How silent gliders and secret explosives crippled a massive Belgian fortress in 1940
In May 1940, German forces executed a daring airborne assault on Fort Ében-Émael. By landing gliders directly on the fortress roof, they neutralized heavy artillery and seized vital bridges. This operation, part of the invasion of the Low Countries, bypassed traditional defenses and fundamentally altered the course of the campaign.
Fort Ében-Émael was a formidable Belgian defensive position built between 1932 and 1935. Carved from marl, it featured 8-foot thick reinforced concrete walls and was armed with an array of 120mm and 75mm artillery pieces. Its strategic importance lay in its ability to dominate three critical bridges over the Albert Canal, which the German Wehrmacht needed to secure for their advance into Belgium during the invasion known as Fall Gelb.
The German assault, designated Sturmabteilung Koch, relied on the element of surprise. Adolf Hitler, influenced by his pilot Hanna Reitsch, ordered the use of DFS 230 gliders, believing their near-silent flight would bypass Belgian sound-location arrays. The force trained on a replica of the fort and utilized highly secret shaped-charge explosives to disable the fortress's cupolas and casemates. On 10 May 1940, forty-two gliders launched from Cologne, though navigation errors and mechanical issues left the assault groups understrength.
Upon landing on the fort's roof, the airborne troops—led by Oberfeldwebel Helmut Wenzel in the absence of Oberleutnant Rudolf Witzig—systematically targeted artillery emplacements. While some objectives were destroyed quickly, others required multiple explosive charges or manual destruction of gun barrels. Simultaneously, other assault groups secured the bridges at Veldwezelt and Vroenhoven, though the bridge at Kanne was destroyed by Belgian defenders after a German mechanized column arrived early, ruining the element of surprise.
The operation was a strategic victory for the Wehrmacht, allowing them to bypass Belgian defensive lines. Despite heavy casualties, the airborne troops held their positions until relieved by German ground forces. The battle demonstrated the effectiveness of specialized airborne tactics against static fortifications, forcing the Belgian military to abandon their delaying positions along the canal and retreat toward the Dyle Line to link up with Allied forces.
Source: Battle of Fort Ében-Émael
