Operation Mercury:The Battle of Crete

[KG_Cloghaun]

Here is an excellent overview of the battle at Wikepedia-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Crete

First major airborne operation of WW2 or of any war, period.
First time the Allies got major results from cracking the Enigma code.

The Anzacs put up a Hell of a fight against the Fallschirmjaegers. Not to mention the Greek civilian population! I've got to get a book on this battle. Just this dry-written wikipedia overview is chuck-full of very interesting sidenotes.

Example-

Among the German dead were a trio of brothers, relatives of the Prussian general Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher of Waterloo fame. The first to fall was Count Leberecht von Blücher, who was attempting to resupply his brother, Lieutenant Wolfgang von Blücher, with ammunition when the latter and his platoon were surrounded by members of the Black Watch. Leberecht had commandeered a horse which he attempted to gallop through British lines; he almost reached his brother's position, and in fact was shot before the count's very eyes. The next day, the second brother was killed, followed by the youngest brother, Hans-Joachim, who was reported killed in action a few days later but whose body was never recovered. For years afterward, Cretan villagers report seeing a ghostly rider galloping at night down a road near the spot where Leberecht was shot; yet until they were told the story of the von Blücher brothers, they had assumed that he was British

[KG_Jag]

Check it out here:

http://dak.planetaclix.pt/dak/sitemap.htm