Nazi Megastructures "Season - 4" (3/6) : Hitler's Italian Fortress
For educational purposes
The story of one of the Nazis' toughest structures. These defensive lines spanned the Italian peninsula, stalling the Allies for almost two years.
The story of one of the Nazis' toughest structures. These defensive lines spanned the Italian peninsula, stalling the Allies for almost two years.
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00:00Throughout Italy lie the remains of one of the most deadly structures of the Second World
00:07War.
00:08What we're talking about is over 40 defensive lines right across the country's toughest
00:14terrain.
00:17Fortifications designed by the Nazis to slow the Allied advance and transform the landscape
00:23into a death trap.
00:24Fire!
00:25The way the positions are laid out turns the whole area into a killing zone.
00:31Concealed bunkers.
00:32This must have been a German anti-tank position.
00:36Lethal gun placements.
00:39The enemy would only have an idea it was here when that machine gun opened up.
00:43And an impregnable fortress monastery.
00:46This feels like a castle to me.
00:48The Nazis are making the Allies fight for every square inch of Italy.
00:52The chances of getting through that campaign unscathed were almost zero.
00:56This is the story of Hitler's Italian fortress.
01:01The biggest construction project of World War II, ordered by Hitler to secure world
01:06domination.
01:09Now they survive as dark reminders of the Fuhrer's fanatical military ambition.
01:16These are the secrets of the Nazi megastructures.
01:27The 18th of May, 1944.
01:31Elite paratrooper and Eastern Front veteran Jupp Klein is fighting on a defensive line
01:36in mainland Italy.
01:39As the Allies advance, his unit is cut off from the rest of his company.
01:46I knew our only chance was to wait it out until dark and try and make it back through
01:51the enemy lines to our own positions.
01:58Suddenly he comes face to face with the enemy.
02:06We stared at each other, steadily.
02:16Evidence of the bitter close quarter fighting which took place here can still be found right
02:21across the country.
02:27Conflict archaeologist Tony Pollard is exploring the ruins of San Pietro, a village the Nazis
02:32fortify and turn into a killing zone.
02:36Look at this, look!
02:39Still bullet holes in the walls.
02:41So it looks as though this doorway has been raked with fire from that direction.
02:47This building's missing its roof, but that might be deliberate because in some cases
02:52the Germans took the roofs off the buildings so they could put mortars and pieces of artillery
02:57inside and fire from within over the walls.
03:06I can see all the way down this street, there's no cover apart from diving into doorways.
03:11A couple of German soldiers here could hold off an entire army coming up that hill.
03:22The origins of the Italian campaign begin in 1940 when fascist dictator Benito Mussolini
03:27enters World War II alongside Adolf Hitler.
03:32Mussolini goes to war in June 1940 entirely of his own volition and he does so because
03:37he thinks Britain is going to lose and if Britain loses the war that means there are
03:43many rich pickings to be had in Africa.
03:48And what he hopes is to create a new Roman Empire of which he is the Caesar.
03:55German and Italian forces set their sights on North Africa, the gateway to the Middle
04:00East and their rich oil fields.
04:03But in a series of increasingly ferocious battles the Allies beat them back and in May
04:081943 they're finally defeated.
04:13Italy is suddenly vulnerable to attack from North Africa.
04:18On the 10th of July 1943 the Allies invade Sicily, less than two miles from mainland
04:27Italy.
04:31It is completely clear that Italy can no longer win the war under any circumstances.
04:35It's run out of cash, it's run out of resources and its people are utterly and completely
04:41fed up with the hardships, the pain and the death that the war is causing them.
04:48The King of Italy dismisses Mussolini and the new government begins negotiating peace
04:53terms with the Allies behind Hitler's back.
04:59When Allied forces land on the Italian mainland on the 3rd of September, Italy surrenders.
05:06The Germans are now an occupying force.
05:12Hitler demands an emergency meeting with two of his most highly skilled commanders, Owen
05:17Rommel and Albert Kesselring.
