Fort Eben Emael: The Key to Hitler's Victory in the West (Fortress) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Simon Dunstan's Fort Eben Emael is probably one of the best of Osprey's Fortress series volumes produced to date. Rather than just a discussion of dirt and concrete, Dunstan details both the Belgian quest to build an impregnable fortress to protect their eastern border and the German plans to seize the fort in a coup de main. The story of Fort Eben Emael is a dramatic episode in the history of warfare and Dunstan's narrative brings it vividly to life. There is also a subtle cautionary tale in these pages about how expensive weapons programs can be undone by a bold and determined enemy. Indeed, the dramatic capture of Fort Eben Emael by only 85 German paratroopers was, as Dunstan writes, "one of the most remarkable feats of arms in the history of warfare."

Dunstan begins the volume with an 8-page introduction that traces the German threat to Belgium beginning before the First World War and lessons learned from the defense of the Liege forts in 1914. After the First World War, the Belgian Government decided to allocate substantial financial resources to construct a new series of forts around Liege and the Albert Canal to inhibit any future German invasion. The centerpiece of this new fortified line was Fort Eben Emael, which was built at the junction of the Meuse River and the Albert Canal in 1932-35. As Dunstan notes, the fort incorporated all the lessons learned to date about fortress warfare and was designed to resist attack by artillery, ground assault and aircraft. Dunstan describes the fort in great detail, with sections on blockhouses, gun emplacements, armored doors, the underground caserne, observation posts and the garrison. The text is complemented by numerous B/W photos of the fort in the 1940s as well as color photos of the fort as it looks today. The volume has two 2-D maps (the Sichelschnitt Plan of 1940; locations of Belgian forts around Liege) and six color plates (overhead view of Fort Eben Emael; a gun casemate; fields of fire of the fort; hollow charge explosives; the flight path to Eben Emael; glider landings and objectives), all of which assist the reader in understanding the Belgian plan of defense and the German attack plan. Dunstan also provides an appendix which lists all 85 German paratroopers involved in the assault by name, as well as their fate.

The middle part of the volume discusses the German Case Yellow plan for the offensive in the West and the necessity of seizing Fort Eben Emael quickly. Dunstan discusses the formation of Storm Group "Koch" to deal with the Belgian forts as well as the German secret weapons - hollow charges and gliders (probably one of the few occasions in military history where "secret weapons" lived up to initial expectations in combat). Readers should also note the involvement of Adolph Hitler in the tactical details of the operations. After outlining German preparations to seize the fort, Dunstan describes the woeful state of readiness at Fort Eben Emael. Dunstan writes that, "through a combination of manpower shortages, poor moral, inefficient communications and political interference, the strength of the most powerful fortress in the world was seriously undermined..." Although the Belgian High Command issued a war alert five hours before the German attack, many critical positions at Fort Eben Emael were still unmanned and ammunition not issued when the German gliders began to land on top of them. Dunstan notes that the Belgian anti-aircraft machineguns should have decimated the nine German gliders - but they lacked ammunition. Within 30 minutes, the German paratroopers boldly disabled the fort's artillery and observation posts and sat back to await relief. Despite a 10-1 numerical superiority, the Belgian garrison sat passively in their bunkers, completely surrendering the initiative to the Germans. However, the German plan almost came unglued when the destruction of a vital bridge delayed the relief force and the German paratroopers had to spend an anxious night atop the fort, awaiting a counterattack that never came. When the German relief force finally arrived, the demoralized garrison surrendered post haste.

Dunstan also contrasts the aggressive leadership style of the German paratroopers against the passive Belgian command style, which he cites as a major factor in the capture of the fort. When the German officer in command failed to reach the fort due to a glider accident, a senior German NCO assumed command and led the initial assault. Meanwhile, a Belgian artillery NCO failed to use a stairway to carry ammunition by hand to his guns when the electric shell hoist failed. Dunstan makes it clear that in evaluating the value or effectiveness of fortifications, that the relative efficiency of the garrison is a crucial determinant.

This book is a well done account of a brief and bold operation. It has the illustrations that many other books lack. Highly recommend this amazing book.

This book is interesting to students of military history and does not fulfil the novel reader. It does certainly show how the once wonderful defensive building fell victim to the fresh thoughts of its attackers.