Narrator: Previously on
"Hunting Hitler"... Baer: We're going to have to
uncover the network that would have helped
Hitler get away. In network strategy
or asset mapping, we always start by tracking
a target's family. "My coming to Berchtesgaden
was very strange." Somebody organized
the exfiltration of Hitler's two sisters. Why do they feel safe
in Berchtesgaden? Kennedy:
We have a huge steel door, blocking us
from getting access underneath Hitler's
personal home. Behind that door you would find
a vast labyrinth of underground tunnels, 400 feet of solid rock
above you. If Adolf Hitler walks
out of that tunnel, and he gets on a train,
where is the next stop? Bakos: So, this is from
the U.S. Army. "At this time, the decision
had been taken to divide the ministries
in two parts." They're splitting up. Hitler could have gone north
or he could have gone south. We have to look
at both routes. DePaul: Look at the size
of this massive structure. Williams: This is the size
of a small town. What is this?
An operating room? This is definitely a hospital
and a perfect cover to hide some
high value target. Hitler came to visit
when she was working there, and she had to take off
Hitler's coat. He was here more than once. What house?
What structure? It's placed right
on a lake. Well, let's go have a look
at that house. ♪♪ Baer: I have never seen
so much redundancy built into an organization. I have never seen escape
routes like this. They have planned
for every contingency. Narrator: Using asset mapping,
the same strategy used to dismantle the leadership
of al Qaeda and ISIS, 21-year CIA veteran
Bob Baer, and former terrorist targeting
officer Nada Bakos, have identified
two escape routes that could have gotten
Adolf Hitler out of Europe after World War II. While one team investigates
Hitler's potential southern escape route
through Berchtesgaden in southern Germany, Bob and Nada focus in
on Hitler's potential northern escape route
through Hohenlychen, where a declassified
U.S. Army file places Hitler at a possible
lakeside safe house, at the same time that
the official record states that he was in
his Berlin bunker, preparing to commit suicide. This northern route is
absolutely fascinating. It's Himmler's compound -- Hitler's personal guard,
the head of the SS. It's enormous. It operated as a hospital
that they knew, according to
the Geneva Convention, it was not going
to be bombed. Let's not forget we have
a file that places Hitler at a lake by Hohenlychen and then another
eyewitness told us specifically
there was a house by the lake where
Hitler came to visit. What we've seen
is a pattern wherever we've been
that high-level Nazis cared about
their personal comfort. So if you're going to move
Hitler through here, it's going to be some place
that's comfortable enough, protected enough,
out of the public eye. I want to get the team
to that house as soon as we can. Let's see if we can find
some evidence that Hitler used this
as a northern escape route. ♪♪ ♪♪ DePaul:
Built by the lake. The windows and the balconies
and glazed-in areas, they're obviously bedrooms. Along Hitler's potential
northern escape route, at the massive Nazi compound
in Hohenlychen, former U.S. Marshals Commander
Lenny DePaul, and investigative journalist
Gerrard Williams, arrive at a secluded villa
on the property to determine if this could
have been a location Hitler used as the launching point
for his escape after the war. The team uses the cover of night
to minimize their exposure. If I'm on the run,
and I'm a fugitive, I would die to have
a place like this. DePaul:
This massive compound was
a medical military facility, but the villa in itself to me
is completely different from anything else
I saw in this compound. It's absolutely gorgeous. It's well hidden,
sitting right on the water. Certainly a perfect spot to
put somebody in for a few days. Now we need to get
into this villa to see if there's
any evidence whatsoever that Adolf Hitler himself
could have possibly stayed here. Here we go. [ Jingling, clangs ] Man, look at this place,
Gerrard. Thinking back
about 70 years ago and who was in here
and what they were doing. [ Bats screeching ] Whoa, whoa.
