Most of us know the story of Pegasus Bridge on June 6, 1944. We remember the British coup de main at the Caen Canal and the Orne. We remember the 9th Parachute Battalion at Merville.

But four years earlier, in the pre-dawn darkness of May 10, 1940, a similar operation unfolded over Belgium.

In this episode, we examine the German airborne assault on the steel bridge at Veldwezelt — one of three Albert Canal crossings targeted in Unternehmen Danzig. Carried in DFS 230 gliders and released from Junkers 52 aircraft, Fallschirmjäger of Sturmgruppe Stahl descend silently toward their objective.

Their mission is uncompromising: seize the bridge intact, neutralise Bunker N, cut the demolition cables, and establish a bridgehead before the Belgian defenders can react.

Opposing them are the men of the 6e Compagnie, elements of the 2e Régiment de Carabiniers and 18e Régiment de Ligne, and the Cyclistes Frontières tasked with guarding and demolishing the crossing if required.

We reconstruct the flight from Cologne, the tense hours before dawn, the confusion among the Belgian defenders, and the moment ten gliders land almost simultaneously near the bridge.

This is the story of surprise, timing, command decisions, and the opening minutes of a new kind of airborne warfare.

Before Pegasus Bridge… there was Veldwezelt.

#WorldWar2 #Fallschirmjäger #UnternehmenDanzig #AlbertCanal #FortEbenEmael #WW2History #AirborneForces #MilitaryHistory #WW2Podcast

🔗 Stay connected with us:Website: https://worldwar2-sof.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ww2.sofFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorldWar2SOFFacebook Support Group: https://www.facebook.com/WorldWar2SOF/subscribe/Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ww2.sofSpotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/worldwar2sof

In the early hours of May 10th, 1940, while German gliders land on Fort Eben-Emael and Fallschirmjäger seize the Albert Canal bridges at Veldwezelt, Vroenhoven, and Kanne, another race begins just to the north.

This episode follows the Maastricht Gateway, the critical ground operation designed to reinforce the airborne bridgeheads. Sabotage teams infiltrate the city in civilian clothing. Sonderverband Hocke advances in disguised Dutch Marechaussee uniforms. Infanterie-Bataillon zur besonderen Verwendung 100 and 4. Panzer-Division race toward the Maas crossings. Behind them, follow-on armoured formations prepare to exploit any breakthrough.

What unfolds is a tense, minute-by-minute struggle for bridges, timing, and momentum. Street fighting erupts. Roadblocks are contested. Engineers prepare emergency crossings. And commanders on both sides make decisions that will shape the opening phase of Fall Gelb.

This is the story of deception, speed, resistance, and the brutal reality behind a coup de main that had to succeed.

#UnternehmenDanzig #Maastricht1940 #FallGelb #FortEbenEmael #AlbertCanal #WorldWar2History #SpecialForces #WW2Podcast

🔗 Stay connected with us:Website: https://worldwar2-sof.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ww2.sofFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorldWar2SOFFacebook Support Group: https://www.facebook.com/WorldWar2SOF/subscribe/Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ww2.sofSpotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/worldwar2sof

In the early hours of May 10th, 1940, silent assault gliders land on the roof of Fort Eben-Emael. Within minutes, one of Europe’s most modern fortresses is neutralised, and the world witnesses a new form of warfare.

In this episode of The Special Forces in World War II Podcast, we tell the full story of the DFS 230, the German assault glider that makes these precision landings possible. From its origins in secret pre-war development, to its combat debut in Belgium, its mass deployment over Crete, and its legendary role in the Gran Sasso raid, the DFS 230 becomes one of the most unusual and effective airborne weapons of the Second World War.

We explore how the glider is built, how it is flown, and how it evolves under combat pressure. From braking parachutes and rocket-assisted landings to one-way supply missions on the eastern front, the dfs 230 proves both innovative and brutally expendable.

A story of daring engineering, airborne doctrine, and silent shock assault—across every major theatre of the war.

