Oooooooh goodie! Lookin forward to that for sure... Mannnnn I’m still a tad burnt that American underground facilities are still so closely guarded for the most part....sehr eifersüchtig.
Interesting history, thank you. Didn't knew about the football game and reconnaissance flight. In the 90s I visited it a few times, off-road with jeep (now it'd be impossible)..i expected a few bunkers, but this is really hughe. Alongside the Albert Canal, there were bunkers emplaced, but they where dismantled a decade ago. Anyways, my mother was 9 at the time the war broke out, and she remembers the fall of Eben-Emael vividly. When the news came in, the civilian population was in a state of shock and fright, "the Ulhans are there" - as a reminder of the German atrocities on the Belgian population in WW1. Btway..Visé is not pronounced "vice"..Vee-Zay is the best an anglophone can pronounce it🙂
I will agree with you on that about the museum, it’s really nice. The whole area around of the bridge is good scenery with ice cream is great! Have you been to the Remember Museum 39-45 in Thirmister-Clermont? Not your typical museum, My dear friends Mathilda and Marcel made it unique and very special.
This was a real eye opener for me, I’ve been watching war documentaries for over 25 years and I had never heard of this fort, truly amazing how the Germans managed to take it with just a small force..
@@BadsaidMad Invading a small neutral country without a declaration of war twice in a couple of decades is also not mentioned. Calling this a victory is just as misplaced as calling the bombing of Dresden a victory.
@@johngeen5633. It seems most Europeans with an interest in WW 2 are very familiar with it. Most Yanks don’t have a clue. Probably because they weren’t involved in the war for another 18 months......... nothing to do with America therefore not interested.
My great uncle Max Hein was one of the Paras that attacked it. 1st Btn Falshirmjager. He was hung by his webbing over a gun emplacement to sling a satchel charge in. He inspired me to join up.
@@future_me_6067 well they knew it was since they couldn't really take off in the gliders they were waiting for the land troops to arrive and catch up and they were a little late because one of the bridges had been blown up but they knew they had to take the fort and sit there and wait for relief
This is the first time I've seen a clear examination and explanation of the fort. I've been hearing about it for years, mostly through diagrams, and the German glider attack that neutralized it, but I never understood the vastness of the underground facilities until now. Thank you.
What a massive complex, all that money for something taken so cheaply and quickly. So many blunders by the Belgians. Thank you Tino for this wonderful Documentary.
Blunders, that's what we know now. Don't judgde history by the knowledge of today. Ps: the Belgian returned fire from the first moment, with the AA-guns.
So true @ 43:49 regarding how vast this fort complex actually is, compared to the typical gloss-over by many documentaries on this battle. Thanks for clearly illustrating this by walking the grounds, bunkers and forts. Looks like a heck of a workout!
thank you during the 1980's we used to setup radio relay site on top of the fort. It was still officially still a military base so we could not go inside.
What a tour, outstanding detail & a thoroughly professional presentation of the battle history. You are doing a great job of elevating your production level, very enjoyable to watch. Thank you.
@@tinostruckmann It's sometimes tough to provide positive feedback without sounding patronizing, but I think you know what I mean. I watch a lot of military history - your programs are very good & getting better with each one.
have a cigar , sir! you deserve it..i never see this on history channel .,,,the details ..great military production ..eben is huge...just reading books is not enough...you have to be on the ground ... love your obsession ...the children must learn this crazy war, for real
Well said. Have blown much smaller charges on active service outdoors and can hardly imagine that one....My granddad was part of the armoured spearhead aiming to relieve the Fallschirmjägers, I remember he had plenty of pictures from the destroyed bridges and the channel.
Was is most important on that, it is not only a charge. It was a hollow charge, same concept like a Panzerfaust, which has only around 100 gram loading!!! A charge only detonates and the blast goes in all directions. That hollow charges detonates in a directed blast.
I served in the airborne engineer company 260, the Bundeswehr succssor of the airborne engineers. I met Rudolf Witzig personally on an formal occasion and was very impressed. It saddens me extremely, but the official position of the german state is, that stories like this are not "traditionworthy" for the Bundeswehr because the soldiers fought for the Nazi cause. Eben Emael for us was an example what a handful of motivated and well trained paratroopers can accomplish.
And you are absolutely correct, soldiers of a country does not differentiate for whom they fight. That would undermine every aspect of service. There were great heroics and heroism with honor conducted by the German armed forces during the war. That these people who fought for their country regardless who was in charge have been neglected in Germany is sad. I see it everything I am there. At least here we can pay respect to those deserving. And I do hope within the units in the German military even if in quiet corners some remember those who fought with honors. - I have to ask though did Witzig ever expressed how annoyed he must have been over having initially being dropped to soon? :-)
@@tinostruckmann . Colonel Witzig impressed me because of his modesty. Maybe you too know such men: when he told the old stories he used the terms "we" and "us" more often than "I" or "me". And I remember that he talked more about the loss of good men and his friends than his own heroism. I remember him talking more about the desaster on Crete, than the success in Belgium. On the other hand, the occasion I met him was may, 20th -the operation Merkur anniversary.
Remarkable job and thanks for all your time and effort. I can't imagine the time and resources you spent making all the research, drawings, squetches, inteviews, etc...Every minute of your documentaries means many hours of hard work. There is a big difference between a field historian like you than a arm chair one. THANKS YOU.
Thank-you Tino. I've been fascinated by Eben Emael ever since I've learned about it. This is the best walk-through documentary I have ever seen seen, by far. Perhaps you could do a follow up on the battle just using diagrams only and include activities concerning the bridges as well? Seeing all of these bunkers, cupolas, machine gun nests, etc and trying to keep track of the flow of the battle is difficult. Thanks again!!
I visited Eben Emael in 1974-75 when it was closed and the care-taker was a former crewman in Turret 120>> The place was shrouded in mystery, and its fall was blamed on inside treasonous acts. We only had the book, :the Fall of Eben Emael" by Col. James E. Mrazek (1970)....> He covers step by step, as you did, each move made by each side as to what happened..........We had to avoid the old caretaker, and slipped upon top of the Fort without him knowing.....Trees were not as you see them now, and trenches on top still were showing....Good Tour, Tino.
Besides training for the operation using some of the casemates on the Czech Benes line, they also constructed copies of the turrets & casemates in the forests of the german training area of Wildflecken.
I am convinced that, thus far, this documentary is you very best. You are clearly dedicated to your endeavousr and prepare very carefully, which thing alone is worthy of the highest praise. One can easily draw many useful lessons out of this video, ranging from the purely technical, to the ethical and further...much further. In conclusion I want to thank you profusely, for your work generally and, i repeat, for this episode in particular. Keep up the good work sir. Cheers.
Thank you so very much for saying so, I suppose the more I do the better I get at it - in that case this years season will be amazing:-) I am picking locations now so I know it will be.. I actually had to cut this episode short because my camera had broken its stabilizer and it just didn't turn out as I wanted, but I am going back for the missing bits
@@tinostruckmann Looking forward to more videos. The one video you did on the Tactical Nuclear Bombs (and the Nazi Nuclear program in general) was excellent.