Incoming bats. Let's go this way. Let's take
a quick look at everything. Staircase. It's quite a nice
staircase, though. Yeah. Lacquered hand rails. It's more like
a grand house. One, two, three, four,
five stories up. It just feels
like posh accommodation. Look at this room. It's kind of a nice
looking floor, right? Yeah. Wow. This is where higher
echelons reside. It's pretty obvious that
this is something more ornate and lavish than the rest of the
administrative and hospital buildings that we've been
walking through. It feels more like
a palatial family home. It's safe, it's secure,
we're full of bloody SS. If you're thinking about
an escape route, this is a great place
to come. If any high-ranking
Nazi officers or Hitler himself were going to stay
somewhere on the compound, this would be the place. Ooh, hello. There's an en suite
bathroom. Yeah, and look. Look at the walls. This is the first time we've
seen decorative tile work. Yeah. Look at this hole. This is probably where
the shower emptied. Oh, wow, look at this. What is this thing? Look at this, Gerrard. There's a crest,
maybe even a date. It could be
a medicine bottle. God knows what it is,
but it's certainly something. DePaul: Seeing ornate features,
opulent areas in this villa, it certainly isn't a place that a low-level Nazi officer
is going to stay. This was definitely set up for
somebody with expensive taste. Knowing what type of medicine
that could have possibly been in this bottle
is a huge clue and will certainly tell me
what kind of person would have stayed
in this place. We'll ship this stuff back
and... See what they say. ...see what happens. ♪♪ What we have is a place
you could put Hitler. Narrator: Bob and Nada
review the findings from Hitler's potential
northern escape route in Hohenlychen, Germany. If the decision is made
for him to flee north, it's absolutely logical to me
that he would go here. Also finding this
medicine bottle, I think he may have been
somewhat of a hypochondriac, setting up medicine in case he ended up in any one
of these facilities. Yeah. If it is the some sort of
medicine we found at Misiones, it's a red flag. Previously in the investigation,
the team uncovered medicine in a Nazi compound
in Misiones, Argentina. It was consistent with
the type of medication that Adolf Hitler
was known to be taking. I want to know
what's in the bottle. Baer: For anybody who's doing
classic manhunting, there's nothing like
forensics. It's something
you can't mess with. That kind of specific detail
about a medicine could tell us if Hitler planned to be there. Narrator: While the team waits
for test results from forensics laboratory
MicroTrace, Bob and Nada shift their focus to Hitler's potential
southern escape route at Berchtesgaden, Germany, where a declassified
U.S. Army report revealed that General Eisenhower
directed his troops during the final days
of the war. This is the end of the war. We know a lot of high-level
Nazis left Berlin and headed to Berchtesgaden. You had a strategically
important position in the Alps. You have extensive bunkers. We also have this
fully-functioning government headquarters, and there's train tracks
leading right up to the exits. He just could have walked out
the door and been gone. This is an easy escape route. The question is,
what happened? We never learn from history
a battle for Berchtesgaden. If Hitler escaped
with the southern route, what happens
when the Allies arrived and what did they find? ♪♪ ♪♪ In all my years of gathering
and analyzing intelligence, I can tell you there's
nothing more important than getting it
from the source. Narrator: U.S. Army Green Beret
Mike Simpson lands in Bay City, Michigan, to meet with two veterans
of the 3rd Infantry Division, the first Allied troops
to enter Berchtesgaden, which could be a key location for Hitler's southern
escape route. Simpson: The investigation
has led us to multiple points
around the globe. But for the first time, it's
leading us to a place right here in the continental
United States. There are many things
that archival records and photographs
will not tell you. That's why it's important to
