Special Forces In World War 2 Podcast

On the morning of May 10th, 1940, sixty-two Fallschirmjäger of Sturmgruppe Granit hold the roof of the most modern fortress in Europe. Below them, around twelve hundred Belgian soldiers of Fort Eben Emael are sealed in the tunnels under steel doors and sandbags. Between them, in the stairwells and ascent shafts, a silent division of the battlefield is in place. Their commander, Oberleutnant Rudolf Witzig, is still trying to reach his fort.

In this final episode of our series on Unternehmen Danzig, we close the story of Sturmgruppe Granit and the assault on Fort Eben Emael. At 08:30 a glider circles over the fort, and the long contest for the fortress begins in earnest. We follow the afternoon on the superstructure under hollow-charge attack, the air resupply by Heinkel He 111, and the Belgian counterattacks that move out from the tunnels into the woods and onto the slopes. We descend into the fort with Chaplain Meesen, Major Van der Auwera, and the wounded. We follow Feldwebel Portsteffen and the 51. Pionier-Bataillon as they fight west to the Albert Canal under fire from Casemate 17, and we wait with them on the dark bank for a chance to cross.

What happens in the tunnels, on the canal, and at the gate of Fort Eben Emael in the hours that follow brings the operation, and the series, to its close.

For maps, photographs, original documents, and the full source base behind this series, visit www.worldwar2-sof.com.

#WorldWarII #SpecialForces #Fallschirmjäger #Airborne #AlbertCanal #FortEbenEmael #FallGelb #SturmgruppeKoch #SturmgruppeGranit #BelgiumCampaign #1940 #MilitaryHistory #WWIIPodcast #GermanAirborne #UnternehmenDanzig #Paratroopers #SpecialOperations #WWII #WarHistory #MilitaryPodcast #DFS230 #HollowCharge #RudolfWitzig #Jottrand #KölnOstheim

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On the morning of May 10th, 1940, as German armour rolls west, DFS 230 assault gliders descend on the roof of Fort Eben Emael, the most modern fortress in Europe. Ten Gruppen of Sturmgruppe Granit, under Oberleutnant Rudolf Witzig, set down on the grass of the superstructure with hollow charges of up to fifty kilograms, flamethrowers, MP 38s and grenades. Their objectives are the heavy artillery cupolas, the machine-gun blocs, the anti-aircraft position and the observation posts of a fortress designed to break any attack coming from the ground.
In this second part of our coverage of Sturmabteilung Koch, we follow each Gruppe across the superstructure. We watch Feldwebel Niedermeier and Leutnant Delica at Maastricht 2, Feldwebel Arent at Maastricht 1, Feldwebel Wenzel at Mi Nord, Feldwebel Haug at the anti-aircraft position and later at Cupola 120, Oberjäger Unger at Cupola Nord, Oberjäger Neuhaus at Mi Sud, Feldwebel Harlos and Feldwebel Heinemann at the northern turrets, and the reserve under Feldwebel Hübel. We follow the missing Gruppe 2 under Walter Meier, forced down inside Germany, as it tries to reach the fort overland. And we follow Oberleutnant Witzig himself, whose tow rope parts over the Rhine and who sets out by bicycle and requisitioned staff car to get back to his battle.
We see the fight from inside the fort as well, through the eyes of Major Jean Fritz Lucien Jottrand, Sergent Joris at Cupola Nord, Sergent Cremer at Cupola 120, Sergent Poncelet at Maastricht 2 and Sergent Gigon at Maastricht 1, as Belgian gunners confront a new kind of warfare they have never trained to fight. Junker 87 dive bombers wait on call overhead. Belgian guns from Forts Pontisse and Barchon turn on their own fortress. And in the tunnels below the surface, a garrison of twelve hundred men has to decide how to hold a fort under attack from its own roof.
For maps, photographs, original documents and the full source base behind this series, visit www.worldwar2-sof.com.
#WorldWarII #SpecialForces #Fallschirmjäger #Airborne #AlbertCanal #FortEbenEmael #SturmabteilungKoch #SturmgruppeGranit #Witzig #FallGelb #BelgiumCampaign #1940 #MilitaryHistory #WWIIPodcast #GermanAirborne #UnternehmenDanzig #Paratroopers #SpecialOperations #WWII #WarHistory #MilitaryPodcast #DFS230 #Cupola120 #Maastricht #KölnOstheim #Liège
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On May 10th, 1940, 86 Fallschirmjäger combat engineers of Sturmgruppe Granit board eleven DFS 230 assault gliders at Köln-Ostheim and turn west toward the most powerful fortress in Belgium. Their target is Fort Eben-Emael, a self-contained underground city of 1,200 men whose guns dominate every Albert Canal crossing from Maastricht to the south. Without the fort, Fall Gelb stalls. Without the bridges, the fort cannot be bypassed. Unternehmen Danzig must achieve both objectives simultaneously, in darkness, and in complete surprise.

