Mega Disasters - Munich Olympic Massacre

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as athletes sleep at the Olympic Games masked gunmen launched an attack the terrorists killed two people and take nine hostage after hours of negotiations a desperate rescue operation is launched now they are going to kill these people but it ends in catastrophe suddenly one and all bets are off 17 people a day all round the world faces a terrifying new reality no one is safe from terrorism now one man uses classified government secrets hidden for 30 years this doomed the operation to finally repeat the explosive truth behind the Munich Olympics massacre disasters don't just happen they're a chain of critical events unravel the clues and count down those final seconds from disaster the hostages on board this helicopter think they're being flown to freedom in truth they're being flown to certain death you Europe Germany Munich the olympic games in munich are underway a festival of international competition 900 million viewers in a hundred countries watch in amazement as American swimmer Mark Spitz win seven gold medals and Soviet Olga Korbut enchants the world with her dazzling gymnastics the presence of a team from Israel is highly significant the sight of Jewish athletes attending a German Olympics symbolizes the whole spirit of the games one of the competitors is 28 year-old weightlifter david burger david is actually from cleveland ohio he failed to qualify for the US Olympic team but being Jewish he's entitled to represent Israel the law graduate has little chance of a medal but he doesn't care he simply wants to compete he considered competing in the Olympics as a weightlifter was the absolute ultimate that he could achieve andre spitzer is the fencing coach for him participating in the olympics crowns the greatest time of his life a year earlier Andre got married his wife anke gave birth to their first child just five weeks ago we were a young couple very much in love and we just had a beautiful baby daughter was born so what could go wrong nothing Andre and David are staying with the rest of the Israeli team in the Olympic Village it's a vast purpose-built complex housing 10,000 competitors coaches and officials Israel male athletes are housed in block 31 on Connelly straße near the edge of the complex although there is goodwill in the village the world outside is going through a volatile time terrorists are creating bloody turmoil a Palestinian faction known as black September is particularly ruthless in the last year the organization has assassinated the Jordanian prime minister and hijacked a passenger jet bound for Israel among those witnessing the violence firsthand is seasoned war reporter Gerald see more John FEMA ITN among but now Seymour is covering the Olympic Games it should be easy a welcome break from the ceaseless brutality the idea that one would be sitting on a major major event of violence one of their iconic moments of that whole century there was no way that anything like that was in athol just after four a.m. on monday September the 5th masked gunmen break into the Olympic Village they make their way to block 31 Connelly straße where members of the Israeli team sleeping they burst into the athletes bedrooms in the chaos that followed two athletes are shot weightlifter yosef romano bleeds to death then the gunman dumped the body of wrestling coach moshe weinberg on the walkway outside they take nine Israeli athletes hostage at 530am a police officer sees Weinberg's body outside block 31 he raises the alarm as the police removed the body they spot masked gunmen inside the panic officers alert Munich police chief Manfred Schreiber 47 year-old Shriver has a formidable reputation as an uncompromising hard man his officers call him the sheriff because he always gets his man at Olympic headquarters Schreiber takes immediate command he forms a committee to deal with the crisis at 6am Schreiber is presented with two demand notes from the gun dropped from a window of the Israeli apartment the first sheet announces that the killers are members a black September the second is a list of 234 Palestinians jailed in Israel the terrorists demand that Israel's government release all the prisoners by 9am in just three hours time if the Israelis refuse they will kill more hostages Schreiber immediately sets up a hotline to the Prime Minister of Israel Gautam a year at six-twenty am the world awakes to the sickening news violence has spread to even the most peaceful of international events this is an ITN news flash from the Olympic Village in Munich where early this morning armed Palestinian guerrillas the media reports that several israeli athletes have been taken hostage to a day one is reported as the boxing coach this sets alarm bells ringing her anke slit sir no there is no boxing coach I know that and I was a fencing coach so I tried to find out what what happened but nobody could tell me by 715 a.m. police established at nine israeli athletes are being held hostage on the first floor of block 31 in a bedroom at the rear among them are andre spitzer and david burger but the police don't know how many terrorists are involved the world waits for Manfred Schreiber's next move Schreiber waits for a response from the Israeli government will they agree to the terrorists demands Israel prime minister golda meir tell Schreiber she needs more time to convene her cabinet but time is running out 845 a.m. the terrorists have threatened to shoot another athlete in just 15 minutes Schreiber must attempt to negotiate he takes the long walk to block 31 accompanied by two Olympic officials one of the terrorists emerges from the building he wears a safari suit and boot polish on his face despite the comic outfit he oozes confidence the man introduces himself as ISA and says he's in charge his real name is Lou tifa thief a 35 year old from Nazareth three of his brothers are also members of black September two are held in Israeli jails with just seconds