I been living in Limburg, Belgium side for 16yrs now. “Prior US military” We do Fort Eben and Albert Canal walking rout area at least once a week, and I know Fort Eben and it’s history. After all these years, all these local stories, videos, tours and ww2 reenactments. Finely I just watch the best well put documentary on Fort Eben to this day! Really fantastic and strait up. My 8yr old son said enthusiastically give it a Thumbs up dad! “Lest Not Forget”
I actually knew of this story. But it took me almost 20 years of learning about WW1 + 2, watching countless documentaries, reading numerous books etc to hear about this story. It is not well known at all, even though it is an amazing story, well worth knowing!
Hey Tino, i'm a true fan of your work, and yet i somehow missed this episode from a year ago... your story telling here is top notch! you retell this battle in a very entertaining and informative way. every aspect is just...awesome. and all the amazing footage & pictures you find, to the editing to convey the story, just top quality work!
Absolutely fascinating insight into an amazing military operation. I have explored along the Maginot Line and I am certainly looking forward to visiting Fort Eben Emael.
1979 to 1983 I was stationed at Royal Air Force NSU Tongeren a Nato base about 12 kms away it is an amazing place to visit , this excellent video brings it to life but a real visit is really worth it .
I often wonder what they teach at West Point or other military schools. How do we prepare our future soldiers now? This was such basic and yet sophisticated thinking. It does all comes down to military intelligence sources; and then trusting in those sources. An amazing story that I was unaware of. Thanks for putting this together.
Thanks for a fantastic video and I have learned a lot of new information about what happened. The insight and background that you provided is brilliant. I am enjoying catching up on your videos now that I have found your channel.
Yes! I have the fortune of still living in this general area have have seen some of these amazing historical sites. I bought an e- MTB and use it to cover much more ground than by foot. These things are varitable mountain goats and will go over and up anything. Some even have a "walk " mode for places where you cannot ride, even up stairs so there is no strain on your body. Just a suggestion for future endeavors. Great work! I love it!
Whew get ready to shed a few tears. My ancestors came from Belgium and my father used to tell us they never would surrender. There was just nothing left of our ancestral home. They resisted the Germans in World War I and the Germans wiped out their town. They resisted again in World War II and the Germans wiped out the town. The Battle of the Bulge ended with a German tank running out of gas in the town. The Germans killed the city leaders again. There was nothing left to visit, so we never did. Maybe I will take my kids there someday. Talking about Belgium and the early 20th century usually ended with someone crying.
Tell you what, why dont you email me the name of the town, and I will go there and shoot a little video walk through so you can at least see what is there?
Absolutely Brilliant. Terrific narrative, I think, in my humble opinion one of the finest videos you've produced, thank you for making these Interesting historical wartime videos.
Our Village Doctor when i was a child was a veteran from the second world war. He had a Friend who was one of the paras who took Eben Emael. I remember tales of a long preparation periode were the paras were not allowed to even write home. They were keept seperated from any other unites and all outside contact was denied. In this training phase they wore uniforms without insignia or rank and this and the fact that they were often seen lifting 50kg havy concrete blocks up and down the practice ground convinced everyone who saw them that they must be part of a penal unit. On the day not every think went to plan and at the beginning there was a lack of shape charges so not every threat to the attacker could be neutralized immediately. The belgian soldiers would constantly rotate their turrets. One of these constantly turning turrets had an outside visible gear ring. So one of the paras started shooting at one spot at the ring untill so many tooth of the gear ring were missing that when the drive sprocket of the turning turret came over that spot the turret stoped and was incapacitated - with a simple rifle! The men of the paras had a little drink before the mission to give them courage before the operation. One of them may had a little to much & he was the one riding on one of the turning turrets and firing his service pistol into the canons muzzle. All paras were higly decorated after the sucessful mission except from this one - nazis had really no humor. After the operation all wholes by shaped charges were filled with concrete and painted over as this new weapon was still very secret. When i was in the german army we visited Eben Emael privatly with a group of nco and we were shown around by a very nice and competend lady guide. The inside was closed when we were there but we were more interessted in the outside anyway. Huge and impressive. Sorry for everyone that was killed or wounded there. Thanks for the nice video. Regards from germany.
That is such a great story, I appropriate you sharing. I believe a few of the guys on both sides are still alive but I am not sure time goes so fast. I did not know the damage was covered after but it makes sense. Have you never been back there to see the inside? I am going back next week. Where in the Army were you? I spent some time in Stuttgart.
@@tinostruckmann No, never found the time to go back. Therefore I enjoyed your video so much - Thank you. I served in the Army Anti Aircraft School in Rendsburg, about 100 klicks north of Hamburg . The „Heeresflugabwehr“ as this branch of the territorial forces was called has been dissolved in 2010 (because ISIS had no airforce). This decision is one of the many blunders done in or to the german army in the last 25 years. Again thank you very much for the video. Hope you have a good time. Regards sincerely Yours Malte
Phenomenal report, Herr Struckmann! The battle of belgium an the netherlands are also very interesting! Additionally all the forts and defensive lines, which where connected to this conflict in that area.
Outstanding video. Thank you. Gotta wonder how many times that a religious busy body and a few ladies of the night have seriously messed up military operations throughout history.
Sturmgruppe Granit undergoing training in my Hometown.Hildesheim.Fort Eben Emael was rebuild on Osterberg Training Ground in Hildesheim.It was the braves Action ever ever did.
Her von Struckmann 2 years ago I went there to have a look. There was also a glider inside. I then had a pancake with beer at the restaurant opposite the entrance. Good video!
It was closed when I got there ... no pancake for me:-( And I wanted to film the glider but the lights kept glaring in the glass so It was impossibly to get a clear shot lol
You called the Fallschirmyager men who fought here brave. As a grandson of a man who opposed Germans and later Russians... A Polish Army Officer, I agree.
Thank you my brother, sometimes we have to look beyond the colors for whom men fought and look at their deeds. I would love to hear your Grand dads story, is he still alive?
