OPERATION MERKUR

Crete, Eastern Mediterranean • May 20, 1941 With the start of marathon German oper­a­tions against the Soviet Union, code­named Operation Bar­ba­rossa, a month away, Adolf Hitler needed to en­sure that his oil supplies in and around Ploiești, Roma­nia, where he had sent a German “mili­tary mis­sion,” would not come under Allied bomber attack from sta­tion­ary…

Crete, Eastern Mediterranean · May 20, 1941 With the start of marathon German oper­a­tions against the Soviet Union, code­named Operation Bar­ba­rossa, a month away, Adolf Hitler needed to en­sure that his Roma­nian oil supplies in and around Ploiești would not come under bomber attack from sta­tion­ary bases in the East­ern Medi­ter­ranean. The most likely source…