The Fall Of Fort Eben Emael (Part 3/5)

[BPanther111]

There's a great new novel out about the Green Devils assault on Eben Emael, by Harvey Black

[j9soup]

This fort may be worth seeing , but the conbination of complex orders and stupid decision making , make this nothing more then a speed bump.

[ciquar]

I live just a couple of miles away from the fort and visit the site frequently by bike. It's worth seeing!

[Danny77uk]

Wow such incompetence!!!

[StaffanGoldschmidt]

A hot potatoe in the mouth prevents speaking german!

[ShawnBlaque]

Sieg Heil!

[Nielzep]

@ShawnBlaque screw u fucking nazi

show some respect

[JuergenGDB]

@Nielzep All I believe he is saying is that the Defenders lacked communication and initiative.. they were hampered by a awkward combat system. I do give the defenders credit in that they defended the fort as much as they could. There is no need for name calling, and it shows lack of professionalism for all of us who are Historians.

[Nielzep]

@JuergenGDB

wtf does this have to do with sieg heil ?

[JuergenGDB]

@Nielzep if you knew what it ment you would not be such a douch. All it means is "For the Win" To hail someone. Like "Hail to the King" It has nothing to do with Nazism you dumb ass. Read a dictionary

[Nielzep]

@JuergenGDB dude fuck off don't be a smartass , I don't give a fuck what the meaning is of this word . He's a nazi otherwise just do not say such things and screw you are you german?

[JuergenGDB]

@Nielzep Ok telling me to Foff tells me that you are young and an idiot. Shut your trap before you open it. I was explaining to your ignorance what it means. But unfortunately we live in a day of Stereotyping everyone. I happend to be American. Student of WORLD HISTORY for over 20 years. Your from Belgium... nice I get your frustration. Be respectull of others, and maybe they will show you some.

[Nielzep]

@JuergenGDB You are a fucking american you just don't know shit about Eben emael . I've been there. And i'm sick of it that you americans always have to interfere in other ones business. I hate you people ! Fat bastards ! with your black president pfuh screw him do you guys think you are special? Just fuck off . I'm from eastern europe but I live in Belgian so fuck you capitalist pigs. communism for life , and fuck you ! shut your fat mouth . Fuck usa ! fuck usa

fuck usa!

[JuergenGDB]

@Nielzep Ok for one I have been to Europe.. Normady, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and England. Been to many Museums and WWII sites. Im laughing at you right now.. Communism... FOR THE FAIL... LOL. Sick of us Americans.. Well Im not going to get into that one.. Have fun and dont forget to give everything you work for to a Communist Leader near you. Your an EPIC Fail....

[samgillispwnage]

@Nielzep

communism sucks and we don't need no commies in belgium

the left wing hippies and walloons are bad enough thank you

[jardail]

@Nielzep No sorry, you won't have communism. What you will have is shariah law, your stupid "communist leaders" are merely the useful idiots of the invading islamic horde. You think for one moment that they will embrace you as brethren once they are there in overwhelming strength? They'll drag you into the nearest soccer field and slit your throat, film it and show it on youtube to others as an example.

[Krautkiller223]

@Nielzep fuck u. u communist pig. i should hunt u down beat the crap out of u. than put a shotgun to your face and pull the trigger unleashing shotgun rain in your face. Then i will disembowel you and use your intestines to hogtie your limbs together and throw u into the darkest depths of hell. Where the worst tortures are done. Which u deserve for being a communist pig

[RIVERINE]

The heaviest 2-piece bomb weighed 110 pounds and the smaller was 25 pounds.Based on the number of gliders, there was an average of 5 hollow-charges per glider. Counting flame throwers, light demo charges, and bangalore torpedoes, the AVERAGE weight of EXPLOSIVE was about 110 pounds per man. Loaded for bear, they was.

[the82spartans]

I agree. What a crappy system they had in place.

[jakefree25]

You'd think they could alert the outlying detachments with say radio, telephone, telegraph or even runners. yet they depended on blanks being fired to alert them

[willyrobinson]

Anything man builds can be overcome by man - it is foolish to rely on defensive tactics to overcome an enemy - loose translation of a quote by Gen Patton.

This superb performance displayed by the German commandos bears this out. At best the Belgians could've only hoped to delay the German advance and it doesn't look like their investment in this fortification payed off.

[jakefree25]

Well Patton was only 1/2right. a good fortress, with supporting mobile troops,can hold up a far superior invader long enough to cover a retreat or bring up sufficient forces to counter the invader. The Germans used 60 year old forts in Metz to hold up Patton's far superior armored forces in the fall of '44 for a couple of months. Most of those "impregnable" fortresses of WW ll had serious flaws and lacked modern weapons & trained troops like Singapore.

[BowlingPepe]

I visited the fortess in April ´06 and it was an incredible construction. The tunnel-system was so huge and wide and I cannot still believe that it was built by humans. Fort Eben Emael was milled into a big hill. An amazing performance in this time.

[oddballsok]

@BowlingPepe

If such a project were to be devised today with billions of tax money wasted and which in the end yielded nill result..would you still be in awe and admiration ?

..(of course not !)...

[oddballsok]

Respond to this video... 

07:05 oh so typical of belgians...

[grahwo]

Too much Silly leadership

[behahve1]

Germanyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy­!!!!!!!!!

[JLBrok]

If I recall correctly, the two paratroopers who breeched security were given a suspended death sentence. Had the operation failed, they would have been executed. To paraphrase "Letters from Iwo Jima", 'the worst possible use of a soldier is to execute him'.

[JLBrok]

ZX, good subject, good quality video, good contribution to the general library. People interested in the subject will want to remember to take a look at it the terrain on Goggle Earth.

[zxwar]

TQ JLBrok! .. and Good comment!