Giday everyone,
As many of the readers of this forum well know, on 10 May 1940, 78 lightly armed glider men of Sturmgruppe Granit, captured the Belgian fortress of Eben Emael. Considered by many to be the most daring commando raid of the Second World War, their mission to render inoperable the fortresses’ long range guns was believed to be vital if the Belgian bridges over the Albert Kanal at Kanne, Vroenhoven and Veldwezelt were to be captured intact thereby allowing Hitler’s panzers to sweep quickly through Belgium and into France. Conversely, the lives of the 78 glidermen were dependent upon the successful capture of the Belgian bridges by their comrades of Sturmgruppen Beton, Eisen and Stahl. Their task was no less dangerous or audacious than that of the former.
The attacks against the fortress of Eben Emael and the bridges over the Albert Kanal were the first time that Hitler’s secret weapons, the DFS 230 transport glider and the hollow charge were used in combat, but there was no mention of either in the press reports that followed. This lack of information surrounding the fall of the largest fortress in Europe captured the imagination of the German people and fuelled the belief that their soldiers were truly invincible. Lauded as heroes, images of the men of Sturmabteilung Koch; in particular the 11 Ritterkreuzträger and the men of Sturmgruppe Granit, were widely published in newspapers, magazines and on post cards. However, for reasons of secrecy, little was written at the time about the capture of the bridges. As a consequence much of what has appeared in print since the war about the capture of the three bridges is either inaccurate or pure fantasy.
In 1992 I placed an advertisement in the magazine “Der deutsche Fallschirmjäger” seeking veterans willing to share with me their wartime experiences for a book I planned to write. One of the veterans who responded to my advertisement was Theo Schmitt, a former member of Sturmgruppe Beton.
Frustrated that publishers were not interested in publishing his memoirs, Theo Schmitt kindly sent me over 100 pages of typed notes relating to his experiences as a paratrooper during the early years of the war, including detailed notes relating to the organisation and training of Sturmabteilung Koch, concluding with the capture by Sturmgruppe Beton of the Vroenhoven Bridge on 10 May 1940.
Inspired by the literary efforts of Dal McGurik, whose book "Rommels Army on Africa" remains a sentimental favourite of mine; Eric Queen’s passion for the Fallschirminfanterie, and Chris Mason’s ability to add “life” to inanimate objects from his vast collection of militaria through detailed research and analysis, I set out to write a book that would enable readers to identify with the men of Sturmabteilung Koch through the inclusion of snippets of personal information and portrait photographs of as many of them as possible, while also correcting the misinformation that has been repeated over and over again in other prublications.
Approximately five years ago I managed to convince Oscar Gonzalez, author of the books “Fallschirmjäger at the Gran Sasso; the Liberation of Mussolini by German Parachutists on 12 September 1943” and “German Paratroops in Scandinavia; Fallschirmjäger in Denmark and Norway April – June 1940”, to join me in my quest. Not only did Oscar share my interest in Sturmabteilung Koch, he had the wisdom to convince me that our book needed to describe the capture of the Albert Kanal from of the point of view of the Belgian armed forces and civilians. To this end, Oscar has travelled to Belgium on several occasions in order to gather first hand accounts from Belgian veterans and civilians, some of whom were able to show him where they stood on that fateful day in May, 1940 when war abrubtly altered their lives forever.
In relation to the gathering of information for our book, we owe much to the generosity of Rudi Opitz and the Opitz family. Rudi Opitz, best known as one of the test pilots involved in the development of the ME 163 Rocket fighter; was heavily involved in the training of the first military glider pilots during the years immediately preceding the outbreak of war in 1939; the training of glider pilots assigned to Sturmabteling Koch, and personally flew one of the gliders used by Sturmgruppe Stahl in the attack against the Veldwezelt Bridge.
We were also fortunate to have received considerable assistance from Thomas Steinke, whose knowledge about Sturmabteilung Koch is second to none and whose collection of photographs relating to the men of Sturmabteilung Koch and the capture of the Albert Kanal bridges is truly awe-inspiring!
Together, I believe that Oscar, Thomas and I have achieved our goal, namely to produce the definitive account of the capture of the Albert Kanal bridges as seen through the eyes of those who were there.
Our book, entitled “The Silent Attack”, comprises nearly 400 pages of text; hundreds of photographs, (the vast majority of which have never been previously published), and a near complete list of members of Sturmabteilung Koch. The book, like the other books that Oscar has written, will first be published in Spanish. An English version of the book we expect will be published by Schiffer towards the end of this year. In the meantime, we encourage you to purchase the Spanish version of the book which will be available from early April for approximately 30 Euros!
As I am not a financial member of the forum I am not able to post photographs of selected pages from our book. However I believe that Oscar intends posting some photographs of the book later today.
