Capítulo 131: Chapter 209 The Fall
Eben-Emael Fortress Commander Major Jottrand received a call from the 7th Infantry Division headquarters last night, ordering the troops to be on high alert, already instructing them to be in a state of imminent warfare. The fortress meticulously monitored the pitch-black surroundings, even more diligently than military surveillance posts.
As the sky began to faintly lighten, the whistling sound of Stukas plunging down signaled the fortress's German troops that they were under attack.
"Enemy attack! Hold your positions!!"
Before the words could fully escape, muffled explosions echoed from above.
"Damn!" Just by patrolling various defense points through the underground tunnels (Eben-Emael Fortress had a very comprehensive tunnel system similar to the French Maginot Line), Major Jottrand could tell from the sound that the anti-aircraft machine gun emplacement had been destroyed, cursing involuntarily. He couldn't help but complain about who the idiot was that designed such a massive fortress with only four 7.62mm anti-aircraft machine guns. Wasn't this practically giving the enemy an opportunity?
But before he could utter a few more curses, accompanied by a sudden and thunderous roar, the ceiling in front collapsed abruptly, and a colossal metallic object thunderously crashed down, embedding itself fiercely into the floor.
"!!" Major Jotrand stared in disbelief at this unprecedented behemoth, instantly stunned. The first thought that flashed through his mind was that this was a depth of over twenty meters underground—how did this thing bore its way in?
But the next second, every hair on his body stood on end.
Wait a minute, doesn't this shape look like an aerial bomb?!!
"Oh God!!" The next second, Major Jottrand went to meet God.
The earth-shattering explosion first obliterated everything around, then the violent shockwave, carrying scorching flames, swept through the intricate underground passages.
A Grand Slam bomb was usually called an earthquake bomb. After the first successful test of the Grand Slam in the original timeline, the eager British immediately deployed it to the battlefield. The No. 617 Squadron was tasked with bombing the Bielefeld railway bridge in the occupied area. The bomber dropped the Grand Slam from an altitude of 4,877 meters, and immediately after the bomb release, the bombardier reported, "Bomb deviated from the target." Disappointed crew members embarked on their return journey.
However, upon returning to base, the bomb assessment report surprised the crew: the bridge had been completely destroyed. It turned out that although the Grand Slam deviated more than 20 meters from the target, the tremendous shock triggered a small earthquake, causing multiple crossbeams of the bridge to collapse. The 90-meter-long bridge collapsed in the shaking of the earth and could not be repaired.
Now, the intense shockwave made the entire fortress tremble incessantly.
The wires on the ceiling flashed with a dazzling spark, followed by the crackling sparks and the sizzling sound of electricity. Afterward, the lights suddenly flickered, then banged in rapid succession, light bulbs bursting one after another, plunging the entire fortress into darkness.
This was still a minor issue. Weaker points throughout the tunnels couldn't resist the onslaught of this shockwave and began to collapse. The originally interconnected fortress tunnel network was blocked into several segments.
The most terrifying part was that the fortress's underground ventilation passages suffered varying degrees of damage, which could be truly fatal. It's crucial to note that even when trapped, as long as there's food and water, one can endure for a long time, but without air, survival becomes a matter of minutes.
The recent explosion directly killed dozens of Belgian soldiers, incapacitated and injured about a hundred more, and many indirectly suffered injuries. Among those trapped, only a few dozen were able to resist (the fortress was manned by 1,200 soldiers, but during the German attack, there were only 650 inside).
"Tut, tut, tut." Several Belgian soldiers staggered to the tunnel entrance, only to be mowed down by oncoming bullets.
"What's wrong with these guys?" A German soldier, while loading a new magazine, muttered, "Can't they walk steadily?"
Another soldier casually replied, "Who knows, maybe they just had a drink." As he spoke, he placed an explosive device on the top of the tunnel entrance.
Since paratroopers can't carry a large amount of equipment when parachuting, but they came in gliders, they brought two tons of explosives.
Their mission was to use these explosives to completely destroy all exits of the fortress, trapping the defending forces inside. Fortunately, these military fortress entrances and exits weren't numerous, and they had already destroyed half of the exits.
After placing the explosives, the two men quickly ran away after igniting the fuse. A few seconds later, a loud noise echoed, and the tunnel entrance collapsed!
In less than half an hour, all the exits of the fortress were bombed, and to be on the safe side, they also destroyed all the cannons and military facilities on the top of the fortress, completely controlling the surface positions of the fortress.
"Lieutenant, we've found several underground ventilation valves." Several soldiers reported to Lieutenant Wiggins, who was leading the team.
Lieutenant Wiggins stroked his chin for a moment, then ordered, "Throw a few smoke grenades inside, seal them!" While smoke grenades may not be as lethal as gas grenades, the smoke agents used in smoke grenades generally contain substances like white phosphorus, stannic chloride, or sulfur trioxide; the oxides produced when these substances burn are certainly not good for one's health.
"Yes, sir." Several soldiers ran back to those ventilation valves, threw in smoke grenades, and, after shoveling some soil, sealed the valves.
At this moment, the trapped Belgian soldiers were busy using their hands and shovels to move the fallen blocks of cement and soil at the tunnel entrance, hoping to reopen the passage and escape.
Suddenly, someone stopped. "What's that smell?"
"What smell? Hurry up and dig. Do you want to be trapped here?"
"No, there's really a smell."
"Hmm, I smell it too. It's a burnt smell. Could something be on fire?"
Several people used their flashlights to look around and suddenly saw wisps of white smoke slowly drifting down from the ventilation hole in the ceiling.
The crowd exclaimed, "Oh God, it's a gas grenade!"
"Quick, quickly get gas masks!!"
"The gas masks are in the storage room, but the road there is blocked!"
"Oh God!!"
Just as the "Granite" assault team successfully completed its mission, the "Steel" assault team had also landed on the west bank of the Albert Canal, quickly capturing the Feldwezelt Bridge. The "Concrete" assault team occupied the central Froenhaven Bridge.
The "Iron" assault team had a bit of bad luck. Although gliders are "silent," they can't achieve visual invisibility; they were spotted by the Belgian forces on the ground a few minutes before landing. The gliders had to land forcibly under the enemy's intense firepower, resulting in the "Iron" assault team losing nearly a third of its soldiers before driving away the Belgian troops guarding the bridge and capturing it.
Later, engineers discovered that explosives were placed on the piers of each bridge by the Belgian forces. If the German attack had not been so sudden, these bridges would undoubtedly have been blown up, and the German army would have had to make an effort to cross the river.
The fall of Eben-Emael Fortress left the Belgian high command, who had once boasted about the impregnability of the fortress, utterly shocked. After recovering from the shock, they hastily mobilized their forces, instructing surrounding armies to support Eben-Emael Fortress and attempting to recapture it before the main German forces arrived.
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