05:21He orders them to debate how best to defend Italy and halt the Allied advance towards
05:25Germany itself.
05:29Rommel advocates a holding line in the mountainous north, but Kesselring has a very different
05:34plan.
05:35Generalfeldmarschall Kesselring, what is your assessment?
05:41I believe that to abandon the bulk of the Italian peninsula at this stage is premature.
05:53The best tactic is to defend from the south.
05:57They should be made to pay for every inch of their advance.
06:03Hitler likes what he hears.
06:05He gives command of the defence of Italy to Kesselring.
06:09Hitler is paranoid about being attacked from all sides, but also particularly the southern
06:13flank.
06:14Italy leads straight into Germany and so he's got to defend it as low down as he possibly
06:19can.
06:20Erstens.
06:21First.
06:22Salerno.
06:23Kesselring's plan is a series of defensive lines across the leg of Italy.
06:28Zweitens.
06:29Secondly.
06:30Napoli.
06:31Third.
06:37There are to be 40 lines in total, many of them stretching across the country's toughest
06:42terrain, the Apennine Mountains.
06:45Each line is given a codename.
06:48The most heavily fortified are to be the Gustav Line protecting Rome and the Gothic Line shielding
06:56northern Italy, the gateway to Germany itself.
07:01The Nazis have built defensive walls before.
07:06In 1942, they began work on the Atlantic Wall, guarding against an Allied seaborne invasion
07:13into France and Scandinavia.
07:16But by 1943, this concrete fortification is still unfinished.
07:21With time against him, Kesselring's defensive lines are to be dramatically different.
07:37James Holland is exploring a section of a line in southern Italy to understand how the
07:42Nazis rapidly turned the entire country into a fortress.
07:47Oh, look at that.
07:50That is a truly incredible view.
07:53And if I was a German engineer and I was looking at this and I was planning my defenses, I'd
07:58be really happy with this view.
08:00You can see all the mountain chains coming across here.
08:04You can see these little ridges, little gullies and things which you can all exploit, but
08:09you can also exploit the valley floor.
08:11You've got a snaky little river, maybe you can flood that, make this whole floodplain
08:15impassable, and then you can absolutely stuff it full with mines and wire.
08:21What the Allies would then have to do is effectively what they were doing on the Western Front
08:24in the First World War, going across a big open area where they're horribly exposed.
08:29And as they're trying to fight their way through mines and wire entanglements, artillery up
08:34in the hills here and mortars and machine gun bows have got a perfect view.
08:40There is no one that can move down there without being seen from up here.
08:43And from the defenders' point of view, that's a massive advantage.
08:51Along each defensive line, the Germans carefully site their gun positions to make maximum use
08:57of the landscape.
08:58Oh, look at this.
09:00Oh, this is fascinating.
09:02So this is unmistakably a mortar pit or an MG post here.
09:11You're down here, stuck in here with your mortar, you're protected, no one can attack
09:17you.
09:18Put your mortar shell in, fire it up, it goes up into the air and drops down on anyone trying
09:22to attack.
09:27What the Germans are doing here is really making use of the landscape.
09:32It's linking it all up, so interconnecting firing positions so that I'm connected to
09:36mortars and MGs over on that spur.
09:38They're making the landscape work for you.
09:44Each defensive line is made up of hundreds of interconnected firing positions, stretching
09:48right across the country, blocking the enemy's advance.
09:53Oh, there's something interesting here, clearly man-made, and you can see these walls leading
10:03into what looks like a cave down here.
10:06Gosh, this is amazing.
10:12This is definitely German.
10:14This bit has clearly been blasted off.
10:17You can see it's smooth.
10:19This bit is natural.
10:22And so you've got this mixture of rough and ready with the rock formation that's already
10:28here.
10:29It's really, really nice, really.
10:34This is amazing.
10:35A window out over the valley.
10:38This is an observation post.
10:40I can see right out into the valley below perfectly.
