Fort EBEN EMAEL [part 1]

[reconron]

So what's fort Eben Emael and why I am so excited about it you might ask...

Well,fort Eben Emael in Belgium was considered by military experts to be the strongest fort in Europe,some say in the world up to May 1940 untill it was put out of action by one of the most SPECTACULAR German airborne raids of WW 2.
German paratroopers landed on it's roof with DFS-230 gliders supported by STUKA dive bombers,and knocked out it's main defences with in 18 minutes using a then newly secret weapon;hollow charge explosives.
The Belgian troops inside the fort surrendered with in 36 hours however.

This time I will show you the outside of this HUGE fort situated on a hill,in part 2 I will show you the inside[the cooler part].

Ok,here we go;

The main entrance;[yes the tank is post WW 2]

These domes could be turned upwards to shoot the guns inside them.[some are fake to fool the enemy]

Can you imagine how they could land gliders on the roof?I can.See the people on the left side of the picture.

Coming pictures are not mine;...You have a great view over the river Maas[Meuse] Albert canal and the surrounding area on top of the roof.

The very succesfull glider used for this raid;the DFS-230 [this is a model]

Diorama of the fort Eben Emael,in the 1940's there were much lesser trees then nowadays,the guns in the fort HAD a clear view of fire!

German Paratroopers of Sturmabteilung Koch after the fall of the fort;

Stay tuned for PART 2 wich will give you a look inside this mighty fort...

Greetings,Ron.

 

[moon puppy]

 

[Sharkmouth]

Thanks, I am watching too!

Regards,

 

[Bagge]

Thanks for the pics Ron! i'm looking forward to a visit there someday, that thing is HUGE!
Just to bad they didn't have more AA protection, that would have made it more difficult for the germans.
//Mats

 

[jknaus]

Most excellent
James

 

[Plastik Smurff]

Awesome pic's,thank's for posting em.

 

[Iron Mike]

Great stuff, Ron! Looking forward to Part II!

 

[Gator]

That's awesome Ron. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Leopard2]

That is way cool, thanks for posting Ron.

Joe

 

[reconron]

Thanks guys,I appreciate it that you appreciate it. :laugh:

@Bagge:Mats,there were just 4 heavy machineguns in trenches as anti-aircraft defence divided over the enormous top of the fort,
they never would have thought of gliders landing on the roof.1 glider landed just 5 meters from a machinegun post and was destroyed in seconds,think it was the only glider put out of action on top of the fort.

If everything goes well,I will visit the inside of the fort this weekend.So stay tuned for Part 2.[the cooler part]

Greetings,Ron.

 

[paddy]

Good for you Ron, great pictures. Its very easy to take it for granted that we are surrounded by recent history in europe so its nice to see individual sites in detail like this . Cheers mate