hear exactly what was going on, from the point of view
of the individual soldier, during the liberation
of Berchtesgaden. Narrator: Private John Miller
and Sergeant Ross Brown were in their early 20s when they marched into
to Berchtesgaden on May 4, 1945. Gentlemen, I understand
that you were among the first soldiers there. What can you tell me
about that? That day, before we went
to Berchtesgaden, we were pushing it hard. When we got to the river,
Germans blew the bridge. Then I heard it,
kaboom, you know. Well, there goes
the bridge. Yeah. So we were held up
for about two hours. So the Germans
blowing that bridge was a significant delay tactic
for someone or something. Yeah. Miller: And then we got down
to Berchtesgaden and there was no fight. Hmm. Were there any even
harassing ambushes, or sniper fire,
or landmines? No, we didn't have
any trouble going up. Not at Berchtesgaden, no. So, do you think not even
a shot fired? No. There were some Jeeps,
our scouts ahead of us, said there was no Germans. And what happened to them,
I don't know. I have no idea. Interesting. Simpson:
There was a German delay and then Berchtesgaden
was a virtual ghost town by the time
the 3rd Infantry arrived. Someone was buying time. Logically, that delay
could have been used to get a high value
target such as Hitler out of Berchtesgaden. ♪♪ ♪♪ 3rd Infantry Division
arrives in Berchtesgaden, hits a total ghost town. Narrator: Bob Baer
and Nada Bakos review the intel
from their investigation of Hitler's potential
southern escape route in Berchtesgaden, Germany. The question is, where did
the Nazis end up going to after Berchtesgaden? Let's look at the map. Down here is Berchtesgaden. We've got Austria
on all three sides. So as Allied troops
start to move in, Hitler really doesn't
have a choice except to move
into Austria. Hitler would have known
it's a friendly country. That's his turf right there.
That's where he got his start. Narrator: In 1938, one year before the beginning
of World War II, Nazi Germany
peacefully annexed Austria in an event known
as the Anschluss. The union of the two countries was an important objective
for Adolf Hitler, who was born
and raised in Austria, in a town just 40 miles
from Berchtesgaden. People on the run, when they
run out of options, go home. Saddam Hussein fled Baghdad
and went back to his village. And I confronted those people,
ask the most basic questions, and they refused
to answer them. And that gives you
a certain security. Look at this. A summary of field agents,
Austria. "Our informants
helped us pinpoint the mountain town
of Altaussee. We located many Nazis
who had fled to Altaussee." Altaussee could be the center
of the escape route in Austria. And look at this. It's only about 36 miles
from Berchtesgaden. That's an easy commute. So, the question is, is there
an infrastructure in place that Hitler could use
to move through there safely and securely? Exactly. If Hitler was going to flee
through Altaussee, he would need someone locally
to hide him and protect him. Because at this point,
he knows he's being hunted and now he has
to go clandestine. Right. We need to get a team
out there right away to see if Hitler had the support
to escape through Altaussee. ♪♪ Simpson:
Look at all this natural
protection you have around you. All these mountains
are ideal. Narrator: Tracking Hitler's
potential southern escape route, U.S. Army Green Beret
Mike Simpson, World War II historian
James Holland, and their local contact
Katja Seebohm land at a lookout point 2,000 feet above
Altaussee, Austria. ♪♪ Holland:
So, this is Altaussee. Seebohm:
Well, they've got the village
of Altaussee right there. You've got the lake
spread out in front of you, the dead mountains
all around us. I look at this from
a strategic view and I think of how
difficult it would be for an advancing force
to get up in here. You're going to have to take
the path of least resistance, which is how
we drove up here. So essentially
there's one way up. Yep. But once you get here,
there's not just one way out. If you're the Nazis fleeing, there's plenty of ways
to sneak off into the hills. Strategically,
