Assault on Fort Eben-Emael
- Matthew Camilleri
- 12 minutes ago
- 17 min read
In the early hours of 10th May 1940, Belgian soldiers guarding Fort Eben-Emael looked up at the sky and were shocked to see nine unidentified aircraft gliding silently down towards them. Within seconds, the gliders had skidded to a halt on the fort’s grass roof, disgorging 70 highly-trained German airborne troops, who proceeded to attack what was considered to be the most impregnable fortress in Europe. Just over 24 hours later, what remained of the fort’s shell-shocked garrison surrendered to the assaulting forces. The first-ever glider-borne assault in history, and one of the most daring operations of the Second World War, had been a spectacular success.
Allied Defensive Plan
During the First World War, strong defences along the Franco-German border had led to the Germans invading France through neutral Belgium. After the end of the war, the nations bordering Germany began building elaborate defences that, in any future conflict with Germany, would slow an invasion force long enough for Allied forces to mobilise and counterattack. The French built the Maginot Line, stretching along the French border from Switzerland to Belgium, while the Belgians constructed defences along the Albert Canal. In the gap between the two lines stood the Ardennes Forest, an obstacle the Allies believed could not be penetrated by German forces. It was thus believed that the Germans would have no choice but to once again swing to the North, as they had in the First World War.
In response to this, Général Maurice Gamelin, the French Chief of National Defence Staff, developed the Dyle Plan in early 1940. This involved French and British forces quickly advancing into Belgium and forming a defence line along the River Dyle to halt a German advance there. As part of this plan, the Albert Canal would serve as a delaying position. The Belgian Army would slow down German forces long enough to allow the Allies to mobilise and occupy positions along the Dyle Line. The Belgians would then carry out a phased withdrawal and link up with the French and British.
"Fall Gelb"
In the meantime, soon after the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, the German High Command (OKW) had begun planning to invade France. The initial plan did involve the main thrust coming through the Netherlands and Belgium, in an attempt to outflank the Maginot Line. This plan, however, was amended several times following widespread criticism, and eventually, the Germans settled on a much bolder strategy. The attack through the Low Countries would be a feint, designed to draw Allied forces into a trap. Once they had committed their best divisions in Belgium, the Germans would enact the second phase of their operation, a surprise push through the Ardennes Forest towards the English Channel, thereby cutting off the Allied forces to the North.
The whole plan hinged on a rapid advance into Belgium to fool the Allies that this was the main attack. German forces from Army Group B would need to rapidly cross the River Meuse and the Albert Canal running parallel to it, and establish a bridgehead in Belgian territory. The Albert Canal had three bridges at Veldwezelt, Vroenhoven, and Kanne, which would need to be taken intact to enable the rapid German advance. They were guarded by the Belgian 7de infanterie divisie. Each bridge was wired for demolition, and the defenders had orders to blow them up in an emergency. Yet, the biggest headache for the Germans was that all the crossing sites were in range of the guns of Fort Eben-Emael, one of the most powerful fortifications in Europe.
Fort Eben-Emael
The fort was part of the Position Fortifiée de Liège, a major Belgian defensive system designed to defend against German invasion. Built between 1932 and 1935 on a granite ridge overlooking the Meuse River and Albert Canal, Fort Eben-Emael had commanding views of the surrounding countryside and was meant to protect the Visé Gap to the south, through which German forces were likely to invade, as well as the bridges over the Meuse and the Albert Canal. Dug into the hill itself, the irregularly shaped fort, covering approximately 750 metres by 950 metres, featured thick, reinforced concrete walls and an earthen roof almost impervious to artillery fire or aerial bombing. The eastern side was protected by a 40-metre-high wall that rose steeply from the Albert Canal, while a complex network of minefields, barbed wire, and a large anti-tank ditch guarded the other sides.
Beneath the fort’s surface were two subterranean levels, connected by approximately five kilometres of underground galleries. Level 1, situated 25 metres below the surface, linked the gun batteries above with the command post, air filtration rooms, ventilators, and ammunition stores. Level 0, located 45 metres beneath the surface, housed the barracks, a hospital, the power plant, and workshops. The garrison comprised around 1,200 personnel under the command of Major Jean Fritz Lucien Jottrand. These were divided into three groups: the first was permanently stationed at the fort and consisted of 200 technical personnel; The two other groups, each of approximately 500 artillerymen, rotated every week. One group was always stationed at the fort, while the other was held in reserve at the village of Wonck, five kilometres away. Most of the men were reservists with no infantry training.
