Eben-Emael Fortress - Belgium's Great Defensive Hope

Local history guide Fenton Wiffen led a private tour of the Eben-Emael Fortress for Book Club members - William Bache, Heather Rhine, Trip DuBard, Philippe "Boz" Rogers, and Walter Benjamin. 

The supposedly impregnable Fortress complex, the largest in Europe at the time, was designed to hold the northern tri-border area where Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany meet against a possible Nazi invasion. It held out for less than 24 hours since the roof area of the complex, the location of a night glider attack by NCO-led German forces during the early morning hours of the 10 May 1940 invasion, lacked its own infantry protection. 

After visiting the interior of the huge concrete complex, we walked to the top and surveyed the countryside. The Fort is located strategically astride the  Prince Albert Canal, which connects the Meuse River and the port of Antwerp, and the Dutch city of Maastricht.