Had the German airborne invaders of Ireland managed to defeat their initial opponents, they would need to march quickly to secure a port through which supplies could arrive. The Irish had made plans to blow up the facilities at the large port of Cork (Cobh) but do not seem to have done the same for Waterford, a smaller port lying somewhat upstream on the River Suir. While Waterford lacked the facilities of Cobh - it would only become a major port when it was moved to a new location in the 1990s - it sported a convenient location and fewer defenders.

Ireland sported hedgerows every bit as extensive and thick as those of Normandy: over 400,000 kilometers of them, in a country of just over 70,000 square kilometers. To make any progress against even mildly determined defenders, the German paratroopers would have to fight their way through intense hedgerow country without the tanks and heavy weapons that the Allies used in similar terrain in Normandy in 1944. Would their immensely high morale and strong leadership be enough to overcome the Irish countryside?

Translated title: "A bad egg, a bad bird".