Wilson, Mark M. J./Plowman, Jeffrey The Battle of Crete

Storm from the Sky 1941. Then and Now

Operation Mercurythe German airborne invasion of Creteis regarded as an iconic undertaking in military history. It pitted an elite airborne division against "Creforce": a motley assembly of British and Commonwealth soldiers who had escaped to the island following their withdrawal from Greece. The outcome appeared to be a foregone conclusion for the Germans. Yet the Germans had not only underestimated the strength of the defending forces; they also lacked a true understanding of the defenders' fighting spirit and had completely misjudged the reception they would receive from the Cretan civilian population. To make matters worse, their uniforms proved entirely unsuited to the climate and other conditions they encountered on the island; moreover, the decision to drop their primary weaponry in separate canisters turned out to be a grave doctrinal error. For many of the paratroopers, the events of the first day caused the invasion to rapidly devolve into a desperate struggle for survival: shortages of water and ammunition became an existential threat, while they were simultaneously hunted by both Allied troops and the civilian population. It was a disasterone that could have ended fatally for the invaders, were it not for the intransigence and obstinacy within the highest echelons of their opponents' leadership. Exactly how Creforce managed to let a seemingly certain victory slip through its fingers has been the subject of numerous books over the decades; many recent accounts focus specifically on the interpretationor misinterpretationof "Ultra" decrypts by the commander of Creforce, the New Zealand Major General Bernard Freyberg. Drawing upon a selection from the wealth of photographs taken during the invasionmany of them from the perspective of the German invadersas well as supplementary modern images and contextual photographs of the battle's key sites, the authors draw from a broad array of official and private sources across Australia, Great Britain, Germany, and New Zealand. They embed these historical images within their original context, thereby offering a fresh perspective on the history of arguably the most famous airborne operation of the Second World War.