Operation Niwi

[DaveBB]

I just learned of Operation Niwi today.  98 Fieseler Storch aircraft transported 400 German troops to cutoff the retreat of the Belgian Army.  Each Storch carried two soldiers. 

Can anyone think of a stranger air assault in WWII than that?

[Devil 505]

You might want to check your math.

[DaveBB]

They made more than 1 trip.

10th May 1940
“Operation Niwi”:

~ 400 men of the III.Btl./“Großdeutschland” are land with 98 Fieseler Storch planes in the area of NIves (11.Kp. under Hptm.Krüger) and WItry (10.Kp. under Obstlt.Garski).

The groups start at 05:20 at Bitburg and cross the Luxembourg border north of Wallendorf.

05:50 The groups fly over the belgian border at Martelange.

06:00 the Fi.156 of Oberstlt.Garski lands at Witry. The groups also landed at different locations due to navigation errors and enemy fire.

The Nives group gets lost and lands at several different locations.

08:05 The second wave under Lt.Obermeier lands at Nives and cannot find the first wave. He decides to block the road Neufchateau – Bastogne without the first wave units. Here he rejects several enemy attacks during the day. In the evening a french tank-attack with infantry pushes the germans back but they don´t dare to attack a fake-barrier the germans built.

After reassembling Witry is taken at 14:00 against the french Chasseurs Ardennais. 19 losses on the german side. Shortly after that contact to elements of the 1.Pz.Div. (K.S.Btl.1) is established.

The elements at Nives establish contact woth elements of 2.Pz.Div. tomorrow morning.

[Devil 505]

That makes more sense.

Ballsy move to be sure.

[Puma44]

That’s thinking outside the box and doing something they’d never expect.

[zack1234]

Belgium?

Strange country

Never hear from them but they lurk in the background 

[JimmyC]

They invented chips

[zack1234]

You hear about them at all

What is thier game?

[Bruv119]

brussel sprouts?

[Hajo]

Brussels..........now the home of four old guys who nobody knows, who want to make decisions for all of Europe.

[DaveBB]

Operation Niwi didn't work as well as expected due to a phenomenon in which if you place infantry in a situation where their only choice is to fight or die, they will fight extremely hard.  Sun Tzu writes about this, and both the Germans and Soviets learned about it on the Eastern front.  So in actuality, while Niwi was a unique aerial stunt, it delayed the western campaign. 

TLDR: The Belgians put up a ferocious fight after being surrounded by the Germans from Operation Niwi. Delayed the entire campaign.