10:46Artillery is firing indirectly from the valley behind us.
10:50They can't actually see what they're hitting, which is why you have the OP, the observation
10:54post, because they can see where those shells are landing and go left a bit, back a bit,
10:59forward a bit.
11:04It's just so interesting because what you're seeing here is such a different type of defensive
11:11structure to those you'd find on the Atlantic Wall or on the Siegfried Line.
11:15And what the Germans are doing is using what's already here.
11:23As more Allied troops land on the Italian peninsula and prepare to fight their way north,
11:30the Nazis continue to strengthen their defensive positions.
11:34The scene is set for what is to become one of the bloodiest and hardest-fought campaigns
11:40of the entire war.
11:47The 9th of September, 1943.
11:50The Germans begin the defence of Italy in the south.
11:57To direct the campaign, Kesselring immediately establishes a command centre in a secret stronghold
12:03safe from Allied bombs, the Monte Serrate bunkers.
12:15Set in the 1930s as an air-raid shelter for Mussolini, the Nazis move in and make them
12:21their own.
12:23Tony Pollard is exploring what remains.
12:26This tunnel seems to run and run.
12:28In fact, there are around three miles of tunnels carved into this hillside, incredibly well
12:36built, cut into the limestone and then lined with about six feet of brick and concrete
12:43to reinforce them.
12:45And there's a lot of thought gone into here, really heavily designed.
12:51And one of the indicators of that process is this hollow wall.
12:55There's a gap behind here.
12:57And then at regular spaces, about every 10 feet or so, there's one of these voids.
13:01And at each one of these access points, there were four gas masks which carried oxygen,
13:07which was created in a place elsewhere in the system.
13:10And this was a precaution against air raids.
13:14And specifically against incendiary bombs that might create a firestorm, which in turn
13:20would suck out the oxygen from these tunnels and potentially suffocate everybody inside.
13:25It's an incredibly clever survival system and just goes to show how self-sufficient
13:31this place was.
13:34At their peak, the bunkers housed 7,500 German soldiers and staff.
13:41They still contain evidence of life underground.
13:44Look at that, that's beautiful.
13:49You don't really expect to see that in this tunnel system.
13:54It's a castle and it's very obviously not an Italian castle.
13:58This is German.
13:59And another reminder of a German presence in this mountainside in Italy.
14:04And it's serving a purpose.
14:06It's reminding the officers that would be in this room of their homeland, of the fatherland.
14:17But the most important room of all is concealed in one of the complex's deepest parts.
14:31There's over 600 feet of rock above my head.
14:34That's 600 feet of protection against air raids.
14:38And there's a reason for that.
14:39This is the nerve centre of the entire system.
14:42This is the communications room.
14:45This is where Kesselring got out his commands to the German armies in Italy.
14:55From deep within the bunkers, Kesselring continues to direct the country's defence.
15:03With my exact knowledge of the position at the front and the state of our defences,
15:11I am thus able to draft a strategic plan for the coming months.
15:23The Germans successfully stall the Allied advance at the first two defensive lines.
15:30Each time a line is breached, the Germans simply retreat behind the next.
15:35In the first few months of the Italian campaign, the Germans are able to make the most of really
15:39appalling weather and slow up the Allies as much as they possibly can, repeatedly stopping
15:45them at one very hastily built defensive line after the other.
15:51Despite the success of the lines, Kesselring can't halt the Allies' advance completely
15:56due to inferior numbers and firepower.
15:59To delay the enemy for as long as possible, he orders existing infrastructure to be destroyed.
16:12Then 80 miles south of Rome, the Germans retreat behind their next defensive line, known as
16:18the Bernhardt Line.
16:23On its eastern end, the fishing village of Ortona sees some of the fiercest fighting.
16:39Elite paratrooper Jupp Klein is in charge of a team of combat engineers.
16:44His orders are to turn the ruins of Ortona into a death trap, a skill he honed during
16:48bitter fighting on the eastern front.
