their strongest barrier before the rhine. it has been brushed aside, shattered into bits. the advancing first army as it pushed on. ahead laid the rest of france, the low country, and germany itself. ♪ before the end of august, 1944, paris had fallen to the first army, and the liberators paraded for the populace. ♪ then the main thrust of first army smashed across eastern france. [gunfire] ♪ they enter germany on september 11th, penetrated the siegfried line october 2, and captured the city on the 21st. then came the desperate fighting in the forest. that theer observed forest seems to carry on the fighting long after the army had left. the first army was eloquent in a language the nazis had learned to understand. in december, 1944, the enemy probed a thin american defense line in belgium, south of first army's rear offensive. they had concentrated several divisions behind a 70's and -- behind a 70 mile line. on the 16th, hitler launched the most desperate counter attack of the war. the battle of the bulge. the americans were taken by surprise as the germans drove a wedge

first army was across the rhine.nfantry divisions and three armored divisions had passed through the area and at the heart of the nazi fatherland. ♪ had unleashed the dogs of war, by the spring of 1945, they lay whipped and stunned amongst the wreckage. for nazi germany, any hopes had passed. one not the soldier wrote in a diary taken from him at his capture -- >> [indiscernible] announcer: first army swept ride -- wide and captured 300,000 germans. the arrival of american soldiers in germany meant liberation for many. for these people, horror had long been the only reality. second by the fruits of hitler's harvest, american soldiers helped where they could. the first russians encountered by our advancing troops with the thousands of half starved prisoners in the nazi slave labor camps. first army pushed on to a happier russian rendezvous. jubilation was the word to describe the meeting of the two weary armies. general hodges had look forward longtime to this day. time tod forward a long this day. ♪ nearly one millio

it belongs to a company called wm italia the abbreviation stands for rhine mittal weapon and munition and it is a one hundred percent subsidiary of german arms manufacturer brian mitchell. but it got their days this is a german factory on italian territory that makes a deadly product bombs that are sold all over the world by a measurement here germany is exploiting it disadvantage area the switches with its high unemployment i don't hear arms are being manufactured for huge profit but a brute i did not is what is happening in this area. but where of the bombs made by ryan matal insaan tinea deployed in twenty fifteen an employee of the n.g.o.s human rights watch snapped these photographs of bomb components. they were found in sabah in northern yemen city with a population of fifty thousand shortly after a saudi bombing raid. the bomb bears a code number that indicates the type of aman and its origin. the italian island of sardinia. when queried ryan mittal into. the n.s.a. and code thirteen twenty five fifteen one five zero fifty eight twenty four indicates that it was made by w.-m. i

defense minister france recently joined the rhine metal supervisor. would give us an interview. germany are incredibly close to the government because they play a role in. defense. policy and. they would claim in their public relations. which they are treated differently to most of the private companies. frank from germany's financial hub is where stocks are listed the share price has shot up thanks to the money made by south africa. in january twenty seventh shares were worth just on the sixty five euros each climbing to almost ninety by media and almost one hundred ten euros by the end of the year that's a rise of more than seventy percent within a year. many analysts recommend investing in. it's like this more conflict equals a greater need for security more defense expenditure this is indeed that's the chain. and in general the arms companies in different ways depending on what's in demand will profit from that. most shareholders probably don't even know that they profit when ryan mittal sells bombs to crisis regions investors with money in the day confound for example the f

what bon has to offer and connection with the legendary beethoven in the old town along the river rhineand in a ballroom dating back to the great man's time the composer spent the first twenty two years of his life here in boston. bun garson number twenty beatles he was born in this house in seventeen seventeen here you can learn almost everything about him from his success as a child prodigy to the great dramas of his life the unfortunate relationships and his loss of hearing. my two because the director of the beatles and house explains the most important stages the most of what was it like he lived in this house for the first four years of his life. with my faith of course and before beethoven grew up in a whole family of musicians his grandfather was the music director for the prince electors court in bonn so we had the chance to meet all of bond's most important musicians through his family they were frequent guests in the beethoven home. nothing of course and a family that was so musical placed great value one would becoming a musical career. and it was a collision. next topic be

but the rhine after antique car club doesn't just organize these get togethers for the owners benefit and also does it for the cars they need regular workouts. bushell says the older the car the more often things go wrong with it these cars need to be driven but then of course things can happen. but if you don't use them even more can go wrong cars go come put just from standing around at a club you meet others with similar problems who know how to solve them here you can find help. for the club's members owning a classic or vintage model is about more than just having a nice old car it's about being part of a community of like minded people people who are all crazy about old cars. and next time i'm driving new comfort on the long haul partly a ton of motion a shake silva. and a tour of i aid twenty teams the international motor show for commercial vehicles. from. rio de janeiro's kids cause in the crossfire. police and drug gangs are engaged in own during battles in leos for their lives. and often it's the most vulnerable members of society. you suffer the most. the children of. the