The fort’s armaments were nothing short of impressive. The heaviest artillery consisted of two 120 mm guns, with a range of 16 kilometres, mounted in a 360-degree rotating cupola. The secondary armament consisted of sixteen 75 mm guns mounted in armoured cupolas and casemates, together with twelve 60 mm anti-tank guns, and 25 twin-mounted machine-guns. There were also four anti-aircraft guns and fifteen searchlights. Fort Eben-Emael was undoubtedly one of the most modern and powerful fortifications in Europe, considered impregnable by many. It did have one potential Achilles heel, however: the fort's flat grassy surface was not protected by any obstacles, mines, or infantry fighting positions. As far as the Belgians were concerned, no attacker would get there in the first place.
The German Plan
During planning for Fall Gelb, the OKW was faced with several concerns. Before German forces could drive into Belgium, they needed to cross the Albert Canal, which meant the bridges in the vicinity of Fort Eben-Emael had to be captured intact, after which the fort itself would have to be neutralised. Yet, the Germans had concluded that a conventional assault on the fort would take months. In addition, before reaching the Albert Canal, German forces would first need to advance through 30 kilometres of Dutch territory towards Maastricht and cross the Meuse. By then, any element of surprise would be long gone, giving the Belgians ample warning to blow the bridges. Even if they failed to do so, the guns of Fort Eben-Emael would finish the job. German troops would become bogged down, allowing the Allies to bring up additional troops, and Fall Gelb would be doomed.
Remarkably, it was Adolf Hitler himself who proposed a solution. The Soviets had pioneered large-scale parachute infantry drops in the 1930s and had been the first to develop regular airborne forces. The Germans soon formed their own units, which, in September 1938, came under the control of the newly-formed 7. Flieger-Division, commanded by Generalleutnant Kurt Student. On 27th October 1939, Student was summoned to a meeting with Hitler, who asked if it would be possible to drop paratroopers onto the roof of Fort Eben-Emael. Student expressed his doubts: paratroopers tended to be scattered over a wide area, and their weapons and equipment were dropped separately in containers. By the time the men had regrouped, the element of surprise would be long gone. Yet, as he pondered, Student realised that the Germans possessed two secret weapons that might make this operation feasible.
The first of these was the DFS-230 glider, developed in the mid-1930s by the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (German Research Institute for Sailplane Flight). It was the world's first combat assault glider, designed for silent, surprise airborne insertions. Capable of carrying nine fully equipped men and the pilot, it could be towed by a larger aircraft before being released far from the target and slowly gliding down to within 20 metres of the objective. Although in 1939, gliders had not yet been used in warfare, they seemed a suitable option for a surprise assault on Fort Eben-Emael. At that time, Belgian air defence relied on sound locators for early warning rather than radar. If the gliders were released in darkness over Germany, there was a high chance they could reach Belgium unseen and unheard.
The second secret weapon in the German arsenal was the shaped charge. This consisted of an explosive charge with a conical cavity lined with copper. When detonated, the explosive shaped the copper cone into a high-speed jet of molten metal that could punch through thick steel or concrete by concentrating the bulk of the explosive force on one point. This would allow the Germans to breach Fort Eben-Emael’s thick concrete gun emplacements. Student felt confident that a combination of glider-borne troops and shaped charges made a surprise attack on the canal bridges and Fort Eben-Emael possible, and managed to obtain the Führer‘s blessing.
German Forces
Student assembled an assault force of approximately 500 airborne troops, consisting mainly of 1. Kompanie of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1, a platoon of Fallschirmpioniere (combat engineers), and glider pilots. The force was named Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Abteilung “Koch”, after its commander, Hauptmann Walter Koch, who broke it down into four detachments, each with its own objective. Sturmgruppe Stahl (Steel), under Oberleutnant Gustav Altmann, and consisting of 92 men in nine gliders, was tasked with capturing the Veldvezelt bridge. Sturmgruppe Beton (Concrete), commanded by Leutnant Gerhard Schacht and composed of 96 men in eleven gliders, was to capture the Vroenhoven bridge. Sturmgruppe Eisen (Iron), under Leutnant Martin Schächter, was to seize the Kanne bridge with 90 men in ten gliders. The assault on Fort Eben-Emael was entrusted to the sapper detachment, codenamed Sturmgruppe Granit, and led by 23-year-old Oberleutnant Rudolf Witzig.