16:51Is everything set?
16:54They wait for the Allied advance.
16:57Remember, our orders are to hold the city at all costs.
17:01We fight for every tree, every house.
17:05Prepare to move, boys.
17:13Let's go.
17:37Less than 70 miles away, at San Pietro, a similar story is being played out.
17:43Here, the Germans turn the mountainside village into a fortress.
17:56Tony Pollard is investigating how they did it.
18:00At first sight, the village of San Pietro is pretty much like any other village in this
18:05part of Italy.
18:06Very picturesque, nestling into the side of the hill.
18:09But as you come through the village, onto the hill behind, there's something else there.
18:16And what we have here are the ruins of the village that was here in 1943.
18:26Imagine coming up here, a small group of American soldiers, not knowing where the next German
18:33is going to be encountered.
18:36Doorway here, doorway here, another doorway there, here, here.
18:44This place gives every advantage to the defender.
18:55The Germans are bombarded by Allied artillery for two weeks.
19:01But it does little to weaken their position in San Pietro.
19:09At the back here, there's a cellar cut into the rock, and that would provide shelter.
19:16The Germans could just nip into these and then come back out.
19:21This place is a ready-made fortress.
19:24Very good to defend, but very, very difficult to take.
19:30The Germans successfully defend the Bernhardt Line for over six weeks, before superior Allied
19:35firepower finally prevails.
19:41As they retreat once more, the stage is set for one of the most infamous battles of the
19:45Second World War, the Battle of Monte Cassino, January 1944.
19:58The Germans are entrenched behind their most sophisticated defensive line so far, the
20:03Gustav Line.
20:04However, the front is now only 75 miles south of Rome, the seat of power in Italy.
20:15News reaches Hitler that the city is under threat.
20:22There must be no weakening in our resolve to hold back the Allied advance.
20:30Have this order sent to General Feldmarschall Kesselring for him to read out to all ranks.
20:41The Gustav Line must be held at all costs for the sake of the political consequences
20:50which would follow a completely successful defense.
20:55A Führer expects the bitterest struggle for every yard.
21:08Kesselring immediately pours more resources into strengthening the defenses along the
21:12Gustav Line.
21:14He concentrates on one place in particular.
21:18The Liri Valley, a five mile wide passage through the mountains, overlooked by the town
21:23of Cassino and its hilltop monastery.
21:30James Holland is exploring a German position on Monte Calvario.
21:35There is the Liri Valley spread before you, over there the monastery, that way lies Rome
21:41and you can just see the road down there, that was and remains the Via Casolina and
21:46back in 1944 that is the only real artery that the Allies can use to get to Rome.
21:53And this is why this place is so key, because from here you have eyes down onto the valley
21:59below and specifically that road.
22:04The Germans turn Monte Calvario into a virtually unassailable defensive position.
22:10Sitting at the apex of a figure of eight, German positions in the surrounding hills
22:15provide supporting fire.
22:17As long as the Germans control both circles, any attacks on Monte Calvario can be repelled.
22:24Next Kesselring turns his attention to the Liri Valley itself.
22:29Here instead of relying on the natural strength of the landscape, he orders a construction
22:34program.
22:37Tony Pollard is exploring what remains on the valley floor.
22:41Just off this track we've got this concrete structure coming out of the ground and it's
22:47very characteristically German.
22:49This is what's known as a Tobruk turret and it's named because the Germans first started
22:53using these in North Africa in the Libyan campaign at the siege of Tobruk.
22:58These were designed to accommodate light to medium weapons and like an iceberg only a
23:05very small amount of it is actually visible on the surface.
23:08To see what's really going on we need to go underground.
23:27This chamber is the accommodation pod which would double as an air raid shelter and given
23:34the size of this it was probably a five man fire team.
23:40And this is the turret, it's a bit like being in the turret of a tank, the machine gun would
23:46have been mounted on this iron hoop inside the concrete lip to give 360 degree movement.
