Unternehmen Merkur (Luftlandeschlacht um Kreta), Germany’s strategic airborne operation during World War II.
Downed German Junkers Ju-52 transport plane crashes to the ground during a landing on the island of Crete. A second Luftwaffe plane (in the background) successfully dropped the paratroopers.
By order of Adolf Hitler, German paratroopers landed on Crete. The landing of the Nazis took place under enemy fire, and over the next ten days, 22 thousand German paratroopers fought continuously and with heavy losses against the allied forces defending the island twice as large. The battle was eventually won by the German Wehrmacht.
Source of Unternehmen Merkur: US Library of Congress.
Photo source: www.theatlantic.com
Location: Crete
Photo time: 20 May 1941