To Use A Pun Tino, "A Bang Up Job".! All Your Video Coverage In The Air, On The Ground, In The Tunnels, & Galleries, Your Commentary, & History, & The Help Of Great Staff, Truly Brings It All Home, & Right To The Point.! I've Watched It Many, Many Times In Countless Doc's Filled With Concise Footage, & Then Piecing It All Together Like A Puzzle, & Each Hectare Of 30, Football Fields Large A Lay Out For The Massive Spread, & You Truly Exemplified The Surmounting Acreage It Took, To Hit Hard, Fast, & Accurately, That Made This Siege A Swift Victory For The Germans, & A Powerful Loss For Belgium's Army, & Ultimately Their People That Had Paid The Ultimate Price, Of Being Quickly Over Run, & Occupied.! A Demoralizing String Of Defeats, & The Well Thought Out Germans Had All The Converging Plans Funneling All Into One Massive Sweep Of Crushing Defeats, & Shows Just How Advanced, & Prepared, & Thoroughly They Had Followed Up, & Shows Just Exactly How A Few Errors Can Spiral Into A Whirlwind Of Continuous Blows That The Wiley Germans Took Full Advantage Of, As They Flooded Over The Low Countries, Like A Tidal Wave Of Spilling Water From A Ruptured Dam, & With Incredibly Little Losses In The Process Of Putting The Hard & Fast Defeats Delivered One After The Other.! Making Them, "The Masters Of EUROPA" From The Brilliant Form Of Strategy They Employed, Falling Each Battlefield Like A Complex Row Of Dominos.! Great Job Tino.! I Thank You, & Salute You, As I'm Sure Most All Would Kindly Agree Of The Very Tremendous Job Of Putting All These Greatly Made Videos All Together, Covering The Worlds Greatest Known Conflict, In A Well Covered, & Comprehensive, Bit Sized, & A Quite Digestible Palette Of Elements That Are All Entertaining, & Highly Knowledgeable.! . . PEACE . . ! Sincerely, Best Regards, World War II Enthusiast, Mick 'O~>
Thank you brother - and lets not forget I did it with a broken camera lol 3 day into my last trip my stabilizer and auto focus broke lol so of course Im going to do it all again .. with a back up camera:-) much more to come
My compliments for your explanation of how this fort works. How it works in offense and defense and illuminates both sides. I have not seen a clearer video about Fort Eben Emael as you made it. Kornwerderzand is also an interesting defense work located in the Netherlands. This was attacked by the Germans in 1940, but due to the good positioning of the bunkers, the attack failed. In 1945, when the Allies faced the same fact and task, the Allies refrained from an attack because of the risk of many casualties. As far as I am concerned, Kornwerderzand belongs in the list of best defenses.
Great VARIETY of content on this channel. All of it done very well. Not just about ww2. However the ww2 stuff is incredibly covered well. Full of information and little tidbits of important information. My second favorite documentary about eben emal.
i visited this location as a teen. i live in germany next to the border of NL and BEL and this is a sight to visit if you are interested in military stuff. there are tours guided by locals you can schedule i think, but sadly nothing like a 7 days a week museum. Still the tours are very detailed and show the history of the fort aswell as the story of the german capture. so if you are around give it a visit!
Been there more then once , mostly one the outside making walks with my dog. Those gun domes on the roof look like ufo's from a distance . The dome in the center has the air outlet from the ventilation system , when it's turned on the idea of ufo get's stronger due to the noise that's coming out. Walking a little further you can find some sandstone caves looking down to the canal. Awesome place to visit !
Another great video and tour! I'm with Gerry, a 50kilo inside would make me run for my life up the stairs as well! I'm at the end and are still chuckling over a priest, a ball, and girls!
Went here today and only a 40 min drive from where I live in Belgium, very impressive if you are interested in war history! Amazing that I could say I walked where they walked. Much respect for them
I had the great good fortune to interpret for the late Oberst Witzig who guided a British 5 Airborne Brigade battlefield tour there in 1988. It was a fascinating experience to hear this still dynamic personality describe how all problems were overcome and to hear what he had to say about being made to spend several months subsequently as an adjutant to Hermann Goering, who was basking in the reflected glory of this young Knight's Cross winner.
@@tinostruckmann Sadly not, but then it was not my tour. I was roped in to interpret and after a lengthy evening of presentations, including numerous original slides belonging to Witzig and a full day out on the battlefield, I was knackered! That said, I was an unforgettable experience.
There is an amazing story around these events, you won't believe it's true (a Mark-Felton-Story?): One of the belgian AA-gunners, named Sluismans, visited, prior to the war, an airshow at the airfield in Evere, close to Brussels. The glider competition of this airshow in Evere was won by Karl-Heinz "Heiner" Lange. It was that Heiner Lage who landed in the assault his glider right between the AA-guns.
You are getting better and better for every documentary that You are doing. But please lower the music. For some of us that dont usually speaks English, we need to hear what You are saying. But Your language and choice of words, and of course the speed that You talks is great for us... If You are using some strange word, please do a explanation in more common language also. 2 Lt Jansson Royal Swedish Marines, Coastal artillery (Ret.)
Thank you brother I was sure I checked the levels since the last ones, odd. may need new speakers:-( So are you guys still chasing Russian submarines in the fjords like in the old days?
@@tinostruckmann I just looked at the video from 8 days ago, and You said something about "The Swedish Stug". Did You mean battletank 103, or the"S-tank" that some people say? Do You want the book (in Swedish, that we used in the education) about it? (Sofilein got one at the Arsenalen when she was there). Some other Swedish books that You are looking for, about equipment or tactics? Or "The Russian book", with pictures to help you recognize the enemy before you report or open fire... I just need an adress if you want something. 2Lt C-H Jansson, nick name Calle Bazz. Varberg
Incredible history so well told and such detailed research, investigation and footage hats off to you sir! I always loved the show battlefield detectives but you take it to another level
@@tinostruckmann Interestingly the fort close by which gave supporting artery fire to Eban Emeal and was inferior, held out for much longer and suffer considerable damage as a consequence.
@@tinostruckmann when you are there, close to the fortress near the bridge at rue du garage is an old supply tunnel that supposedly runs all the way to the fortress. Been inside there once. Coordinates are roughly 50,7829720, 5,6861363.
I remember seeing some of the old footage you showed here in one of many British war documentaries i watched years ago but never really took it in like how you showed it here once again Tino awesome work on this lost battlefield. One interesting point you made was the low casualties which i found quite surprising it makes one think that maybe they surrendered before it begun considering the guns were not firing like one would think due to communication and firing orders told to hold off. Either way a lot of men were saved that day from what i gather after watching this, Amazing history you have told here.
I thought I was well studied about ww1/ww2 German military history, how did I miss this? Thx T - but I had this feeling more than once binging your content. Awesome job, gotta tip the hat to you brother
Very, extremely interesting. Well done explanation of the battle, but you should do some editing as you have a lot of slightly confusing repetition. You did an excellent job in showing the scale of the fort. When I was a kid in LA, I went through Boy Scout training (actually semimilitary) at Fort MacArthur, which guarded San Pedro, Long Beach and Los Angeles harbors. Because of the immediate Japanese threat after Pearl Harbor through most of 1942 it was heavily fortified. It's a minor echo of this fort. It still exists as a museum, though I remember it as an active training base. One thing puzzles me in particular. The forts are vast but seem undergunned, even by WWI standards. 75mm seems like a fairly small gun. The biggest guns are only 120mm. I would have expected 200mm (8 inch) guns as the largest weapons with a large number of 120mm. Also, they repeated the French error of WWI in not having supporting infantry forces and small to medium arms to protect the actual fortification. The French supposedly corrected this error in their contemporary Maginot Line (which the Germans carefully avoided assaulting). Thanks for a very informative video. I've liked this and subscribed with a notifications alarm.
