Battle of Fort Eben-Emael

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Battle of For Eben Emael

Date	11 May 1940
Location	Near the Dutch city of Maastricht
Result	Decisive German Victory

Belligerents

Belgium

Nazi Germany

Commanders

King Leopold III

Unknown

Strength

700+

Casualties and losses

23 Killed
59 Wounded
677 Captured^[1]

6 Killed
15 Wounded^[1]

v • d • e Western Front (World War II)

France - Maastricht - The Hague - Fort Eben-Emael - Afsluitdijk - Hannut - The Netherlands - Battle of Zeeland - Dunkirk - Britain - Dieppe - Normandy - Dragoon - Siegfried Line - Market Garden - Aintree - Scheldt - Hurtgen Forest - Aachen - Bulge - Colmar Pocket - Nordwind - Central Europe - German capitulation

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The Battle of Fort Eben-Emael was a battle between Belgian and German forces. It was fought on May 11, 1940. It was decisive German Victory.

1 Prelude
- 1.1 Defences
2 Battle
3 References
4 External Links

[edit] Prelude

Fort Eben-Emael was north of the large Belgium city of Liege. It commanded the Albert Canal and was seen by the Belgium military as being the principle barrier against an attack from her eastern borders. As well as the Albert Canal, the fort also had a commanding position over the high bridges over the canal. If an enemy captured these bridges, their ability to move military vehicles and troops would have been greatly helped. Without the control of these bridges, such movement into Belgium would have been severely restricted and the mobility that blitzkrieg needed for success would have been blunted.

[edit] Defences

From north to south, the fort was 900 meters long and from east to west, it was 700 meters. The fort was a base for infantry and artillery units, and the defences of the fort were placed so that each mutually covered the other should the fort come under attack. Getting into the fort would have been very difficult. Two of the walls were 40 meters high and nearly vertical. Climbing them in an assault would have been all but impossible. The other sides of the fort were protected as a result of a man-made ditch around them, again making any assault difficult. To further complicate any assault, outer trenches had been built and more walls, the majority of which were 4 meters high.

The fort contained 7.5-cm cannons, 12-cm revolving cannon; machine guns; searchlights; anti-tank cannons and anti-aircraft cannon. Dummy weapon emplacements were built to fool the enemy. It's major weakness was the attack from the air.