Best wishes,
Ian
As many of the readers of this forum well know, on 10 May 1940, 78 lightly armed glider men of Sturmgruppe Granit, captured the Belgian fortress of Eben Emael. Considered by many to be the most daring commando raid of the Second World War, their mission to render inoperable the fortresses’ long range guns was believed to be vital if the Belgian bridges over the Albert Kanal at Kanne, Vroenhoven and Veldwezelt were to be captured intact thereby allowing Hitler’s panzers to sweep quickly through Belgium and into France. Conversely, the lives of the 78 glidermen were dependent upon the successful capture of the Belgian bridges by their comrades of Sturmgruppen Beton, Eisen and Stahl. Their task was no less dangerous or audacious than that of the former.
The attacks against the fortress of Eben Emael and the bridges over the Albert Kanal were the first time that Hitler’s secret weapons, the DFS 230 transport glider and the hollow charge were used in combat, but there was no mention of either in the press reports that followed. This lack of information surrounding the fall of the largest fortress in Europe captured the imagination of the German people and fuelled the belief that their soldiers were truly invincible. Lauded as heroes, images of the men of Sturmabteilung Koch; in particular the 11 Ritterkreuzträger and the men of Sturmgruppe Granit, were widely published in newspapers, magazines and on post cards. However, for reasons of secrecy, little was written at the time about the capture of the bridges. As a consequence much of what has appeared in print since the war about the capture of the three bridges is either inaccurate or pure fantasy.
In 1992 I placed an advertisement in the magazine “Der deutsche Fallschirmjäger” seeking veterans willing to share with me their wartime experiences for a book I planned to write. One of the veterans who responded to my advertisement was Theo Schmitt, a former member of Sturmgruppe Beton.
Frustrated that publishers were not interested in publishing his memoirs, Theo Schmitt kindly sent me over 100 pages of typed notes relating to his experiences as a paratrooper during the early years of the war, including detailed notes relating to the organisation and training of Sturmabteilung Koch, concluding with the capture by Sturmgruppe Beton of the Vroenhoven Bridge on 10 May 1940.
Inspired by the literary efforts of Dal McGurik, whose book "Rommels Army on Africa" remains a sentimental favourite of mine; Eric Queen’s passion for the Fallschirminfanterie, and Chris Mason’s ability to add “life” to inanimate objects from his vast collection of militaria through detailed research and analysis, I set out to write a book that would enable readers to identify with the men of Sturmabteilung Koch through the inclusion of snippets of personal information and portrait photographs of as many of them as possible, while also correcting the misinformation that has been repeated over and over again in other prublications.
Approximately five years ago I managed to convince Oscar Gonzalez, author of the books “Fallschirmjäger at the Gran Sasso; the Liberation of Mussolini by German Parachutists on 12 September 1943” and “German Paratroops in Scandinavia; Fallschirmjäger in Denmark and Norway April – June 1940”, to join me in my quest. Not only did Oscar share my interest in Sturmabteilung Koch, he had the wisdom to convince me that our book needed to describe the capture of the Albert Kanal from of the point of view of the Belgian armed forces and civilians. To this end, Oscar has travelled to Belgium on several occasions in order to gather first hand accounts from Belgian veterans and civilians, some of whom were able to show him where they stood on that fateful day in May, 1940 when war abrubtly altered their lives forever.
In relation to the gathering of information for our book, we owe much to the generosity of Rudi Opitz and the Opitz family. Rudi Opitz, best known as one of the test pilots involved in the development of the ME 163 Rocket fighter; was heavily involved in the training of the first military glider pilots during the years immediately preceding the outbreak of war in 1939; the training of glider pilots assigned to Sturmabteling Koch, and personally flew one of the gliders used by Sturmgruppe Stahl in the attack against the Veldwezelt Bridge.
We were also fortunate to have received considerable assistance from Thomas Steinke, whose knowledge about Sturmabteilung Koch is second to none and whose collection of photographs relating to the men of Sturmabteilung Koch and the capture of the Albert Kanal bridges is truly awe-inspiring!
Together, I believe that Oscar, Thomas and I have achieved our goal, namely to produce the definitive account of the capture of the Albert Kanal bridges as seen through the eyes of those who were there.
Our book, entitled “The Silent Attack”, comprises nearly 400 pages of text; hundreds of photographs, (the vast majority of which have never been previously published), and a near complete list of members of Sturmabteilung Koch. The book, like the other books that Oscar has written, will first be published in Spanish. An English version of the book we expect will be published by Schiffer towards the end of this year. In the meantime, we encourage you to purchase the Spanish version of the book which will be available from early April for approximately 30 Euros!
As I am not a financial member of the forum I am not able to post photographs of selected pages from our book. However I believe that Oscar intends posting some photographs of the book later today.
Best wishes,
Ian
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