#SpecialForces #WorldWarII #WW2 #DFS230 #Luftwaffe #Fallschirmjäger #Airborne #GliderTroops #EbenEmael #OperationMerkur #GranSasso #MilitaryHistory #WarHistory #WW2Podcast

🔗 Stay connected with us:Website: https://worldwar2-sof.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ww2.sofFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorldWar2SOFFacebook Support Group: https://www.facebook.com/WorldWar2SOF/subscribe/Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ww2.sofSpotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/worldwar2sof

This part three about Unternehmen Danzig. In the winter of 1939, a quiet airfield in Hildesheim, Germany became the unlikely birthplace of one of World War II’s most audacious and closely guarded military experiments.

Under the misleading cover name “Propaganda-Ballonzug”, a group of handpicked glider pilots — many of them civilian champions and Olympic-caliber aviators — were assembled for a mission so secret, even the men themselves weren’t told what they were training for.

Their commander: Oberleutnant Walter Kieß.
Their aircraft: the fragile, unpowered DFS 230 assault glider.
Their objective: unknown.

In this episode, we tell the full story. not of the attack, but of the formation, the friction, and the fearless innovation behind Germany’s first airborne special operations glider unit. You’ll meet pilots like Otto Bräutigam, who broke records in sport gliding before being forced into combat. You’ll hear how tensions flared between veteran Luftwaffe personnel and young civilian pilots, and how secrecy was so tight that sand tables replaced maps, and light codes guided night flights.

We’ll take you inside Braunschweig-Waggum, the glider school built in haste to train men for a mission none of them fully understood — and follow the men through bitter winter nights, forbidden contact between pilot groups, and a growing resistance to plans that many believed would cost them their lives.

By dawn on May 10, 1940, their orders were finally revealed — and history would never be the same.

This is not just a tale of training. It’s a story of secrecy, sacrifice, mistrust, and the relentless drive to master the air with nothing but canvas, wood, and courage
#WWIIPodcast #DFS230 #AirborneOperations #EbenEmael #MilitaryHistoryPodcast

🔗 Stay connected with us:Website: https://worldwar2-sof.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ww2.sofFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorldWar2SOFFacebook Support Group: https://www.facebook.com/WorldWar2SOF/subscribe/Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ww2.sofSpotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/worldwar2sof

In this second episode of our series on Unternehmen Danzig, we turn from the battlefield to the attackers themselves.

After examining the Belgian defences along the Albert Canal and Fort Eben-Emael in Episode 1, this episode follows the creation and preparation of Sturmabteilung Koch,the specially formed German airborne assault unit tasked with seizing the canal bridges at Veldwezelt, Vroenhoven, and Kanne, and neutralising Fort Eben-Emael at the opening of the 1940 campaign in the West.

Built from Fallschirmjäger, engineers, glider troops, and support elements, Sturmabteilung Koch trains under extreme secrecy. New weapons such as hollow charges are introduced. Timelines are measured in minutes. Every element of the plan depends on speed, surprise, and exact coordination. Training takes place under false unit names, behind sealed hangars, and often without the men knowing their final objective.

This episode explores how the assault force is organised, how its tasks are divided between bridge and fortress objectives, and how changing plans, technical limits, and operational pressure shape the final concept of the attack.

By the end of this episode, the ground assault force is ready. The plan is fixed. And attention turns to the final and decisive element, the glider pilots who must carry the assault troops into battle.

🔗 Explore maps, photos, original documents, and sources at www.worldwar2-sof.com

Hashtags
#UnternehmenDanzig #SturmabteilungKoch #FortEbenEmael #AlbertCanal #Veldwezelt #Vroenhoven #Kanne #Fallschirmjäger #GermanAirborne #WW2Airborne #WorldWar2 #MilitaryHistory #SpecialForcesWW2 #WW2Podcast

🔗 Stay connected with us:Website: https://worldwar2-sof.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ww2.sofFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorldWar2SOFFacebook Support Group: https://www.facebook.com/WorldWar2SOF/subscribe/Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ww2.sofSpotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/worldwar2sof

At the eastern gateway of Belgium stands one of the most ambitious fortresses ever built.

https://worldwar2-sof.com/welcome-to-world-war-2-special-forces-com/which-special-forces-operations-took-place-in-world-war-2/which-special-forces-operations-took-place-in-1940/which-special-forces-operations-took-place-in-may-1940/fall-gelb/belgium-defences-and-defence-strategy/fort-deben-emael/

In this opening episode of a new podcast series, we explore Fort Eben-Emael as it is designed to function — not as a battlefield, but as a defensive system at the heart of Belgium’s interwar strategy.

