be
awarded to Private John Nelson,

who single handedly wired
up one of the naval shells

in broad daylight.

British Lieutenant Tony Ward's
exceptional courage in the

lead Crocodile Tank merited
a silver star as well.

A significant tribute to a
member of a foreign army.

During the siege of Brest the
29th division suffers over

3,300 casualties, including
nearly 700 men killed.

The American eighth
army corps captures nearly

40,000 German POW's at Brest.

Twice the number of defenders
estimated by allied command.

But throughout the 27-day siege,

Ramcke's troops sabotage the
port so thoroughly that no

allied ships would dock there
for the remainder of the war.

By late September 1944,

the allies' push the western
front towards Germany,

to capture Berlin
as soon as possible.

But in the coming weeks
Nazi resistance would stiffen

and the war in Europe will
continue for another eight months.

Captioned by Cotter
Captioning Services.