23:55And this is close to the ground, the idea is this would be difficult to see and the
23:59advancing enemy would only have an idea it was here when that machine gun opened up and
24:03wreaked havoc.
24:06While Tobruks provide a deadly defence against infantry attacks, to hold off the Allied tanks
24:11Kesselring installs an even more formidable weapon, Panzerstellung.
24:17Below ground a bunker encased in five feet of concrete houses a fire team of up to nine
24:22men.
24:24Mounted on top a turret from a Panzer tank provides the firepower with a 75mm gun.
24:32The Panzerstellung and Tobruks are protected by mines and a sea of barbed wire, helping
24:37the Germans turn the Liri Valley into a killing zone.
24:47When the Allies launch an attack on the Gustav Line around Cassino on the 1st of February
24:511944, the Germans are ready for them.
25:01During the two week battle which follows, the Germans from entrenched positions in the
25:05mountains and concrete gun placements in the valley repeatedly repel Allied attacks.
25:11The road to Rome remains under German control.
25:24But the battle for Cassino is about to reach new levels of ferocity, as the Germans defend
25:29a direct attack on the town itself.
25:39The 14th of February 1944.
25:42The Germans have successfully repelled the first Allied attack on the Gustav Line.
25:47But there is one defensive stronghold that, due to its religious significance, the Germans
25:52have yet to utilise.
25:55The Benedictine Monastery of Monte Cassino, today restored.
25:59Do you know, when you're standing this close, you do realise just how enormous this monastery
26:07is.
26:08And you start to understand why it dominates the landscape for miles around.
26:14It really is very, very imposing and very impressive.
26:21Before the battle, the German high command makes an agreement with the Vatican not to
26:26use the monastery for military purposes.
26:30The Germans were supposed to agree to a 300 yard exclusion zone around the monastery,
26:35but we know there were Germans definitely just in the slopes down here beneath us.
26:40And then you look at this tunnel.
26:43Why wouldn't you use this?
26:45And I have to say, if I'd been a German commander here, I'd have been very tempted to use
26:51this, maybe not as a gun position, but certainly as a shelter.
26:56I mean, look at it.
27:00It's absolutely solid as they come.
27:03This is like a sort of archway into a castle.
27:12The Allies become increasingly suspicious of German activity around the monastery.
27:18Germans suspect they're using it as an observation post for their artillery.
27:24On the morning of the 15th of February, 256 US bombers reduced the monastery to rubble.
27:48The fact that the Allies bombed the monastery at Monte Cassino is one of the great cock-ups
27:53of the war from the Allied point of view.
27:55It's a terrible public relations disaster.
27:59They ruined one of the great buildings of Europe, and it doesn't achieve their aims
28:04anyway.
28:05From the safety of the surrounding hills, the Germans observe the futile bombing and
28:12repel the ground attack which follows.
28:16Then, the Allies bomb the town itself.
28:27General Klein is sheltering in a hotel cellar when the bombing begins.
28:49For a three-and-a-half-hour period, the Allies drop over 1,000 tons of bombs on the town.
29:00Klein, newly promoted to lieutenant due to bravery in battle, remains calm.
29:07Everything okay?
29:13Remember, the more they bomb us, the more chance we have of winning.
29:22These ruins are both our protection and our savior.
29:40When the onslaught is over, the monastery and the town are transformed into a honeycomb
29:45of concealed, virtually unassailable German positions.
29:49By bombing the town of Cassino, the Allies make it much easier to defend for the Germans.
29:56They were able to conceal themselves, their infantry, their tanks, and crucially they
30:00know that that rubble-ized environment will slow Allied tanks and hamper them being able
30:05to identify the German positions.
30:10As the battle on the front line rages, 75 miles north, the Germans are left wheeling
30:16by a surprise attack.
30:19Italian partisans, in an act of defiance against the German occupying force, ambush an SS regiment
30:25in Rome.
30:31Thirty-three Nazis are killed.
