Operation Mercury - The Invasion of Crete

Part of Airborne Week on WW2TV
With Greg Way
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Operation Mercury was the invasion of Crete by German forces on May 20th 1941. Gliders and paratroops swooped and jumped through the dust and smoke thrown up by Luftwaffe bomb runs. On the ground, a mixed British, Commonwealth and Greek army raised its guns to meet them. Although there had been previous Fallschirmjäger jumps, Crete was the first time they were used en masse and it also marked an early use by the Allies of intelligence from decrypted German messages from the Enigma machine. In today's show we will look at the Fallschirmjäger actions and discuss what went right, what went wrong and talk about some of the men involved.
Greg Way joined the Royal Navy in 1988 and volunteered for the submarine service, completing his 22 years service in 2010. With a lifelong interest in the war he became interested in the Fallschirmtruppe and by chance in 1998 came into contact with several Fallschirmjäger veterans. Having conducted further research, Gregory set up a website in 1999 detailing the exploits of this famous formation and in 2001 he decided to publish the first-hand accounts he had received over the years. The veterans were pleased that their stories could finally be told, in their own words:
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Fallschirmjäger!: A Collection of Firsthand Accounts and Diaries by German Paratrooper Veterans from the Second World War by Greg Way
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