German troops cross the Albert Canal, May 1940
Past concrete tank obstacles and bunkers, German infantry cross a canal in rubber boats under smoke and dive-bomber attacks.
Rows of concrete tank obstacles stand in a meadow, and a vehicle hung with branches races past a farmhouse. Soldiers in German helmets run along a dirt road below an embankment, carry a rubber boat down a canal bank and shove it off under fire; a domed bunker stands in torn ground, dive bombers tip over into their dives, a machine gun fires from behind a bank, and an assault group climbs out of a smoking trench as a flamethrower sends a jet of fire across an orchard. German newsreel footage.
The Albert Canal between Liège and Antwerp formed the forward line of the Belgian defence. On 10 May 1940 German glider-borne troops seized two of the three bridges west of Maastricht and put out of action the fort of Eben-Emael, which commanded them; the fort surrendered on 11 May when German infantry arrived.
Film Crossing the canal in rubber boats
Film Tank obstacles and vehicles on the move
Film Soldiers storm along a canal bank
Film Smoke over a hill and a boat at the canal
Film A domed bunker under fire
Film Dive bombers and smoke on the river bank
Film Infantry advance through the grass
Film