Red Flood

[King Kurt]

Well a quick glance around the web about the German Airbourne suggests the following - in 1940 it was still a small force - being built up for its moment of fame and Phyric victory in Crete. I think the real weakness was in the JU52 fleet and the gliders. The Ju52s were very prone to being shot down and the losses they suffered in the Crete campaign were horrendious causing a transport plane shortage in the subsequent russian campaign. There was a similar story for the Gliders. About 500 JU52s were used for Crete and 271 were casualties. So the airbourne is preety much a one shot weapon if they are to be used on any scale - and if there is even a hint of not having air superiority then there will be massive casualties and a good chance the operation will fail.
For info see:
http://www.eagle19.freeserve.co.uk/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_...A4ger_Division
So, if we are to use them, we must exercise caution and use them in a true coup de main way. We also need to find a way of reienforcing any operation quickly - which could well mean some form of naval support forces.