EBEN-EMAEL AND THE DEFENCE OF FORTRESS BELGIUM 1940

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Covers the defenders of Fort Eben-Emael, considered to be Belgium's most powerful fortress, in 1940. This huge structure, with its powerful artillery and infantry weapons, was the key to the Meuse and Albert Canal defenses. In the darkness of the pre-dawn, German DFS 230 gliders drifted silently over the southern Netherlands, landing one by one on top of Eben-Emael. Within minutes German Special Forces troops destroyed most of the fort's weapons and observation capabilities. The following day, the garrison surrendered, and the door to Belgium and France was open.

Eben-Emael was only one of the nineteen forts of the fortified positions of Liege and Namur attacked in May 1940. Three new and 16 refurbished forts held out for several days, and often fought to the death. The story he tells contradicts the common assumption that these static defenses were rolled over or bypassed.