Eben-Emael does not fall to the initial assault : what then ?

[Hecatee]

On may 10, 1940, the German paratroopers attacked the fortress of Eben Emael, on the Albert Canal, and neutralized this crucial pièce of the Belgian defense in only a few hours. A hundred men captured more than 600 (out of a theoretical 1200 men force) while a full division was close by and did not act.

Now lets imagine some decisions had been taken (put barbed wire on the roof and not letting it open as a football field, maning the machine guns, active reaction by the support division, ...) and that its 14 75mm and 2 120mm guns are availlable to support the defense of the canal with about 2 tons of explosive each minute.

We know that the guarrison was second rate, with a lack of discipline, so we should not expect miracles from it, but it could certainly repel the para's.

What are the consequences of the defeat of the paratroops and of the fort being in combat order for at least two more days ? How much does it change the invasion of Belgium and Netherlands (the Germans first made sure that the guns pointing toward Maastricht are disabled) and the actions of the Franco-British force ?

 

[arctic warrior]

The real crucial area was the Ardennes - get the Allies to pound the Panzer's traffic-jam and you change a lot. Albert Canal crossings... probably not much though the Fallschirmjäger landing at the bridges may have a hard time once the fort starts firing at them. At that time the Stukas in the region would pound the fort and the German ground troops arriving the day after start shelling the fort. The Germans may lose another bridge or if the Belgians are really lucky both to the forts artillery fire. However the German main force may still arrive on May 11 and force the Belgian defenders off.
If the fort survives for some days it may even reinforce the Allied perception that this is the main German axis of advance and have them work to fortify the Dyle line and send forward motorized units the help the Belgians.
Overall I don't see much change in the battle.

 

[Michel Van]

The major problem of Fortress Eben Emael, it was not equipped for Air defense, only against infantry
Next to that was it's miss use by Belgium Military as a "penal institution".
Every military who made trouble in the Service, ended up there.
Next to that was typical language problems of French speaking officers and low rang Dutch speaking ones.
This in combination of naive believe of Government and King Leopold III that Belgium neutrality would protect them from German Invasion.

The Fortress decent into Chaos, as French speaking officers try to organize the defense only to fail on there subordinate not understanding them.
next to that the Wehrmach Paratrooper landed on top of Fortress while commandos cutting telephone line between the Defense Fortress and the Belgium HQ
Fortress Battice crew could only see helpless how Eben Emael was conquers by Paratroops, because there artillery had not range to cover Eban Emael
because during construction of the Fortress do budged reason short range artillery were installed, making defense concept totally useless...

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

It delays the the ability of the 3rd & 4th Pz Div to engage the French 1st Army. A 24 hour delay does not mean much, but 48 or 72 hours are large. The mission of the two Pz Div, & the other Germans crossing there was to at a minimum pin the 1st Army & prevvent it from acting against Kleists Pz Grp. OTL they suceeded. If the Germans cant make contact until the 14th or 15th May then Prouxs screening mission is already completed & his two powerful mechanized divisions are withdrawn into reserve intact. They are available to use at full strength vs Kliests flank.

A second knock on effect is the the fire support from the fortress enable the Belgians to recapture both intact bridges on the 10th. OTL they did recapture one bridge without any heavy fire support. Holding the bridges allows them time to integrate the corps reserve into the defense & present a better defense vs the subsequent German river crossing.

 

[Hecatee]

The real crucial area was the Ardennes - get the Allies to pound the Panzer's traffic-jam and you change a lot. Albert Canal crossings... probably not much though the Fallschirmjäger landing at the bridges may have a hard time once the fort starts firing at them. At that time the Stukas in the region would pound the fort and the German ground troops arriving the day after start shelling the fort. The Germans may lose another bridge or if the Belgians are really lucky both to the forts artillery fire. However the German main force may still arrive on May 11 and force the Belgian defenders off.
If the fort survives for some days it may even reinforce the Allied perception that this is the main German axis of advance and have them work to fortify the Dyle line and send forward motorized units the help the Belgians.
Overall I don't see much change in the battle.

Well even if they win 24 or 48h in the overall scheme of things it may help a lot the allies to better react by slowing the overall german moves...

The major problem of Fortress Eben Emael, it was not equipped for Air defense, only against infantry
Next to that was it's miss use by Belgium Military as a "penal institution".
Every military who made trouble in the Service, ended up there.
Next to that was typical language problems of French speaking officers and low rang Dutch speaking ones.
This in combination of naive believe of Government and King Leopold III that Belgium neutrality would protect them from German Invasion.

