NAZI MEGA WEAPONS
HITLER’S MEGASHIPS
POST PRODUCTION SCRIPT -
Shot Description
BW anemometer
Caption September
15,1944
Yagodnik, Russia
BW man standing by aerial
BW wind soc
WS planes taxi
SA plane moves FL
LS plane takes off FR
2s planes fly to camera
MS OOFR Caption Mike
Pavelec Military
Historian
LS bomb lifted up
CU tip of bomb as lifted
LS bomb on ground
CU Sa fin of bomb pan
L to men working on bomb
LS to distant explosion
Aerial view as bomb hits target
MS Mike OOFR
Rear LS Tony walking along path
Rear MS AB
Tony enters FR and stands - edge round to show pond
WS Tony standing by crater
OS Tony to crater
Audio Transcript
COMM
In September 1944,
Churchill orders the largest attack yet on the Tirpitz.
Two squadrons of Lancaster bombers, including the elite Dam-busters, famous for their legendary raids on Germany a year earlier, set out from a refuelling base in
North West Russia. 21 of them are armed with a brand new weapon.
Mike Pavelec:
The Tall boy was a bomb designed by the
British to penetrate hardened targets, like concrete bunkers or ships decks.
When it was used it could be dropped and it would reach near supersonic speeds by the time it impacted on the ground.
The 12,000 pound bomb was absolutely devastating.
It was the perfect weapon to use against the
Tirpitz.
Tony Pollard:
Oh boy –there’s no mistaking this – this has got to be a bomb crater, vast, I’m amazed at the size of it.
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NAZI MEGA WEAPONS
HITLER’S MEGASHIPS
POST PRODUCTION SCRIPT -
Shot Description Audio Transcript
HA to pool - pan R to rocks
HA Tony climbs to pool
SA Tony - turns to camera - tilt down to bomb fragment - and back to MS Tony
OS to hand on fragment
HA WS Tony stands
HA as hands pull at fragment
HA LS Tony pulling at fragment
HA as hand moves on fragment
HA to Tony looking at fragment
CU edge of fragment - hand runs FL
HA to Tony looking at fragment
CU pool with images of planes mixed through
HA to Tony
LS across crater - pan R
You can see where the bomb has just driven itself into the mountain side and thrown up these massive splinters of rock .
Oh wow – oh ! oh
This is a bomb fragment and it’s by far the biggest bomb fragment I have ever seen, it’s phenomenal.
That is stunning, look at the size of it!
Solid steel, look at it. It’s curving away under the rock, and the thickness of it
– its, it’s the length of my fingers thick. This is from a Tall Boy. It tells us that this crater was created by a Tall Boy and
Tall Boys were only dropped on one occasion here, during operation
Paravane on the 15 th September 1944, that’s incredible.
BW LS Tirpitz in fjord
Caption 14:23
Kåfjord
Recon LA sailors walks
FL
HA 2s sailor seated
AB diff angle
CU post movement b/g
BW SA squadron in air
SA plane in flight
Recon 3s sailors
They start and jump up
Rear shot sailor runs down corridor
LS men run to camera
[Alarm sounds]
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NAZI MEGA WEAPONS
HITLER’S MEGASHIPS
POST PRODUCTION SCRIPT -
Shot Description Audio Transcript
CU feet run away from camera
MS men run to camera
LS men run to camera
POV running down corridor
MS man goes through door
BW WS planes in flight
Recon MS men run down corridor to control room
Recon MS ‘Volsing’ on phone
CU stick
MS reflection of man
SA hand on controls
MS ‘Volsing’ - gives order OOFL
Aerial of explosions
Recon LMS ‘Volsing’ on phone - ship rocks
Aerial shots of bombing
- ship shrouded in smoke - fly over
WS plane hangs in air
CU bomb doors open - revealing smoke b/g - bomb drops tilt down as it falls - follow as it drops
Recon LMS ‘Volsing’ on phone - falls as boat moves
BW HA smoke rising
COMM
On the
Tirpitz, air raid sirens signal the approaching bombers...
COMM
Young officer Willibald Volsing recalled the moment in his memoirs.
Willibald Volsing:
It was announced that Twenty five Lancaster
Bombers were heading directly for us. We took aim with our 15
Inch guns and waited until they were in range.
Volsing: Fire Anton Fire Bruno!
COMM
Smoke from the defensive canisters fills the fjord and begins to cover the ship . . From the deck of the Tirpitz, her guns unleash a barrage of fire . . as the first wave of bombers deploy their deadly cargo .
COMM
One of the Tall Boy bombs dropped makes a direct hit on the Tirpitz. Volsing recalls the impact.