Born into a working-class family on 14th August 1916, Witzig grew up during the economic depression that affected Germany after the First World War. After leaving school, he joined the German Army as an officer candidate with Pionier-Bataillon 16 on 1st April 1935, aged 18. In April 1937, he was promoted to Leutnant, and the following year, he volunteered for service with the newly formed paratrooper units, transferring to the Luftwaffe. Witzig received further training in airborne assaults, and by the start of the Second World War, he had been promoted to Oberleutnant and given command of a pioneer platoon within Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1. Known for being a strict disciplinarian and a meticulous planner, he was seen as a natural choice for the assault on Fort Eben-Emael.
The plan would rely on close coordination and split-second timing. Sturmgruppen Stahl, Beton, and Eisen would land first, in gliders, on the western bank of the Albert Canal by each of the three bridges just before 5.30 am on 10th May 1940, when Fall Gelb was due to begin. They were to seize the bridges rapidly, before they could be blown up. Almost simultaneously, Sturmgruppe Granit was to land on top of Fort Eben-Emael, eliminate any resistance, and destroy the fort’s artillery before it could be brought to bear on the occupied bridges. All four groups would then dig in and hold their respective objectives against an expected counterattack until they had been relieved by German ground forces. If all went well, this was expected to happen within four hours.
Training
Training was intense and began straightaway, near Hildesheim in north-central Germany, where the men studied aerial photos, as well as blueprints provided by German contractors involved in the fort’s construction. Thus, Sturmgruppe Granit had access to detailed information regarding the fort’s internal layout and was able to use a life-sized mock-up for realistic joint exercises involving both paratroopers and glider pilots. Training was also conducted on the Czech border, where captured fortifications stood in for the blockhouses of Fort Eben-Emael. All this took place beneath a veil of strict secrecy. The men trained in plain uniforms without insignia, and the gliders were moved around in furniture vans. All leave was cancelled, with the paratroopers also prevented from mixing with other German soldiers. Telephone calls and mail were screened. Nothing could be allowed to warn the Belgians of what was coming.
Witzig had 85 men under his command: 74 combat engineers and eleven glider pilots. He divided them into eleven sections, one per glider. Each glider was to carry seven or eight men, including the pilots, who were expected to participate in the attack once they had landed the gliders. The men were armed with rifles, automatic weapons, and flamethrowers. Between them, they also carried 56 shaped charges of varying sizes. In order of priority, their objectives were to eliminate the anti-aircraft defences, observation cupolas, and machine-gun emplacements; silence the artillery batteries; penetrate the bunkers; and hold the position. Apart from neutralising its assigned target, each glider unit had to be prepared to take over another section’s mission if necessary.
Witzig realised that success would depend on speed and shock. He was confident that the noiseless approach of the gliders would give his force the element of surprise, but this would only last for around an hour before the Belgians began counterattacking the lightly-armed paratroopers. Thus, his men would need to eliminate the artillery pieces and as many of the fort’s defensive positions as possible within that time. To assist with the defence of the fort once it had been neutralised, the Luftwaffe would provide a forward air controller to call in close air support and resupply drops. Sappers from Pionier-Bataillon 51 were expected to be among the first German reinforcements crossing the Kanne bridge to relieve Sturmgruppe Granit, and, if necessary, complete the capture of the fort.
Launching the Attack
By early 1940, the training was complete. For security reasons, the various components of Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Abteilung “Koch” were dispersed across several locations in the Rhineland to await further orders, whilst the gliders were moved to two heavily guarded airfields near Cologne. On 9th May 1940, the men received orders to proceed to the airfields, where they learnt that Fall Gelb, the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, was to get underway the following morning. While thousands of German troops were massing along the border, the success of the whole campaign would depend in large part on this small unit.
Junkers Ju-52 transport aircraft began taxiing up to the hangars, while ground crews pushed the gliders out and hooked them up to them. At 3 am, the men began loading up, and around half an hour later, the engines of the Junkers sputtered and roared to life. Soon, they began moving down the runway, picking up speed before taking to the air, towing the gliders behind them. The aircraft would be flying in strict radio silence to avoid alerting the Belgians. They were to follow a route marked with light beacons until reaching the release point, over German territory and 20 kilometres away from the fort, from where the gliders would start their descent from an altitude of just over 2,000 metres. Timings had been worked out to ensure that all four groups would land almost simultaneously at 5.25 am (4.25 am Belgian time) - 90 minutes before sunrise, and five minutes before the German attack across the border.
