Battle of Crete

On the morning of 20th May, 1941, Germany launched an airborne invasion om Crete, Operation Mercury.

To lose Crete because we had not sufficient bulk of forces there would be a crime -- Winston Churchill,The Second World War

After the German intervention in Greece, the 57.000 allied troops in that country were chased from the mainland of Greece. Thg royal navy evacuated many of them, some to Crete] To bolster its 14,000-man garrison. Expecting a German atttack by sea, the Allied commanders were suprised when it came by air. German paratroopers led by ... landed on key locations. The island was defended by British, Greek, Australian and New Zealander troops. The Germans capturd the island in 10 days, but at heavy cost. 7,000 German soldiers, including one in four paratroopers, lay dead on the battlefield. Never again would Hitler approve a third large airborne operation. The Allied soldiers were evacuated by the Royal Navy during four desperately dangerous consecutive nights between 28 and 31 May. About 17,000 escaped; probably more were killed, captured or went missing.

The invasion earned the name as the first airborne invasion in history, but that honour goes to the German paratroop assault on the Hague on May 10, 1940.