Airborne Operations: A German Appraisal

Merriam Press Military Reprint MR31 (First Edition, 2015). Historical Study, German Report Series, Dept. of the Army Pamphlet No. 20-232, by a committee of former German officers. It comprises a review of German airborne experience in WWII, an appraisal of German successes and failures, the reasons for the apparent abandonment of large-scale German airborne operations after the Crete operation, the German experience in opposing Allied and Russian airborne operations, an appraisal of the effectiveness of these operations, and the probable future of airborne operations. This study is concerned only with the landing of airborne fighting forces in an area occupied or controlled by an enemy and with the subsequent tactical commitment of those forces in conventional ground combat.