and this is the salafist stronghold in germany the western state of north rhine-westphalia it's thought there are about three thousand salafist supporters here the regional intelligence agency classifies eight hundred of them as prone to violence. authorities watch female salafist particularly carefully as wives and mothers they're important in holding the community together in two thousand and twelve a group of islamist in germany were caught planning a bomb attack in bonn at least one of the group had salafist connections. salafist have taken to a german town centers preaching and handing out the koran for free in two thousand and sixteen the interior minister banned the group that had organized those giveaways. who or let me. just tell you we don't want terrorism in germany we don't want calls for terrorism to be made here for people to be radicalized here and we don't want terrorism to be exported from germany. but just a month after that statement came this the berlin christmas market attack. anish amery drove a truck into the crowd killing twelve people the twenty four year old fr

politics wrongly accused of sexually abusing a woman he died in a dungeon on the island of that in the rhine he was buried in the ancient chapel which today lies under the chancel of the abbey. the rocco church is the last in a series of abbey churches built in the course of the following century the most famous one inspired by a plan for the monastery a high fashion now was erected around eight hundred thirty seven by albert got back these plans for us and gallon monastery are unique in the whole of york in fact they are the only building plans from this period that still exist they show clearly what our monastery should ideally have looked like the church is at the center of the complex and the monastery is connected to it on the south side by the cloister. this project was never realized if the church had been built according to the original scale it would have been far too large. eventually it was built on no alternative also shown on the original plan even so it must have been gigantic as can be seen from the capitals of the columns which have recently been excavated these are now on sa

what is known is that the rhine mid-town subsidiary was involved in the construction of a factory in the united arab emirates and the one in saudi arabia. a group of syrian hackers released confidential documents including a secret document on a bid for a filling plant each shift was to produce hundreds of shells and mortars as well as bombs of the types m k eighty two m k eighty four and warheads from large missiles . the document appears real with a trove of technical details and plans for a turnkey factory. it's incredibly dangerous because if a german company is not controlling production how do they know what being it hit in this production process they defectively sold the production process. they are effectively saying especially if it's into a region like the middle east they're effectively saying do what you want. via santini and south africa germany's run matal is arming the military coalition in yemen with bombs from the mediterranean and entire factories from cape town saudi arabia united arab emirates are among the customers and egypt as we discovered where an arms facto

to german his from the german wine institute and joins us now from mines on the banks of the river rhine the heartland of german riesling most of asia long dry period not enough rain how is that beneficial for any plant. oh well we had a really dry summer but the grapes they have roots that go down to ten metres into the earth and we had a fortunately quite wet winter so the grapes could get this water reserves and yes we have a really exceptional shield and quality this year how does that go together yield on quality good. yes this is for the experts quite astonishing that the grapes could get so that's not that much warmer. we had especially due to the driver down very very healthy grapes and ripe grapes which is very important for the aroma and the color of the grapes and the wines afterwards so a lot has been said about the warm summer being down to climate change so what do you say is it is john is german wine benefiting from climate change here. and yes german wine makers are still the winner of the climate change the climate change also brings threats like. extremes. the wind is s

five months later on a late summer's day by the river rhine the indian musicians arrive in bonn a fewdays ago. in addition to their daily rehearsals they want to experience the country everyone has stayed in touch since the workshop in mumbai. i think it's a very healthy mix we're like a family and we share this love of music regardless of which continent or from continents. and over i think we musicians meet friendships blossom straight away to get along since it's. been rehearsing for five days than how to interact have a name to a piece commission for the beethoven festival she's met. our guest mark is a beautiful composition we have the. highlight of that is the flute mr is to join us yeah it's kind of early was it out blame us because the puzzle piece is great it's so intriguing the way these two worlds melt together so perfectly. this month as has been a very special piece to all of us and it's the first time that we're performing at the beethoven festival so curious excited and looking forward to. the final rehearsal before their debut performance there are several other pieces

black forest that's no problem there are lots of chalets restaurants and rustic ns for instance the rhinemonte holds a guest house run by the hundreds family. the best way to try as much as i can seems to be a platter with regional delicacies it's time to move on floyd have been waiting for this moment. i know i know i've been as russia because i saw him come over and. i get to go dog sledding with these adorable huskies my yelena and the rest so that's how bad from lenz kay says it is important that his visitors learn how to handle the dogs. yeah well do they have to be before they can be harnessed to a sled skipped i used to huskies a husky decides that for and so that officially they can take part in races after that eighteen months old. dozens of them he's about racing harnesses and there are different sizes and the most money you have to put them on. the strongest dogs pull the sleds and the ones that listen well the leaders on your ok on the harnesses are always the same for the front and the back. you know it's the only different size not marxist but starcom i think have dealt with

the city on the rhine had a reputation for intellectual vitality but there was also word of the rhinelandmoral depravity father says deeply committed to maintaining the architectural and historical heritage of the former jesuit charge. and if an adult andrea says we have a large number of liturgical vestments from former times robes that were worn during the mass. we still use some of them on special occasions because they were made to be used in the mass and not simply packed away in a cupboard shrunk this the wrong bears witness to a time when the royal chapel received generous gifts from the rulers of the duchy of barack. dozens of. we always try to open our doors and invite people them to say come in. take a look at these things you can show it is a thing. or an even if you're not a believer will come see what was achieved here in past ages and what's currently being done and maybe you'll find something of use to you will and for life comes across the from the ball. design can dress is therefore an open charge but not an unattended one as well as an dominic volunteers keep an eye on w

