April 1, 2026

BONUS EPISODE: The Battle of Fort Eben Emael

PREORDER JOE'S BOOK

https://www.amazon.com/Highlands-Burn-Foundling-Brigade-Saga-ebook/dp/B0GSG5CNXX/ref=sr_1_1?crid=QWHSPAADI07D&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.uLEY0I7D6t0IC9GWsF7SH1FKEgKqsqTLmV4PQ_lLi-wVUCYgTqIv0BWd9_-x3VzP.xn7v2CqU5MjngXmmSbYvVGsY_fxkvgsz-LA2tkhHHTs&dib_tag=se&keywords=joseph+kassabian&qid=1774247705&s=digital-text&sprefix=%2Cdigital-text%2C176&sr=1-1

SEE US LIVE MAY 29TH IN LONDON:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lions-led-by-donkeys-podcast-live-in-london-29th-may-tickets-1985443952308

CANT MAKE THE SHOW? WE'RE STREAMING IT! GET YOUR LIVESTREAM TICKETS HERE:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/livestream-lions-led-by-donkeys-podcast-live-in-london-29th-may-2026-tickets-1985444086710

This week Joe and Nate bunker down to tell the story of the Belgian superfortress that was said to be impregnable, to discuss the best way not to look like a spy when you crash your plane, the hazy line between volunteering for a death trap and being volun-told to be part of one, and what happens when gliders begin raining down from the sky.

SOURCES:

Tugwell, Maurice. Airborne To Battle — A History Of Airborne Warfare 1918–1971

Vliegen, René. Fort Eben-Emael.

Kuhn, Volkmar. German Paratroops in World War II

Stevenson, Roy. Captured! Belgium’s Mighty Fort Eben-Emael. WWII Quarterly. Spring 2012. Vol, 3 No. 3

Smith Barr, Robert. Silent Blitzkrieg: the Battle of Fort Eben Emael. WWII History. March 2002. Vol 1, No. 2

Comments (36)

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Anggg · May 20, 2026

I could be wrong here, but I think the Soviet German military training cooperation began during the Weimar Republic

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Sitka · May 5, 2026

Honestly, not a fan of Belgium lmao. My only experience there was transferring on a train from Paris on my way to Rotterdam. I got my ticket, made it to the platform, and before I boarded the train I just wanted to verify with an official and make sure I was in the right spot. The official saw my ticket and said my train had already left. Bummer but there was one in an hour. So I go down to the departure board, I'm looking to see when/where it is, and I see the same official. I asked him where the next one would be, he looks at my ticket, and chuckles. Apparently the train he said wasn't mine WAS mine, and he laughed saying my ticket printed funny. I was stuck in Brussels Midi station for one hour longer than I needed to be and I'll never forgive that godforsaken nation. Loved Holland and France though.

A
Agents Miskatonic · April 29, 2026

Oklahoma City mention

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Brandon P · April 10, 2026

That story about the two doofuses with the secret war plans really drives home that a lot of these guys were in the 18 - 25 age range.

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UrinalGoblin · April 4, 2026

Nazi seppuku is a long ass German compound word that translates to "theselfkillingofonesselfforthehonerofhitlerandthefatherland"

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Alive Or Trees · April 3, 2026

My friends broke curfew and got stopped by cops. We were white and lived off the main road where they stopped us so we said we would walk home. We didn't The same cops came by and saw us an hour later and told us to go home and we were going home anyway. They let us go because we were white.

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NowhereMan661 · April 3, 2026

God, it takes very little to demonstrate and prove that all cops are fucking scum.

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Alive Or Trees · April 3, 2026

Well, Nate's story happened decades ago, surely better training has fixed things since then...

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Sulaiman · April 3, 2026

Joe, you can't casually drop a sentence like "knife fighting nazis in the dark" and just...keep going as if you didn't accidentally coin the best punk band name in history

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Markus D · April 2, 2026

I've only played the first FFVII Remake game, but I can't allow the slander because despite any flaws, it's a version of FFVII where I like all the characters and it's fun to play instead of being like the most boring version of Final Fantasy combat since the NES era.