30:35News reaches Hitler's command bunker.
30:40An example must be made.
30:41There will be no mercy.
30:46Tell Generalfeldmarschall Kesselring that for every murdered member of our security
30:50forces I demand the execution of thirty Italians.
31:01The next day, Kesselring carries out Hitler's orders.
31:08The Ardiatine massacre is to become one of the most notorious mass killings in the history
31:12of the war.
31:24Back on the front line, the Allies launch a final multi-pronged attack around Cassino,
31:30attempting to break the Gustav Line once and for all.
31:40The German defences are saturated as the Allies attack simultaneously along the coast,
31:46through the mountains, and along the Liri Valley.
31:50The Gustav Line is finally breached.
32:00Paratrooper Jupp Klein is now on the retreat.
32:05But the speed of the Allied advance takes him and his men by surprise.
32:11They become cut off from the rest of their company.
32:16I knew our only chance was to wait it out until dark and try and make it back through
32:21the enemy lines to our own positions.
32:28Suddenly, he's looking the enemy straight in the face.
32:35We stared at each other, steadily.
32:44Today I could still draw the features of his face.
32:48So indelibly are they imprinted on my mind.
33:01We made our escape that night, under cover of darkness, in a desperate bid to reach our
33:06own lines.
33:08Miraculously, the whole troop made it back, bar one.
33:16The Germans retreat from the Liri Valley, and on the 4th of June, US troops enter Rome.
33:23Getting possession of Rome is really important to the Allies because it's a huge psychological
33:28blow to the Germans, and a great morale boost to the free world.
33:38The Germans are now on the back foot.
33:42They prepare to launch a major defence in the northern Apennines, a battle which will
33:47decide the outcome of the entire Italian campaign.
33:56June 1944.
33:59While the Allies celebrate the capture of Rome, the Germans ramp up construction of
34:04their last majorly fortified line, the Gothic Line.
34:10But time is running out for Kesselring to complete it.
34:18I want every bridge, every tunnel, and every road destroyed.
34:26We have some breathing space while the Allies celebrate in Rome.
34:31Our positions must be completed before the enemy moves forward.
34:36We must do everything possible to stop them.
34:48Kesselring conscripts 15,000 Italian civilians, overseen by a team of German engineers, to
34:54make the Gothic Line the strongest and most heavily fortified of all.
35:01Right across the Apennines, they construct more than 2,000 fortified machine gun nests,
35:06casements, bunkers, observation posts, and artillery fighting positions.
35:12The Gothic Line is so important to the Germans because beyond it is the flat valley of the
35:18River Poe, and it's a vast valley.
35:21And the next time you get to high ground is the Alps itself.
35:24And once the Allies are into that Poe valley, they can then use all their armour and their
35:30machinery and vehicles and aircraft and so on.
35:33And for that, the Germans are going to have no answer whatsoever.
35:37Next stop is the Alps, and beyond the Alps is Germany itself.
35:42There are two obvious weak points in the Gothic Line, the Futa Pass and the Giugopass, where
35:48roads cut a path through the mountains to the valley beyond.
35:53It's here that Kesselring concentrates his most formidable gun placements.
36:04Former British army captain Patrick Burey is looking for remnants of this defensive
36:08stronghold on the Futa Pass.
36:10Yeah, it's definitely a defensive position.
36:16Let's see exactly what it is.
36:22Here you would have had a heavy steel door which you could have closed during combat.
36:26So this indicates it's some sort of fighting bunker.
36:29And if you look at the outline here, I'm pretty sure this would have been an anti-tank position.
36:35There would have been an anti-tank gun here.
36:38You can see the slope which would allow it to be wheeled into place, and the slots for
36:43some of the stands.
36:44And then here, the stabilisers, and right here then the fin to protect the crew.
36:49And then out through here, they've got a good field of fire down into the valley below.
36:56And over there you had the Futa Gap, and the tanks were trying to go through there because
37:00the ground is a little bit lower.