Well it is an interesting point, the cannons were similar in sizes to many Maginot line forts, but Eben Emael was designed in the late 1920ties and was completed in 1935, given what the needs were expected to be at that time that was thought to do it. Also there should have been more AA gun emplacements on the roof, weather these were planned or not I am not sure. I will be back there in a week and will sit with their main curator and ask him all these questions and we will see.
@@tinostruckmann I have always seen Eben Emael as a paragraph, 3 or 4 photos; perhaps once a detailed account, and it has been ages since I read any of those accounts. I never conceived of the size, as you. Are the minefields farmed? I meant to say I have one -word- for you. The video was incredible. I know Corregidor would be a reach, let alone any of the little ones
Amazing fort. I think I have read on occasion, that this fort was also important to the defense of the Dutch defensive waterlines. Specially in the quick arranging of a allied defensive plan, before what we call now, ww2, not sure if any of that is correct? Yet they should connect when watching the map?
Excellent, excellent video! Very clear and easy to understand/follow. I like the way you gave the overall sequence of action and then went back in more detail. The Belgians didn’t seem to be well organised or disciplined. Did they ever have practice attacks to work out ‘bugs’ in the system? The orders about not being able to fire without permission was just insane. I wonder how many man-hours it took to build the fort. Many questions, but a really good vid, thank you. 😊
Glad you enjoyed it! - I am going back there next week and will do a sit down with their fort historian then we will talk more about what excactly happened
The scale of this fortress is absurd, thank yo for capturing that aspect. One thing I don't understand is why the different rooms within the tunnels are so far spread out.
One of the lessons learned from WW1: the fort of Loncin exploded after the Germans hit the central ammunition depot. More than 100 soldiers are still buried under the debris. In Fort EE, all ammunition stores are decentralized, close to the guns, far enough away from each other.
Murphy's Law was with the Belgians in spades that morning in May 1940. Everything and anything that could go wrong, went wrong. This was Belgium's Pearl Harbor. The Americans suffered similar misfortune on December 7th, 1941 which aided the attacking enemy's success.
Thank you for your video because I am Belgian and I have my parents who had their grandfather in the fort. It is a very little known by aport to its history.
@@tinostruckmann I ask my mom and he got out of there alive and we have pictures of him captive in the fort and even a booklet with the christmas menu. If you want to see the photos let me know.
I read the story of Fort Eben Emael more than 45 years ago in Readers Digest. Later I realized how well everything was planned and how great these people were trained. I was working at the time in a country far away with a team of different people (races and skin color). I made my supervisors reading the story and ask them why did this Germans succeed when even there leader was absent! Witzig came too late to the action. The points we discussed were: 1) Well trained men 2) Determination 3) Well organised It helped my team to understand that they can do it, if they train their team, be determined and improve their work place.
it is hard to beat when your enemy gets it right and you get it wrong on the day of battle. A lot of things had come together or apart that day. I am not done looking into that battle yet!
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I just spent an amazing day at Eben Emael - INSIDE all the forts, from Kanal Nord to Cupola 120 - you should be very excited:-)
Oooooooh goodie! Lookin forward to that for sure... Mannnnn I’m still a tad burnt that American underground facilities are still so closely guarded for the most part....sehr eifersüchtig.
And jealous. :-)
Interesting history, thank you. Didn't knew about the football game and reconnaissance flight. In the 90s I visited it a few times, off-road with jeep (now it'd be impossible)..i expected a few bunkers, but this is really hughe. Alongside the Albert Canal, there were bunkers emplaced, but they where dismantled a decade ago. Anyways, my mother was 9 at the time the war broke out, and she remembers the fall of Eben-Emael vividly. When the news came in, the civilian population was in a state of shock and fright, "the Ulhans are there" - as a reminder of the German atrocities on the Belgian population in WW1.
Btway..Visé is not pronounced "vice"..Vee-Zay is the best an anglophone can pronounce it🙂
Since I was a child always thought about this fort . What a amazing video. Fabulous history tour . Thank you .
Glad you enjoyed it - I am going back in a few weeks, I want to see the forts nearby too - wellI want you to see them
@@tinostruckmann that's great, I live nearby / in Maastricht. Maybe I'll catch up with you :)
@@tinostruckmann go and have a look at the Vroenhoven bridge. It played a crucial role as well and had a nice museum. Less than 10km from eben-emael.
I wanted to say that too
I will agree with you on that about the museum, it’s really nice. The whole area around of the bridge is good scenery with ice cream is great! Have you been to the Remember Museum 39-45 in Thirmister-Clermont? Not your typical museum, My dear friends Mathilda and Marcel made it unique and very special.
This was a real eye opener for me, I’ve been watching war documentaries for over 25 years and I had never heard of this fort, truly amazing how the Germans managed to take it with just a small force..
Really??? One of the most well known documented events of Case Yellow.
@@BadsaidMad. Ok.... but what has France to do with Eben Emael ? It was in Belgium. Manned by Belgium troops.
@@BadsaidMad Invading a small neutral country without a declaration of war twice in a couple of decades is also not mentioned.
Calling this a victory is just as misplaced as calling the bombing of Dresden a victory.
I live about 10 miles from the fort in the dutch city of Maastricht and everybody here knows about it.
@@johngeen5633. It seems most Europeans with an interest in WW 2 are very familiar with it. Most Yanks don’t have a clue. Probably because they weren’t involved in the war for another 18 months......... nothing to do with America therefore not interested.
My great uncle Max Hein was one of the Paras that attacked it. 1st Btn Falshirmjager. He was hung by his webbing over a gun emplacement to sling a satchel charge in. He inspired me to join up.
Please tell me he is one of the remaining soldiers still alive? I would love to hear his story?
did you have more details, more remaining history from your great uncle? it would be impressive to hear more first hand informations and stories
That is really cool. I have to wonder if the Germans thought it to be a one-way trip going in.
@@future_me_6067 well they knew it was since they couldn't really take off in the gliders they were waiting for the land troops to arrive and catch up and they were a little late because one of the bridges had been blown up but they knew they had to take the fort and sit there and wait for relief
I hope you joined the British Paras !!!!!
This is the first time I've seen a clear examination and explanation of the fort. I've been hearing about it for years, mostly through diagrams, and the German glider attack that neutralized it, but I never understood the vastness of the underground facilities until now. Thank you.
You are very welcome I> really wanted to do more but my camera was broken... I will go back for a more in debt description of all positions too.
Love your boots on the ground approach to history good job Tino!
Have to go there to show it ... thank you brother.
What a massive complex, all that money for something taken so cheaply and quickly. So many blunders by the Belgians. Thank you Tino for this wonderful Documentary.
Not being able to shoot back at their attackers until they got permission didn't help either.
It never did - somehow that order will still be issued to our Soldiers from time to time ....
Blunders, that's what we know now. Don't judgde history by the knowledge of today.
