Falling From Grace: The German Airborne

In the late 1930's, an aggressive and innovative rearmament program in Nazi Germany gave riseto the tactics of vertical envelopment. Luftwaffe General Kurt Student pioneered the use ofgliders and airborne forces, and the Wehrmacht used them effectively early in the war as part ofintegrated, combined-arms offensives. Yet the German airborne branch literally self-destructedin May 1941 during the invasion of the island of Crete. This study examines the development ofGerman airborne doctrine and addresses the questions of what happened on Crete, how theGermans reacted, and what historical insights modern day planners can derive from the Germanexperience.