It took 4 solid years and a heck of a lot of manpower and material to build this fort. And it took 71 men and 40 minutes to destroy it. If Belgium had put the same material and time into building tanks, they could probably have had an entire army's worth of tanks.
Even so, this was both badass AND hardcore especially for 1940... Remember no GPS no lazer designation for air support, and most of all NO COPPERS to get them out if things when to hell...
@anttonoo right and wrong. The Italians and Russians first came up with their own Airborne Docterine. Germany was the first Nation to use this docterine to good effect. Russian had the largest Airborne Army.. but the Purges pretty much halted progression. The Germans trained in Russia and Major F. W. Immans was liked what he saw and had instructions to begin training at Stendal
Interesting.. what book did you resource that from.. I can not find squat earlier then 1940. I know they were created earlier then pretty much any other country. You have to admit though the German Fallschirmjaeger were pretty amazing though.
@anttonoo Because they were successful Strategically and tactically. Norway and Denmark operations. Belgium Operations, Holland, France, Crete(most casualties however were still able to meet required Operational tasks) Balkans, W.Front. E.front. Nicknamed by the Allies as the "Green Devils" SO I think they were used to good effect.
JuergenGDB Those Germans, PRECISE, IMPROVISING... EXPLOSIVELY EFFICIENT... DEADLY! They where trained well in the beginning 2 yrs. Confident in thier abilities. America rose to a high standard to beat them.
@matt99is Germans did not copy from the Russians. They saw a Airborne Docterine that they could use. Sure they watched Soviet airborne troops jump from planes and slide off the wings of transports. The "Theory" was there but the Germans Implemented their own way of deployment by themself and how they would best be used for their docterine of Warfare.
Also Russia did not use Russian Airborne forces until 1941 and only in small operations. Later they were used as ground forces, much like the Germans from 1943 and on.
@anttonoo Not knocking your studentship or nothing, but I have studied this part of History for over 20years. I have met many Vetrans in this time, both Allied and Axis. So when you question how the Fallschirmjager was employed with doubt, it reveals your not knowing of such an Elite force. Not only from the Air, but their defences from the Ground were legendary. Ask the men that battled in Italy and the hedgerows.
It is amazing how man has been able to wage wars ... considering how much can go wrong ... is war all about how much can go wrong for the opposing side ?...
Whats that one movie with a Zepplin or blimp or whatever? Those were elite Wermacht? They didnt look like any Fallshirmjager I seen before but their uniform style was different they were using K98s (not the weapon you want for something like that).
Inside the Blue Berets: A Combat History of Soviet & Russian Airborne Forces by Steven Zaloga.. You also can find more about that in more detail if you able to read Russian or use translator on desantura.ru (VDV's own site) in the forum section i believe.. German Fallschirmjaeger were hellva good para's and still are.
Russian Airborne forces (VDV) already saw combat at the east with Japanese in 1939 mostly used as recon, raiding and in diversionary ops. . Their first airborne assault operation however didn't happen until 1940 with Soviet invasion or retaking(depending on PoV i assume) of Bessarabia now called Moldova
well it's like they say, "battles aren't won they are lost" too many fuck up caused by poor leadership were the main reason for the fall of the fort rather than any brilliance on behalf of the germans. manned by a capable and determined force the german attack could have been a bold and daring failure
Actually, Germans were very secretive about their new hollow charges. Propaganda film didnt mention them at all, just ordinary explosives. They even covered with cement and painted places, where hollow charges had been used. Just read article about this yesterday.
It appears that none o' them computer-generated glider jockeys remembered to drop the wheeled dolly after take-off... ho ho Either that or the film makers failed to impress on the CGI guys how the DFS 230 worked...
