Das Fort Eben Emael
In the context of the modernization of the fortresses around Liège in the early 1930s, it was decided to build a completely new fort, Eben Emael. This fortress should be regarded as impregnable. The reasons for this assertion were obvious.
The Fort is located 10 km south of the Dutch city of Maastricht, above the western shore of the river Meuse on mount St. Pieter. Below the fort the Albert canal branches off the Meuse in the direction of Antwerp and forms a 65 m deep which serves as a moat automatically. The sizes of the Fort describe an irregular pentagon which continues the tradition of the French fortress designers of the 16.and 17.century. 0.75 km ² forms the gigantic base, approx. 0.45 km ² the real roof the Fort. Besides the perfect, natural position of the fort, the passive armament, in which water filled trenches, tank walls and broader approach obstacles were built, was improved.
The inside of the fort:
Within the gigantic enclosure a net of defence installations, called block, were laid out.
block I then and now the main gate
Block II
Block IV
Block V
Block Vi
Canal the north
Canal south
Machine-gun bunker Mi north
Machine-gun bunker Mi south
Block 01 lying on the outside
All blocks had armour-plated observation posts, searchlights and 60 mm of anti-aircraft guns.
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All these blocks were connected to a more than 4.5 km long gallery system. Sometimes bicycles were in use to cover the distances in the mountain quicker.
Arming:
The real arming of the Fort consisted of the following parts:
Coupola 120, revolving tank dome with a 120 mm twin gun.
Total weight 450 tons.
Revolving domes north and south with two extensible 75 mm guns
Maastricht 2
Northward aiming casemates Maastricht 1 & 2 with three 75 mm guns each
Southward aiming casemates Vise 1 & 2. With three 75 mm guns each.
Furthermore there still were three dummy domes with the extents of dome 120 which should make the installation look bigger and more dangerous.
Task of the Fort:
Strategic purpose of this enormous building which cost the Belgian taxpayer more than 24 million Francs was to resist an opponent attacking from the east, the Germans, as long as Allied help could arrive. A tactical task consisted in securing the three bridges (Veldvezelt, Vroenhoeven, Kannes) over the Albert Kanal with a garrison of 600 to manage this
Case Yellow
In autumn 1939, Hitler dealt intensively with the offensive in the west which got the code name "Fall Gelb" (case yellow). A secret meeting in which only Hitler, Air Chief Marshal Keitel as Commander-In-Chief of the OKW (supreme command of Wehrmacht) as well as the Commander of the 7. Flieger Division (airmen division), Major General Kurt Student participated, took place in the Berlin Reichskanzlei (chancellery of the Reich) on October 27, 1939. Purpose of the meeting was to discuss the opportunity of taking Eben Emael and the capture of three bridges over the Albert canal from the air. Student appeared enthusiastic about the task and promises an immediate realization of the plan.
Already early secret air reconnaissance had made the weak point of the Fort obvious. There were 60 mm of anti-aircraft guns and machine guns on top of the roof of the fortress but aerial pictures made evident that the Belgians had failed to mine the free areas. This was noticed when the Belgian garrison team had laid out a big football field on the roof. Conclusion of the German interpreter of aerial photographs: where they play football, there are naturally no mines. A landing strip was found.
Student entrusted Captain Walter Koch (Storm Detachement Koch) with the execution of the operation. He gathered men of the 1. Battalion, 1. Regiment and Leutnant (second lieutenant) Witzigs Sapper Company of the 2. Battalion 1. Regiment . The total strength of the Sturmabteilung Koch was eleven officers and 427 soldiers. From these in turn 42 were trained as as gliding pilots were trained. The group which was subject to the strictest secrecy was assembled in Hildesheim in November 1939 to start immediately with the training.
For seven months the men passed through an intensive training under the seal of secrecy. Secrecy was so strict that it was forbidden under death penalty to speak about future operations. Even family members had no idea where their people were and what they were trained for. Even unit names were changed permanently. Once it was called "Versuchsabteilung Friedrichshafen" (Experimental Department Friedrichshafen), then "17.Reserve Staffel" (reserve echelon).
The glider pilots had a special task, since such an attack from the air had never taken place before nobody had to land on such a short landing strip before. One of the measures to reduce landing speed was the winding of the skids of the DFS 230 with barbed wire. Another one was the installation of a brake parachute. Today, an original DFS 230 can be seen at the
Luftwaffe Museum in Berlin – Gatow.