to go until the nine a.m. deadline Schreiber must persuade ISA to give him more time the lives of the nine athletes depend on it at 9am terrorists warm they'll shoot one of nine Israeli athletes taken hostage at the Munich Olympics police chief Manfred Schreiber pleads with terrorist leader acer for more time to meet their demands essa agrees he extends the deadline until 12 noon but he warned driver that had known he will order the execution of two more athletes Schreiber has three hours to persuade the gunman to surrender or Israel to release Palestinian prisoners by now the siege is a media frenzy 4,000 journalists and 2,000 TV crews are in Munich at the Olympic Stadium the games continue as normal but there's only one story in town arab guerrillas have invaded the male athletes housing area help relatives of the captured athletes keep vigil by their tvs it was totally unreal that you were watching a b-movie someplace and that everything is going to turn out alright 11am the Olympic Committee vows to international pressure and suspends the games placing the whole event in jeopardy this puts even more strain on police chief Schreiber now he must save the Israeli athletes and the Munich Olympics 1115 am finally Schreiber's wait is over Israel comes back with its answer it will not give in to the terrorists demands it will not release a single palestinian prisoner Schreiber realizes that the siege can only be ended by force but to launch an assault he needs one crucial piece of intelligence Schreiber must find out how many gunmen are inside block 31 he must buy more time it's 1145 am in 15 minutes the terrorists will shoot two more athletes Schreiber has nothing to bargain with he decides to engage isser in a deadly game of bluff noon comes the world braces itself for gunshots Schreiber has told a sir that the Israelis are cooperating the question is will i sir buy it the gamble pays off the terrorists don't shoot Schreiber keeps the bluff going through several deadlines all afternoon for Enki Spitzer it's terrifying it's like dying a little bit every deadline you think now it's going to happen now they are going to kill these people by 5pm schreiber still doesn't know how many terrorists are inside then finally he gets his chance he persuades isser to let two Olympic officials into apartment one to check on the hostages one is Walter Trevor he's appalled by what he sees when we entered the room we saw covered a corpse a lot of blood at the walls and the nine friend from Israel they had fear they knew that they were in a terrible and a nearly unsolvable situation drogas being set a vital task by Schreiber to count the gunman when I came to that room with Islam I saw four gunmen and there might have been a fifth one and from that time on there was only one target and one aim to free them by force finally Schreiber knows there are five terrorists he responds immediately ordering policemen armed with machine guns onto the roof of block 31 anke Spitzer has now spent ten hours watching and waiting she's desperate for it to end I was rather pleased because I was at least somebody was doing something you know somebody was trying to take action as the armed officers get into their positions the terrorists seemed to sense what's coming Schreiber gives his men an order to the amazement of all it's an order to retreat at ten past five there's a fresh twist to the salga the terrorist leader is ur demands a plane to fly the gunmen and the hostages to Cairo Egypt shriver's been under intense pressure for 11 hours now he's presented with the chance to take the siege out of the Olympic Village Schreiber agrees to hisses demands at 10pm a bus pulls into the underground carpark beneath block 31 moments later the bus takes the terrorists and hostages to a pair of helicopters 200 meters away the helicopters will fly them to fürstenfeldbruck a military airport 25 kilometers west of Munich there a Boeing 727 waits to take them to Cairo at no.5 p.m. TV cameras capture the helicopters leaving the Olympic Village as the helicopters disappear the media circus and spectators head to the airport among them Gerald see more and that was rather a sort of evening picnic carnival atmosphere lots of people that all waiting for a little bit of a show which is going to be an airplane taking off what the spectators don't know is that police chief Schreiber has no intention of letting the terrorists fly anywhere at the airport he set a trap five snipers wait for the helicopters to land three on the control tower 270 meters away on the airstrip once the helicopters land aye sir and his deputy will check out the Boeing 727 as agreed but the air crew are really armed police officers pooled shoot is her and his deputy when they board the snipers will eliminate the remaining terrorists 1030pm the helicopters land outside the airport's perimeter fence reporter jelled see more struggles to see in the dark the minutes go by there is nothing to photograph on the airstrip aye sir and his deputy board the plane then get back off sniper three gets Issel in his sights and waits for the order to shoot sunday 1 and then we're seeing the bursts of tracer and all bets are off the whole situation has suddenly changed the snipers failed to eliminate the terrorists a furious gunbattle erupts tied together in the helicopters the athletes can only pray at a military airport west of Munich German police are trying to rescue I in Israeli hostages for 30 minutes they exchanged fire with the terrorists at 11pm the gunfire ceases outside the gate reporter Gerald Seymour and the rest of the media hear the dramatic news everybody's safe everybody's all right it's been a tramp all the hostages have been rescued by the good news travels the world in the Spitzer household relatives celebrate but hankie refuses I'm just waiting for one phone call because i know that in whatever state and i will be after this ordeal you know the first thing you will do is call me at one minute past midnight gerald see more watches