In any study of defense against air-landing and air-borne
attack, the more important lessons are those from Crete. The
German conquest of this island in May 1941 is as yet the chief
instance of success in a purely air-landing operation, against
determined resistance, without the effective cooperation of
forces employing surface transport either by land or sea. The
usual primary objective of such operations is the capture of one
or more airdromes through which air-landed troops can be poured
in to swamp the local defense, and this has nowhere else been
successfully done. Crete is about 3,320 square miles in area,
and of irregular, elongated shape, with an east-to-west length
of 160 miles and a north-and-south width varying between 7 1/2
and 35 miles. Most of its surface consists of mountains whose
upper slopes are snow-covered throughout most of the year. The
highest peak rises to nearly 8,000 feet. As in most
Mediterranean regions, the lower slopes are largely, although
not wholly, deforested. The climate is