Hitlers Deadly Secret ()

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Synopsis:

U-864: HITLER'S LAST DEADLY SECRET

Deep in the icy waters off Norway lies one of the last great secrets of the Second World War. In February 1945, the German submarine U-864 disappeared without trace during its clandestine journey to Japan. On board: eighteen of the Reich's leading aeronautical scientists, two of Japan's leading experts on aerodynamics, stacks of blueprints for the Nazi's Me 262 fighter jet as well as some of the latest Messerschmitt jet engine parts and missile guidance systems. Had the German submarine arrived at its destination, the Nazi's revolutionary jet technology might have changed the course of the Second World War, tipping the balance in favour of the Japanese Air Force in its desperate struggle against the U.S. Navy.
60 years later, following a chance discovery by local fishermen, a Norwegian salvage team prepares to recover U-864. The wreck is an ecological time bomb. According to German records, the German sub also carried 80 tons of highly toxic mercury. At any time, its deadly load could leak from the sunken vessel's eroded hull and cause a major environmental disaster in the North Sea.

As we join the Norwegian salvage team in its hazardous underwater quest to raise the submarine's toxic materials, we reconstruct the German submarine's ill-fated last journey. Long forgotten German and British naval documents as well as interviews with surviving witnesses and protagonists reveal that U-864 was sunk during one of the most dramatic naval engagements of the Second World War - the first battle ever to have been fought entirely under water.

On February 7, 1945, U-864 left its Norwegian home-port of Bergen for Japan. Its commander: 32-year-old lieutenant commander Rolf-Reimer Wolfram, a veteran of the North-Atlantic Wolfpacks after two years of almost uninterrupted service. In order to avoid detection by the Allies' seamless aerial reconnaissance network, Wolfram had decided to travel entirely under water.

But unknown to him, one of the Royal Navy's most advanced hunter/killer submarines, the Venturer, already lay in wait. British code breakers had deciphered a message from Berlin to Tokyo, announcing the submarine's imminent journey to the Far East. Equipped with the latest British sonar device, the ASDIC, the Venturer's captain, Lt. Jimmy Launders, was on the lookout. Though only 25 years of age, Launders had the reputation of being one of the most brilliant young officers in the Royal Navy. But even for him, the task of finding a submerged German submarine somewhere in the dark and wintry North Sea was overwhelming.

Then, on February 9, at 09:32 AM, Launders struck lucky. 4600 meters ahead of the British submarine, ASDIC detected an unidentified object. Thus began one of the most dramatic chases in the history of naval warfare. Using interviews and contemporary quotes as well as film archive, location photography and state of the art dramatic reconstructions and visual effects, we join the two submarine crews during the Venturer's dramatic three and a half-hour pursuit of the German sub.

60 years later, as the Norwegian salvage team's remotely controlled underwater vehicles inspect the submarine's wreck, there is no trace of the drowned German submariners and Nazi scientists. But some of the Me 262's engine parts are still there, as are the 80 tons of deadly mercury. Now that the wreck has been disturbed, the Norwegian salvage team are in a race against time to lift the toxic cargo off the seabed and ensure that Hitler's deadly last secret is made safe once and for all.