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Osprey Fortress #30
Fort Eben Emael: The Key to Hitler's Victory in the West
At the outbreak of World War II, Fort Eben Emael in Belgium was the strongest fortress in the world, and it lay exactly across the German invasion route of Belgium and France. The fort's elimination was essential for the success of Hitler's invasion of the West. Deemed impregnable to conventional attack, Hitler himself suggested the means for its capture with the first glider-borne assault in military history. On 10 May 1940, ten gliders carrying just 77 paratroopers landed on top of the fort. Using top-secret hollow-charge weapons for the first time in warfare, the assault pioneers of Sturmgruppe Granit subdued Fort Eben Emael within just 30 minutes, and the fortress surrendered within 30 hours. It remains one of the greatest raids in the annals of Special Forces.
64 pages, Hardcover
First published May 8, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 12, 2019
Typical Osprey book. Good descriptions and photos. This book describes construction and layout of the Belgian fortress. This is followed by a detailed description of the German glider-born assault on May 10, 1940.
Unfortunately much of the text is repeated in the figure captions, so it appears to be a case of filling pages to get to the standard “Fortress” series page count.
The artwork could be better. Unfortunately in this case digital artwork fails to be as good as paintings would be.
The book is informative and the period photos juxtaposed with current views are nice to see.
Unfortunately much of the text is repeated in the figure captions, so it appears to be a case of filling pages to get to the standard “Fortress” series page count.
The artwork could be better. Unfortunately in this case digital artwork fails to be as good as paintings would be.
The book is informative and the period photos juxtaposed with current views are nice to see.
October 26, 2019
Osprey Publishing Fortress publication.
The visit to Fort Eben Emael is a wothwhile endeavor (definitely only after reading this book).
The visit to Fort Eben Emael is a wothwhile endeavor (definitely only after reading this book).
December 13, 2011
Love reading military history and this one did not disappoint. Although a very short book, it jammed in a lot of information, photos and maps to give a great account of how the world's "greatest fortress" at the time was defeated in 30 minutes by 77 paratroopers landing in gliders. This battle is one of the greatest exploits of modern special forces.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews