Editing Battle of Crete (section)

====German====
{{further|Fallschirmjäger (World War II)}}
[[File:Kreta Cuffband.jpg|thumb|[[Crete Cuff Title]] for [[Wehrmacht]] participants of the campaign]]
The Germans used the new [[7.5 cm Leichtgeschütz 40|7.5&nbsp;cm ''Leichtgeschütz'' 40]] light gun (a [[recoilless rifle]]). At {{cvt|320|lb|kg}}, it weighed {{frac|1|10}} as much as a standard German 75&nbsp;mm [[field gun]], yet had {{frac|2|3}} of its range. It fired a {{cvt|13|lb|kg}} shell more than {{cvt|3|mi|km}}. A quarter of the German paratroops jumped with an [[MP 40]] [[submachine gun]], often carried with a [[bolt-action]] [[Karabiner 98k|''Karabiner'' 98k]] rifle and most German squads had an [[MG 34]] [[General purpose machine gun|machine gun]].<ref>{{harvnb|Antill|2005|p=25}}.</ref> The Germans used colour-coded parachutes to distinguish the canisters carrying rifles, ammunition, crew-served weapons and other supplies. Heavy equipment like the ''Leichtgeschütz 40'' were dropped with a special triple-parachute harness to bear the extra weight.

The troops also carried special strips of cloth to unfurl in patterns to signal to low-flying fighters, to co-ordinate air support and for supply drops. The German procedure was for individual weapons to be dropped in canisters, due to their practice of exiting the aircraft at low altitude. This was a flaw that left the paratroopers armed only with knives, pistols and grenades in the first few minutes after landing. Poor design of German parachutes compounded the problem; the standard German harness had only one riser to the [[Canopy (parachute)|canopy]] and could not be steered. Even the 25 percent of paratroops armed with sub-machine guns were at a disadvantage, given the weapon's limited range. Many ''Fallschirmjäger'' were shot before they reached weapons canisters.