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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

Belgian defenders of a vital bridge, surrendering after the capture of Fort Eben-Emael. Bundesarchiv Bild

37. Silencing Eben-Emael’s Guns Opened The Way For the German Advance

With Eben-Emael’s guns unmanned, other German paratroopers seized and secured the vital bridges the fortress had been built to safeguard. They suffered heavy casualties, but held on to the bridges, beating back Belgian counterattacks long enough for relief to arrive from regular German army units that raced to their aid. Eben-Emael’s garrison, its situation now hopeless, surrendered early the following day, May 11th, within 24 hours of the gliders’ landing atop the fortress.

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.