Since four simultaneous attacks by air were not possible, General Student thought that they could attack Maleme and Canea in the morning while they would attack Retimo and Heraklion in the afternoon. The plan also included an attack by sea. The Germans took 63 small vessels and seven merchant ships. Admiral Schuster would be in command. They would bring more some heavy weapons, than an infantry battalion, pack animals with supplies. On the first day, they would land on beaches to the west of Maleme. On the second day, more would land east of Heraklion. There was concern about the British navy so they decided to land both groups the second day.
General Student with the XI Air Corps had paratroops and assault troops in gliders. The aircraft were transports. There were four battalions of assault troops. With the paratroops there were three regiments, each having three battalions. They also had an artillery company and an anti-tank company. At the division level, they had an artillery battery, and battalions of anti-tank guns, machine guns, and pioneers.
The corps had the 5th Mountain division and a tank battalion. The mountain division eventually won the battle for Crete. This is based on the account in "Greece, Crete and Syria by Gavin Long".
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