this is really ideal. Absolutely. Everyone fled here. Just in the salt mine over there
was where they stored the 6,500 paintings
and sculptures looted from all over Europe,
brought here to safety. Incredible. Hitler had been preparing
to create a huge art gallery. So he basically stole large numbers
of priceless works of art, as the Nazis conquered
various territories at the start of the war. So, this was like a gigantic
Alpine safety deposit box is what it sounds like. Simpson: A cache of art
in the mines tells me that Altaussee was of very
high importance to the Nazis. But what we don't know is
if this would have been a viable stopping point
for the escape of Adolf Hitler. I need more information
at this point. I need to talk to some people. ♪♪ So, a lot of what we're
seeing in the main town is exactly as it would
have appeared in 1945. Narrator:
The team makes their way
into the town of Altaussee where their contact has secured
a meeting with a local woman, Christine Weissenbacher, who may have information
on Nazi activity in the area after the war. I understand you've lived here
all your life, is that right? [ Speaking German ] She was born here
and has lived here ever since. So, can you remove this
extraordinary period at the very end
of the war? Sort of April, May 1945? When the Nazis came,
her father was one of the men who took a team of oxen
to the train station and brought all the stolen
artwork into the salt mines. What was the extent of the
Nazi presence here in Altaussee after the war? The village was full
of Nazi officers, but she as a child
really only noticed the ones right next door. They lived in the Villa Kerry
just right up there. It was very, very secret who was at the villa
and what they were doing because she says they
were governing from there. So, the Villa Kerry
up on the hill was the Nazi headquarters
here in Altaussee. Is that true? [ Speaking German ] How amazing. Was there any one of them that
just stuck out in your mind? [ Speaking German ] I heard the name
Kaltenbrunner. Yes. That's major. Holland: We're talking about
Ernst Kaltenbrunner. He's the top man
in the entire Nazi police and intelligence network. One of the inner circle
of Hitler. Number two in the SS. It's not just that
Kaltenbrunner was here, he actually had an
operational headquarters here. What this tells me is that
if Adolf Hitler had wanted to escape through here, his security would
have been guaranteed. ♪♪ ♪♪ Baer: You should take
a look at this. We got this in
from MicroTrace, the lab that analyzed
what was in that bottle we found in Hohenlychen. Narrator: Bob and Nada
review the findings from Hitler's potential
northern escape route through Hohenlychen, Germany where a declassified
document places Hitler
at a Nazi compound six days before he was
believed dead in Berlin. Look at this, Gerrard. At the compound, the team uncovered
a medicine bottle in Hitler's possible
safe house. "The jar contains a mixture
of two compounds in a small amount of oil. Together, the compounds were
used as laxatives or antiseptics to treat the stomach." Stomach medicine. This is
what we found in Misiones. A coincidence, maybe. But the fact is
Hitler, we know, was suffering
from stomach ailments. Did he have anything to do with
this bottle? We don't know. But you look at the totality
of evidence we have and you really
have to wonder. That certainly adds
to the picture that Hitler had planned on
going to Hohenlychen. Everything we're seeing
from Hohenlychen to Argentina, Misiones,
we see preparations to move somebody very important
to the Nazis, somebody who needed protection
and had medical cares. And I don't know of anybody
that fits that description except Adolf Hitler. There are too many
coincidences to ignore here. I think that every piece
of evidence we have suggests that Hohenlychen was a funnel
for Nazis getting out. Bakos: In addition to finding
this medicine bottle, we know we have
an eyewitness file that places Hitler
in Hohenlychen on the 24th of April. But if he was there,
what was next? You know the end of April,
the Russians are converging on northern Germany
and they know it. I mean you can't stick around.
