They Asked Patton What He'd Do With Hitler's Gold. He Had a Plan.

On April 12, 1945, Generals Eisenhower, Bradley and Patton rode an elevator 2,100 feet underground into the Merkers salt mine to see the gold reserve of the German central bank. Patton had been asked what he would do with it. His answer was a joke, and a plan. Hours later, the same three men stood in a place that no joke could reach. Chapters 00:00 The Elevator 01:04 Six Days Earlier 02:15 "Blow It" 03:33 Whose Gold Is It? 04:18 The Morning of April 12 05:16 The Corner of the Vault 06:38 The Drive to Ohrdruf 07:59 What the Town Was Shown 09:12 Dinner, and Midnight 09:50 Where the Gold Went 10:35 Same Man. Same Day. SOURCES Bradsher, Greg. "Nazi Gold: The Merkers Mine Treasure." Prologue, National Archives, Spring 1999. Timeline of the discovery, the vault, the Melmer deposits and the transfer. Patton, George S. "War as I Knew It" (1947). Patton's own account of Merkers and Ohrdruf. Associated Press, April 11, 1945. Report on the townspeople of Ohrdruf, via the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum collection. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Encyclopedia entries on Ohrdruf and the Reichsbank gold. Quotes without a first-hand source are described in the video as reported or attributed. Sources & Archives U.S. National Archives Internet Archive Wikimedia Commons Periscope Film Archival Footage Archival footage: U.S. National Archives, Prelinger Archives, Die Deutsche Wochenschau; some scenes use illustrative footage of the period not the people named. How This Episode Was Made Original research and script by World War 2 Desk. Archival film, photographs, documents and other historical material from the U.S. National Archives, Prelinger Archives and other collections are re-edited to match the narration and combined with our own maps, document reconstructions and graphics. Some scenes use illustrative footage of the period to represent locations, events, equipment and environments described in the narration and are not necessarily footage of the specific people named. Sources are listed above.