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40 Fascinating But Lesser Known Facts About WWII

Khalid Elhassan January 5, 2019 25 min

World War II - European theatre of World War II — Raising the Red Banner over the Reichstag. Anarkismo

German paratroopers during assault on Eben-Emael. History Net

38. The German Attackers Shocked and Awed Eben-Emael’s Defenders

Utilizing aggressive shock tactics, in which flamethrowers featured prominently, the Germans paralyzed the defenders, who found themselves trapped in a fortress whose exits had been blocked. The Belgians were unable to effectively fight back against attackers who rained explosives down on them from above, followed by aggressive room clearing tactics with which the garrison was unfamiliar and against which it had not trained. The demoralized defenders were steadily pushed deep into the bowels of the fortress, and away from the guns commanding the roads and bridges leading into the Belgian heartland.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.