Coming soon from Pen and Sword and authors Jeffrey Plowman and Mark M J Wilson is The Battle of Crete: Storm from the Sky 1941: Then and Now, and analysis of the German airborne invasion of Crete, detailing the battle’s chaos, defenders’ resolve, and the operation’s lasting impact on WWII airborne tactics.
Operation Merkur, the German airborne invasion of Crete, is an iconic operation in military history. It pitched an elite airborne division against Creforce, a rag-tag force of British and Commonwealth escapees from Greece. The outcome to the Germans seemed assured. Yet, not only had the Germans underestimated the size of the defending force, they lacked an appreciation of the willingness to fight of the defenders, and had wrongly understood the reception they would receive from the Cretan civilians. To add to their woes their uniforms were ill-suited to the climate and other conditions they were to encounter on the island, and the dropping of their primary weapons in separate containers proved to be a grave doctrinal error.
For many of the fallschirmjäger, the events of the first day ensured that this turned into a struggle for their own personal survival as the need for water and ammunition became paramount, while being hunted by Allied troops and civilians alike. It was a disaster and could have been fatal to the invader, except for the intransigence in the higher levels of command of their foes. Continue reading Storm from the Sky 1941: The German Aerial Invasion of Crete and its Impact on WW2 Aerial Tactics
Please Note: This post contains an Amazon affiliate link. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
