Get on the funk train - Rated 
This book was a big surprise, a pleasant surprise. The German assault on Eben Emael tends to be covered very briefly in general histories of the Second World War, although it is not exactly forgotten, because it was very novel. The Germans realised that the fort would be a tough nut to crack, so they landed gliders on the roof. It shouldn't have worked - the fort had plenty of weapons that could beat off close-range attacks - but it did work.
This book does a super job of describing the battle, in such a way that it would be entertaining and informative even if you were not interested in the topic. I have flicked through Osprey books that have made major battles seem dull, and it's ironic that this book makes such a small - but important - action seem intensely dramatic. I imagine the German paratroopers must have felt they were participating in the most incredible Boy's Own adventure, and afterwards I bet they walked tall, and got free drinks in pubs, or bierkellers, German isn't my strong point.
The book starts off by covering the strategic reasons for the fort (which dated back to the 19th Century), its construction, and its tactical layout. The fort was was supposed to be a kind of self-sufficient underground town, almost like a nuclear submarine, except that it was a static nuclear submarine that was visible to everyone. The book then covers the political situation leading up to the Second World War, and the German preparations for the attack. It explains why the Germans didn't simply go past the fort. The glider assault plan was complex, and might not have worked if Eben Emael had been running at peak efficiency, staffed with crack troops led by top officers, but the book makes clear that the fort was going through a bad patch. The officers in charge come across particularly badly. The book is so well-detailed that the individual Belgian casualties are named, and I hope the men who led them feel bad.
The assault took only a few minutes, and the book does a lot of cross-cutting, but it still makes sense. In theory the fort could have peppered the German gliders with anti-aircraft machineguns, and blasted the German paratroopers with canister rounds shot from its howitzers, but it was embroiled in administrative chaos. The Germans had their fair share of technical problems - a couple of the gliders fell short, several of the anti-bunker explosives had no effect, the troops attacked dummy bunkers - but overall the Germans made very few mistakes, and successfully improvised solutions to the problems they faced. The Belgians made lots of mistakes, small mistakes, big mistakes, institutional mistakes, and they flapped, and lost.
Overall this is a great read. The assault feels like an action film, a very short action film, one in which the Germans win. The level of detail is sufficient for picky people, and it does a good job of explaining that the victory wasn't a simple matter of flying some planes onto the fort and then jumping out, throwing grenades. By the end you'll find yourself cheering on the brave Germans and then feeling very guilty indeed.
Very good book - Rated 
Informative read, many good pics.
Introduction a bit lame but picks up with the description of the fort.
Good account of Nazi attack.
Simon Dunstan has delivered another good book.
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