The Sturmabteilung Koch was subdivided into four groups.
GRANIT (Granite), under command of Leutnant Rudolf Witzig was responsible for the taking of the fortress. Besides Leutnant Witzig, Leutnant Egon Delica was leading the group of 83 men from whom 11 in turn flew the DFS 230 gliders.
STAHL (Steel) had the task of taking the strategically important Veldvezelt Bridge, at the road Antwerp - Maastricht.
EISEN (iron) should occupy the Kannes bridge at the road Maastricht - Liege.
BETON (concrete) was responsible for the taking of the Vroenhoven Bridge.
On May 10, 1940 at 04.30 eleven Junkers Ju 52 towing planes with just as many DFS 230 took off from Cologne-Ostheim and Cologne-Butzweilerhof. To make navigation to Belgium easier for the pilots, every 20 km a flak searchlight had been set up. Just before Aachen, three searchlights signalled the immediate proximity of the operation target. As of now they flew by compass.
The first glider with group 8 landed on the fortress at 05.24. The surprise was complete. The Belgians had heard the rushing of the gliders, however, could not make any rhyme out of it. Minutes later, group 5 landed directly on a machine-gun nest and takes the first prisoners.
Not everything ran smoothly this morning. Two Ju 52 and their gliders left the operation already shortly after take-off. Of all, Leutnant Witzig made a forced landing after take-off. However, he manages to organize another JU 52 that drops him and group 11 on Eben Emael by 08.30.The second plane lands near Düren and that group decides to make it on foot to the fortress. In the late afternoon they should succeed under intense fire.
Meanwhile, the other groups began with the destruction of the fortifications. Within 15 minutes the most important gun emplacements were put out of action. However, next to use of the usual means like demolition charges and flame-throwers, it was the use of hollow charges that made the unbelievably fast taking of the fortress possible. At 05.42 GRANIT reported the message to Captain Walter Koch that Eben Emael was under control of the Paras.
Hollow charges:
The hollow charge is a hollow body made of steel, with explosives poured in funnel-shaped. The entire explosion energy is bundled on a point at the moment of the ignition. There a thorn is generated whose dynamic pressure drills through the most solid steel (Munroe effect). The principle of the hollow charge was already invented 1888 by the American Munroe. The idea was improved by the German Neumann in1910. In the 1930s the Swiss Mohrhaupt also dealt with the principle of the hollow charge and it offered to the French army exactly on the same day when the Germans were just attacking Eben Emael. The German scientists refined, however, the new weapon in a way which permitted the aggressor to attack also heavy objects since it was transported in two parts.
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The invention of the hollow charge was so important for Hitler that he ordered two measures personally. On the one hand the pouring with concrete of the bomb-craters made by the hollow charges, on the other hand the insulation of the captured Belgians in a Stalag (pow camp) kept secret. The first measure should not offer any clue about the new weapon to visitors of friendly axis powers, the second should make it impossible that third parties would be made aware of the effects of the hollow charge by Eben Emael prisoners.
All May 10 was accompanied by continuous fights of the paratroopers with the garrison of the Fort. Even Stukas were requested by Leutnant Delica. The Fort gave up under the command of Major Jottrand on May 11 at 10.00. About 1,000 Belgians go into captivity.
GRANIT recorded six fallen and 20 injured soldiers, the Belgians reported 23 casualties and 59 injured.
The groups BETON, STAHL and EISEN were differently successful.
The group BETON under the command of Leutnant Schacht took the bridge of Vroenhoven fully intact under heavy fire. Leutnant Schächter and group EISEN landed in the middle of the fire of German vanguards near the Kannes Bridge which could be blown up by the Belgians in the last minute. The German infantry had not held schedule on time and had got into the fight with the Belgian bridge guard duty too early.
STAHL under the leadership of Leutnant Gustav Altmann took the Veldvezeldt Bridge intact at 05.24. Altogether, the Germans lost 37 dead and 100 injured The Belgians lost more than 400 casualties and numerous injured.
Epilogue:
On May 16 Adolf Hitler awarded at the forward Führer HQ "Felsensnest" near Euskirchen the Knight's Cross to these men: Hauptmann (captain) Walter Koch, Leutnant Rudolf Witzig and Leutnant Gustav Altmann.