Carved deep into Saint Peter’s Hill, Eben-Emael dominates the Albert Canal and is intended to control the three critical canal crossings at Veldwezelt Bridge, Vroenhoven Bridge, and Kanne Bridge. Together, the canal, the bridges, and the fortress form a single integrated barrier, meant to stop a German invasion at the border and buy time for Allied forces to deploy.

This episode focuses on what Belgium builds and why. We examine the fort’s layout, firepower, underground structure, garrison, and command system. We place Eben-Emael within the wider Position Fortifiée de Liège and explain how Belgian planners expect this system to delay an enemy advance in 1940.

This is not yet the story of the attack.

It is the story of doctrine, engineering, and confidence — and of a defensive concept built on concrete, steel, and water. Understanding Fort Eben-Emael and the Albert Canal defences is essential before we can understand what happens next.

More maps, photos, and sources at ⁠www.worldwar2-sof.com⁠

#FortEbenEmael #AlbertCanal #BattleOfBelgium #WW2History #MilitaryHistory #Fortifications #Fallschirmjäger #WorldWar2 #HistoricForts #EuropeanHistory

🔗 Stay connected with us:Website: https://worldwar2-sof.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ww2.sofFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorldWar2SOFFacebook Support Group: https://www.facebook.com/WorldWar2SOF/subscribe/Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ww2.sofSpotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/worldwar2sof

On Christmas Eve 1944, deep in the snowbound Ardennes, a small hut becomes the setting for an extraordinary act of courage and humanity.

A German mother, her twelve-year-old son, three lost American soldiers and four exhausted Wehrmacht troops share one room, one meal, and one unspoken decision: tonight, there will be no killing.

In this episode, Truce in the Forest, we follow the memories of Fritz Finken, the boy who witnessed enemies lay down their weapons, share soup, wine and cigarettes, pray together and then part as comrades. It is a quiet story set against the thunder of the Battle of the Bulge – a fragile Christmas miracle in the middle of a brutal war.

This is not a tale of generals and grand strategy, but of ordinary people choosing peace for a single winter night.

#TruceInTheForest #WorldWarTwo #BattleOfTheBulge #Christmas1944 #TrueStory #HistoryPodcast #WartimeStories #HumanityInWar #WW2Podcast #Ardennes

🔗 Stay connected with us:Website: https://worldwar2-sof.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ww2.sofFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorldWar2SOFThreads: https://www.threads.net/@ww2.sofFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorldWar2SOF/subscribe/

In this episode of The Special Forces in World War II Podcast, host Michael Weyers explores the remarkable history of the 79th Armoured Division — one of the most innovative and influential Allied formations of the Second World War.

Created under Major-General Percy Hobart, the division became the home of the famous “Hobart’s Funnies”: specialised armoured vehicles designed to break through minefields, concrete defences, waterfront obstacles, and fortified towns. From the assault beaches of Normandy to the battles for Le Havre, Boulogne, the Scheldt, Walcheren, and the Rhine crossing in Operation Plunder, these unique machines reshaped the Allied approach to modern warfare.

Discover how the division was formed, how its equipment was designed and tested, and how its specialised crews supported nearly every major operation in Northwest Europe. Using original wartime accounts, official histories, and modern research, this episode reveals how engineering innovation and tactical adaptation helped secure Allied victory.

To explore photographs, maps, original documents, and the full list of sources behind this episode, visit the 79th Armoured Division page at www.worldwar2-sof.com.

https://worldwar2-sof.com/welcome-to-world-war-2-special-forces-com/the-worlds-special-forces-in-world-war-2/the-allied-special-forces/great-britain-special-forces/79th-armoured-division/

