In 1941, Germany launched the first primarily airborne invasion in military history
The skies over Crete filled with thousands of parachutes in 1941 as Nazi Germany launched the first major invasion reliant almost entirely on troops delivered by air.
In May 1941, the Battle of Crete changed the face of modern warfare. Seeking to secure the Mediterranean, Germany deployed over 20,000 paratroopers, known as Fallschirmjäger, to seize the island. It was a massive gamble that initially met with disaster as Allied forces and local civilians inflicted heavy casualties on the descending soldiers.
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