The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-05-21
Over 11,OOO German
 Troops Were Landed
Continued from Page l)


 attack was continued by daylight to- day.
 Authoritative informants said the situation was in hand. The Ger mans did not, 1t was asserted, con- krol any airport, though some troops might have been landed at air glFumes where they had enjoyed Temporary control, or at extempor- lzed landing fields.
 It was confirmed that some of the troop planes were shot down over Crete before they could land their troops.
 Statements Confuse
 The statement that the situation was in hand, authorities said, did not mean that every invader had been killed or captured or exclude the probability that groups Of Germans were still fighting. But the statement did signify, 1t was said, that the British had not lost control over any large area Of the island.
 ,Air-borne divisions such as the one landed informants said, consist of two infantry regiments instead of the normal three and one artil- levy regiment equipped with "A 75- miilimeter tthree inch) mountain guns. The infantry regiments are smaller than the ordinary regiment There is in addition an anti-tank battalion, with 37-millimeter dh tneh) guns and finally q divisional xeconnaissance unit, motorcycllSts, signal men and engineers.
 The infantry regiments are or- Ranized In battalionS of three rifle companies and one marchine gun company each, it was said. one in- fantry company in each regiment As equipped with four 75-millimeter Infantry guns. There are two motor antI-aircraft companies, using mos torcycles, besides the medical and supply formations.
 The air borne troops, informants said, acquisition local civilian trans port AS soon as they land.
 The parachutist troops, formed into companies, join the orders oi the other air-borne troops.
 It was said authoritatiyely that the disposition Of the German para chutIsts asserted to be wearing New Zealand uniforms, would be left to Mai. Gen. Bernard c. Freyberg, the British commander in chief It was not believed that any commander would have them shot, though men in the uniforms of the enemy they are fighting are liable to summary execution under international law.
 It was believed that any men caught wearing uniforms duplicat- ing the New Zealand uniform would be court martialed.
 InformantS recalled that in invad- ing Holland the Germans used about 2b0 planes to transport one air. borne division and that each plane was expected to make three or four flights. The procedure is to put down parachutists first and if they land successfully they put out sig- iaals for the air-borne trops. Big planes and gliders then descend, The troop carriers carry about 50 men each.
 ..ThCre seemed every confidence here that the dangerous situation an Crete could be handled success fully.
 = Nazis Seek F0Othold
 However. reports in well informed quarters implied tohat fighting on an important scale must be under way and that the Germans were making a persistent attempt 10 get C. foothold in the island, seat of the Greek government and of enor- kaous strategic importance.
 ssOnlcial circles believed that addi- tional German troops had been landed during the night and that the most dramatic battle of the war might now be in its climatic phase, Tt was admitted that capture Of the Island by the Germans would Do most serious defeat for Great Britains attcpmt to keep control ot the Eastern Mediterranean.
 Military experts expressed belief that there were two acute danger points in the island-the MaleEa Peninsula in the Suda Bay area Of the northwest shores and the nar- row waist of the island, only IA miles across, extending southWard from the Gulf of ArmyroS.
 Troops who held the waist could cut off Canea, the seat Of the Greek government and Suda Bay from the rest of Crete,
 Reports were circulated that all German parachutlSts had been rounded up or killed but there was no confirmation here, and 1t was believed on the contrary that the Germans reinforced their men dur ing the night.
 2. There WaG no indication what sacrifices the German command was prepared to make in an attempt to seize the entire island.
 May Be Suicide Corps
 Suspicion was expressed in some quarters, however, that the para chutlstS landed in the island were really 6 suicide corps, detailed to make Q diversion which would cover R German attack elsewhere, in Egypt or through Syria to fraq,
 It was increasingly apparent that though the German landing might have come suddenly and dramat- lcally, 1t had not come unexpectedly, It was understood that parachut- iSt landing had been awaited for Eeveral weeks, since Royal Air Force planes first began to report the con- rentration Of great numbers of Ger man troop carrying planes, Junkers and Focke-Wulfs in Greece.
 Fears were expressed in military quarters that in addition to land- Ing parachutlsts, the Germans would