K
KayoCrimson · April 2, 2026

Going by Nate's joke, Kalamazoo is the Brussels of the midwest

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Panic Enthusiast · April 2, 2026

Nick has been in 1SG basement, Tom is organizing a paramilitary group to free him. Operation Cassanova

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Mackenzie Toscan · April 2, 2026

Can’t believe Tom was kidnapped by Radiohead fans

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POWERDAD · April 2, 2026

Fun Fact: you can get banned from r/DogsWithJobs for posting photos of K9 units if you title it "40% of cops might beat their wives but 100% of K9 doggos are good bois!"

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Sid Spendler · April 2, 2026

As someone born, raised and currently trapped by their own poor life decisions in Duluth I do appreciate the shoutout from Nate. Love you guys!

K
Kaiju and Chill · April 1, 2026

Another reason why cops suck: they are so out of shape and fucking senseless they have to turn dogs into class traitors. Dweebs.

T
Thomas Layton · April 1, 2026

I believe the technical term for a meat ied is kamikaze.

g
gaplodocus · April 1, 2026

I work in a retirement town grocery store in the PNW. The 5 to 10 minute item ponder is ubiquitous across the world it seems. I run into this all the time and it’s always done directly in front of the section I’m working. It’s a great excuse for an instagram scroll. The worst is that elderly people will run into people they know in the store and then form a big wall in an aisle and bullshit for sometimes hours.

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Matt Watterson · April 2, 2026

At the grocery store I go to its generally two moms who park their grocery carts beside each other to block an entire aisle to talk about their dumb kids.

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NeonVVitch · April 1, 2026

Remake and Yuffie slander the rare LLBD bad take. 😉

G
Global Conflict Reporting · April 1, 2026

I’m convinced Nate is currently playing FF7. This is like the third episode in a two month he’s brought up ff7. Can I get the Joe and Nate talk Final fantasy podcast?

S
SouthpawFL · April 1, 2026

Had an awful neighbor at home who let his pitbull out to relieve itself off leash. The kids coming home would cut through our part of the land to avoid being cornered by the dog when he let it out at school time and he'd smoke and laugh at the terrorized kids his dog would corner until he called it off.

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Kaiju and Chill · April 2, 2026

That is out right horrible.

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Sam · April 1, 2026

We Eben een Serieus Probleem

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Warpwaffel · April 1, 2026

Correction: the German-Soviet cooperation on military technology and training and stuff ended in 1933 on orders of Hitler. So no, it wasn't a Nazi project. However pretty much every German involved worked/fought for the Nazis in WWII so it's pretty much a wash.

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Matt Girczyc · April 1, 2026

Welcome to Fort Tuberculosis!

D
Duke of New York · April 1, 2026

Another off my list, stellar job Joe!

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Noblese Oblahaj · April 1, 2026

Nate, look up the Tupolev TB3. It has the most fucked up defensive gunner positions you'll ever see.

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Aquanaut · April 1, 2026

Tom vanished to the same black-site Nick went to

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William Shackelford · April 1, 2026

We need a Belgian Call of Duty® that’s titled Call of Duty® Triple D: Dark, Dank, Damp Mole-Men edition

N
Noblese Oblahaj · April 1, 2026

Ducking the cops as an adult feels good as hell

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Hammerthrust Von Sexron · April 1, 2026

Who kidnapped Tom is the Who shot Mr. Burns of our generation. We all have our motives

N
Noblese Oblahaj · April 1, 2026

It was Maggie ( Thatcher )

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Anarcho Slowpoke · April 1, 2026

Assuming the guy‘s name is written Witzig, it would be very funny, because that’s a German word for funny.

b
big meg · April 1, 2026

Germans tourists were famous when I worked for the park service for needing to be airlifted out of the grand canyon, underestimating the heat and need for water.

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Noblese Oblahaj · April 1, 2026

Germans yearn to advance into adverse conditions and run out of supplies