The Spectacular Capture of Fortress Eben-Emael (Belgium, 1940)

The Belgian fortress Eben-Emael was considered impenetrable, with its heavy defences and a 1200 strong garrison. Yet on May 10th 1940, with the invasion of Belgium, the Netherlands and France, it merely took several dozen German paratroopers (Fallschirmjäger) to capture the fort. This Blitzkrieg was meant to overpower Belgium, the Netherlands and France in a surprise attack, preventing their military from properly responding. The Belgian village Eben-Emael lies in the province of Luik, not far away from the Dutch border. Nearby this village lies the similarly named fortress. Completed in 1935, its goal was to guard the vital bridges at the junction of two crucial waterways: the Albert Canal and Maas River. Fortress Eben Emael was the stronghold that both the Germans targeted for capture, and the Belgians and French counted on to resist a German assault… The thing is, the German plan to capture the fortress relied on the use of Fallschirmjäger, or paratroopers. This new elite unit of soldiers dropped from gliders and had to wreak havoc behind enemy lines. Yet when the unit that was meant to capture the fortress, Sturmgruppe Granit, started training, nobody had any idea what their mission or target was… for months. And the unit itself consisted of just 85 Fallschirmjäger, so any rumours that they were to capture the best-defended fortress of Belgium, manned by 1200 Belgian soldiers… well, it would be quite rich if that really was the case, considering they would be outnumbered 14:1… Yet that was the case, and the battle of Fort Eben Emael was one of the most spectacular missions of that fateful day Germany launched its offensive towards its Western neighbours. Consider supporting HoH: ►Join this channel to get access to perks:    / @hoh   ►Patreon:   / houseofhistory   ►Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/HouseofHistory ►Check out my blog: https://www.houseofhistory.co ►My blog: www.HouseofHistory.co ►My Twitter:   / oscar_hoh   My videos tend to get arbitrarily demonetized. That is why I decided to open up a Patreon where people can support the channel. If you decide to pledge as little as 1$/month you will gain access to a monthly series exclusive to my Patrons! Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:37 Fort Eben-Emael 4:12 Preparing the Assault 8:37 Assault on Eben-Emael Watch my documentary series: ►History of Prussia playlist:    • History of Prussia   ►End of Empire - Downfall of the Qing Dynasty playlist:    • End of Empire - China's Last Emperor   ►World War 2 playlist:    • World War 2   ►Hitler's Spies playlist:    • Hitler's Spies   The content of this video covers events, people or concepts via a lecture-style presentation that is educational and historical in nature. Every video is original content by House of History. The events relating to conflict in this video are portrayed in their historical context without either value judgment or an ideological message attached to it. There is no intent to shock, upset or disgust. The goal of my channel is to make interesting lecture-style videos, no more, no less. Thank you for taking the time to check out House of History, I hope you will find the films informative, interesting and enjoyable! If you have any feedback, questions or criticism feel free to leave a comment. Your opinion truly aids me in improving the content of the channel! If you have a question, feel free to leave a comment and I will either write a reply, answer your question in a Q&A video, or make an entire video about it! Sources: Written by House of History Photos, paintings and imagery: Public Domain, Wikicommons #HouseofHistory #History #WW2