Fort Eben Emael

Fort Eben Emael by Tim Saunders is part of the wonderful Battleground Europe series produced by Pen & Sword. This slim volume offers a clear and concise history of the battle for the famous Belgium fort on the Albert Canal. The easily carried book also serves as useful tool for anyone wishing to take a self-guided tour of the fortification. Saunders begins his fine work by first explaining why Belgium thought it so necessary to build a fixed fortification at the site. The German attack in 1940 is then covered in comprehensive yet impressive detail. Contemporary and modern photographs aid the reader in understanding the events of the battle. Particularly useful are the many--and sometimes surprising--tips for those touring the fort: "Do not leave the group to wander. You could end up being confined in the fort in total darkness." As are all the books in this series, this volume is highly recommended.

The Battleground series by Pen & Sword continues to offer a "meatier" alternative to the Osprey series books, which suffer from size constraints. Although the subject of the capture of the Belgian Fort Eban Emael by German glider troops in May 1940 has been covered before, none have done it with the level of detail and insight that veteran author Tim Sauders provides in this volume. Furthermore, this volume has the value-added benefit of providing considerable detail on the other three German glider operations to seize crossings over the Albert Canal as well as the efforts by the German ground forces to reach the glider troops. In sum, this volume packs a great deal of information and the author succeeds in presenting the action from both the German and Belgian viewpoints. Fort Eben Emael has 10 chapters that provide a historical narrative on the German attack and one chapter that narrates a tour of the modern fort. The first two chapters deal with the Belgian requirement to build a new fort to protect the Albert Canal crossing sites and the actual details of Eben Emael. This book really drives home that the fort was intended more as a symbol for deterrence rather than actual warfighting, due to its puny armament, weak garrison and awful C2. The author provides a number of modern and contemporary photos that depict the interior/exterior of the fort today, as well as the garrison. One photo that struck me was of the fort's 15 officers - the lack of uniformity struck me as very unmilitary and further add credence to the author's assertion that second-rate personnel were assigned to the fort. The author also provides a number of excellent sketch maps and overhead aerial photos that show the layout of the fort and all major features. Chapters 3 and 4 cover the development of German glider force, the development of hollow charge explosives and the genesis of the plan to attack the fort. While succinct, these chapters are excellent. The attack itself is covered in chapters 5-9 in great detail and the author does a great job identifying which individuals on each side did what, as well as providing photos of each of the objectives that were attacked. This book is a fine example of how to integrate text, photos and maps to explain a military action. Two facts stand out clearly in the author's narrative: (1) the Belgian fort was not ready for war and its suffered numerous mechanical deficiencies that impaired its ability to resist attack and (2) the German paratroopers were extremely well-trained, in that neither the absence of their commanding officer or casualties had any impact on their mission execution. Other accounts tend to depict the German paratroopers as invincible super warriors while the Belgians are usually shown as gutless incompetents, but this author avoids that trap and shows the reader heroes and zeroes on both sides. One German paratrooper brought liquor along, got drunk during the attack and proceeded to climb up on one of the f

This is the second book that I have reviewed on Eben Emael (first one by OSPREY: "Fort Eben Emael - The Key to Hitler's Victory in the West"), and is even more detailed, and very well illustrated with pictures and maps. Both these books, as well as Another (OSPREY: "Crete - Germany's Lightning Airborne Assault"), have provided valuable reference material for a presentation I gavre in Ottawa, Canada, on 12 Nov., 2006, on "The Role of the Glider in WW II", as part of the Remembrance Day commemorations. Besides being a valuable reference book, it is also well written and provides an interesting read for anyone interested in the airborne battles of WW II.

The general story of the German seizure of Fort Eben Emael by glider born troops of the German Army on the first day of the war in the west is well known. What isn't so well known is just how big, how poorly armed, how negligently protected the fort was. This book goes into detail about what happened at Eben Emael. It's location, design, armaments, internal structure, and everything else is covered. Of course the Belgians never thought that the fort would be attacked from the top. If they had, a platoon of men with a couple of light tanks and the German 70 man attacking force would have been wiped out. The defenders were reduced to firing rifles out of vision slots and out the barrels of the cannon. Besides that, the guns of the fort were basically not functional. Electric hoists to bring the ammunition up from the magazine failed, the guns themselves jammed. A thousand men in the fort were captures by the seventy Germans and the German army swept through Belgium into France. A final point about the book. It has a section of what's at the fort now, what you can see, where you can go, even where to park. An excellent little book.