He's got to get out. The easiest, safest way
to get out is by airplane. Let's see what we've got. Here we go. MI6 -- "In the vicinity
of Hohenlychen, there was an airfield. On 28 April 1945, they had taken Hitler away
from the airfield." This is a lead
we have to follow up. We have Hitler spotted on the
24th of April in Hohenlychen. Four days later, we have
a separate independent witness identify him leaving by airplane
on the 28th of April. The dates corresponds
with the other sightings, so the timeline would work. We need to figure out if there
is an airfield in the area. Yeah. Here we go. Here are the major
Luftwaffe airfields that could have been used
for getting Hitler out. Look at this -- Rechlin
right next to Hohenlychen. I want to find out
if Rechlin was still serviceable
at the end of April. I agree. We need to investigate
whether or not Hitler could've
used this airfield to escape Northern Germany. ♪♪ ♪♪ DePaul:
Rechlin Airbase. Narrator:
In search of evidence that Hitler could have
boarded a plane out of Germany
at this location, as part of the Nazi's
northern escape route, Lenny, Gerrard, and
their translator Teresa make contact with
Ervin Schulshenk, the historian for
Rechlin Airbase. So, please, thank him
again for us. We appreciate his time,
and if he could just give us an overview
of what went on here. [ Speaking German ] Everything was tested here,
including experimental aircraft, and at the end of the war,
the Luftwaffe used it as a base. As an operational base. Yes. Rechlin is
a fascinating place. It's the test bed for every
single experimental aircraft that the Nazis are producing, and the Nazis are producing
lots of experimental aircraft well ahead of their time, ahead of anything
the Americans have got. Narrator:
Throughout World War II, the Nazi Air Force
known as the Luftwaffe employed 3.4 million
engineers and pilots to aggressively develop
everything from stealth fighters and the world's first
operational helicopters, to a prototype for
a rocket-propelled bomber that would enter outer space
before delivering its payload. Williams:
If you're fleeing from Germany
at the end of the war, these are the sorts of aircraft
you really want to get on. So, there were planes here
loaded up with fuel and ready to take off
at the end of April in 1945. Yeah. [ Speaking German ] ♪♪ The Nazis did make it here,
or Hitler himself. When was the last time
the experimental aircraft that were here and operational
took off from here? The last flight left here
April 28, 1945. That was the last one. The last flight out of Rechlin
is on the 28th of April. That's the same day
that Hitler was spotted here. This coincidence is
too significant to ignore. How were they escaping?
What aircraft? There are no records here. There was an official
instruction given that they were to destroy
every plane or to render it unusable
in some way or another. So they blew up
their own planes. Yes. There is an aboveground
Luftwaffe bunker here on the premises that was destroyed
at the end of the war. DePaul: At the end of the war,
the Nazis wanted to get rid of any evidence
they may have left behind. But whatever plane Hitler
would have got out of here on April 28th on, they would have had
a fleet of them. If we can find out
what's in his bunker, we certainly could find out
what type of plane Hitler could have used
to get out of this area. Ask him if there's anything
left of this bunker that we can take a look at. Yeah, we can go.
Let's go. ♪♪ Look at this thing. It's more like a Cold War
aircraft hangar. Narrator: The team arrives
at the site of a hangar that once stored Nazi
experimental aircraft to try and uncover evidence
of the type of airplane that could have flown
Hitler out of Germany. Wow. This is it here, right? Schulshenk: Yep. This is huge. Look at the thickness
of that concrete, Gerrard. Typical Nazi fingerprints. ♪♪ My God. This is unbelievable. So this is the roof, right? Yeah, we're walking on
the roof right now. Narrator:
This massive 15,000 square foot
concrete bunker was large enough
to fit approximately 15 aircraft inside. When it was demolished
at the end of the war, the roof fell to the ground, creating cave-like pockets
of rubble beneath it. So this is basically
a grave site for an airplane. This was a thought
through destruction. They destroyed
their own planes. But why?
What are you trying to hide? ♪♪ ♪♪ Baer: I want to get
in this bunker. They were
covering something up. What was in there
that they had to hide? Narrator: With the investigation
into Hitler's potential northern escape route underway
at Rechlin Airbase, Bob and Nada focus on the team along the southern escape route
in Altaussee, Austria, where a declassified document points to an epicenter of
high-ranking Nazis on the run. This is 36 miles
from Berchtesgaden. We're still in the Alps. Right. And the team found out
that there was a ton of Nazi activity here
after the war. Simpson:
Was there any one of them
that stuck out in your mind? [ Speaking German ] That's major. Bakos:
The fact that Kaltenbrunner
had a command center here means that he had control
obviously over the area. So this would be
another safe place for Nazi officers
to retreat to, Hitler possibly using this
as a transit point. Ernst Kaltenbrunner,
childhood friend of Hitler. Close associate.