37:02And this position is stopping them doing so.
37:04And it's set up and sighted especially so they can fire on tanks from an enfilade position,
37:10side on where their armour is weaker.
37:11And the 7.5cm German gun that would have been here is able to engage Allied tanks with the
37:17thickest armour out to a really decent range.
37:33As the Allies mass their tanks and artillery, the Germans wait for the inevitable attack.
37:43General Klein is in command of a defensive position on the Gothic Line.
37:48After four years of fighting, he's one of the most experienced soldiers left on the front.
37:58The young soldiers had been so anxious to get to the front and fight man against man,
38:04but they had no experience.
38:11Once again, the older men were left and the younger men died.
38:20It's more than experience.
38:22It's a kind of sixth sense.
38:25When there was danger, I could smell it.
38:28The older ones were all the same.
38:30Fire!
38:41The 25th of August, 1944, the battle for the Gothic Line begins.
38:49The Germans face a heavy artillery bombardment, concentrated at the two mountain passes.
39:01Patrick Burey is exploring the summit of Monte Altozzo, which overlooks the Giogo Pass.
39:07Wow, look at this.
39:10This position would have been held by the Germans, and it completely dominates the valley down below.
39:16And you can see the importance of this position, simply because there's a road down there,
39:20one of the only ones in this area, that goes through the mountains, and so that anything
39:24trying to get through here is not going to be able to do so until they capture this mountain.
39:28They've got to take it.
39:33Having entrenched positions near the summit, the Germans have a massive advantage.
39:40So I've been told there's an observation post down here.
39:45Oh yeah, look at this.
39:47It's really quite clear, actually.
39:49So...
39:53And it's still deep.
39:55You can't...
39:57Whoa, look at this.
40:00Sitting here, September 1944, German soldier, you've got your radio back to the command bunker over there,
40:08probably got a machine gun too, just to give you some defence, but you know, the view,
40:14the observation is just outstanding.
40:16Convinced their position is unassailable, the Germans let their guard down.
40:21The Americans, after five days, have got to within 50 metres of this position,
40:26and the Germans didn't even know it, simply because the Americans had been advancing very silently and at night.
40:36On the 17th of September, US soldiers reach the summit.
40:45The Germans are caught completely off guard by the stealth of the attack.
40:51After a brief firefight, they surrender.
40:54Monteltuzzo, a key position on the Gothic line, is lost.
40:59There's two American divisions trying to get through this area, that's 20,000 men,
41:04and this position is absolutely crucial to stopping them.
41:07But interestingly, it's actually decided in a close combat battle between just dozens of infantry.
41:13And once this position is taken, the Gothic line is breached.
41:18Their last defensive stronghold broken, the Germans can do little to stop the Allied advance.
41:29With the arrival of spring, Allied armoured divisions pour into the Po Valley and on towards the Alps.
41:47The 1st of May, 1945, Jupp Klein is now fighting in northern Italy.
42:00I was chasing an American POW who had fled our custody.
42:05There was no way I was going to let him escape after everything we'd been through.
42:18Where is the American?
42:25Hitler is dead.
42:28The war is over.
42:30It was announced on the radio.
42:48On the 2nd of May, the Germans surrender unconditionally to the Allies in Italy.
42:55It marks the end of the Italian campaign.
43:01After the war, Klein takes over a carpentry business.
43:05He later co-founds the Monte Cassino Association, set up to promote peace and reconciliation.
43:12He dies in 2014.
43:18Kesselring does not escape the consequences of the Ardiati massacre of civilians.
43:23In 1947, he's tried for war crimes.
43:28Released in 1952, he dies eight years later.
43:33Kesselring's defensive lines were an extraordinary tactical success,
43:37allowing Germany to delay the Allied advance for over 18 months.
43:42But in the end, they were broken by the overwhelming firepower of the Allies.
43:48The line's legacy is that they forced a conflict that killed as many as 200,000 men.
43:55One of the most costly campaigns of the entire war.