Ps: the Belgian returned fire from the first moment, with the AA-guns.
not like anyone had ever attacked a fortress with paras before xd
Thank you for making this video showing us the features of Fort Eben Emael and recounting the full story of the battle that happened there.
another great episode thank you Tino and a big thanks to all the volunteer to preserve this history
in deed on that, this is where a huge grant would come in handy so we could take care of them:-)
So true @ 43:49 regarding how vast this fort complex actually is, compared to the typical gloss-over by many documentaries on this battle. Thanks for clearly illustrating this by walking the grounds, bunkers and forts. Looks like a heck of a workout!
thank you during the 1980's we used to setup radio relay site on top of the fort. It was still officially still a military base so we could not go inside.
That explains why one of our viewers was chased of the top by a farmer with a shot gun in 84 lol
What a tour, outstanding detail & a thoroughly professional presentation of the battle history. You are doing a great job of elevating your production level, very enjoyable to watch. Thank you.
Thank you very much! Im trying
@@tinostruckmann It's sometimes tough to provide positive feedback without sounding patronizing, but I think you know what I mean. I watch a lot of military history - your programs are very good & getting better with each one.
have a cigar , sir! you deserve it..i never see this on history channel .,,,the details ..great military production ..eben is huge...just reading books is not enough...you have to be on the ground ... love your obsession ...the children must learn this crazy war, for real
Thank you, I really appreciate it:-) the next season will be amazing trust me:-)
Very interesting & filmed brilliantly , a real pleasure to watch , fantastic
Great video! That fort is truly huge. Like you stated always hard to appreciate the size from a drawing.
Thanks a bunch! more to come
The thought of a 50kg charge going off in the tight confines of the area around those doors is terrifying.
Yes absolutely
Well said. Have blown much smaller charges on active service outdoors and can hardly imagine that one....My granddad was part of the armoured spearhead aiming to relieve the Fallschirmjägers, I remember he had plenty of pictures from the destroyed bridges and the channel.
@@oliverbraun4966 Had? Whats going on with these pics now?
@@oliverbraun4966 Kool.
Was is most important on that, it is not only a charge. It was a hollow charge, same concept like a Panzerfaust, which has only around 100 gram loading!!! A charge only detonates and the blast goes in all directions. That hollow charges detonates in a directed blast.
I served in the airborne engineer company 260, the Bundeswehr succssor of the airborne engineers. I met Rudolf Witzig personally on an formal occasion and was very impressed. It saddens me extremely, but the official position of the german state is, that stories like this are not "traditionworthy" for the Bundeswehr because the soldiers fought for the Nazi cause. Eben Emael for us was an example what a handful of motivated and well trained paratroopers can accomplish.
And you are absolutely correct, soldiers of a country does not differentiate for whom they fight. That would undermine every aspect of service. There were great heroics and heroism with honor conducted by the German armed forces during the war. That these people who fought for their country regardless who was in charge have been neglected in Germany is sad. I see it everything I am there. At least here we can pay respect to those deserving. And I do hope within the units in the German military even if in quiet corners some remember those who fought with honors. - I have to ask though did Witzig ever expressed how annoyed he must have been over having initially being dropped to soon? :-)
@@tinostruckmann . Colonel Witzig impressed me because of his modesty. Maybe you too know such men: when he told the old stories he used the terms "we" and "us" more often than "I" or "me". And I remember that he talked more about the loss of good men and his friends than his own heroism. I remember him talking more about the desaster on Crete, than the success in Belgium. On the other hand, the occasion I met him was may, 20th -the operation Merkur anniversary.
Remarkable job and thanks for all your time and effort. I can't imagine the time and resources you spent making all the research, drawings, squetches, inteviews, etc...Every minute of your documentaries means many hours of hard work.
There is a big difference between a field historian like you than a arm chair one.
THANKS YOU.
Thank you very much! - And I promise there will be a lot more from there coming:-) heading back in a few
Eben emael has interested me since i was a teenager. Good video sir.
Thank you I am going back soon and want to show you all the forts near by
Thank-you Tino. I've been fascinated by Eben Emael ever since I've learned about it. This is the best walk-through documentary I have ever seen seen, by far. Perhaps you could do a follow up on the battle just using diagrams only and include activities concerning the bridges as well? Seeing all of these bunkers, cupolas, machine gun nests, etc and trying to keep track of the flow of the battle is difficult. Thanks again!!
Anytime, more to come also from there
I visited Eben Emael in 1974-75 when it was closed and the care-taker was a former crewman in Turret 120>> The place was shrouded in mystery, and its fall was blamed on inside treasonous acts. We only had the book, :the Fall of Eben Emael" by Col. James E. Mrazek (1970)....> He covers step by step, as you did, each move made by each side as to what happened..........We had to avoid the old caretaker, and slipped upon top of the Fort without him knowing.....Trees were not as you see them now, and trenches on top still were showing....Good Tour, Tino.
Besides training for the operation using some of the casemates on the Czech Benes line, they also constructed copies of the turrets & casemates in the forests of the german training area of Wildflecken.
I am convinced that, thus far, this documentary is you very best. You are clearly dedicated to your endeavousr and prepare
very carefully, which thing alone is worthy of the highest praise.
One can easily draw many useful lessons out of this video, ranging from the purely technical, to the ethical and further...much further. In conclusion I want to thank you profusely, for your work generally and, i repeat, for this episode in particular.
Keep up the good work sir. Cheers.
Thank you so very much for saying so, I suppose the more I do the better I get at it - in that case this years season will be amazing:-) I am picking locations now so I know it will be.. I actually had to cut this episode short because my camera had broken its stabilizer and it just didn't turn out as I wanted, but I am going back for the missing bits
Tino sir, you are showing all the good stuff most documentaries omit, thank you! you are a good actor
You are most welcome - I am just beginning
@@tinostruckmann Looking forward to more videos. The one video you did on the Tactical Nuclear Bombs (and the Nazi Nuclear program in general) was excellent.
Brilliant Tino wanted to see this place for years!
Well start packing! Im headed back there
I been living in Limburg, Belgium side for 16yrs now. “Prior US military” We do Fort Eben and Albert Canal walking rout area at least once a week, and I know Fort Eben and it’s history. After all these years, all these local stories, videos, tours and ww2 reenactments. Finely I just watch the best well put documentary on Fort Eben to this day! Really fantastic and strait up. My 8yr old son said enthusiastically give it a Thumbs up dad! “Lest Not Forget”
I actually knew of this story. But it took me almost 20 years of learning about WW1 + 2, watching countless documentaries, reading numerous books etc to hear about this story. It is not well known at all, even though it is an amazing story, well worth knowing!
Amazing narrative and supporting video! Among the best historical presentation I've ever seen!
thank you I appreciate it, and much more to come
I read, and study a lot af ww2 history, but your chanel, is an really eye opener, so mutch i did´nt know before.
Hey Tino, i'm a true fan of your work, and yet i somehow missed this episode from a year ago... your story telling here is top notch! you retell this battle in a very entertaining and informative way. every aspect is just...awesome. and all the amazing footage & pictures you find, to the editing to convey the story, just top quality work!