for armored cars driving to the airport at speed followed by vans of armed police he sees more gunfire then to massive explosions when the armored cars return Seymour realizes that the good news was premature big gates open and the lights are on the the face of the young officer NCO and the light show listening of the tears streamed down his face and that's the sign to us all that it's a disaster the world waits to learn exactly what happened at 317 am the media reveals the full scale of the carnage all of the Israelis taken hostage at the Munich Olympics are dead the nine men were killed during a rescue are for relatives hope turns to numb grief we turn all the lights off in this house and went to bed you don't think you don't feel you just react after something like this happens I was very angry and I wanted something to be done you know that morning anke Spitzer flies to Munich she visits apartment one where her husband spent his last day once there she makes a vow I just stood there and said to myself I will have to tell the world that this is what happened so that nobody will ever forget that this happened so that it will never happen again the truth of what happened that day remains shrouded in mystery many key witnesses are dead others are sworn to secrecy as a result questions still persist as to how the rescue attempt went so disastrously wrong for 20 years anke Spitzer hounded the German authorities for their official report about the munich massacre they denied its existence then in the early 1990s an anonymous source started sending her pages of the government's investigation she now holds the entire report a 3800 files anke wants it analyzed and responsibility for the disaster publicly acknowledged it's about time that somebody really you know got a good look at that all this so that you can see what mistakes were made by the German authorities and make justice historical justice and take the responsibility now by going deep into the top-secret German investigation we can reveal the facts behind the disastrous rescue plan a plan that shames the German authorities one man has agreed to come to Munich to analyze the classified report for hanky Leroy Thompson is an expert in resolving siege situations Thompson is a former US Army officer who was injured on an exercise in Russia he has written more than 30 books about security and lectures police forces all over the world Thompson has a professional interest in the Munich Olympics he was a security adviser at both the Athens and Barcelona games the first question is how did the armed terrorists break into the Olympic Village in the first place in Thompson's experience the games are the most heavily policed and security conscious sporting event in the world and keys copy of the official report states that the nineteen seventy two games were policed by two thousand security guards and the entire village was surrounded by a two meter high wire fence if true how did the terrorists enter with such ease there's one way to find out Thompson tracks down Olympic organizer Walter Drogo Drogo reveals that will go on paper security sounds impressive it was in fact deliberately relaxed the security concept has been not to show arms to have security people but in civil uniforms no weapons around this was a concept to show the friendly peaceful germany but british reporter gerald see more is more scathing nothing was forbidden it was it was open friendly warm result the Olympic Village was wide open the security basically did not exist there once inside the village how did the terrorists locate block 31 and how did they know the exact apartment that has the Israeli team today the Olympic Village is a vast residential housing estate and block 31 Connelly straße still exists if that is you can find it it is a very confusing maze of buildings and I think it drives home that the terrorists had certainly done a reccy and possibly had assistance in locating number 31 Connelly straße Thompson goes back to the official classified report for further clues and has a breakthrough he discovers that in the weeks leading up to the game's terrorist leader is er and his deputy were employed as construction workers in the Olympic Village this gave them the perfect cover to plan their attack in my new to detail Thompson hopes the official report will provide the answer to his next question once the gunmen strike how do the German authorities react their first step was to set up a crisis committee what Leroy wants to know is who was on that committee who was making the decisions and what experience did they have the committee is made up of three key decision-makers Bruno Merck the Bavarian interior minister hands Dietrich densha the interior minister of West Germany and Manfred Schreiber Munich's chief of police the list does not impress Leroy there are two politicians and just one tactician er politicians have an agenda that's usually related to getting reelected satisfying constituencies you know making themselves look good things that are separate from trying to deal with an incident and making decisions that may be hard decisions only shriver has the experience to deal with the situation but as Thompson discovers Schreiber makes a series of critical mistake mistakes like his failure to spot a vital floor in the terrorists weapons hostage expertly roy thomson his studying surveillance photos from a classified german report about the massacre at the Munich Olympics he immediately identifies two key intelligence points points it seems the police chief Manfred Shriver missed the first is that all the terrorists wear disguises this is a clear sign they intended to survive the operation if they were committed to die they wouldn't bother hiding their true identities to key point for negotiators because that means that they should be willing to maybe make some concessions to attempt to negotiate a solution that will let them live and leave next Thompson identifies a second key intelligence point the terrorists are