410520_02: The Descent on Crete - PzC 13 Salerno '43

Maleme\Canea, May 20th 1941: By this date, the defenders dug-in around Maleme were getting used to the ritual of the morning air raids, so on this morning, it was a surprise to them that after the attacking aircraft withdrew, there came another wave of Ju-52 transport aircraft, many towing gliders. This first phase of "Operation Merkur" called for two separate drop zones. First, the Luftlande Sturmregiment, (the heroes of the 1940 assault on Eben Emael the impregnable Belgium forts that held the gateway to Low Countries), arriving by both glider and parachute, landed west of Maleme airstrip. There they quickly assembled with the mission to secure the landing strip for follow on air transport reinforcement by the 5th Gebirgsjager Division. Simultaneously, Colonel Heidrich's 3rd Fallschirmjäger Regt, with divisional troops and headquarters, were to drop in the Prison Valley. Their mission was to secure the village of Galatas, and also to block Allied units in the Canea and Suda Bay sector from reinforcing the Maleme Airfield, the key to the invasion plan. [Size, medium]