Absolutely fascinating insight into an amazing military operation. I have explored along the Maginot Line and I am certainly looking forward to visiting Fort Eben Emael.
Fantastic story. It would make a great movie.
1979 to 1983 I was stationed at Royal Air Force NSU Tongeren a Nato base about 12 kms away it is an amazing place to visit , this excellent video brings it to life but a real visit is really worth it .
I often wonder what they teach at West Point or other military schools. How do we prepare our future soldiers now? This was such basic and yet sophisticated thinking. It does all comes down to military intelligence sources; and then trusting in those sources. An amazing story that I was unaware of. Thanks for putting this together.
Looking around I wonder that myself... :-) thank you so much going back soon.
Thanks for a fantastic video and I have learned a lot of new information about what happened. The insight and background that you provided is brilliant. I am enjoying catching up on your videos now that I have found your channel.
Yes! I have the fortune of still living in this general area have have seen some of these amazing historical sites. I bought an e- MTB and use it to cover much more ground than by foot. These things are varitable mountain goats and will go over and up anything. Some even have a "walk " mode for places where you cannot ride, even up stairs so there is no strain on your body. Just a suggestion for future endeavors. Great work! I love it!
Whew get ready to shed a few tears. My ancestors came from Belgium and my father used to tell us they never would surrender. There was just nothing left of our ancestral home. They resisted the Germans in World War I and the Germans wiped out their town. They resisted again in World War II and the Germans wiped out the town. The Battle of the Bulge ended with a German tank running out of gas in the town. The Germans killed the city leaders again. There was nothing left to visit, so we never did. Maybe I will take my kids there someday. Talking about Belgium and the early 20th century usually ended with someone crying.
Tell you what, why dont you email me the name of the town, and I will go there and shoot a little video walk through so you can at least see what is there?
Just back from a visit to the fort. Great video thanks for all the info
thank you
This was awesome, thank you again Tino!
My pleasure!
Very interesting. Your tour gave a very good impression of the size and layout of this fort. Cheers.
Glad you enjoyed it I just got to film the rest of the fort - inside all the fighting positions too..
Appreciate you detailed history of fortress Eben Emael's capture !
Very much thank sir. The details of the battle are awe inspiring. I wondered for years how the fallshirmjager pulled it off!
Glad you enjoyed it! -I hear there is more to come too...
Absolutely Brilliant. Terrific narrative, I think, in my humble opinion one of the finest videos you've produced, thank you for making these Interesting historical wartime videos.
Thank you I really appreciate it, hopefully I would get better as I go:-) and next years season I tell you...
Thank you Tino for your time and effort to explore this fort. This structure was massive even by today's standards.
Just wait for the second episode I get into all the turrets
Our Village Doctor when i was a child was a veteran from the second world war. He had a Friend who was one of the paras who took Eben Emael. I remember tales of a long preparation periode were the paras were not allowed to even write home. They were keept seperated from any other unites and all outside contact was denied. In this training phase they wore uniforms without insignia or rank and this and the fact that they were often seen lifting 50kg havy concrete blocks up and down the practice ground convinced everyone who saw them that they must be part of a penal unit.
On the day not every think went to plan and at the beginning there was a lack of shape charges so not every threat to the attacker could be neutralized immediately. The belgian soldiers would constantly rotate their turrets. One of these constantly turning turrets had an outside visible gear ring. So one of the paras started shooting at one spot at the ring untill so many tooth of the gear ring were missing that when the drive sprocket of the turning turret came over that spot the turret stoped and was incapacitated - with a simple rifle!
The men of the paras had a little drink before the mission to give them courage before the operation. One of them may had a little to much & he was the one riding on one of the turning turrets and firing his service pistol into the canons muzzle. All paras were higly decorated after the sucessful mission except from this one - nazis had really no humor.
After the operation all wholes by shaped charges were filled with concrete and painted over as this new weapon was still very secret. When i was in the german army we visited Eben Emael privatly with a group of nco and we were shown around by a very nice and competend lady guide. The inside was closed when we were there but we were more interessted in the outside anyway. Huge and impressive. Sorry for everyone that was killed or wounded there.
Thanks for the nice video. Regards from germany.
That is such a great story, I appropriate you sharing. I believe a few of the guys on both sides are still alive but I am not sure time goes so fast. I did not know the damage was covered after but it makes sense. Have you never been back there to see the inside? I am going back next week. Where in the Army were you? I spent some time in Stuttgart.
@@tinostruckmann No, never found the time to go back.
Therefore I enjoyed your video so much - Thank you.
I served in the Army Anti Aircraft School in Rendsburg, about 100 klicks north of Hamburg . The „Heeresflugabwehr“ as this branch of the territorial forces was called has been dissolved in 2010 (because ISIS had no airforce). This decision is one of the many blunders done in or to the german army in the last 25 years.
Again thank you very much for the video.
Hope you have a good time. Regards sincerely Yours Malte
Phenomenal report, Herr Struckmann!
The battle of belgium an the netherlands are also very interesting!
Additionally all the forts and defensive lines, which where connected to this conflict in that area.
I am putting together to plan of visit as we chat:-)
Outstanding video. Thank you. Gotta wonder how many times that a religious busy body and a few ladies of the night have seriously messed up military operations throughout history.
Sturmgruppe Granit undergoing training in my Hometown.Hildesheim.Fort Eben Emael was rebuild on Osterberg Training Ground in Hildesheim.It was the braves Action ever ever did.
just found this best histroy great amazing videos
Her von Struckmann 2 years ago I went there to have a look. There was also a glider inside. I then had a pancake with beer at the restaurant opposite the entrance. Good video!
It was closed when I got there ... no pancake for me:-( And I wanted to film the glider but the lights kept glaring in the glass so It was impossibly to get a clear shot lol
Thanks for showing the true dimensions of places like Eben Emael, Tino.
You called the Fallschirmyager men who fought here brave.
As a grandson of a man who opposed Germans and later Russians... A Polish Army Officer, I agree.
Thank you my brother, sometimes we have to look beyond the colors for whom men fought and look at their deeds. I would love to hear your Grand dads story, is he still alive?
This was a fascinating film and the first of yours that I have seen. I have now subscribed. Brilliant work.
Welcome aboard! lots more to come:-)
"...firing canister...detrimental to the paratroopers' health..." you have a gift for understatement. Great video!
I try its that whole euro sarcasm :-)
Outstanding video and commentary, planning to go in September!!!
Another great video! Thanks!
I like how you explained the whole past in a lovely story way. I love your videos. Thanks agian.
