Learning the lessons of World War I, the Belgians have spotted the junction of the Meuse River and the Albert Canal as the weak spot vis-a-vis another German invasion, and have built there the most impregnable fortification in Europe, Fort Eben Emael. The engineering and construction that went into the fort superseded anything the French built on the Maginot Line. Fort Eben Emael was designed to hold out indefinitely against the most massive assault by the Germans. Its fortifications, its massive guns, and dug in storage and reserve, were manned by some 1200 well trained troops. Military mavens across Europe agreed that Fort Eben Emael is the strongest fortress on the continent.
Alas, in early May 1939, the celebrated fort surrendered after only 30 hours of battle. What happened? The Germans had the imagination to dream up a method of attack that the defenders failed to take into account. The Belgians failed in the imagination race. Using an accurate replica of the fort the Germans meticulously trained a handful of special forces to use quiet gliders to land on the top of the fort, then drop explosives, and gas bombs into the gun barrels, and turret openings. The defenders were quickly paralyzed by the ensuing mayhem, and despite valiant sporadic resistance they never regained their footing, and by noon the next day the Belgians surrendered, opening the gates for the German Panzer divisions to rush westward, entrap the large British expedition force, and doom Europe into a five years nightmare.
Lesson: if your adversary wins the imagination race, he wins the war. Material count, weapon superiority are no match to a superior imagination.
Gideon Writes 
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