I am interested in fortress of Eben Emael. It was in Netherlands, right? I guess you know something about it so leak your info, please!
This fortress was in Belgium, and frankly I know nothing about it except that it was captured by a daring parachute drop of about 1200 Fallschirmjäger. I'm equally interested, maybe someone else has some more extensive info?
Read some time time ago. During training, they used simulated explosives, because German High Command considered the new shaped charges were so powerful they could scare even their own soldiers, and to avoid the risk of their "secret weapon" being discovered by spies.
The German force was only 80 - compared to 800 Belgium troops. Still, they captured the fortification swiftly, and many of the participating Fallschirmjägere received the Ritterkreuz.
The quick loss of Eben Emael was quite a shock for the allies as they expected this fortress to resist at least for several days, giving their troops time to prepare defence positions in central Belgium. (In WW1 the germans had lost a lot of time figthing their way trough the belgian fortified region of the Liège area).
...and lost about 120,000 men in the process! Quite a setback for the Allies that they couldn't repeat that action.
Yes, the germans in 1914 imagined that Belgium would grant the german army free passage trough theit country. Belgiums resistance seriously delayed the Schlieffen plan, and this resistance is probably the reason why german troops(out of frustration) comitted all those irrational atrocities against belgian civilians(like the burning of the university library at Louvain, the massacres of Dinant and other cities, using belgian civilians as human shields....)
Reports of which angered many Americans and helped start the USA down the road leading to involvement in the war.
Hi guys... I'm Bart and I'm an official guide at the fortress of Eben-Emael... when I first opened this thread, I think my heart stopped for a sec or two :lol: Nope, in Belgium, northbounds of the city of Liège. 86 Fallschirmpioniere landed on top of the fortress with DFS-230 glider planes, the Belgian garisson inside was 1200 men. Not at all. 86 and 1200 If there are any other questions, feel free to ask Bart
True, but most likely, I look different upon this case than anyone else I know most of the details, what went wrong (on both sides), ... Sure, it was something that turned out exellent for the Germans, nonetheless, it's certainly not the easiest part of War to understand.
As I understand, there was a complete lack of any efficient anti-aircraft gun at Eben Emael, which would explain why the Germans could land paratroopers relatively unopposed. Christian
That partially true. There were more or less 14 anti-aircraft trenches forseen on top of the fortress. Due to all sorts of circumstances, only four were equipped/manned during the attack. Considering the fact that Belgium was neutral, it was not allowed to open fire upon any plane flying over the fortress (unless someone declared war to us). Fact is, germany never declared war to Belgium in 1940. Second fact, the glider planes used to attack the fortress and three key-bridges across the Albert Canal were painted totaly grey without any German signs (no swastika's, no German crosses, .....). All of the things mentioned above, and many other things, contributed to the quick surrender of the fortress... But then again, it's really hard to judge if you never visited the fortress and saw things irl
Glad to have you, Bart! I can't say I am always well-informed, but I'm quick to pick up facts... I'm more of a specialist in the Ardennes Offensive of 1944 if anything, which is still in the area.
IIRC the Belgiums used what the Germans considered illegal "guerilla tactics", which lead to harsh but not necessarily illegal repressions. By the way, were the Americans angered by what actually happened or by the what the british propaganda made off it? IIRC they made up all kind of nonsense like german soldiers cutting off childrens hands or using childeren playing in trees for target practice...
[/quote] There were no belgian guerillas in 1914. Tough the german propaganda claimed that they had been attacked by unregular figthers during their advance in Belgium, this claim is backed by absolutely no fact, and is today recognized as being wrong. There is a good book about this called "German atrocities in 1914-A history of denial". by John Horne and Alan Kramer. Their conclusion is that unexperienced german troops often interpreted resistance of rear guard french + belgian units, as well as friendly fire incidents as being attacks of guerillas. This combined with a general anger because of the strong belgian resistance(The german soldiers had been told the belgians would just led them pass trough their territory without much resistance) caused many soldiers and officers to overeact, and led to the murders of about 6500 people. Of course these incidents were widely used and also later somewhat exagerated by allied propaganda.