Thank you - just wait for the second episode
To Use A Pun Tino, "A Bang Up Job".! All Your Video Coverage In The Air, On The Ground, In The Tunnels, & Galleries, Your Commentary, & History, & The Help Of Great Staff, Truly Brings It All Home, & Right To The Point.! I've Watched It Many, Many Times In Countless Doc's Filled With Concise Footage, & Then Piecing It All Together Like A Puzzle, & Each Hectare Of 30, Football Fields Large A Lay Out For The Massive Spread, & You Truly Exemplified The Surmounting Acreage It Took, To Hit Hard, Fast, & Accurately, That Made This Siege A Swift Victory For The Germans, & A Powerful Loss For Belgium's Army, & Ultimately Their People That Had Paid The Ultimate Price, Of Being Quickly Over Run, & Occupied.! A Demoralizing String Of Defeats, & The Well Thought Out Germans Had All The Converging Plans Funneling All Into One Massive Sweep Of Crushing Defeats, & Shows Just How Advanced, & Prepared, & Thoroughly They Had Followed Up, & Shows Just Exactly How A Few Errors Can Spiral Into A Whirlwind Of Continuous Blows That The Wiley Germans Took Full Advantage Of, As They Flooded Over The Low Countries, Like A Tidal Wave Of Spilling Water From A Ruptured Dam, & With Incredibly Little Losses In The Process Of Putting The Hard & Fast Defeats Delivered One After The Other.! Making Them, "The Masters Of EUROPA" From The Brilliant Form Of Strategy They Employed, Falling Each Battlefield Like A Complex Row Of Dominos.!
Great Job Tino.! I Thank You, & Salute You, As I'm Sure Most All Would Kindly Agree Of The Very Tremendous Job Of Putting All These Greatly Made Videos All Together, Covering The Worlds Greatest Known Conflict, In A Well Covered, & Comprehensive, Bit Sized, & A Quite Digestible Palette Of Elements That Are All Entertaining, & Highly Knowledgeable.! . . PEACE . . ! Sincerely, Best Regards, World War II Enthusiast, Mick 'O~>
Thank you brother - and lets not forget I did it with a broken camera lol 3 day into my last trip my stabilizer and auto focus broke lol so of course Im going to do it all again .. with a back up camera:-) much more to come
My compliments for your explanation of how this fort works. How it works in offense and defense and illuminates both sides. I have not seen a clearer video about Fort Eben Emael as you made it. Kornwerderzand is also an interesting defense work located in the Netherlands. This was attacked by the Germans in 1940, but due to the good positioning of the bunkers, the attack failed. In 1945, when the Allies faced the same fact and task, the Allies refrained from an attack because of the risk of many casualties. As far as I am concerned, Kornwerderzand belongs in the list of best defenses.
awesome analysis and video, much better than history channel etc. This should be shown in history classes.
Glad you think so!
Great VARIETY of content on this channel. All of it done very well. Not just about ww2. However the ww2 stuff is incredibly covered well. Full of information and little tidbits of important information. My second favorite documentary about eben emal.
Thank you so much I try, and being a historian WW2 is the main topic, but there have to be a little time for fun on wheels too:-)
i visited this location as a teen. i live in germany next to the border of NL and BEL and this is a sight to visit if you are interested in military stuff. there are tours guided by locals you can schedule i think, but sadly nothing like a 7 days a week museum. Still the tours are very detailed and show the history of the fort aswell as the story of the german capture. so if you are around give it a visit!
Do you have a link to anybody and I will reach out, I would love to jump on a tour as I am headed that way now anyway
Very good documentary!greetings from belgium.
Thank you very much! On the way back to see you all
Been there more then once , mostly one the outside making walks with my dog.
Those gun domes on the roof look like ufo's from a distance .
The dome in the center has the air outlet from the ventilation system , when it's turned on the idea of ufo get's stronger due to the noise that's coming out.
Walking a little further you can find some sandstone caves looking down to the canal.
Awesome place to visit !
Another great video and tour! I'm with Gerry, a 50kilo inside would make me run for my life up the stairs as well! I'm at the end and are still chuckling over a priest, a ball, and girls!
That is what I thought, I hope when I go back I gt to see how fast I can make it up one of those similar stairs..
very very good. a major piece of WW2 history, known by any student of waring history, but not shown in this detail. thank you, well done.....
And there will be one more in more detail from the inside:-)
Went here today and only a 40 min drive from where I live in Belgium, very impressive if you are interested in war history! Amazing that I could say I walked where they walked. Much respect for them
I had the great good fortune to interpret for the late Oberst Witzig who guided a British 5 Airborne Brigade battlefield tour there in 1988. It was a fascinating experience to hear this still dynamic personality describe how all problems were overcome and to hear what he had to say about being made to spend several months subsequently as an adjutant to Hermann Goering, who was basking in the reflected glory of this young Knight's Cross winner.
I don't suppose you filmed it? I would love to have meet him and heard the story. I believe there are still 3 or 4 of them alive?
@@tinostruckmann Sadly not, but then it was not my tour. I was roped in to interpret and after a lengthy evening of presentations, including numerous original slides belonging to Witzig and a full day out on the battlefield, I was knackered! That said, I was an unforgettable experience.
Visited this place several times, it’s only 25 km from my home.
There is an amazing story around these events, you won't believe it's true (a Mark-Felton-Story?):
One of the belgian AA-gunners, named Sluismans, visited, prior to the war, an airshow at the airfield in Evere, close to Brussels.
The glider competition of this airshow in Evere was won by Karl-Heinz "Heiner" Lange.
It was that Heiner Lage who landed in the assault his glider right between the AA-guns.
You are getting better and better for every documentary that You are doing. But please lower the music. For some of us that dont usually speaks English, we need to hear what You are saying. But Your language and choice of words, and of course the speed that You talks is great for us... If You are using some strange word, please do a explanation in more common language also. 2 Lt Jansson Royal Swedish Marines, Coastal artillery (Ret.)
Thank you brother I was sure I checked the levels since the last ones, odd. may need new speakers:-( So are you guys still chasing Russian submarines in the fjords like in the old days?
@@tinostruckmann Sir, we only have one (1) fjord. Gullmarsfjorden north of Gothenburg (Göteborg) on the west coast.
@@tinostruckmann I just looked at the video from 8 days ago, and You said something about "The Swedish Stug". Did You mean battletank 103, or the"S-tank" that some people say? Do You want the book (in Swedish, that we used in the education) about it? (Sofilein got one at the Arsenalen when she was there). Some other Swedish books that You are looking for, about equipment or tactics? Or "The Russian book", with pictures to help you recognize the enemy before you report or open fire...
I just need an adress if you want something.
2Lt C-H Jansson, nick name Calle Bazz. Varberg
LOL. Has the History Channel offered you a show yet? Great work, yet again!
Noooo they are to busy doing reality lol
@@tinostruckmann - And shows about UFOs past & present.
Incredible history so well told and such detailed research, investigation and footage hats off to you sir! I always loved the show battlefield detectives but you take it to another level
And I am only just beginning:-)
Those pesky Fallschirmjägers kept turning up throughout WW2
Well Mussolini appreciated it lol
Thank God they never Landed in the 2 Places that could have won the War for the Axis in 41, Malta and Port Said.
Op een paar details na , een zeer goede reportage.
