| The cost to the Germans of Operation Merkur was high. Of the 22,000 men committed for the operation approximately 6,000 were killed. Key figures killed during the battle: Generalleutnant Süssmann, Major Braun, Major Scherber, and Oberleutnant van Plessen. The mountain troops lost 20 officers and 305 other ranks, killed in action; the missing-most of them drowned when the Royal Navy sunk the boats transporting them, numbered 18 officers and 488 other ranks. Of the nearly 500 transport aircraft involved, 271 had been lost. The British and Dominion casualties were 1.742 killed, 1,737 wounded and 11,835 taken prisoner. For the Royal Navy the battle cost the Mediterranean fleet: three cruisers and six destroyers sunk; one aircraft carrier and three battleships, and six cruisers and nine destroyers-damaged. Over 2,000 men killed and almost 500 wounded. After Crete the German parachute arm was never used again in large scale airborne operations. |