There we go. And one of his closest
advisors at the end of the war. He's head of the Gestapo,
the secret police. If there were one person
I would trust to get me out of Berlin
in an escape route, it would be Kaltenbrunner. Bakos: When you're breaking
down a network, you're trying to figure
out who's important, who's actually the person
that could be closest to the high-value target
that could help keep them alive, and Kaltenbrunner
fits that bill. He seems like a prime target
to investigate. Kaltenbrunner, Altaussee...
let's see what we've got. All right, there we go. U.S. Secret Service, 1963. "A 2,500 pound cache of
Kaltenbrunner papers which are hidden in or near
Lake Toplitz, Austria." This file tells us that
Kaltenbrunner crosses the border
into Austria with more than a ton of paper
and dumps it. I think this is huge. How big would
2,500 pounds be? That's like a truck
full of paper. We've got Kaltenbrunner
and his guys throwing stuff in the lake. They have something for future
plans that they don't want the Allies or the Russians
to know about. In the case of terrorist
organizations, they work very hard
to make sure that their information
that they have is destroyed
before they leave. In this instance, I think
it is probably very similar. What were they hiding? I mean, it could be
information of activities and operations
that they were conducting, or names and identities. It's hard to know. My imagination can run --
it had something to do with getting Hitler
or other Nazis out and where
they were going next. That's the kind of document
you would want to destroy. A document that says
"here's what we're going to do with Hitler
when he's ready to go." And if we can find that one
document, we can change history. Here's Altaussee, the town. Here's the lake. These documents, if we can get
a hold of any of them, they're like the Holy Grail of
what the plans of the Nazis were at the end of the war. ♪♪ Okay, you want to turn
left up front here. Narrator: Along Hitler's
potential southern escape route, Mike, James,
and their translator Katja prepare to make contact
with Hans Fuchs, an expert on the history
of the region, to determine where a secret
cache of Nazi documents could have been stashed
in the area. Kaltenbrunner supposedly
ditching this cache of papers is a sign that he is trying
to get rid of evidence. By its very nature,
if he's got rid of it, that means it's important. Whatever it is,
he did not want the Allies getting
their hands on it. So, Hans, the reason
we've come here is because we've got
this document that says that Kaltenbrunner
at the end of the war hid a cache of important
top secret papers. My question to you is, what do
you think the chances are of us being able to find them? [ Speaking German ] He is saying
he is absolutely positive Kaltenbrunner would have
hid something in the lake. About 10, 15 years ago
people found his signet ring and his official stamp
on the shore of the lake. Right here? Right here on the lake,
two minutes away. Two items that are easily
linked with him and were definitely
found in this lake. That's major. So, in your opinion, do you think there is still
stuff out there in the lake? I mean, do you think this cache
that we're after, do you think
it could still be there? So, he knows things
were sunk here, but these are not treasures.
