As an answer to your first question....

40 km/h is about 25 mph. But, a lot of what happens depends on the curb's height and shape. I had a friend a couple of years ago who bent the LCA on his Del Sol doing pretty much what you did. Benz isn't a Del Sol, I know, but given a big enough curb and square enough smacking angle it is possible. Best case is if it's a low or slanted curb and you took it head on, so the wheel just hopped over it.