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NAZI MEGA WEAPONS
HITLER’S MEGASHIPS
POST PRODUCTION SCRIPT -
Shot Description Audio Transcript
Recon LMS ‘Volsing’
MS ‘Volsing’ OOFR
White out to LS over fjord pan R to bomb crater
VWS Tony walking FL
LMS Tony OOFR
HA to crater pan L to
WS Tony walking FL and on to fjord - Tony walks OOFL
Images of ship flashes in fjord
MS James OOFR
Volsing:
The bomb went through the entire front of the ship... but she was still afloat.
Tony Pollard:
Imagine the devastation it must have caused. It drove itself through the top deck all the way down to the bottom, it ripped a
40 foot wide hole in her side, water spouting everywhere, Dead men everywhere, but the thing is, it didn’t sink her, it just wounded her badly. What sort of ship is that that can survive the bomb that makes that, it’s something else!
COMM
The incredible engineering of the mega ship saves her... the water tight compartments and double hull stop her sinking. But internally, the damage is catastrophic.
GV - images of Churchill and planes mixed through rock FL
Map of Europe - zoom into Norway and line animates to show route
To Tromso
MS Mike Pavelec OOFR
James Holland:
It can’t be repaired again, it’s no longer seaworthy. All it’s good for is being a kind of floating gun platform and nothing else. Its seafaring days are over.
COMM
But the British don’t know Tirpitz is out of action... to them she is still a huge threat . .
And for the Nazi’s that makes her worth saving . .
COMM
Engineers patch up the giant hole in the hull... and with the war going badly for the
Nazi’s Tirpitz sails South to protect the strategic port of Tromso...
Mike Pavelec:
The Germans in order to protect the ship build up the sandbank underneath
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NAZI MEGA WEAPONS
HITLER’S MEGASHIPS
POST PRODUCTION SCRIPT -
Shot Description Audio Transcript
LS across fjord Pan L
LS across fjord to mountain
TS mountain with church
MS Mike OOFR
BW Churchill moves up steps FL
LMS Churchill OOFL -
WS Churchill walking
FR walking on deck to camera
LA BW British flag flies
Caption November 12,
1944
RAF Lossiemouth,
Scotland
BW LS plane on ground
- bomb moves back
2s men at aircraft
POV to bomber position
MS through canopy - turns FR
POV from plane to ground
White out to LA Sa plane as taxis off FR
Sa man at controls
LA plane taxis FL pan
R to 2 nd plane
Plane IFR takes off
SA squadron in flight
Recon LS Tirpitz in fjord
2s men in bunks
OS to officers standing on deck the ship to keep it safe so that if it is hit again it will just simply settle rather than sink outright. The Tirpitz by default becomes part of the Atlantic wall.
COMM
The Nazis might think Tirpitz is now unsinkable... but they have made a critical error.
She’s sailed straight into range of the RAF bombers operating from Scotland . . And the Nazi megaweapon is still their number one target.
COMM
Determined to finish what they started, the British squadrons set off again to attack the Tirpitz.
COMM
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NAZI MEGA WEAPONS
HITLER’S MEGASHIPS
POST PRODUCTION SCRIPT -
Shot Description Audio Transcript
LA to man standing on deck - looks upwards
BW HA to plane flying over land
Recon sailors run down steps
MS running to camera and OOFL
LS door closes
Recon ‘Volsing’ on phone
CU on phone
SA 2s at controls
BW Aerial shot of smoke rising
LS plane in flight - bomb drops
BW - aerial shot of raid - bomb hits Tirpitz
Recon CU ‘Volsing’ with phone in hand - freeze frame and mix through
BW archive of raid
White out to Aerial shots of raid
CGI Fjord with image of
Tirpitz FR turning over
Underwater recon - men in water
CGI Fjord with image of
Tirpitz FR turning over
Recon images of men moving through water
In Norway, the incoming bombers are detected and the crew of the
Tirpitz prepare to fight back.
Volsing:
Everyone was in position when the bombers arrived overhead - but there was a problem with the automatic firing system. We couldn’t track the planes with the guns and completely overshot. We didn’t shoot one aircraft down.
COMM
This is the actual footage of the Tall Boy raid on the Tirpitz.
The first bomb to drop is a direct hit. It rocks the ship.
Within 90 seconds nine 6-ton bombs explode on and around the vessel.
Volsing:
On board it was total chaos
– there were explosions going off all around us.
COMM
Shockwaves from the exploding bombs in the fjord cause the Tirpitz to lurch to one side . . . dislodging her off from the protective sand bank. Water rushes in . . . and The Tirpitz capsizes with 1700 men on board. Lieutenant Volsing is one of hundreds of sailors trapped inside.
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NAZI MEGA WEAPONS
HITLER’S MEGASHIPS
POST PRODUCTION SCRIPT -
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