In the early part of the war during the invaision of France, the Germans were faced with the problem of the Belgian fort of Eben-Emael, which was the main defence of the river Meuse. During the plan of the assault it was pointed out(maybe even by Hilter himself) that there was a grassy expanse on top of the fort that would be sutible for a glider landing.
The gliders used for this assault were DFS 230 assault gliders. These gliders produced by Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS - German Institute for Sailplane Flight), were capable of carrying a ton of soldiers and equipment.
This plan was very well thought out, in 1939 they had built an exact copy of the fort in occupied Czechoslovakia, which was used by the Wehrmacht to test various attack plans.
On the 10th of May in the early hours of the morning, eight DFS 230 gliders were loaded with 85 Pioneers(Sappers) led by Leutnant Rudolf Witzig. There had been no declaration of war as the gliders touched down of top of the fort, this achieved the desired effect of surprise. Using the new shaped charges, the Germans disabled the fort’s guns; flame throwers were also used against the machine gun emplacements. After this brief assault, the garrison were left trapped inside. This was all achieved with a light number of casualties, 21 to be exact.
Are there any other occasions when it may have been beneficial for the Germans to have used Glider assaults but didn’t?
