Battle of Crete: Fallschirmjäger parade in Goslar, July 12, 1941
WW2, WW2 in Greece, WW2 WrecksBy Pierre Kosmidis
A German propaganda video (Deutsche Wochenschau 568 – 23 Juli 1941) on the fallschirmjäger II./Fallsch.Sturm- regiment parade in the city of Goslar, on July 12, 1941.
During the war, Goslar became an important location for airborne troops. They were equipped with DFS 230 gliders. On 16 December 1940, the Second Battalion of the Sturm Regiment moved from Quedlinburg to Goslar. In May 1941 they were involved in Operations “Marita” and “Merkur”, the invasion of mainland Greece and the island of Crete.
The regiment did not participate in the opening stages of the invasions of Greece and Yugoslavia, but was kept in reserve until it was needed for the invasion of Crete.
The 1st battalion was landed by DFS 230 gliders towed by Ju 52s of Luftlandegeschwader 1, but the rest of the regiment was parachuted in the vicinity of Maleme airfield on 20 May 1941.
They landed almost on top of the New Zealand 5th Infantry Brigade, part of the 2nd New Zealand Infantry Division and suffered severely at their hands.
However, reinforced by several battalions of the 5th Gebirgs (Mountain) Division that landed the next day they were able to force the New Zealanders to retreat. This was the only time in the war that the regiment fought as a complete unit.