More preparations and misgivings about defending Crete

General Freyberg must have contacted his government and expressed his concern, because the New Zealand government approached Churchill with their misgivings about their troops defending Crete. Churchill simply replied that defending Crete would greatly contribute to the security of Egypt, and that was it. General Freyberg was particularly worried about a combined seaborne and airborne attack. Many support personnel were withdrawn to reduce to the drain on provisions, and the rest were armed with rifles. The heavy AA guns were all protecting Suda Bay. The light AA were spread over the other sectors, except for Retimo, where there were none. The air strength was decimated over time, and with General Freyberg's agreement, the Air Officer Commanding "sent away the surviving four Hurricanes and three Gladiators". This is based on the account in Vol.II of the Official History.