regularly to count the insects this is a research facility of the agriculture department across the rhine in hand if their aim is to make farms and farming more insect friendly. the fields here are bordered by hedge rows and wildflowers. thomas during says they attract all kinds of insects. more than fifty species of ground beetle spend the winter in these hedges when spring comes they get to work as a lot of people around beetles eat parasites there are lots and lots of these beetles here in the field so they consume lots and lots of pests. with the hedges flowers and grasses the agricultural ecologist have created a habitat. for beneficial insects that eat the past we do sing or eliminating the need for pesticides. here's a lady bird lover it feeds on aphids fun. steam. by promoting beneficial bugs we can substantially reduce the pest population reduce not eliminate some always remain as you can see here on these beans. but we can succeed in stabilizing the system. as the. alongside the hedges the flowers around the field don't all bloom at the same time . but in sequence the insects ne

which showcases the new start it's one of three sites run by the art collection north rhine-westphalia. which is on again simon took over as director and twenty seventeen she also inherited a problem. it's leaked upside or a little out of the way from the city here so we have to communicate a lot here that's why we have gone all out to integrate this location of the city society and the local art scene here. here modern art goes hand in her with historical ambience like this installation made up of security mirrors coupled with organ music by johann sebastian bach in the first month i think you can actually put out on display anywhere and in the past few years i've often noticed that when art is executed in locations that one to richly built is museums it can be especially interesting. that saw several weeks to renovate the former parliament building. it also had new rooms added for temporary exhibitions of contemporary art. suzanne again simon plans to exhibit pieces here by artists who have already made a splash internationally but by local artists as well. the one about the ash we w

the door to the bar is made to measure to latch into assault from the rhine river the house is full of surprises. them that's not an issue that's kinda we had free run of the house of course when we were kids and of course there were spots we could go through the walls where it was open in some places we could go around the walls and the doors were cut to fit. i would have liked it better if we hadn't been made to keep it so tidy. to clean up when visitors came to ensure the house looked its best but today i actually wouldn't do it any differently. it's a house that's chock full of technical details. doesn't chalfie did the deed money for heat there are things that you always emphasized the blue wall and the way the stones are placed when it comes to design or architectural questions i still always ask could we use a different material can it be wood. can we have it manufactured. and it opened up my view on materials. that house is visionary. isn't against more of one form the also it represents quite a new form of living and sort of an american dream of a life and now it's geared towa

sun plenty of these vehicles are worth a second glance because all brands of cars are welcome at the rhine after club the diversity is great these cars represent a half a century of automotive history. the old cars get a break while they wait for the entire convoy to arrive in the meantime the drivers and passengers enjoy some food and refreshments. my friend bushel has come in his nineteen sixty two rolls royce silver cloud. he says they have excursions like this twice a year it's a tradition but social feels the nicest thing about them is the community as you can see behind him folks sit together chat and enjoy a potluck lunch. and talk about cars and everything under the sun. it gives them a boost if they've had a hard week at work and on a stressful business trip or are having it rough as a retiree but. this fifty year old mercedes two fifty s l is also taking part in the excursion its owner. really enjoys the club's picnics feels they're important because they promote the sense of community and within the club where do they go they all know one another these are experiences that stay

is its head in the north rhine-westphalia region where to some group is based he's frustrated by the frequent boardroom changes of recent months. about who ends up taking responsibility and if you have people shirking their responsibility you have to ask whether they were the right people for those positions. the majority of to some cooks workforce are scattered throughout sites across germany many in this traditionally steelmaking region how do they see the breakup. shame united were stronger. i don't like the way it came so suddenly like a slap in the face. and it was a multi industrial group and the c.e.o. selling off all kinds of units wasn't good. despite the growing discontent shareholder c.v. and got its way. in the break up of the conglomerate and its one hundred sixty thousand strong global workforce those operations fairing not so well. on the more profitable ones mark green. among the latter is the group's elevator business based in southern germany one of the company's most profitable units it made over nine hundred million euros last year its team are currently working o

the rhine valley is a roll of. the house for more if you haven't seen anything like this and each of the visibility just rubbish. we float along the case without a care in the world. works for the airship company today she can relax yesterday it was windy and she felt queasy guess the moment as yesterday was my first flight and it was incredibly exciting it's different from an airplane just the fact that you have fresh at. a sightseeing flight cost about four hundred euros what's striking is the calmness. such was if it's very peaceful. to contemplate things and just enjoy life i realize it's not just about getting from point a to point b. . or the glass of wine if they take it easy. now it's time to head back to the airfield sometimes landing can be a little bumpy. placental about the same as jumping off a chair in the office so there's no danger that. good cephalic gently sets down the airship isn't even more to the must the way chance to be kept balanced meaning to passengers to talk to get on and then it's time