The Fortress decent into Chaos, as French speaking officers try to organize the defense only to fail on there subordinate not understanding them.
next to that the Wehrmach Paratrooper landed on top of Fortress while commandos cutting telephone line between the Defense Fortress and the Belgium HQ
Fortress Battice crew could only see helpless how Eben Emael was conquers by Paratroops, because there artillery had not range to cover Eban Emael
because during construction of the Fortress do budged reason short range artillery were installed, making defense concept totally useless...

I do agree the fort had been inadequately prepared for air attack (or most other kinds, too...), but a recent book published in French and based upon the official 1947 army reports on the fall of the fortress also show that what defenses were in place were not maned at the time of the attack, nor were the surface infantery positions planned for repelling anyone getting on top of the fortress. Add the lack of basic defenses such as barbed wire and the lack of action by the reaction forces and you get quite a bad situation. It seems air power could not do much damages to the fortress, although it could diminish its efficiency (need to lower the cupolas during air attack) but simply having Stukas flying above the fortress instead of above the roads of Belgium and France is helping the allies...

As for the langage issue, yes it did exist (although it is not WW1 either) and as I said in my initial post the troops were second rate, under staffed at officer level (around 20 for the full 1200 men complement) and we should not expect miracle from them, but just being there and preventing the German moves might be enough to change the course of the war

 

[Michel Van]

I do agree the fort had been inadequately prepared for air attack (or most other kinds, too...), but a recent book published in French and based upon the official 1947 army reports on the fall of the fortress also show that what defenses were in place were not maned at the time of the attack, nor were the surface infantery positions planned for repelling anyone getting on top of the fortress. Add the lack of basic defenses such as barbed wire and the lack of action by the reaction forces and you get quite a bad situation. It seems air power could not do much damages to the fortress, although it could diminish its efficiency (need to lower the cupolas during air attack) but simply having Stukas flying above the fortress instead of above the roads of Belgium and France is helping the allies...

As for the langage issue, yes it did exist (although it is not WW1 either) and as I said in my initial post the troops were second rate, under staffed at officer level (around 20 for the full 1200 men complement) and we should not expect miracle from them, but just being there and preventing the German moves might be enough to change the course of the war

thank for Information, you have the title and ISBN number from that Book ?

On official 1947 Belgium army report, it's was heavy criticized in it's time as to glossing over the failures of Belgium army during German Invasion

 

[Hecatee]

thank for Information, you have the title and ISBN number from that Book ?

On official 1947 Belgium army report, it's was heavy criticized in it's time as to glossing over the failures of Belgium army during German Invasion

Actually it was not so much the 47 army report than the document from the 50's that everyone has used alongside the german sources. It seems the 47 report was classified secret until rather recently and few had heard of it, thus making the new book very interesting. The book is : Hugues Wenkin, « Eben-Emael, l’autre vérité », éditions Weyrich. 184 pages. 32 euros. 9782874893797
It seems to have just come out as the medias have been full of it in the last weeks.

 

[Michel Van]

Thanks allot for book info, Hecatee !

 

[riggerrob]

WI Belgian super-heavy tanks stall on key bridges, blocking German advance?

 

[Hecatee]

WI Belgian super-heavy tanks stall on key bridges, blocking German advance?

haha I wish Belgium had SH Tanks at the time Although one must say that the small armored force of the Belgian army of 1940 did pack a rather heavy punch for its size, thanks to their 47mm AT guns mounted on both T-13 light tanks/tanks destroyers and ACG-1 (French AMC-35 modified), even if it was not strong enough in size to hold the German panzers at bay...

 

[Michel Van]

WI Belgian super-heavy tanks stall on key bridges, blocking German advance?

RLOF
let see what that Belgium Army had for tanks in WW2

10 (TEN) AMC35 battle tanks of 14.5 tons
42 Vickers T-15 light tank of 3.6 tons
200 Vickers T-13 "Tank destroyers" 4.5 tons

and how many tanks Wehrmacht Army group B invaded Belgium ?
With 2450 (two thousand four hundred and fifty) against 252 !

in mean time the Luftwaffe came with 4020 aircraft and destroy the ENTIRE Belgium Air-force on the ground and drop bombs and Paratroopers on Fortress...