![German paratroopers advance across a dangerously open field as their comrades drop from Junkers Ju-52s in the sky above Crete during the opening of Operation Mercury. A German veteran painted the scene from memory.](https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/WW-Crete-1-ext-4C-May04-e1681938617642-760x427.jpg)
Maleme
The Invasion of Crete: Descent Into The Inferno
By William E. WelshBy May 1941, the German Luftwaffe’s fortunes had risen to great heights and plummeted to equally startling depths in the course of a single year of blitzkrieg warfare in Western Europe. Read more