armed with ak-47s Thompson knows that gunmen like the Palestinians are trained to always keep the safety catches on as he demonstrates at a firing range this small fact is absolutely vital normally you want a safety that by just using your trigger finger you can quickly flick it off that's not the case with the ak-47 as you can see it's awesome possible if not impossible to do the design means the operator has to take his finger off the trigger to ready the weapon this of course would give the German police if they were going to launch an assault an extra couple of seconds seconds can be the difference between life and death two seconds would give a skilled marksman time to pick off a target and time for an assault team to attack yet when Thompson studies the official report he finds no mention of the safety catches Schreiber and his men clearly missed it to get to the bottom of the next mystery Thompson studies the television archive he wants to know why Schreiber doesn't clear the entire area of media and spectators Thompson explains it's the first rule of tackling a hostage situation the reason is simple an ak-47 is an automatic weapons with a magazine that holds 35 rounds of ammunition and they have multiple magazines and it's not impossible that dozens and even up to a hundred people could have died head they really started shooting Schreiber's failure to clear the area is a mistake but there's far worse to come for Thompson the key to resolving any hostage siege is to know your enemy schreiber needs to know exactly how many terrorists are inside block 31 only then can he plan a successful assault Thomson no schreiber had one excellent opportunity just after 5pm he persuades is her to let two Olympic officials into apartment one to check on the condition of the hostages the officials report seeing five terrorists this is the information Schreiber has been seeking in our launches his assault plan to analyze the assault Thompson studies archive footage of the armed German policeman climbing onto the roof of block 31 he's not impressed they were uncomfortable in the way they were climbing across the roofs they weren't doing it what we say tactically which means using every bit of cover moving in such a way that they're always ready if they have to engage the terrace they were holding their weapons in a manner that didn't show they were used to using those weapons at close quarters so who was this assault team and why just as they were poised to strike were they ordered to retreat to find out Thompson tracks down Heinz hoenn one of 13 officers who scaled the roof that day he is shocked to learn that the assault team was made up of regular street cops obi-wan we were officers who worked the street there was nobody else know anti-terror unit existed bottom which is why it was only us who was suitable for this task these as the police officers wait for the order to attack their boss Schreiber notices something odd the terrorists seem to be reading his every move yeah f1 Yahoo was still on the roof when we were informed that our operation was very likely to be abandoned there's not feeling good schreiber suddenly realizes the preparations for the assault are being filmed and that the terrorists are watching every move live on TV he aborts the operation much to the relief of his officers years really for loosely copped it probably all of us would have been killed in the bloodbath taught Schreiber's failure to secure the area and clear the media has come back to bite him Thompson wants to quiz shriver about some of his mistakes that day he requests an interview Schreiber declines so Thompson decides to do some research into the man they call the sheriff deep in the vaults of a daily Munich newspaper he discovers a file on Schreiber and with the help of a translator he makes an astonishing discovery in August 1971 a year before the games Schreiber played a key role in another hostage crisis during a failed bank raid two armed men took 17 people hostage after a tense standoff Schreiber ordered a marksman to open fire one bank robber is injured but not fatally as a result the robber shot an innocent woman dead Schreiber was charged with involuntary manslaughter four months later the charges were dropped but Thompson suspects that the incident affect Schreiber's judgment he may not have been willing to make the call that it's time for us to use lethal force to settle this incident now so the lives of the nine Israeli hostages lay in the hands of one compromised police chief and two politicians Thompson is beginning to understand why the operation at the airport when so disastrously wrong Thompson gains access to the military airstrip at first and fell Brook the exact location where the nine athletes so tragically lost their lives when he sees the scene of the shootout for the first time it triggers another question during the Second World War German snipers were some of the most feared in the world so where were these skilled sharpshooters in 1972 I think one of the things that made the failure at fürstenfeldbruck so astonishing was that Germany had a reputation for having excellent snipers and men who could place precision shots when needed buried deep in the classified documents Thomson uncovers the airport rescue plan he reads 80 pages of detail and analyzes dozens of photographs and drawings deconstructing the rescue plan is the most critical part of Thompson's quest for the truth the plan is based on intelligence the fair of five terrorists when assailant is deputy board the seven to seven armed officers disguised as air crew will eliminate them then the five snipers located around the airport will target the three remaining terrorists and the helicopters sniper one is positioned behind a low wall slider to behind a military truck and snipers three four and five are positioned on the control tower with a clear view of the airstrip Thompson believes that the key to the planned success is the sniper behind the low wall using a laser rangefinder he