This is not gold. This is not anything
with a commercial value. He's talking about documents,
he's talking about maps. This is exactly
what we need to find. This<i> is</i> gold. Right. This is<i> better</i> than gold, and no one has disturbed it
so the potential is unlimited. Simpson: It seems very likely
that this cache of documents would be right here
in Lake Altaussee. If so, that opens up a whole new
chapter in this investigation. Whatever is down
there could lead us on to that next point
in the escape route. ♪♪ ♪♪ DePaul: Well, somebody
felt it necessary to blow this place up
for a good reason. Narrator:
Following Hitler's potential
northern escape route, Lenny and Gerrard are on
the ground at Rechlin Airbase, where a declassified
document places Hitler escaping from Germany two days
before he was believed dead. Even the big bunker busters the British were dropping
at the end of World War II would have had a real problem
getting through this. It's like a mountain. DePaul: Yeah. The team investigates
a demolished bunker where the Nazis housed
their experimental aircraft at the end of the war. I want to try to
get down below if I can. There are still remains
of this bunker even though the
entire roof caved in. So if we can identify the types of aircraft
that could have been here, we could dig up some
pretty significant evidence to figure out
what kind of plane Hitler could've used to fly
out of Rechlin Airbase. Look at this thing. It looks
like it goes right to the floor. I'm gonna see if
I can get in there. Hold on. Are you sure? Yeah, we got to see
what's going on down there. You got your radio? Yeah, I have. I'll be on channel 3. Roger that. Holy...Wow. <i> What can you see, man?</i> There's a whole lot
of rubble down here. Mainly rocks, but
it goes on for quite a while. Oh, look at this. This is where this thing
came tumbling down and split right here. Oh, my God. It's got to be 15 feet
of solid concrete. <i> Hey, Gerrard.</i> Yeah, man. There's so many holes
in this place. I mean I can see down further
but I surely can't fit. I stumbled onto this one area that was tucked away
in a corner, it was a pretty
significant size hole but I couldn't fit in there. There were certainly spots where
this concrete did not fall on, so some things possibly
could have survived. I could definitely use a robot
to get into these small areas <i>where this rubble is.</i> Understood.
Over. If anything did remain
from this blast, it's going to be areas
like this. So it's extremely important
to get eyes on this spot. <i>What the hell was in here that
these guys needed to destroy?</i> That's the
$1 million question. ♪♪ DePaul: Russel Fraizer,
my friend! Hi, Lenny. Narrator:
The next day, Lenny and Gerrard
return to the airbase, joined by Lenny's contact
Russel Fraizer, who has access to
state-of-the-art robotic equipment. So, how far can I go
with this thing? You could go up to 90 meters. Oh, that's plenty. Okay. The Delta Extreme Crawler
is a remote-controlled robotic exploration vehicle equipped with an onboard
high-definition camera and all-terrain treads. It's unique suspension
allows it to navigate over almost any obstacle, giving its operator
a visual picture of any location that is too dangerous
to access on foot. Let's go do our thing. ♪♪ That's going to fit perfect,
Russel. Fraizer: Here you go. Yep, got it. All right, here we go. DePaul:
After this thing blew up,
nobody was coming in here to have a robotic pair
of eyes like this to be able to sink it another
15 feet where I can't get in. Such a location,
no one has ever seen. Unbelievable. ♪♪ You got visuals?
Do you see it? Yes, good. All right,
what have you got? ♪♪ What was that?
Back up. Can you go
a little further? Williams: Seems like rebar,
and what's left of the ceiling. Yeah. It's still going down, huh. It goes down pretty deep. ♪♪ What's that there? I don't know. What is this thing? Tilt up a bit. Can you see this? It looked like some piece
of an airplane or some sort of equipment. Look at here. What's that? [ Speaking German ] Teresa: He says it looks like
an airplane starter. [ Speaking German ] For the ME-262. [ Laughs ] That's a starter motor
from an ME-262. Wow. Okay. The 262 is the most advanced
jet fighter in the world. It is faster than anything
the Allies had. Narrator: The Messerschmidt 262 was one of the world's
first jet fighter aircraft, introduced into the German
Air Force in late 1944. It could accommodate two people at a top speed of
550 miles per hour, making it over 100 miles
an hour faster than any other plane
in the war. Williams: To actually find
tangible evidence that these things are here, means it's possible
for a squadron of ME-262s is flying out of Rechlin. They have training versions
with two seats in them, but they've got rubbish range,
650 miles if they're lucky. That's fine.
