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May 1941 - German transport plane

Then
Original caption: "One year later, in May 1941 during Operation Mercury, the invasion of Crete, paratroopers are dropped from the aircraft. In the hot dropping zone multiple parachutes indicate that many men have already reached the combat area."

Now
The landscape was identified as the beach north of village Gerani, on the stream mouth west of Platanias, so probably the photo depicts men of the 5th and 6th Company of FJR2 jumping into combat at 15:00 on 21 May 1941. The group landed over positions held by the NZ Engineer Det. and D Coy of 28th Maori Bn, and suffered severe losses.

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