works out that sniper one was just 50 metres from the terrorists those terrorists standing outside the helicopters he was behind him he should have been able to very quickly at that range eliminate those terrorists but as the helicopters come in to land the plan begins to unravel the armed officers on board the bowling furiously debate their chances of shooting ISA and his deputy as they board Heinz hoenn ssin was one of the officers on the plane he regarded the plan as a suicide mission then windy on VOD if the terrorist leader had detonated his hand grenade near the fully fueled aircraft was all of us would have been blown to pieces to give isn't here the officers take a show of hands and vote to abandon the operation their decision leaves the rescue plan in tatters and shocks Thompson based on military and law enforcement people I've worked with they would not have at the last minute said well I don't think I'm gonna stick around while these hostages are here I'm just not not doing it I I just find out astonishing success now relies on the five snipers positioned around the airfield but they are compromised by the next critical mistake the helicopter pilots are instructed to land side on and to the west of the control tower this will give the snipers a clear line of sight as the terrorists throw open the side doors of the choice but critically both pilots land face on to the control tower it's not clear why the pilots make this mistake but it jeopardizes the entire rescue plan it leaves the snipers on the control tower with no clear shot of the terrorists were still it places snipers one and two on the ground directly in their line of fire but the snipers problems don't end there they are not issued with night-vision goggles bulletproof vests or even steel helmets but who were these snipers in the first place they were all regular policemen by delving into the history books Thomson discovered that in 1972 West German law forbids the military from getting involved in domestic armed conflict the German Army's experts snipers were unable to offer their skills I mean I find it unforgivable the german place have not trained at least some snipers to fill that gap but the real reason that the situation ended in disaster comes down to one crucial piece of information a mistake that should never have been made a mistake that cost the lives of at least nine people Leroy Thompson is investigating why the German police failed to say nine Israeli hostages at the 1972 Munich Olympics ultimately the disaster came down to a single miscalculation just after 5pm olympic official water trevor is granted access to apartment one to check on the hostages trogir emerged with critical intelligence he saw five terrorists Manfred Schreiber Munich's Chief of Police faces the entire rescue operation at the airport on this information but Ruger was wrong in fact there were eight gun and to cap it all the German authorities knew this 30 minutes before launching their rescue plan just 10pm because the terrorists and their hostages are transported to two helicopters German officials clearly see not five but eight terrorists inside the bus but the rescue plan wasn't changed to allow for this new intelligence no one even told the snipers at fürstenfeldbruck but the snipers still have a chance to overcome the terrorists their last hope rests with sniper 3 he has one split second opportunity to eliminate isser and his deputy leaving the terrorists leaderless and in chaos now i rewinding to the start of the airport rescue operation we can reveal the horrifying consequences of the ill-conceived plan 1030pm the helicopters transferring the terrorists and hostages to fürstenfeldbruck land in the wrong position yes sir and his deputy disembark they walk to the 727 as planned they climb the steps of the plane and walk inside this her finds the plane empty he runs back to the choppers shouting to the others that it's a trap sniper 3 waits for the order to shoot either with no telescopic sights and poor lighting he struggles to see his target he misses he shoot is his deputy in the thigh hissar makes it to safety and orders his men to attack the airport building a furious gun battle ensues thus night has now realized there are 8 terrorists snipers one and two find themselves pinned down by the gunfire of snipers 3 4 & 5 they can play no part in the shootout it's now three snipers against eight terrorists by 11pm the snipers have killed two terrorists but they're being outgunned they stopped shooting and wait for backup at 1201 after a delay of one hour for German armored cars race on to the airstrip this panics the terrorists one opens fire on the four hostages in helicopter one he then detonates a hand grenade snipers shoot and kill is a terrorist in helicopter two shoots the five remaining hostages at twelve-thirty am the shooting stops all nine Israeli athletes are dead five terrorists and a German police officer are dead three terrorists survived and are arrested 14 Israeli children the left fatherless been burger finds consolation that his son died fulfilling his lifetimes ambition they're competing in the Olympic Games the only thing that I consoled myself with some times that I think if they knew that things were going in the same way he would follow the same path that sounds strange the same but I always felt that way anke Spitzer now knows how and why her husband Andre died at Munich but nobody has ever accepted responsibility for his death I only know one thing that my five week old daughter had to grow up without a father and I lost my husband and I think somebody is responsible for that

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Channel: Mega Disasters

Views: 186,494

Rating: 4.5963302 out of 5

Keywords: Mega, Disasters, Munich, Olympic, Massacre

Id: 1Y-Wx6GNzTQ

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Length: 46min 36sec (2796 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 08 2016

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