Preparing to defend Crete

General Wavell flew to Crete on 30 April 1941 to tell his senior officers that he wanted to deny Crete as a base to the Germans. He expected that the most likely targets would be the two airfields, at Heraklion and Maleme. General Wilson was sent to Palestine to command the force against Iraq, leaving General Freyberg to command the defence of Crete. General Freyberg's reaction was to tell the high command that either they give him adequate force or they should reconsider the decision to hold Crete. The air resources on the island were 6 Hurricanes and 17 "obsolete aircraft, clearly inadequate. This is based on the account in Vol.II of the Official History.