Operation Merkur - The Battle for Crete

[2RHPZ]

Long history at the website bellow - follow the links in right column.

http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/Gallery/crete/index.htm

Excellent photo gallery at: http://home.online.no/~vestil/crete/invasjon/

[2RHPZ]

Another good link at: http://www.rickard.karoo.net/battlesmain15.html

[hist2004]

CAG 147-

Great photos of the German Fallschirmjager in Crete. Do you have any
data on their training? Also, do you have anything on the battles between
US & German paratroopers amoung the hedgegroves. These battles followed the Allied Invasion of Normandy 1944. Below is the "Ethos" of
the Fallschrimjager:

1. You are the chosen ones of the German Army. You will seek combat and train yourselves to endure any manner of test. To you the battle shall be fulfillment.
2. Cultivate true comradeship, for by the aid of your comrades you will conquer or die.
3. Beware of talking. Be not corruptible. Men act while women chatter. Chatter may bring you to the grave.
4. Be calm and prudent, strong and resolute. Valor and enthusiasm of an offensive spirit will cause you to prevail in the attack.
5. The most precious thing in the presence of the foe is ammunition. He who shoots uselessly, merely to comfort himself, is a man of straw who merits not the title of Parachutist.
6. Never surrender. To you death or victory must be a point of honor.
7. You can triumph only if your weapons are good. See to it that you submit yourself to this law--first my weapon and then myself.
8. You must grasp the full purpose of every enterprise, so that if your leader be killed you can fulfill it.
9. Against an open foe fight with chivalry, but to a guerrilla extend no quarter.
10. Keep your eyes wide open. Tune yourself to the topmost pitch. Be nimble as a greyhound, as tough as leather, as hard as Krupp steel, and so you shall be the German warrior incarnate.

Regards,
Hist2004

[garoco]

Try the Australian War Memorial website at www.awm.gov.au for some exceptional images of the Crete campaign of 1941 too :)

[2RHPZ]

CAG 147-

Great photos of the German Fallschirmjager in Crete. Do you have any
data on their training? Also, do you have anything on the battles between
US & German paratroopers amoung the hedgegroves. These battles followed the Allied Invasion of Normandy 1944. Below is the "Ethos" of
the Fallschrimjager:

1. You are the chosen ones of the German Army. You will seek combat and train yourselves to endure any manner of test. To you the battle shall be fulfillment.
2. Cultivate true comradeship, for by the aid of your comrades you will conquer or die.
3. Beware of talking. Be not corruptible. Men act while women chatter. Chatter may bring you to the grave.
4. Be calm and prudent, strong and resolute. Valor and enthusiasm of an offensive spirit will cause you to prevail in the attack.
5. The most precious thing in the presence of the foe is ammunition. He who shoots uselessly, merely to comfort himself, is a man of straw who merits not the title of Parachutist.
6. Never surrender. To you death or victory must be a point of honor.
7. You can triumph only if your weapons are good. See to it that you submit yourself to this law--first my weapon and then myself.
8. You must grasp the full purpose of every enterprise, so that if your leader be killed you can fulfill it.
9. Against an open foe fight with chivalry, but to a guerrilla extend no quarter.
10. Keep your eyes wide open. Tune yourself to the topmost pitch. Be nimble as a greyhound, as tough as leather, as hard as Krupp steel, and so you shall be the German warrior incarnate.

Regards,
Hist2004

Thanks. Right now I am trying to find some online version for data I have read in one excellent book about them. I do hope that I will find them soon and post them ASAP. Take care ...

CAG 147

[2RHPZ]

Linx for those who wish to visit Crete and make a "battle tour":

http://home.freeuk.com/johndillon/war.htm#German%20War%20Cemetery

http://www.explorecrete.com/preveli/battle-of-crete.html


The Order of Battle of Op Mercury:

http://www.eagle19.freeserve.co.uk/crete.htm

[2RHPZ]

Source: Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals. Selected and Prepared by the United Nations War Crimes Commission. Volume IV. London: HMSO, 1948

p.118
CASE NO. 24

TRIAL OF KARL STUDENT

BRITISH MILITARY COURT, LUNEBERG, GERMANY,

6TH--1OTH MAY, 1946

A. OUTLINE OF THE PROCEEDINGS

Full text (http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/WCC/student.htm)

http://img3.exs.cx/img3/7241/FJ_paras.jpg