This episode covers the full story of part one. It begins with the fort itself, its construction, its garrison, its command structure, and the serious deficiencies that its commanders know about but cannot correct in time. It then moves to Hildesheim in the autumn of 1939, where General der Flieger Kurt Student and Hauptmann Walter Koch begin assembling Sturmabteilung Koch under conditions of absolute secrecy. It covers the formation of all four Sturmgruppen, the extreme security measures, the months of rehearsal on Czech fortifications, the two secret weapons at the heart of the assault, and the alert issued on the afternoon of May 9th, 1940. It then follows the gliders from Köln-Ostheim into the pre-dawn darkness, through the tow rope failure that strands Oberleutnant Witzig six kilometres outside Cologne, and on to the moment the first DFS 230 begins its landing run on the roof of Eben-Emael.

For more on Fort Eben-Emael, the Albert Canal crossings, and the full source base behind this series, visit www.worldwar2-sof.com.

#FortEbenEmael #SturmgruppeGranit #UnternehmenDanzig #SturmabteilungKoch #Fallschirmjäger #AlbertCanal #FallGelb #DFS230 #GliderAssault #RudolfWitzig #WalterKoch #BelgianCampaign1940 #AirborneWarfare #May1940 #SpecialForces #WorldWarII #WWII #MilitaryHistory #WW2Podcast #SpecialForcesWW2 #GermanAirborne #Belgium1940 #Blitzkrieg #Hollowcharge #Pioniertruppe
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In part two of our coverage of the battle for the bridge at Kanne, the fighting moves to the Opkanne heights, where the men of Sturmgruppe Eisen and the 2e Régiment de Grenadiers fight a brutal, fragmented battle across twelve strongpoints. The bridge is already gone. Leutnant Schächter is wounded within the first hour. The parachute reinforcement under Oberjäger Nollau is destroyed in the air above North Hill before it can fire a single shot. And Lieutenant Berlaimont's machine guns hold the canal crossing against everything Pionier-Bataillon 51 and Infanterie-Regiment 151 can bring to bear. This episode follows the strongpoint-by-strongpoint collapse of the Belgian defence, the personal account of Sergent Pirenne's capture near the destroyed bridge, and the final casualty count that places Kanne as the costliest of the three Albert Canal crossings for both sides.
For more on Fort Eben-Emael, the Albert Canal crossings, and the full source base behind this series, visit www.worldwar2-sof.com.
#FallGelb #FortEbenEmael #AlbertCanal #Fallschirmjäger #SturmgruppeKoch #SturmgruppeEisen #Kanne #BelgianCampaign1940 #Blitzkrieg #AirborneWarfare #WorldWarII #SpecialForces #May1940 #GermanAirborne #OperationYellow #WWII #MilitaryHistory #WW2Podcast #SpecialForcesWW2 #2eRegimentdeGrenadiers
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In the third of Sturmgruppe Koch's Albert Canal objectives, Gruppe Eisen and its eighty-nine Fallschirmjäger under Leutnant Martin Schächter face a very different fight from the one at Veldwezelt and Vroenhoven. The bridge at Kanne sits in broken terrain on the edge of Fort Eben-Emael's defensive perimeter. The western bank offers no suitable landing ground. The Belgian garrison is alert. And the fifteen minutes lost during the glider approach will cost Gruppe Eisen everything.
This episode covers the bridge and its defences, the order of battle of the 2e Régiment de Grenadiers, the detailed assault plan, the Belgian response to the general alarm, and the opening minutes of the battle in which the bridge is destroyed before a single Fallschirmjäger reaches it.
For more on Fort Eben-Emael, the Albert Canal crossings, and the full source base behind this series, visit www.worldwar2-sof.com.

#FallGelb #FortEbenEmael #AlbertCanal #Fallschirmjäger #SturmgruppeKoch #GruppeEisen #Kanne #BelgianCampaign1940 #Blitzkrieg #AirborneWarfare #WorldWarII #SpecialForces #May1940 #GermanAirborne #OperationYellow #WWII #MilitaryHistory #WW2Podcast #SpecialForcesWW2
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