Yet, almost immediately, issues began to emerge. The Junkers towing Witzig’s glider snapped its towline after executing a steep dive to avoid colliding with another aircraft. The glider’s pilot turned back towards Cologne upon realising that they were too far from the target and would not reach it. The pilot of a second glider also released his tow-rope prematurely due to a misunderstood signal and was forced to land near the German town of Düren. It too was carrying troops from Sturmgruppe Granit, which left the unit with only nine out of eleven gliders and 70 out of 85 men, to carry out its attack. The remaining gliders reached the release point without further incident and began their descent.
Belgian Forces
In the meantime, earlier that night, whilst the men of Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Abteilung “Koch” had still been making their final preparations, the garrison of Fort Eben-Emael had been alerted to the fact that German troops appeared to be massing on the border. This message, however, caused no panic, for this was the third such alert they had received that month. Major Jottrand, who had been asleep when the report was received, was awakened and informed, whereupon he ordered the garrison to execute the standing alert drill. This involved one of the gun crews firing 20 blank rounds at 30-second intervals to alert the troops guarding the bridges and the garrison members living in Wonck that an alert was underway and that they should man their defensive positions.
The next step of the standing alert drill called for the removal of a temporary wooden barracks located just outside the fort’s entrance, so that it did not obstruct the guns’ field of fire. The gun crew that was meant to fire the warning shots was, in fact, assisting in the removal of these barracks. Jottrand eventually gave the job to another gun cupola, but its guns malfunctioned, and the warning was not sounded until 4.30 am. Despite this delay, Jottrand was not unduly worried, since even if the Germans crossed the border, it would still take a while before they reached the fort. Yet, just before 5 am, reports came in of unidentified aircraft approaching from the direction of Maastricht. The Belgians could not understand why their engines appeared to be silent. Though they had not realised it yet, the German assault was already underway.
The Assault
The gliders of Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Abteilung “Koch” began to land shortly after 5.10 am, earlier than expected due to a strong tailwind. Ten of the eleven gliders carrying Sturmgruppe Beton landed beside the Vroenhoven bridge, with the eleventh glider having touched down inside Dutch territory after sustaining damage from anti-aircraft fire. Having achieved complete surprise, the Germans quickly captured the bridge intact before repelling a series of counterattacks with the help of several machine guns dropped by parachute at 6.15 am. Ultimately, they were not relieved until 9.40 pm, much later than initially planned, by which point they had lost seven men killed and 24 wounded. All nine gliders belonging to Sturmgruppe Stahl successfully landed near the Veldwezelt bridge, which was also taken intact, with the loss of eight men dead and 30 wounded.
All but one of the ten gliders carrying the airborne troops assigned to Sturmgruppe Eisen arrived next to the Kanne bridge, the other one having landed in the wrong place due to a navigational error. This time, however, the Belgian defenders spotted the gliders approaching and decided to blow the bridge. Nonetheless, the Germans secured the nearby village of Kanne, before coming under a strong counterattack. This was eventually repulsed with assistance from Junkers Ju 87 dive-bombers. Further counterattacks meant that the airborne troops could not be relieved until the following morning, by which point they had lost 22 men killed and 26 wounded, the heaviest losses of any of the three assault groups assigned to capture the bridges.
The first glider assigned to Sturmgruppe Granit landed on top of Fort Eben-Emael at 5.25 am, with the rest following soon after. The men quickly disembarked, with Oberfeldwebel Helmut Wenzel assuming command in the absence of Oberleutnant Witzig. The first task was to neutralise the machine-gun bunkers and anti-aircraft emplacements. This was swiftly achieved as the stunned Belgian defenders put up little resistance. Next, the Germans used the shaped charges to destroy the gun emplacements. By 5.42 am, barely 20 minutes after landing, most of the guns had been knocked out. The upper part of the fort was in German hands, as hand grenades and flamethrowers were used to drive out the Belgian defenders. The airborne troops used their explosives to trap the rest of the garrison in the fort’s lower levels, reducing the chances of an effective counterattack.
Holding the Position
Sturmgruppe Granit had lost two men killed, eight severely wounded, and four slightly wounded. Leutnant Egon Delica, the forward air controller, was able to direct two resupply aircraft to drop much-needed ammunition and water, while Oberfeldwebel Wenzel was in contact with Hauptmann Koch via radio. At 7.30 am, two hours after the assault had begun, the men were surprised to see another glider landing on the fort. Out leapt Witzig, together with another section. Having landed in a field just outside Cologne, Witzig had ordered his men to clear fences and hedges whilst he made his way to a nearby village. There, he borrowed a car, drove back to the airfield, and then landed next to the glider in another Ju 52. Within minutes, the glider had been hooked up, and both aircraft took off in the direction of Fort Eben-Emael.