Thank you that was a great tour and explanation
Excellent, I'm with you all the way. Great documentary
Outstanding thank you for saying so welcome aboard
@@tinostruckmann Interestingly the fort close by which gave supporting artery fire to Eban Emeal and was inferior, held out for much longer and suffer considerable damage as a consequence.
I live at 1 hour driving from Eben Emael. I've been there. Very interesting.
Thanks for making this video.
Glad you enjoyed it! - I will be back there in a few weeks, I want to see the other forts:-)
@@tinostruckmann when you are there, close to the fortress near the bridge at rue du garage is an old supply tunnel that supposedly runs all the way to the fortress. Been inside there once. Coordinates are roughly 50,7829720, 5,6861363.
FANTASTIC look at an amazing fort. thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it
I remember seeing some of the old footage you showed here in one of many British war documentaries i watched years ago but never really took it in like how you showed it here once again Tino awesome work on this lost battlefield. One interesting point you made was the low casualties which i found quite surprising it makes one think that maybe they surrendered before it begun considering the guns were not firing like one would think due to communication and firing orders told to hold off. Either way a lot of men were saved that day from what i gather after watching this, Amazing history you have told here.
The noise inside all of these forts would have been deafening and disabling in battle - noting the echo from just walking around.
excactly my thought
I thought I was well studied about ww1/ww2 German military history, how did I miss this? Thx T - but I had this feeling more than once binging your content. Awesome job, gotta tip the hat to you brother
Thank you I try:-) and there is more:-)
Very, extremely interesting. Well done explanation of the battle, but you should do some editing as you have a lot of slightly confusing repetition. You did an excellent job in showing the scale of the fort. When I was a kid in LA, I went through Boy Scout training (actually semimilitary) at Fort MacArthur, which guarded San Pedro, Long Beach and Los Angeles harbors. Because of the immediate Japanese threat after Pearl Harbor through most of 1942 it was heavily fortified. It's a minor echo of this fort. It still exists as a museum, though I remember it as an active training base.
One thing puzzles me in particular. The forts are vast but seem undergunned, even by WWI standards. 75mm seems like a fairly small gun. The biggest guns are only 120mm. I would have expected 200mm (8 inch) guns as the largest weapons with a large number of 120mm. Also, they repeated the French error of WWI in not having supporting infantry forces and small to medium arms to protect the actual fortification. The French supposedly corrected this error in their contemporary Maginot Line (which the Germans carefully avoided assaulting).
Thanks for a very informative video. I've liked this and subscribed with a notifications alarm.
Well it is an interesting point, the cannons were similar in sizes to many Maginot line forts, but Eben Emael was designed in the late 1920ties and was completed in 1935, given what the needs were expected to be at that time that was thought to do it. Also there should have been more AA gun emplacements on the roof, weather these were planned or not I am not sure. I will be back there in a week and will sit with their main curator and ask him all these questions and we will see.
You must hav e a lot of fun, visiting all these, historic places.
I do but you are a demanding audience so I don't get to sleep much anymore LOL I will start arranging tours as soon as possible
@@tinostruckmann Hehe, more fun, than work, i gues.
Great video. Been there few years ago but only walking the outside of it (it is vast!).
It really is! one can get lost up there
Tino gets likes before I watch the video because of consistent quality. I haven't watched one yet where I change my mind after.
Thank you for another enjoyable hour.
Glad you enjoyed it - more to come
Fantastic Documentary Tino.
Glad you enjoyed it
I have one for this. Incredible. With all due respect especially for your staff, who has to put up with you, I have one word. Corregidor
Well done lol - Thank you my brother, they have by now Im sure just accepted history comes before them lol
@@tinostruckmann I have always seen Eben Emael as a paragraph, 3 or 4 photos; perhaps once a detailed account, and it has been ages since I read any of those accounts. I never conceived of the size, as you. Are the minefields farmed? I meant to say I have one -word- for you. The video was incredible. I know Corregidor would be a reach, let alone any of the little ones
They had shaped charge technology? Didn’t know that.
Great video.
Amazing fort. I think I have read on occasion, that this fort was also important to the defense of the Dutch defensive waterlines. Specially in the quick arranging of a allied defensive plan, before what we call now, ww2, not sure if any of that is correct? Yet they should connect when watching the map?
Outstanding video!
I've been waiting for this..
I knew you had lol :-)
@@tinostruckmann Oh, I did also forget to mention, you did not disappoint. As always.
Excellent, excellent video! Very clear and easy to understand/follow. I like the way you gave the overall sequence of action and then went back in more detail. The Belgians didn’t seem to be well organised or disciplined. Did they ever have practice attacks to work out ‘bugs’ in the system? The orders about not being able to fire without permission was just insane. I wonder how many man-hours it took to build the fort. Many questions, but a really good vid, thank you. 😊
Glad you enjoyed it! - I am going back there next week and will do a sit down with their fort historian then we will talk more about what excactly happened
Great, Tino. What’s that episode called (assuming you’ve posted it by now.)
Greatings from Belgium overhere
Greetings to Belgium LOL love you guys coming back in a few weeks I want to see some of your World War 1 forts
Plenty of Great War fortresses around Antwerp and Liege. Most fighting around Yser river during 4 years
The scale of this fortress is absurd, thank yo for capturing that aspect. One thing I don't understand is why the different rooms within the tunnels are so far spread out.
One of the lessons learned from WW1: the fort of Loncin exploded after the Germans hit the central ammunition depot. More than 100 soldiers are still buried under the debris. In Fort EE, all ammunition stores are decentralized, close to the guns, far enough away from each other.
Excellent , thank you.
You are welcome!
Once again a very good report.Interested in the chemical spill as I had read about the Belgiums using poison gas which they denied.Now I know
yay success
Excellent Presentation
Murphy's Law was with the Belgians in spades that morning in May 1940. Everything and anything that could go wrong, went wrong. This was Belgium's Pearl Harbor. The Americans suffered similar misfortune on December 7th, 1941 which aided the attacking enemy's success.
And both seemed to know they were about to be hit too...
Congratulations... From Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Thank you greetings to Brazil
Thank you for your video because I am Belgian and I have my parents who had their grandfather in the fort. It is a very little known by aport to its history.
Your grandfather, is he still alive or did he leave any diaries or photos behind? There is nothing like stories untold.
@@tinostruckmann I ask my mom and he got out of there alive and we have pictures of him captive in the fort and even a booklet with the christmas menu. If you want to see the photos let me know.
I read the story of Fort Eben Emael more than 45 years ago in Readers Digest. Later I realized how well everything was planned and how great these people were trained.
I was working at the time in a country far away with a team of different people (races and skin color). I made my supervisors reading the story and ask them why did this Germans succeed when even there leader was absent! Witzig came too late to the action.
The points we discussed were:
1) Well trained men
2) Determination
3) Well organised
It helped my team to understand that they can do it, if they train their team, be determined and improve their work place.
it is hard to beat when your enemy gets it right and you get it wrong on the day of battle. A lot of things had come together or apart that day. I am not done looking into that battle yet!