#WW2 #WorldWar2 #79thArmouredDivision #HobartsFunnies #PercyHobart #DDay #Normandy1944 #OperationOverlord #OperationPlunder #Walcheren #Scheldt #BritishArmy #SpecialForcesHistory #ArmouredWarfare #MilitaryHistoryPodcast #WW2Podcast #HistoryPodcast #SpecialOperations #RoyalEngineers #ShermanTankWebsite: https://worldwar2-sof.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ww2.sofFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorldWar2SOFPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/SpecialForcesinWorldWar2Spotify: Special Forces in World War 2 Podcast

In this episode, we explore one of the most ambitious and unlikely armoured innovations of the Second World War: the Duplex Drive (DD) amphibious tank. Developed by engineer Nicholas Straussler and perfected under the 79th Armoured Division, the DD tank combined a standard armoured vehicle with a collapsible flotation screen and propeller system—allowing it to swim from landing craft to shore under its own power.

This episode covers the complete history of the DD tank programme, including:

• Early amphibious concepts and the Tetrarch DD prototype
• Development of the Valentine DD and the first successful sea trials
• The creation of the Sherman DD and its adoption by British, Canadian, and U.S. forces
• Intensive training at Fritton Lake, Stokes Bay, Torcross, and dedicated DD tank schools
• Combat use on D-Day across Sword, Juno, Gold, Utah, and the heavy losses at Omaha
• Later operations in Europe: the Scheldt, the Rhine, the Po, and the Adige
• The final combat swims in northern Germany and northern Italy in 1945
• Technical insight into flotation screens, propeller drive arrangements, launch procedures, and crew survival drills

From Normandy’s surf to the great rivers of Europe, the Duplex Drive tank proved both fragile and indispensable. It saved lives on some beaches, suffered tragedy on others, and became one of the most distinctive armoured vehicles of the war. This episode reveals how the DD system was built, tested, trained, and ultimately fought in some of the most demanding amphibious operations of the conflict.

For more information and multimedia go to our webpage about the Duplex Drive Tanks.

https://worldwar2-sof.com/welcome-to-world-war-2-special-forces-com/world-war-2-equipment/british-equipment/british-vehicles/duplex-drive-tanks/

#DDTank #DuplexDrive #ShermanDD #79thArmouredDivision #HobartsFunnies #DDay #OperationOverlord #WW2History #AmphibiousWarfare #SpecialForcesWW2 #ShermanTank #WW2Podcast #MilitaryHistoryPodcast #HistoryDocumentary

🔗 Stay connected with us:Website: https://worldwar2-sof.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ww2.sofFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorldWar2SOFThreads: https://www.threads.net/@ww2.sofPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/SpecialForcesinWorldWar2Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/worldwar2sof

In this bonus episode of The Special Forces in World War II Podcast, we return to Normandy to follow the final chapter of the Provisional Ranger Force after D-Day.

It is June 9th, 1944. Major Richard Sullivan leads the 5th Ranger Battalion, supported by elements of the 2nd, in a coordinated attack on the powerful German gun positions at Maisy, the twin batteries of Les Perruques and La Martinière.

Through flooded fields, minebelts, and hidden trenches, the Rangers fight their way forward under heavy fire. Half-tracks roll through mud and shellfire. Mortars and artillery pound the German defences. For five hours, the battle rages across the fortified complex until the Rangers finally overrun the site, capturing hundreds of prisoners, seizing more than 180 tonnes of ammunition, and uncovering the German payroll for the entire coastal sector.

With the fall of Maisy, the last major artillery threat to Omaha and Utah Beaches is eliminated. The Rangers’ mission, begun on the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc, ends in victory amid the wreckage of the Maisy Batteries, a final triumph of courage, endurance, and determination.

Listen now to hear how the Rangers completed their campaign in Normandy, and brought the story of the Provisional Ranger Force to its close.

#DDay #WWII #RangersLeadTheWay #ProvisionalRangerGroup #OmahaBeach #PointeDuHoc #MaisyBattery #Normandy1944 #WW2Podcast #SpecialForces #USArmyRangers #OperationNeptune #OperationOverlord #MilitaryHistory #WW2History #HistoryPodcast #AlliedForces #WW2Battles #RangerBattalion

🔗 Stay connected with us:Website: https://worldwar2-sof.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ww2.sofFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorldWar2SOFThreads: https://www.threads.net/@ww2.sofPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/SpecialForcesinWorldWar2Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/worldwar2sof