Operation Merkur - The Matrix Games version of West Front

Location : Northern coastline of Crete. With the withdrawal of the Commonwealth troops off the Greek mainland, the German HQ still wanted to get control of the eastern Meditaranean. The bulk of the allied troops that escaped unharmed were brought over to Crete and placed under the command of general Freyberg.He knew his forces were weak, lacking heavy equipment and supplies so he decided to divide his troops in four separate groups. Each group had the responsability to defend possible landing beaches and to prepare for an airborne invasion. On May 20, the Germans came. The complete 7 Flieger division, reinforced by the Luftlande Sturm regiment started falling from the sky. The German intelligence service estimated that some 30,000 allied troops were on the island, when in reality it was nearly double that number. As a result, the losses among the Fallschirmjäger were horrendous and precluded their use in any further major airlanding.