​On this day in 1941 German paratroopers (Fallschirmjägers) fulfilled what would become a traditional airborne task: airfield seizure. They also demonstrated what an absolute nightmare airborne operations can be, especially with the technique still in its infancy at the time.
 
First, with the good (well good for the Nazis… so bad?). After leaping into the sky above the island of Crete the day prior, German forces eventually captured one of their key objectives, Maleme Airfield. This allowed them to rapidly fly in reinforcements to support the paratroopers who had been fighting pretty much on their own. This success was due in large part to the absolute confusion by thousands of paratroopers descending at multiple points all over the island almost at once, and exacerbated by Allied communication issues. 

On May 12th 1846, a group of nine wagons carrying the Reed and Donner families left Independence Missouri on their journey west. Along the way the size of the group swelled as they joined up with other settlers heading to California for new life. They decided to take a recently scouted path named “Hastings Cutoff”, which promised a more direct route than the main trail. Unfortunately, this trail had not been properly cleared for wagons and was exceedingly treacherous. It also required them to cross the Great Salt Lake Desert, causing a number of oxen to become crazed from thirst and break free from the yokes.
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Things escalated further when a physical altercation between James Reed and another turned deadly. After Reed stopped the man from beating one of his oxen, the man turned the whip on Reed (and possibly his wife). Reed retaliated by stabbing him to death. This resulted in him being banished from the group, and forced to ride on ahead and alone leaving his family behind