Who cares. Get out of here, and you're
out of here, 200, 300 miles, with hopefully our target
on board. DePaul:
To have that type of an aircraft
here at Rechlin Airbase, what a perfect escape vehicle for a guy like Adolf Hitler
to be in. This was an airplane that not
only could defend itself but could outrun anything. If Hitler himself was here
and boarded one of these things, he was out of here in a hurry. ♪♪ ♪♪ Holland: It's so hard to imagine
this as being a hotbed of Nazis at the end of the war. It really is. Narrator:
Along Hitler's potential
southern escape route, Mike and James are
following eyewitness testimony and a declassified CIA file, claiming that
high-ranking Nazis were stashing top secret
documents in a lake after the war. Simpson: If this documents
cache is here, this could potentially unlock
the blueprint of an escape plan for every escaped Nazi
of that time period. This cache of documents could
bring us closer and closer to unlocking
this investigation. Narrator:
Their local contact, Hans Fuchs,
has assembled a survey team and secured unprecedented access
to search the lake. If you try putting yourself
in the mind of Kaltenbrunner, you just want to get rid
of this stuff, don't you? So you are going to do it
where you can do it easily. And that suggests that it's got
to be closer to the shore. I can clearly see
along the shoreline there are multiple areas
where a footpath comes down pretty close to the water.
That's our search area. Simpson:
Access to this lake has been
very restricted up until now. This makes it
much more likely that something
might still be here and that we have
the best chance of finding it. Narrator: The lake covers
nearly a square mile. So to uncover potential targets, they are armed with a Yellowfin
high-resolution side-scan sonar. Used by the U.S. Navy
for minesweeping, this state-of-the-art technology
creates an acoustic pulse, capable of detecting objects
up to 300 feet below the surface of the water. Let's do it. So, we're going to move up
to the point where we start
our search grid here. We're going to start
70 meters off the shore and map our way in. There's no possible way that
we're going to miss anything as we're moving
towards shore. We need to confine
our search close to shore. We know that when Kaltenbrunner
went on the run, he went on the run
very quickly. There wasn't going to be time
to get a boat, go out to the middle
of the lake, drop this cache of documents, then return to the shoreline
and go on his way. Narrator: The team will execute
a grid pattern search, working their way up the coast and outwards as far as
90 feet from the shore. One boat will survey
with sonar, while the other drops buoys
to mark any points of interest. What we're looking for here
is a case of some kind. One massive, big metal box, something in which you would
put a bundle of papers and which you know
is going to sink. Mike, so, we've
started scanning. <i> Roger that, James.</i> <i>Have you picked anything up?</i> Not at the moment, Mike. Just have to keep at it. Simpson: What they're going to
see on the screen is they're going to get
the bounce back from the sonar. Right angles are always
going to reflect better than anything else. So man-made objects lend
themselves to being found a lot better
than natural objects. So if something is there
and it is detectable, we will find it. We are seeing absolutely
nothing here at all. ♪♪ [ Beeping ] Hold up, what's this? This is quite interesting,
isn't it? It looks very interesting. Okay, Mike, there's something
quite interesting we're just picking up here. What have you got? It's quite a large,
sort of rectangular object. Holland:
I have no idea what it is, but it didn't look like rocks
and it didn't look like trees. It just really,
really stood out. And it could be nothing
other than man-made. Let's take a look. Oh, yeah. It's a sizeable object. Those are certainly straight
right angles on one side. Worth diving on that? Absolutely. Look at the distance from the
shore, where the slope is, that's what we're looking. Let's get to shore. We need to
get this dive started. Simpson: This is huge. Finding out what's here
in Lake Altaussee could potentially unlock<i>
all</i> of the secrets. This could be exactly
what we need to find out definitively what
happened to Adolf Hitler. ♪♪ Narrator: Next time on
"Hunting Hitler"... Can you see anything, mate? Kennedy:
This is incredible. Holland: Oh, wow. I'm pretty sure
that it's an Iron Cross. Simpson: The Nazis were able
to shed their identities and freely travel just about anywhere
in the world. What is so important that
you still need 15-inch guns? I don't want to say it,
but he thinks it's about special weapons, Nuclear weapons. That's massive. This is a space,
this is a hole right here. I see a room back there. This was their chance
of making the Fourth Reich a reality.