Now, having been reunited with his men, Witzig determined that they had achieved most of the mission’s objectives. Their main task now was to keep the Belgian troops trapped in the lower levels from recapturing the surface until reinforcements arrived. Major Jottrand, having overcome the initial shock, had realised that only a few Germans were attacking the fort and had ordered a counterattack. Yet, although the Belgians were now starting to offer more resistance, no significant counterattack could be organised by the artillerymen due to the lack of infantry weapons and tactics. In addition, the Luftwaffe regularly came by to bomb any developing attacks, thanks to the information being supplied by Leutnant Delica.
Although the plan had called for the assault force to hold the fort for only four hours, by noon, there was still no sign of a relief force. Jottrand now began calling for artillery fire from the neighbouring forts of Pontisse and Barchon to target the top of Fort Eben-Emael, in an attempt to dislodge the Germans. Instead, Witzig’s men moved into the shelter of the casemates they had just captured. Jottrand also radioed a message ordering his reserve force in Wonck to make its way to the fort. Although 233 men were assembled, they were scattered throughout the countryside during their advance, after being continuously harassed by German dive-bombers. Throughout the rest of the day, the paratroopers continued to hold out, engaging small groups of Belgians that emerged on the fort’s surface.
The Surrender
As darkness fell, Jottrand decided that keeping the Germans from taking control of the fort’s subterranean levels was the best that his men could accomplish. It soon became clear that even that would not be easy, as the Germans continued their assault throughout the night. Bullets and grenade fragments ricocheted inside the underground tunnels as the men fought hand-to-hand in the dark. Power to the fort had been cut off, and the heat and lack of ventilation were making life extremely hard for the Belgians. The thick smoke from the numerous explosions reduced visibility to a minimum.
Sturmgruppe Granit was finally relieved by Pionier-Bataillon 51 at 8.30 am on 11th May, more than 24 hours after the assault had started. The newly arrived reinforcements took over the task of eliminating the last remaining pockets of Belgian resistance, using their shaped charges and flamethrowers. The defenders were by now completely demoralised. At 10 am, Jottrand contacted the Belgian III Corps HQ in Liège to report on the deteriorating situation, whereupon he was informed that no help would be forthcoming. Suddenly, a huge explosion sent shock waves through the tunnels. Badly wounded men screamed in agony. There was no point in delaying the inevitable. At 12.27 pm, Major Jottrand officially surrendered Fort Eben-Emael. 780 Belgian troops marched into captivity. The garrison had lost 25 men killed and 63 wounded. Casualties for Sturmgruppe Granit were a mere six dead and 15 wounded.
The Aftermath
Adolf Hitler’s big gamble had paid off. Only 28 hours after the attack began, the road into Belgium was open. The capture of Fort Eben-Emael not only allowed German infantry and armour to bypass other defences and continue their rapid advance, but was also instrumental in drawing Allied forces into the trap that the Germans had set for them. By 28th May, after just 18 days of fighting, Belgium had capitulated, while Allied troops were evacuating the Continent at Dunkirk. Less than a month after that, on 22nd June 1940, France surrendered.
The success of the mission had been breathtaking. In just a few hours, the most impregnable fortress in Europe had been captured by a force of just 85 paratroopers, of whom only 70 took part in the initial assault. Even the absence of the unit’s commander and the nonappearance of a second glider failed to derail the mission. The assault on Fort Eben-Emael was a classic example of what can be achieved through daring, innovation, high-level training, and a well-rehearsed plan. Only days after the assault, the men of Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Abteilung “Koch” were received by Adolf Hitler, who awarded every officer, including Witzig, with the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross, Nazi Germany’s highest award for valour. The NCOs were awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class, while each enlisted man received the Iron Cross 2nd Class. Every raid participant was also promoted by one rank.
The assault on Fort Eben-Emael was undoubtedly one of the most spectacular operations of the Second World War and the ultimate demonstration of the German concept of Blitzkrieg. The speed and ease with which such a well-protected fort had been captured by such a small force of lightly armed paratroopers shocked the Allies and led to fear that nowhere was safe from such attacks, even targets located far away from the frontline. Yet, the success of the operation might have blinded the Germans to the limitations of airborne forces. When, in May 1941, they captured Crete almost solely by airborne assault, the Fallschirmjager suffered appalling losses. Thereafter, they were forbidden from participating in large-scale airborne operations and were used as elite ground troops for the rest of the war. Meanwhile, the success at Fort Eben-Emael inspired the British and Americans to set up their own parachute and glider forces.
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